6:11–16 · What makes Timothy wealthy:As far back as the Letter to the Philippians, Paul expressed his trust in Timothy’s ability to model Christian truth (2:19–24). Certainly Paul is worried about whether Timothy will have the boldness to fight the powerful—some in social status, some in eloquence—opponents in Ephesus. Nonetheless, Paul’s instructions to Timothy about the life he is to lead indicate his confidence that in Timothy’s character, the Ephesian church will find an antidote to the greed and power-grabbing that is plaguing them. Paul tells Timothy to flee the entrapment of greed that is crippling the Ephesian church. He instructs Timothy to pursue a range of virtues to display what “godliness with contentment” (see 6:6)—in a word, what living in Christ—looks like (6:11).

Timothy…