“Paul’s First Letter to Timothy — Gain is Godliness?"

In the midst of chapter 6 of 1 Timothy, the apostle exhorts his son in the faith to take very seriously the false teachers he will be encountering in his ministry.  Their teaching, he warns, entirely misses the point regarding God’s great work in this dispensation.  That work has been the subject of Paul’s teaching in chapter 3 where he calls it “the mystery of godliness”.   The false teachers were teaching a heresy that contradicted that teaching directly.  They were teaching that “gain is godliness”!  Oh, what a contrast that is and its danger toward believers should not be underestimated, he writes.  One of its most dangerous teachings was concerning “the love of money” which he writes is “the root of all evil”.  To to stand apart from all such teachings was critically important.  Finally, Paul exclaims that the virtues of the mystery of godliness working within Timothy must be received and brought forth “unto eternal life”.  Truly “gain is godliness’, for now and for eternity!