Wenstrom Bible Ministries Marion, Iowa Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom www.wenstrom.org

1. Wenstrom Bible MinistriesMarion, IowaPastor-Teacher Bill Wenstromwww.wenstrom.org

2. Tuesday October 4, 20111 Timothy: 1 Timothy 6:9-Paul Describes The Dangers Of Greed In Relation To The Apostate Pastors In EphesusLesson # 131

3. Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 6:3.

4. The apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 6:9 describes the dangers of greed in relation to the apostate pastors in Ephesus who were teaching false doctrine because of greed.

5. 1 Timothy 6:3 If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness,

6. 4 he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions

7. 5 and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.

8. 6 But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.

9. 7 For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. 8 If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.

10. 9 But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. (NASB95)

11. “But those who want to get rich fall into temptation” is composed of the nominative masculine plural present middle participle form of the verb boulomai (βούλομαι) (vee-low-meh), “those who want” and then we have the post-positive conjunction de (δέ) (theh), “but” and then we have the present active infinitive form of the verb plouteo (πλουτέω) (ploo-teh-owe), “to get rich.”

12. The conjunction de is introducing a statement that describes the dangers of wanting to get rich, which stands in contrast to those who are content with food and clothing and roof over their heads.

13. The verb boulomai is used in reference to the “desire” of some apostate pastors in Ephesus who want to get rich and implies that they were not yet rich.

14. That the word is used of these apostate pastors is indicated by the fact that in 1 Timothy 6:3-10 Paul is issuing a final indictment of those pastors in Ephesus who were teaching false doctrine.

15. The verb boulomai expresses an ungodly desire, which is the product of being deceived by the lies of Satan’s cosmic system and obeying the lusts of the old Adamic sin nature.

16. The word implies a strong intention or aim expressing the fact that the goal or the aim of these apostate pastors in Ephesus in teaching false doctrine was to acquire wealth.

17. “Fall into temptation” is composed of the third person plural present active indicative form of the verb (ἐμπίπτω) (em-beep-towe), “fall” and then we have the preposition eis (εἰς) (eece), “into” and its object is the accusative masculine singular form of the noun peirasmos (πειρασμός) (pear-ahs-moce), “temptation.”

18. The verb empipto means “to fall into” in the sense of experiencing a particular state or condition.

19. Here it speaks of the apostate pastors in Ephesus who desire to be rich experiencing temptation because of this desire, which is the direct result of not being content.

20. The noun peirasmos is used in a negative sense of the “temptation” to sin against God.

21. It is used here of course of the apostate pastors in Ephesus who desire to be rich because of a lack of contentment.

22. The temptation to disobey God’s will is the direct result of desiring to be rich and desiring to be rich is the result of a lack of contentment with what one possesses.

23. “And a snare” is composed of the conjunction kai (καί) (keh), “and” which is followed by the accusative feminine singular form of the noun pagis (παγίς) (pie-yeece), “snare.”

24. The conjunction kai is epexegetical meaning that it is introducing the noun pagis, “snare” which describes the noun peirasmos, “temptation” from a different perspective.

25. This use of kai indicates that Paul is describing temptation as a snare or a trap to sin against God.

26. The noun pagis means “snare” or “trap” and refers to the temptation to sin against God because of the desire to become rich, which itself is due to a lack of contentment.

27. Here in 1 Timothy 6:9, though Paul does not use diabolos with pagis, it is clear from 1 Timothy 3:7 and also 2 Timothy 2:26, which also uses pagis with diabolos, that this trap that he mentions in 1 Timothy 6:9 originates from the devil or is planted by the devil himself or those angels whom he leads.

28. So Paul is teaching that the temptation to sin is in fact a trap planted by the devil and his minions or cosmic system to cause one to sin.

29. The desire of these apostate pastors to be rich causes them to fall into temptation, which is nothing but a trap planted by the devil and his kingdom to entice them to sin.

30. 1 Timothy 6:9 But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. (NASB95)

31. “And many foolish and harmful desires” is composed of the conjunction kai (καί) (keh), “and” which is followed by the accusative feminine plural form of the noun epithumia (ἐπιθυμία) (ehpee-thee-mee-ah), “desires” which is modified by the accusative feminine plural form of the adjective polus (πολύς) (police), “great”

32. and in addition we have the accusative feminine plural form of the adjective anoetos (ἀνόητος) (ahnoe-ee-toce), “foolish” and again we have the conjunction kai (καί) (keh), “and” followed by the accusative feminine plural form of the adjective blaberos (βλαβερός) (vhlah-vev-roce), “harmful.”

33. This time the conjunction kai is used in a consecutive sense or in other words, it introduces a phrase that presents the result of being tempted to sin against God, which is a trap from devil.

34. This is indicated by the fact that the noun epithumia, “desires,” refers to the various lust patterns that originate from the old Adamic sin nature and giving into temptation results in obeying a desire which is ungodly and once obeying this ungodly desire, it becomes sin.

35. The noun epithumia refers to the various lust patterns of the sin nature.

36. In our context, it is used of sexual lust, as well as power lust, approbation lust, social lust, monetary lust, materialism lust, inordinate ambition resulting in inordinate competition, revenge lust, criminal lust, chemical lust, crusader lust, and pleasure lust.

37. The adjective anoetos is describing these various lusts or sinful desires as “foolish” in the sense that they are not based upon obedience to the will of the Father and are a failure to put into practice the Word of God and specifically failing to appropriate that one is identified with Christ in His death and resurrection (Romans 6:11-12).

38. It describes these lusts as foolish in the sense that they fail to take seriously that they will have to give an account to the Lord at the Bema Seat.

39. The adjective blaberos denotes that the various lust patterns of the old Adamic sin nature are “harmful” in the sense that they cause physical, mental and spiritual damage.

40. It denotes that they can cause damage physically in the sense of killing them or giving them a disease or mental illness and knocks them out of fellowship with God and can lead to apostasy and discipline from God.

41. “Which plunge men into ruin and destruction” is composed of the nominative feminine plural form of the relative pronoun hostis (ὅστις) (owe-steece), “which” and the third person plural present active indicative form of the verb buthizo (βυθίζω) (bee-thee-zoe), “plunge”

42. and then we have the articular accusative masculine plural form of the noun (ἄνθρωπος) (ahn-throe-poce), “men” and this is followed by the preposition eis (εἰς) (eece), “into” and its object is the accusative masculine singular form of the noun olethros (ὄλεθρος) (owe-leh-throce), “ruin” and once again we have the conjunction kai (καί) (keh), “and” which is followed by the accusative feminine singular form of the noun apoleia (ἀπώλεια) (ahpoe-leeah), “destruction.”

43. The qualitative relative pronoun hostis emphasizes that the foolish and harmful desires of the old sin nature are of such an evil character that they plunge men into ruin and destruction.

44. The verb buthizo is used in a figurative sense and means “to plunge” in the sense of causing one to experience disastrous consequences.

45. Here the word denotes that the harmful and foolish lusts of the sin nature are of such an evil and sinful nature that they “cause” these men “to experience” divine discipline in its three stages: (1) warning (2) intensive (3) dying.

46. Ultimately, it causes them to experience the loss of their eternal inheritance and rewards at the Bema Seat because of their unfaithfulness.

47. The noun anthropos refers to the apostate pastors in Ephesus who were teaching false doctrine and who Paul describes as wanting to be rich.

48. It does not refer to the human race in general and thus non-believers but rather these apostate pastors in Ephesus who were motivated to teach false doctrine because of greed.

49. This is indicated by the articular construction of the word and 1 Timothy 6:3-8, which is describing these men as not being content but who think that godliness is a means of gain or financial profit.

50. The noun olethros is used of the apostate pastors in Ephesus who were teaching false doctrine because they had a love for money, thus, it does not refer to eternal condemnation since only unbelievers will face that but rather it refers to divine discipline.