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1Ti_6:11. The apostle again turns to Timothy, exhorting him to a faithful fulfilment of his Christian and evangelical vocation.
σὺ δε ] opposed to τινές , 1Ti_6:10 ὦ ἄνθρωπε [ τοῦ ] Θεοῦ ] The expression may be taken in a more general or a more special sense; so, too, in 2Pe_1:21. It does not, however, follow “that Paul thus names Timothy here because of his evangelic office;” the exhortations following rather show that the apostle was thinking of Timothy’s position as a Christian; comp. 2Ti_3:17.
ταῦτα φεῦγε ] ταῦτα refers to the φιλαργυρία and that which is connected with it (de Wette, Wiesinger, and others); not to everything that has been said in 1Ti_6:3-10, because “1Ti_6:17 ff. show that the author is keeping in view the subject of riches,” de Wette. φεύγειν vitare; comp. 2Ti_2:22; 1Co_6:18. Hofmann wrongly deduces from this exhortation that Timothy had some inclination to φιλαργυρία ; one might as well deduce from the next exhortation that Timothy had no inclination to δικαιοσύνη κ . τ . λ . It is to be observed that it is not said φεῦγε ἀπό or ἐκ τούτων ; comp., besides, the passages quoted.
δίωκε δὲ τὴν δικαιοσύνην ] διώκειν here as in Deu_16:20, LXX.; Rom_12:13, and other passages of the N. T. (neque exteris scriptoribus infrequens est haec hujus verbi notio; see Xenophon, Cyropaedia, viii. 1. 39; Thucydides, ii. 63; Leo). Paul names six Christian virtues which Timothy is to cultivate, the six being arranged in pairs. The two most general in meaning are placed first: δικαιοσύνην (righteousness) and εὐσέβειαν (comp. Tit_2:12). Then follow πίστιν (not “faithfulness or conscientiousness,” but “faith”) and ἀγάπην as the ground principle of the Christian life. Last come ὑπομόνην and πραϋπάθειαν ( ἅπ . λεγ ., Philo, de Abrah. p. 379), which denote the Christian conduct proper in regard to the hostility of the world against the gospel, the former being opposed to submission, the latter to exasperation.