1 Timothy 6:19 - Exposition

The life which is life indeed for eternal life , A.V. and T.R. Laying up in store ( ἀποθησαυρίζοντες ); only here in the New Testament, but once in Wis. 3:3, and occasionally in classical Greek. A good foundation ( θεμέλιον καλόν ). The idea of a foundation is always maintained in the use of θεμέλιος , whether it is used literally or figuratively ( Luke 11:48 ; Ephesians 2:20 ; Revelation 21:14 , etc.). There is, at first sight, a manifest confusion of metaphors in the phrase, "laying up in store a foundation." Bishop Ellicott, following Wiesinger, understands "a wealth of good works as a foundation." Alford sees no difficulty in considering the "foundation" us a treasure. Others have conjectured κειμήλιον , "a stored treasure," for θεμέλιον . Others understand θεμέλιον in the sense of θέμα , a deposit. Others take ἀποθησαυρίζειν in the sense of "acquiring," without reference to its etymology. But this is unlikely, the context being about the use of money, though in part favored by the use of θησαυρίζειν in 2 Peter 3:7 . The reader must choose for himself either to adopt one of the above explanations, or to credit St. Paul with an unimportant confusion of metaphors. Anyhow, the doctrine is clear that wealth spent for God and his Church is repaid with interest, and becomes an abiding treasure. Life indeed ( τῆς ὄντως ζωῆς ); so 1 Timothy 5:3 , 1 Timothy 5:5 , τὰς ὅντως χήρας ἡ ὄντως χήρα , "widows indeed;" and ( John 8:36 ) ὄντως ἐλεύθεροι , "free indeed," in opposition to the freedom which the Jews claimed as the seed of Abraham.