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1Ti_6:19. Ἀποθησαυρίζοντας ἑαυτοῖς θεμέλιον καλόν ] The participle tells what the rich desire by the conduct already mentioned; it is not to be exchanged with the infinitive. Ἀποθησ . and θεμέλιον are not exactly suitable to one another. This, however, is not to be corrected by conjecturing (with Clericus) κειμήλιον or (with Lamb, Bos) θέμα λίαν καλόν , nor by explaining θεμέλιον as equivalent to θέμα (Tob_4:9; Leo: “and gather for themselves a good fund for the future”), nor even by taking ἀποθησ . as absolute and θεμέλιον as in apposition. Wolf: ita … ut divites thesauros sibi ipsis colligere jubeantur, qui sint fundamento alicui olim inservituri; Luther: “gather treasures, to themselves a good ground for the future.”
ἀποθησαυρίζειν ] “lay something aside for the purpose of preserving, and therefore collect.” It is unnecessary to give the word here the more general signification of “acquire.” The apostle’s thought is, that the rich, by giving away their θησαυρούς in sympathetic love, are gathering for themselves a treasure, and are also laying a good foundation on which their future salvation is built.
εἰς τὸ μέλλον is not to be connected with καλόν , but with the verb: “for the future.”
ἵνα ἐπιλάβωνται τῆς ὄντως ζωῆς ] ἵνα does not express the consequence, “so that,” but the purpose, “in order that.” Ἐπιλάβωνται , comp. 1Ti_6:12; de Wette, rightly: “in order that they (at the same time planting their feet on this basis) may seize;” τῆς ὄντως ζωῆς , comp. 1Ti_5:3.