Lectionary Year C
September 30, 2001
I Tim 6:6-19

Step II: Disposition
STEP TWO

A. GENRE

(DH)Out of a section on parenetical instruction grows what seems to me somewhat like the "charge and benediction" that we are used to at the end of a worship service. First we are instructed by the writer what we ought to do (to witness) and who we ought to be (witnesses), then the writer launches into a hymnic description [on hymnic: also see: Bailey/Vander Broek: Literary Forms of the NT] about the character of God. Finally, he closes the section with "Amen!" Was this piece perhaps used in the liturgy of the early church? Is it a hymnic-charge-benediction-confession with which the worshippers responded to the word preached? And since the over-arching genre of 1 Timothy is that of "letter," does this letter perhaps function, or was used, as a liturgical piece that was read in worship? According to the article on 1 Timothy in the "Anchor Bible Dictionary," vv.11-16 might have functioned as a "traditional ordination charge." [vol. 6, p. 561; 565]

(JFC) This lection reads like an evangelical, almost fundamental, style sermon. It might even have a Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis, outline, with an obvious emphasis on the final part, instructing the recipient what to do, why to do it and when, where and with whom to do the doing, which itself is emphasized noticeably. The argument follows a right logical outline, logical for I Timothy, from what we've encountered so far in this series, now into its third week. Several of the clauses and phrases add emphasis to the declarations it expresses. Even the state-of-being verbs seem more powerful than usual. This statement is forceful and vigorous.


B. QUESTIONS AND OBSERVATIONS

(DH)- What does it mean to confess the good testimony (v.12)?
- Are these good witnesses the ones mentioned in The Book of Revelation? (cf. Rev 17:6; 14)
- The Greek word "zoogennaoo" interests me quite a bit! Is it somehow related to the "monogennaes" in the prologue of John's gospel, and if so, how?
- Is the "epiphany" mentioned in v. 14 related/equal to Jesus' "Second Coming" in the Book of Revelation?
- What are the "own critical hours" (Greek: kairois idiois) [v.15]?
- What does it mean to have "deathlessness" (Gr: athanasia) [v. 16]?
- What does "life in unapproachable light" look like [v.16]? Why employ such a metaphor, if we might not be able to make any sense of it?


(JFC) My first question asks about the identity of the wealthy. Who are they? Then, what is "the commandment" in verse 14 and why is it singular? Next, I have to wonder why the lection doesn't stop with verse 16's doxology and it, instead, returns to address again the subject of "the rich of this world"?

C. Organization

(JFC) The first three verses declare the initial Good News about the recipient's blessings of contentment. Thereafter, the following two verses (9 and 10) focus on the risk of avarice. Then, the next four verses (11-14) deliver imperatives to the recipient. Subsequently, verses 15f register several characteristics of God and Christ and the time of His coming (again). The last three verses make references to what the recipient is to say to the wealthy and why.

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