The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Timothy — Section 134

pf otben, and ready to brush on one side every obstllcle which stands !n the way of c:etting, is the common result of the love of money. But in many cases it leads on into impiety and crime, and through them to sorrows and perdition. It was hie greed for the wagee of unrighteousness which urged Balaam on to his destruction ; it was his greed for money that made Judas a thief, a traitor, and a murderer of his Lord. Many an heresiarch hlLI' adopted false doctrines and led schisms merely as a means of enrichin" himself at the expense of his followers; and every day we see crimes of the blackest dy; springing from the lust of riches. In other cases the coveted possession of wealth is followed by inordinate pride and contempt of those who are not rich, by a feeling of superiority to all the restraints which bind other men, and by a headlong descent into the vices and self-indulgences to which money paves the way. In a word, then, the lover of money stands before us as at best a selfish man-a man of low and narrow ends; one pandering to his own base desires; one sacrificing to an ignoble and futile purpose all the loftier parts of his own nature; one from whom his fellow-men get no !!OOd, and often get much harm; one whose toil and labour at the best end in empti- ness, and very often lead him into sorrow and destruction. His progress is a continued debasement of himself, and moral bankruptcy is his end. II. THE MAN OF Goo IS OF A DIFFERENT MOULD. He views his own nature and his own wants in their true light. He is a man, he is a moral agent, he is a child of God. His hunger and thirst are after the things that are needful for the life and the grol<'th of his immortal soul, his very self. He is a man; he is one of those whom the Lord Jesus is not ashamed to call his brethren, and who has been made partaker of his Di\'ine nature, and therefore, like his Divine Lord, he wishes to live, not for himself, but for hi1 brethren, whom he loves even as Christ loved them and gave himself for them. And so, on the one hand, he lays himself out to enrich himself with those treasures which make a man rich toward God-righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness; and, on the other, he uses hill worldly wealth for the comfort of the poor and needy; doing good, distributing freely of h!s substance for every good work, and admit- ting others to a share of the wealth that God has given him. It is very remarkable, too, liow he both d~es and yet elevates wealth. He degrades it by depriving it of all it~ false value. He does not trust in it, because he knows its uncertainty; he does not ,iesire it, because he knows its dangers; he does not boast of it, because he knows it adds uothing to his real worth. But he elevates it by making it an instrument of doing good to others, and by making it a provocative of love to man and of thankfulness to God; and though it is so fleeting and so uncertain in itself, he forces into it an element of eternity by consecrating it to God, and compelling it to bear witness on his behalf in the great day of judgment that he loved Christ and did good to those whom Christ loves. To sum up, the money-lover, by putting a false value upon money, makes it a snare and an instrument of hurt to himself and others, and an eternal loss to his own soul; the ruan of God, by putting the true value upon money, makes it a joyful possession to himself and his brethren, a nourisher of unselfish virtue, and an eternal gain. Vere. 11-16.-Tlie man of God. The character of the man of God is. here portrayed with a master's hand. We may go back and contemplate it with a little more exact- nesa. He is covetous, he is eager in the purBllit of good things; but the good things which he covets and pursues are the everlasting possessions of the soul. And what are ti,ese? .Right.eoo.sne.ss-that great quality of God himself; that quality which makes eternal, unchangeable, right the sole and inflexible rule of conduct. Righteousness- that condition of thought and will and purpose which does not fluctuate with the changing opinions and fyhions of incon1tant men, which does not vary according to the outward influences to wli.ich it is subject, which is not overborne by fear, or appetite, or persuasion, or interest; but abides steadfast, unaltered, the same under all circum- stance1 and through all time. And with righteOt1,Sness, which he has in common with God, he covets godlineu, the proper relative condition of the rational creature towards the Creator. Godli,- is that reverential, devout attitude towards God which we some- times call piety, sometim011 holiness, sometimes devotion. It comprehends the senti- ment.a ef fear, love, and reYerence which a good 1n&n entertains t4tward God; and the whole conauct, such as worship, prayer, almagiving, etc., which spring. from tbOBe mr. TI. 1-2).) THE FlltST EPIS'l'Ll!: TO TIMOTHY. 1li