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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadEzekiel, Jonah, and Pastoral Epistles by Patrick Fairbairn - 1 Timothy 6:9 - 6:9
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Ver. 9. But they who aim at being rich (the opposite class of characters to the preceding, having their hearts set upon the superfluities of life, large possessions), such persons get into a perilous, and what usually becomes a downward and ruinous course: first, they fall into temptation—that is, are in danger of betaking to means of compassing their end which are not consistent with integrity of character; not only into temptation, but also a snare—their haste to be rich involving them in entanglements through which they find it impossible to work their way with a good conscience; then, as riches increase, the carnal desires and appetites to which these minister grow, they fall into many foolish and hurtful lusts, indulge in pleasures and gratifications which are in themselves unreasonable, and in their effects deteriorate the moral well-being of the soul. And these, again, have their downward and deepening tendency—they are such as ( áἵôéíåò ) sink men into destruction and perdition. Truly a tristis gradatio, as Bengel remarks; and one that in all ages, and within the pale also of the professing church, has ever-recurring exemplifications. We see it constantly proceeding before our eyes; nor can anything effectually arrest it but that grace of God which brings salvation, and carries the affections of the soul upwards to the things which are not seen and eternal.