1 Timothy 6:8

1Ti 6:8. Ἔχοντες, having) It is by implication affirmed, that we shall have them.—διατροφὰς) food (means of sustenance), by which we may in the meantime be nourished. This is the meaning of διά.—σκεπάσματα, clothing) also a covering or shelter.—τούτοις) with these, although money be wanting, 1Ti 6:10.—ἀρκεσθησόμεθα) we shall have enough in fact: why then not also in feeling?

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Ti_6:8. Ἔχοντες δέ] De Wette thinks that for δέ we should have had οὖν. This is certainly right; still the bearing of this verse on the previous one would have been different from what it is now. The apostle used δέ because he had in mind the contrast to those striving after earthly gain.

διατροφὰς καὶ σκεπάσματα] The same collocation in Sextus Empiricus, Book ix. 1; the two expressions only occur here in the N. T. (διατροφή, 1Ma_6:49). Σκέπασμα, the covering, hence both clothing and dwelling. Here it is to be taken in the former sense; de Wette, Wiesinger, van Oosterzee, and others include both senses in it; but it is more than improbable that one word should be used to denote two different objects. Chrysostom: τοιαῦτα ἀμφιέννυσθαι, ἃ σκεπάσαι μόνον ἡμᾶς ὀφείλει καὶ περιστεῖλαι τὴν γύμνωσιν. In food and clothing the necessary wants of life are also elsewhere summed up; comp. Mat_6:25; Jam_2:15; Gen_28:20.

τούτοις ἀρκεσθησόμεθα] we will be content with them. Hofmanns explanation is wrong: so will we have enough of them. The passive ἀρκεῖσθαι occurs as a personal verb only in the sense of be content with; comp. Luk_3:14; Heb_13:5; 3Jn_1:10; 2Ma_5:16; 4Ma_6:22; so, too, continually in profane writers; comp, Pape, s.v.

The future is here taken imperatively by several expositors. It is well known that the imperative is often expressed by the future, but there is no passage which exactly corresponds with this (comp. Buttmann, p. 221). It is better, therefore, to take the future here in the sense of sure expectation (so de Wette, Wiesinger, van Oosterzee, Plitt; comp. Winer, p. 296 [E. T. p. 396]).

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Ti 6:8 . ἔχοντες δέ : The δέ has a slightly adversative force, guarding against a too literal conclusion from 1Ti 6:7 . It is true that “unaccommodated man” ( Lear , iii. 4) is “a man for a’ that,” yet he has wants while alive, though his real wants are few.

σκεπάσματα : may include clothes and shelter, covering (R.V.), tegumentum ( [297] ), quibus tegamur , as the Vulg. well puts it; but the word is used of clothing only in Josephus (B. J . ii. 8. 5; Ant . xv. 9, 2). So A.V., raiment , [298] , vestitum (so Chrys.).

[297] Cod. Frisingensis

[298] The Latin text of Codex Claromontanus (sæc. vi.), a Græco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852.

Jacob specifies only “bread to eat and raiment to put on” (Gen 28:20 ); but the Son of Sirach is more indulgent to the natural man ( Sir 29:21 ; Sir 39:26-27 ).

ἀρκεσθησόμεθα : This future is imperatival, or authoritative, as Alf. calls it. He cites in illustration, Mat 5:48 , ἔσεσθε οὖν ὑμεῖς τέλειοι . From this point of view, the R.V., We shall be therewith content, cf . reff., is preferable to his rendering (which is equivalent to R.V. m.), With these we shall be sufficiently provided ( cf. Mat 25:9 ; Joh 6:7 ; 2Co 12:9 ).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And--Greek, "But." In contrast to the greedy gain-seekers (Ti1 6:5).

having--so long as we have food. (The Greek expresses "food sufficient in each case for our continually recurring wants" [ALFORD]). It is implied that we, as believers, shall have this (Isa 23:16).

raiment--Greek, "covering"; according to some including a roof to cover us, that is, a dwelling, as well as clothing.

let us be therewith content--literally, "we shall be sufficiently provided"; "we shall be sufficed" [ALFORD].

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 8. Having food and raiment, let us be therewith content.] αρκεσθησομεθα. Let us consider this a competency. And it is evident that the apostle considers this a competency, and by these words explains what he said 1Ti 6:6.

The word ακεπασματα, which we translate raiment, signifies covering in general; and here means house or lodging, as well as clothing.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

8 Having food and raiment When he mentions food and raiment, he excludes luxuries and overflowing abundance; for nature is content with a little and all that goes beyond the natural use is superfluous. Not that to use them more largely ought to be condemned on its own account, but lusting after them is always sinful.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(8) And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.—The Greek word rendered “let us be content” is better translated, we shall have a sufficiency. The argument will run thus: “All earthly possessions are only for this life; here, if we have the wherewithal to clothe us and to nourish us, we shall have enough;” if we have more than this, St. Paul goes on to show, we shall be in danger of falling into temptation.

There is no contradiction between this reading and that contained in this same Epistle (1Ti_4:1-5). There the Apostle is warning the Church against a false, unreal asceticism, which was teaching men to look upon the rich gifts of this world, its beauties and its delights, as of themselves sinful, forgetting that these fair things were God’s creatures, and were given for man’s use and enjoyment. Here the same great teacher is pressing home the truth that the highest good on earth was that godliness which is ever accompanied with perfect contentment, which neither rejects nor deems evil the fair things of this life, but which, at the same time, never covets them, never longs for them. It was one thing to be rich, it was another to wish to be rich; in God’s providence a man might be rich without sin, but the coveting, the longing for wealth, at once exposed him to many a grave danger both to body and soul.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. And having food] Rather, but; the opposite, positive view of life. The words for ‘food’ and ‘raiment’ are both unused in N.T. except here; both are in the plural, indicating ‘supplies of,’ for each mouth to be fed, each household to be clothed.

raiment] A rather out-of-the-way word for ‘clothing,’ if we go by the use found once in Aristotle and once in Josephus, Ar. Pol. vii. 17; Jos. B. J. ii. 8. 5: literally, ‘covering;’ and so R.V., perhaps merely to keep an unusualness of phrase. But the meaning ‘shelter,’ tent or roof-covering, has been also assigned, from the root word having a more common turn towards this; and ‘covering’ may have been chosen to include this, if not to express it alone. But the immediate context in 1Ti_6:7 favours the reference to merely personal possessions such as dress.

let us be therewith content] The verb is future passive, we shall be therewith content, as R.V.; hardly an implied exhortation, but ‘we shall, if we are godly.’ This rendering is preferable to that in the margin of R.V. ‘in these we shall have enough’ from the similar use of the passive, Luk_3:14, ‘be content with your wages;’ Heb_13:5, ‘content with such things as ye have.’ The connexion of the word with ‘contentment’ above should also be maintained.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And having food and raiment,.... "Food" includes all things necessary to be ate and drank, of which there is a great variety, and is here expressed in the plural number; and "raiment" every necessary covering, as the word used signifies, and includes an habitation, which is a cover and shelter from the inclementencies of the weather. And now having all these comforts and necessaries of life, food to eat, and drink to extinguish thirst and refresh, raiment to put on, and a house to dwell in,

let us be therewith content: there is very good reason why the saints should be content; since more than these things cannot be enjoyed; and these they have with a blessing, and as a fruit and token of the love of God to them; these were all that Jacob desired, Agur petitioned for, and Christ directs his disciples daily to pray for; and which to have, is to have enough, a proper sufficiency and competency: the words may be rendered, "we shall be content with them"; which the apostle could say for himself, Timothy, and others, who had been content, even when they wanted these things. The Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions read, "we are content"; and the Syriac version, "food and raiment are sufficient for us"; and so the apostle sets himself, and others, as examples of contentment to be imitated and followed.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

Ver. 8. And having food and raiment] Houses are not named: for that then they were to stand ready to run from place to place, and to leave house and all behind them. Food and raiment, τροφην ου τρυφην, σκεπασματα ου κοσμηματα, as Isidore here elegantly observeth, Food not junkets, raiment not ornament; garments quasi guardments to guard us from the cold air. Nature is content with a little, grace with less; as, not to starve, not to thirst, μη ριγαν, μη διψαν, saith Galen; Cibus et potus sunt divitiae Christianorum, saith Jerome. Bread and water with the gospel are good cheer, saith another. Epicurus could say, that he would think himself as happy as might be, si aquam haberet et offam, if he could get but a morsel of meat and a mouthful of water. (Aelian.) This was strange from Epicurus. But Epicurei mihi videntur melius facere quam dicere, saith Cicero, Epicurus and his followers practised better than they held. (Cic. de Fin. it.) A little of the creature will serve turn to carry a man through his pilgrimage. Insaniae igitur damnandi sunt (saith Vives), qui tam multa tam anxie congerunt, quum sit tam paucis opus. He is little better than mad that heaps up such a deal, when far less will do the deed.

Let us be content] Gr. αρκεσθησομεθα. Let us have enough, let us count it enough, if we have necessaries (to maintain our state, and live like ourselves); though we have not superfluities, let it seem sufficient.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And having food and raiment - Food and raiment, here, seem to be used to denote supplies for our needs in general. It is not uncommon to denote the whole by a part, and, as these are the principal things which we really need, and without which life could not be sustained, the apostle uses the phrase to denote all that is really necessary for us. We cannot suppose that he would forbid a desire of a comfortable habitation, or of the means of knowledge, or of conveniences for worshipping God, etc. The idea is, that having those flyings which meet the actual necessities of our nature, and save us from distress, we should not strive after “uncertain riches,” or make wealth the object of our anxious pursuit; compare notes on Phi 4:11-12.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

If therefore God gives us any thing more than is necessary for us, let us take it thankfully, and use it for God’s glory; but if we have no more than is just necessary for us, let us not repine, or murmur, but be content, without murmuring against God, or using any undue means, out of an inordinate desire to get more.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

8. Food and raiment—Literally, nourishments and covering.

Let us be… content—Rather, we shall be sufficed. Wealth itself can afford us little more than these.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But for and, A.V; covering for raiment, A.V; ice shall be for let us be, A.V Food (diatrofav); here only in the New Testament, but common in the LXX, rare in classical Greek. Covering (skepasmata); also a apax legomenon in the New Testament, not found in the LXX, and rare in classical Greek. The kindred words, skeph and skepav, with their derivatives, are used of the covering or shelter of clothes, or tents, or houses. St. Paul may therefore have used an uncommon word in order to comprise the two necessaries of raiment and house, though Huther thinks this "more than improbable." The use of the word "covering" in the R.V seems designed to favor this double application. Ellicott thinks the word "probably only refers to clothing." Alford says, "Some take "covering" of both clothing and dwelling, perhaps rightly." If one knew where St. Paul got the word skepasmata from, one could form a more decided opinion as to his meaning. We shall be therewith content (ajrkesqhsomeqa). The proper meaning of ajrkeisqai followed by a dative is to be content (Luk_3:14; Heb_13:5) There is probably a covert hortative force in the use of the future here.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Covering - That is, raiment and an house to cover us. This is all that a Christian needs, and all that his religion allows him to desire.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Ver. 8. But (δὲ, contrasting the avaricious desires of some with what we actually need) if we have food and raiment, with these we shall be satisfied, or have sufficient; ἀρκεσθησόμεθα, fut. pass., we shall be sufficed, have all that we really need. Many, after Luther, among others our translators, have taken it in an imperative sense, which the future sometimes undoubtedly bears (Winer Gr. § 43. 5). But here it is best to retain the original form, as the apostle is indicating what, on the condition supposed, should be regarded as a fact. The two words employed in the conditional clause—διατροφὰς and σκεπάσματα—occur only here in the New Testament; and though the latter has sometimes been taken in the more general sense of covering, so as to include our dwellings as well as our clothes, yet the other is the more natural, as the apostle is speaking simply of what is proper to the individual man—to his proper life and being. In this sense it is taken by the ancient expositors, and is found also in Josephus (Wars, ii. 8. 5) and other writers (see in Robinson’s Lex.). If one, therefore, has these two essentials for the bodily life, more may be dispensed with; nature has the little it can do with; whatever besides is given may be thankfully received and found available to usefulness and comfort—only, not necessary.

Patrick Fairbairn — An Exposition of Ezekiel (1851), Jonah (1849), and The Pastoral Epistles (1874) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. Having food and raiment. Having the necessities of life let us be content without piling up wealth.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

8. διατροφάς. So אAL f; but διατροφήν is supported by D2GKP d g m and is given a place in Westcott and Hort’s margin.

8. ἔχοντες δὲ κ.τ.λ. But if we have food and raiment we shall be therewith content.

διατροφή is only found in the Greek Bible elsewhere at 1Ma 6:49, where it is in the singular. σκἑπασμα does not occur again in LXX. or N.T.; etymologically it might include shelter as well as clothing (as Philo explains, de Praem. 17, σκὲπης δὲ διττὸν εἷδος), but this would be to bring in an inappropriate idea here. Food and raiment are the two indispensable conditions of life, although the true ζωή is ‘more’ than even these (Mat 6:25). Josephus describes the Essenes (B. J. II. 8. 5) as ζωσαμένοι σκεπάσμασι λινοις; and also uses the word σκεπάσματα unmistakably in the sense of clothing, in Ant. xv. 9. 2.

ἀρκεσθησόμεθα is not imperatival, but future, with a slightly authoritative sense. Cp. Heb 13:5 ἀρκούμενοι τοῖς παροῦσιν, and Clem. Rom. (§ 2.) τοῖς ἐφοδίοις τοῦ θεοῦ ἀρκούμενοι.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8.] but (contrast to the avaricious, who forget this, or knowing it do not act on it: not as De W., = οὖν, which would be a direct inference from the preceding verse) having (if we have) food (the δια- gives the sense of ‘sufficient for our continually recurring wants,’—‘the needful supply of nourishment:’ the plur. corresponds to the plur. ἔχοντες, and implies ‘in each case’) and covering (some take it of both clothing and dwelling: perhaps rightly, but not on account of the plural: see above:—Chrys., al., of clothing only,—τοιαῦτα ἀμφιέννυσθαι, ἃ σκεπάσαι μόνον ἡμᾶς ὀφείλει καὶ περιστεῖλαι τὴν γύμνωσιν. These words occur together (Huther) in Sextus Empiricus ix. 1), with these (so ἀγαπάω, στέργω, χαίρω, &c. take a dative of the cause or object of the feeling. See ref. Luke, and Matthiæ, § 403) we shall be sufficiently provided (the fut. has an authoritative sense: so in Mat 5:48, and Xen. Hell. ii. 3. 34, cited by Huther, ὑμεῖς οὖν, ἐὰν σωφρονῆτε, οὐ τούτου, ἀλλʼ ὑμῶν φείσεσθε:—but is not therefore equivalent to an imperative, ‘let us be content:’ for its sense is not properly subjective but objective—‘to be sufficed,’ or ‘sufficiently provided:’ and it is passive, not middle).

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. διατροφάς] perhaps “throughout life” (διά), σκεπάσματα (“quibus tegamur,” Vulg.), clothing (cf. Gen 28:20 ἐὰν ὁ κύριος . . . δῷ μοι ἄρτον φαγεῖν καὶ ἱμάτιον περιβαλέσθαι: Diog. Laert. vi. 105 of the Cynics, αὑτάρκεσι χρώμενοι σιτίοις καὶ τρίβωσι) (Dibelius): perhaps also “shelter,” “homes”; cf. Ecclus 29:21 ʼαρχὴ ζωῆς ὕδωρ καὶ ἄρτος καὶ ἱμάτιον, καὶ ὀ͂κος καλύπτων ἀσχημοσύνην, and Philo, de Vita Cont., p. 477. 16, σκέπης διττὸν εἷδος τὸ μὲν ἐσθὴς τὸι δὲ οἰκία (Wetstein); Epict. Enchir. 33, τὸ περὶ τὸ σῶμα μέχρι τῆς ψιλῆς χρείας παραλάμβανε, οἷον τροφάς, πόμα, ἀμπεχόνην, οἰκίαν, οἰκετίαν, Marcus Aur. v. 6. 30, quoted on p. xvi.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Food [διατροφας] . N. T. o.

Raiment [σκεπασματα] . N. T. o. o LXX It means covering generally, though the reference is probably to clothing. von Soden aptly remarks that a dwelling is not a question of life with an Oriental.

Let us be content [αρκεσθησομεθα] . More correctly, we shall be content. Once in Pauls 2Co 12:9. A few times in LXX Comp. Ps. of Solomon 16 12 : "But with good will and cheerfulness uphold thou my soul; when thou strengthenest my soul I shall be satisfied [αρκεσει μοι] with what thou givest me."

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.