Almost every town has one: the preacher whose ministry seems to grow in step with his car, his house and his collection of gold. People sense something is wrong even when they cannot say why. Paul names it. Some teachers, he writes, treat godliness as a way to get rich. The chapter that follows is one of the Bible's sharpest passages on money — contentment with food and clothing, the trap of wanting more, the danger of trusting wealth. It opens, though, with a harder word for modern readers, on slaves and masters, which should be read plainly.
Where it sits in the story: Act 5 — the church living inside the Roman social order, including slavery, while carrying a message that would slowly unsettle it. The chapter closes the letter by returning to the false teachers of chapter 1 and tying their error to greed, then lifting the eye to Christ's appearing and the God who alone is immortal.
What this chapter is doing: To close the letter by instructing slaves, exposing teachers who use religion for profit, calling Timothy to pursue righteousness and confess his faith, and redirecting the wealthy from trusting riches to generosity.
- 6:1–2 — Slaves should regard their masters as worthy of full respect, so that God's name and the teaching are not slandered. Those with believing masters should not show less respect because they are brothers, but serve them all the better. The text works within Roman slavery and does not call for its end.
- 6:3–10 — Anyone who teaches otherwise is conceited and loves controversy, imagining godliness is a means of gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain: we brought nothing into the world and can take nothing out. Those who want to be rich fall into temptation, for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
- 6:11–16 — Timothy, as a man of God, must flee these things and pursue righteousness, faith, love and gentleness. He is to fight the good fight of the faith, recalling the good confession he made, as Christ Jesus made his before Pontius Pilate, until Christ appears. Paul praises the King of kings who alone has immortality.
- 6:17–21 — The rich should not be proud or trust uncertain wealth, but be rich in good works, generous and ready to share. Timothy must guard what has been entrusted to him and avoid what is falsely called 'knowledge'.
Key verse: 1 Timothy 6:6–7 · So what: The money passage is not anti-wealth but anti-grasping: the problem is love of money and trust in riches, and the remedy is contentment and generosity. The slave passage should not be softened. Later slaveholders used such verses to defend slavery; abolitionists pointed to the same letter's condemnation of slave-traders (1:10) and its gospel of equal dignity. Honest reading holds both.