The three-year Lectionary that many Catholics and Protestants hear in public worship gives us a great variety of Holy Scripture.

Yet, it doesn’t tell the whole story.

My series Forbidden Bible Verses — ones the Lectionary editors and their clergy omit — examines the passages we do not hear in church. These missing verses are also Essential Bible Verses, ones we should study with care and attention. Often, we find that they carry difficult messages and warnings.

Today’s reading is from the English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK) with commentary by Matthew Henry and John MacArthur.

1 Timothy 6:13-16

¹³ I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before^[a] Pontius Pilate made the good confession, ¹⁴ to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵ which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honour and eternal dominion. Amen.

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My most recent post discussed Paul’s exhortation to Timothy to pursue righteousness and godliness, fighting the good fight of the faith in his ministry.

Timothy was alone in Ephesus and the surrounding churches doing Paul’s work. Paul charged — commanded — him to rid those congregations of the dangerous false teachers that had arisen in their midst. Since this was a Greek-influenced society, no doubt these false teachers had the gift of oratory which impressed their listeners to go against the biblical doctrine that Paul taught. In any event, there were many spiritual anomalies going on that also caused practical problems — e.g. lust, quarrels — within the congregations.

Timothy was probably only 35 at the time. Today, that sounds mature, but in ancient times, those older than he would have thought he was too young to tell them how to pursue righteousness and whose opinions to shun.

Consequently, Timothy was unsure as how to proceed in this sinful lion’s den with confidence. Paul’s first letter to Timothy explores the dangers of leaving serious sins uncorrected and encourages him to get on with the job notwithstanding his youth. Paul reminds Timothy of his personal faith and commitment to God through Christ Jesus.

Paul charges — commands — him in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession (verse 13), to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until His Second Coming (verse 14).

These are the KJV verses:

13 I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;   14 That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:

‘Quick’ in archaic language refers to life. The traditional words of the Nicene Creed refer to the ‘quick and the dead’, with ‘quick’ meaning ‘living’.

Paul emphasises that God is the Creator who gives life to all things.

Matthew Henry’s commentary says that, as God is in charge of all life, we owe Him our full duty and honour:

He charges him as he will answer it at the great day to that God whose eyes are upon us all, who sees what we are and what we do:—God, who quickens all things, who has life in himself and is the fountain of life. This should quicken us to the service of God that we serve a God who quickens all things.

John MacArthur says that Paul’s emphasis on the God of life also refers to future resurrection, a further reason to pursue the truth at all costs (emphases mine):

The man of God, beloved, rises above the pitiful struggles for things perishable and things useless. He fights for things that are eternal – the truth of God …

The man of God is known by what he is faithful to. He’s faithful to declare the truth. He’s faithful to live the truth.

Even if the cost is high. Notice how he covers this, back to verse 13, “I command you to do it in the sight of God.” God’s watching. But it’s not negative. It’s not because God’s looking over your shoulder and He’ll clobber you if you don’t. “It’s in the sight of God who makes all things alive,” and that verb is most generally used of resurrection. Get this. In the sight of God who raises the dead. What’s the point? The point is this. You keep the truth and you don’t waver on the truth and you have the courage of your convictions and you live it and you keep it and even if they kill you for it, God is watching and God is able to – what? – to raise the dead. That’s the point.

What can they do to you? Ultimately all they can do at the worst is escort you into eternity. So you don’t compromise. In the sight of God, the all-seeing omniscient God who makes all things alive. He is not only creator of life; He is sustainer of life; He is provider for life; and more than that, the general usage of this term, He is the one who restores life through resurrection power. And so we are to be faithful without fear, faithful with courage knowing that God is watching who is in charge of our life, that is protective power. At worst the world can kill us and He raises us from the dead. And there are perhaps millions of martyrs through the history of the church who are living testimony to the fact that the God who is able to raise the dead was watching them when they took their courageous stand.

Paul also speaks of Christ Jesus who made His confession in His testimony before Pontius Pilate.

Our commentators agree that the confession involved His kingship — of another world.

Henry mentions Christ’s martyrdom as well as His all-sufficient sacrifice on the Cross:

Observe, Christ died not only as a sacrifice, but as a martyr; and he witnessed a good confession when he was arraigned before Pilate, saying (John 18 36, 37), My kingdom is not of this world: I am come to bear witness unto the truth. That good confession of his before Pilate, My kingdom is not of this world, should be effectual to draw off all his followers, both ministers and people, from the love of this world.

MacArthur says similarly:

“I command you in the sight of God who is making all things alive and before Christ Jesus who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession,” which is exactly what he wants Timothy to do. Hold fast to his confession. He said Christ did it. Christ went before Pilate, Matthew 27:11, Luke 23:2 and 3, John 18:36 and 37. Pilate said to Him, “They accuse You of being a King. Are You a King?” If Jesus says, “Yes, I’m a King,” what does it cost Him? His life. Pilate said, “Are You a King?” And in contemporary language Jesus said, “You said it.” You better believe it. I am a King and if I wanted I could call an army. I am a King but My Kingdom isn’t of this world. They killed Him.

That was courageous. That was fearless. Jesus Christ is a living example and model and perfect illustration of courage to be true and faithful to the Word of God at any cost. So he says, “Timothy, I command you to stand for the truth and hold it and preserve it in your message and in your living in the sight of the God who will make you alive if it cost you your life and in sight of Christ who is your example, who stood and it cost Him His life. And God made Him alive.” Tremendous. Tremendous. Faithful, because you trust in the God who makes alive and because you want to be like the Christ who took His stand and willingly gave His life for the truth. Jesus told the truth about who He was and why He had come. It cost Him His life. The man of God tells the truth at any cost. He is faithful to the truth no matter what the price – no matter what the price.

Then we come to ‘the commandment’ in verse 14.

MacArthur says this refers to Timothy’s ordination — his commission — the laying on of hands for his ministry:

“I command you in the sight of God, who makes all things alive, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good testimony, that you keep the commission” – or the mandate or the commandment …

Now what I want you to grasp in your mind is this. Timothy has been reminded of his commission. He has been called to fulfill his commission. He has been reminded of his salvation. He has been reminded of his giftedness. He has been reminded of his public ordination. He has been told specifically what his instructions are. He has been told that as a man of God he has to flee some things, follow some things, fight for some things, and be faithful to some things. And now he is given the motive, and the motive is because of the character of the God he serves. Now I want you to grab that thought. It is a surpassing thought. Motivation in ministry, motivation to spiritual duty, the solemnity of our task is related to the nature of our God.

This commandment, mandate, commission is to be kept unstained — pure — and beyond reproach until Christ comes in glory once again.

Henry reminds us that the Second Coming was always on Paul’s mind:

Ministers should have an eye to this appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ in all their ministrations, and, till his appearing, they are to keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable. Mentioning the appearing of Christ, as one that loved it, Paul loves to speak of it, and loves to speak of him who shall then appear.

Paul says that Christ will reappear, this time in glory, at the proper time, He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (verse 15).

Henry says:

The appearing of Christ is certain (he shall show it), but it is not for us to know the time and season of it, which the Father has kept in his own power: let this suffice us, that in time he will show it, in the time that he thinks fit for it.

The second half of verse 15 introduces what is called a doxology (verse 16): praise to God and His Son Jesus Christ, with God alone in immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light; to Him be all honour and dominion. Amen.

The KJV’s version of those verses is as follows:

15 Which in his times he shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; 16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.

Henry describes the omnipotence of God the Father and God the Son:

Concerning Christ and God the Father the apostle here speaks great things. (1.) That God is the only Potentate; the powers of earthly princes are all derived from him, and depend upon him. The powers that exist are ordained of God, Rom 13 1. He is the only Potentate that is absolute and sovereign, and perfectly independent. (2.) He is the blessed and the only Potentate, infinitely happy, and nothing can in the least impair his happiness. (3.) He is King of kings, and Lord of lords. All the kings of the earth derive their power from him; he gave them their crowns, they hold them under him, and he has a sovereign dominion over them. This is Christ’s title (Rev 19 16), upon his vesture and his thigh; for he has a name higher than the kings of the earth. (4.) He only has immortality. He only is immortal in himself, and has immortality as he is the fountain of it, for the immortality of angels and spirits derived from him. (5.) He dwells in inaccessible light, light which no man can approach unto: no man can get to heaven but those whom he is pleased to bring thither, and admit into his kingdom. (6.) He is invisible: Whom no man hath seen, nor can see. It is impossible that mortal eyes should bear the brightness of the divine glory. No man can see God and live.

MacArthur tells us:

Look at verse 15, “Which” – antecedent of ‘is the shining forth of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ “Which in His times He shall show” … That is God, the Father, not Christ. Because the doxology then follows, “Who is the blessed and the only potentate, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.” That much could refer to Christ. “Who only has immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto.” That probably wouldn’t make sense referring to Christ. “Whom no man hath seen nor can see.” That can’t possibly be Christ. So we know this is a doxology with reference to God the Father.

And just as God the Father, according to Galatians 4:4, in the fullness of time at the right season, at the right moment, in the proper time sent forth His Son, just as God sent forth Christ the first time, God will send forth Christ the second time. So verse 15 says, “Which in God’s times He will show.” And this is attested to even by the words of our Lord Jesus who in Mark 13:32 says that time the Son of Man does not even know, only the Father knows. And in Acts 1 verse 7, “He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put in His own power.’” It is God’s timing. God’s planning.

The church then must live in the imminency of that event, to some extent. We don’t know when Jesus will return …

Now that doesn’t mean that Paul thought Jesus was going to come in his life time and that was his theology. I believe Paul felt that Jesus could come in his life time, and so do I and so has every thinking Christian who rightly interpreted the Word of God. God purposely didn’t tell us when. If we knew when Jesus was going to come, the temptation for many people would be to live like the devil until just before He came and slide in under the wire. The Lord doesn’t tell us when He’s coming. He doesn’t tell us when He’s setting up His kingdom. Those things are in the mind of God. We don’t know when that’s going to happen. But God in His own time, in due season, will reveal before the eyes of the world the one who once walked in obscurity, the one who was rejected will now be displayed in all of His majesty and all of His glory and all of His magnificence and all of His power. The whole present state is temporary, folks, and eternity is forever. And you just can’t get too caught up in it. And so you get attacked here and there. And you get some opposition here and there. But you never waver and you never compromise, because you know your view is beyond the temporary. You can face all difficulty with courage in the light of God’s preserving power and in the light of God’s promised plan.

MacArthur explains the word ‘potentate’ in the Greek:

He is the only dunastēs, Potentate, and the Greek text reads this, “The King of those kinging and the Lord of those lording.” Tremendous statement. He is the only potentate, again refers to God, the one who will display Christ at His appearing. He alone is God. There’s no other God. He alone is God.

MacArthur also says that Paul might have also been condemning emperor worship with those words. Emperor worship was expected in the Roman Empire. Failing to participate could cost you your life:

I really believe here in a sense it’s a conscious rebuttal to emperor worship. You remember now, Timothy was in the Roman Empire in the bailiwick of Caesar being in Ephesus. And the people were into the worship of Caesar. In fact it kind of an interesting thing that there was a growing cult of worshiping the Caesars after their death, a sort of way to immortalize them. They were turning them into gods after they died and what the Apostle Paul is saying to Timothy is there is only one God – solitary deity – absolute and only monarch. This again I say is a conscious rebuttal of the cult of emperor worship.

MacArthur says that Paul means this explanation of omnipotence and eternity to be emphatic to Timothy and to us:

Paul helps Timothy to understand this by giving him one of the most magnificent presentations of the nature of God anywhere in Scripture. It is the supreme reason to do your spiritual duty because of who God is. It is a solemn doxology that acts as a motivator to spiritual duty, because it describes the God who called Timothy, the God who gifted Timothy, the God who ordained Timothy, the God who sent Timothy, and the God who promised to empower Timothy. And if he knows who his God is, then he can go ahead and do his duty. But if he’s waffling around not sure about his God or what his God will provide for him or whether or not his God is in control of everything, then he’s going to have a very difficult time doing what he ought to do.

Now the doxology doesn’t come until verses 15 and 16, but what is said about God in verses 13 and 14 are so important … The source of courage for the one doing spiritual duty, the source of courage to be uncompromising and faithful to the task is found in these following attributes of God. Number one, the preservation power of God – the preservation power of God. Go to verse 13 … and he’s commanding him in verse 14 to do his duty, to keep his commission without spot and unrebukable. I’m commanding you to fulfill your ministry, do your spiritual duty, use your spiritual gift, do what God wants you to do, obey the service God’s called you to, whether that specific service to which Timothy was called or extended to any of us here today. The idea is the same for all of us. We are commanded to do what God has called us to do. And then to help us be motivated, it says you’re doing it “in the sight of God who makes all things alive.” And there is the first characteristic of God mentioned in the text. What God do we serve? The God who makes all things alive. Anything that lives, lives because God gave it life. God is life. God is the source of life.

In fact, we could sum it up in four statements. When it says “God who makes all things alive,” it refers to God as creator of all things …

… the implication of the phrase “who makes all things alive” is that God is also the protector of His own. In a unique sense He preserves the life of those who are His own …

And because of these concepts we can approach ministry without a fear of danger. In other words, translating it into the spiritual dimension, God gave you life, Timothy; God will sustain your life, Timothy; and God will preserve your life unto the fulfillment of His plan. And that’s the only way to live and do your spiritual duty. If you’re concerned with self-preservation and reputation and comfort and all of that and those are your preoccupying factors, then you’re going to give yourself away to those things. But if you realize your life is expendable and if you’re saying to yourself, “I’m not going to fear what men can do unto me. God gave me life. God sustains my life. He promises to preserve my life. What do I have to fear?” Timothy, go at it.

But there’s a fourth principle and I believe it is really the salient primary interpretive key to this phrase. “God who makes all things alive” primarily refers not to God as creator, God as sustainer or God as preserver of His own, but God as raiser of the dead. The primary point here is that it is God who raises the dead. And so what Paul is saying to Timothy, in effect, is you know that the worst that can happen to you is that you’ll die and that’s the best that can happen to you. Paul put it this way in Philippians 1, “For to me to live is Christ and to die is” – what? – “gain.” So he says I’m caught in a place between two things, both that are good. One to stay here with you and one that’s far better to go and be with Christ. And you see, that’s why he was able to give his life away in spiritual duty because he had absolutely no thought for his life.

… Timothy, I’m commanding you before the God who raises the dead to look at the model of Jesus who when faced with His very life made a noble confession. In other words, He never equivocated as to what He ought to say in the face of imminent danger and death to himself because He committed Himself to the God who raises the dead. Jesus knew He would rise. Did He not? He said earlier in His ministry at the very outset, “Destroy this temple and in three days I’ll build it again.” He knew He would rise from the dead. He committed Himself – it says 1 Peter 2:23, He committed Himself to the God who discerns and judges and acts righteously. He knew God would raise Him from the dead. That’s the whole point.

He confessed openly the truth of His Lordship. He confessed openly the truth of His Messiahship. He confessed openly the truth of His sovereign authority, though He knew it would cost His life, because He trusted the God of resurrection. And I love the fact that Revelation 1:5, and I think it’s also in chapter 3 verse 14, calls Jesus “the faithful witness” – the faithful witness. Unflinching courage in the face of persecution, unflinching courage in the face of opposition, unflinching courage in the face of difficulty, unflinching courage in the face of temptation to compromise is based upon the fact that you believe the preserving power belongs to God. I will speak the truth. I will live the truth. I will say the truth. I will not equivocate and I will commit myself to the care of the God who will sustain me in life or who will sustain me through death.

Now if you can approach life like that, then you can give your life away – then you can give your life away. In the words of Jesus, the one who gives his life away finds it. The one who tries to hold onto his life loses it. That’s the heart of it.

How serendipitous! Those words were in yesterday’s Gospel reading (Third Sunday after Trinity, Year A, Matthew 10:24-39), the exegeses for which are here and here. I love it when diverse Bible passages tie together within a short space of time, as if by divine providence. Amazing.

This is why the New Testament writers tell us, as did Jesus in the Gospels, that we are to keep our eye on eternity:

God has provided an incredibly magnificent glorious future for us. We can’t even imagine what it will be like. And so if we keep our focus on that, we can endure a little bit of hassling while we’re down here doing our little spiritual duty.

MacArthur says that, when we understand who God really is, we will live our lives accordingly:

… you are a reflection of your theology. Your life is the living out of what you really believe about God. That’s right. If you believe God is a God of utter holiness who despises sin, that’s going to dictate the way you live, if you really believe that. If you believe that God chastens wickedness, that’s going to affect the way you live. If you believe that God has gifted you and sovereignly called you and sovereignly placed you for ministry, that’s going to be the way you approach life. If you believe that you are in the family, married to the person, living in the place, serving where the Lord has you all by His sovereign choice, that’s going to dictate how you approach all of those circumstances. If you believe God to be a God of mercy and grace and love and tenderness and kindness, as indeed He is, that’s going to dictate how you live also, because you’re going to recognize that you can go to Him for forgiveness and find grace to help in time of need.

Your theology about God, your thinking and understanding and knowledge of and belief in the nature of God is going to impact directly how you live.

Addressing the words of praise in the last part of verse 16, Henry reminds us of an Old Testament verse and a New Testament verse:

Having mentioned these glorious attributes, he concludes with a doxology: To him be honour and power everlasting. Amen. God having all power and honour to himself, it is our duty to ascribe all power and honour to him. (1.) What an evil is sin, when committed against such a God, the blessed and only Potentate! The evil of it rises in proportion to the dignity of him against whom it is committed. (2.) Great is his condescension, to take notice of such mean and vile creatures as we are. What are we then, that the blessed God, the King of kings and Lord of lords, should seek after us? (3.) Blessed are those who are admitted to dwell with this great and blessed Potentate. Happy are thy men (says the queen of Sheba to king Solomon), happy are these thy servants, who stand continually before thee, 1 Kings 10 8. Much more happy are those who are allowed to stand before the King of kings. (4.) Let us love, adore, and praise, the great God; for who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy, Rev 15 4.

MacArthur has more:

… verse 16, “Who only has immortality” – who only has immortality. What does that mean? This is the eternity of God, or as some theologians would prefer, the eternality of God. That is that God is eternal … He means only God is immortal in the sense that God is inherently immortal. You’re immortal because God gave you immortality. God is immortal because He’s immortal in His nature.

Immortality means – it’s a marvelous word. It means deathless. It’s the word athanasia. There’s another word that’s sometimes used to speak of a similar idea and that’s the word aphtharsia, which means incorruptibility. It’s not that word. It’s the word for deathlessness. It means God is incapable of death. He’s incapable of dying. He has a quality of life that is utterly unending. And He is the only one who has that. He is not simply non-corruptible, which doesn’t necessarily say how long He’ll last; He is unending. And He cannot perish; He cannot die. And we have endless life because He gave it to us. Psalm 36, the psalmist says in verse 9, “For with You is the fountain of life.” Life comes out of You. We have it because You gave it to us. You alone possess it. Isaiah 40:28 says, “The everlasting God.” And Daniel 4:34, “I praise and honored Him who lives forever whose dominion is an everlasting dominion.” God who lives forever …

Is it any wonder the doxology ends with a refrain of praise? Look at the end of verse 16, and you don’t even need to explain this. “To whom be” – what? – “honor and eternal power” – is what it says in the text – “Amen.” Amen means let it be, affirmation. Honor is respect. The word kratos means dominion – dominion. Let it be, he says. O God, we praise You. We respect You. We grant You the dominion of which You are so worthy.

MacArthur concludes:

Who is our God? Preserver, promiser, the blessed one, the sovereign one, the holy one. And if we understand God to be who He is we can understand that there is great encouragement in these words of Hebrews 13:6. Listen to them. “The Lord” – oh, it starts at verse 6. “So that we may boldly say” – did you get that? “So that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper.” The Lord who is preserver, promiser, the blessed one, the sovereign one, the holy one, the Lord is my helper. And then he says this, “I will not fear what man shall do unto me.” Isn’t that good? That’s the sum of it. I’ll not fear what man shall do unto me. Why? Because I know my God. The solemn call to duty motivated by an understanding of who our God is.

Paul then gives Timothy advice on those churchgoers who are wealthy.

Next time — 1 Timothy 6:17-19