The true riches
1 Timothy 6: 6-19 New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE September 28, 2025 Photo taken from above of a large family gathering at an outdoor dinner table. (Content warning: in a work of fiction, the death of a pet and suicide are briefly mentioned.) First off, a little Bible study and context. There is scholarly debate as to whether this is a letter written by Paul or written in Paul’s name. It’s a significant question. Either this letter is written while Paul is in prison, before the gospels were put to papyrus, or it was composed in the late 1st or early 2nd century, long after Paul was executed by the Romans. Like many of Paul’s letters, was it written to prepare people for the imminent return of Christ or did it have another purpose—to help Gentile followers of Christ cope with his delayed return by preserving the status quo? I’m going with the latter view, that it was written in Paul’s name. In that sense, this letter is written to all future generations of Ch...
