As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.
Paul's final charge in this letter is not aimed at people chasing money. It is aimed at those who already have it — the rich in this present age. He names two dangers that come with wealth. Then he sets one safe hope against them: God Himself, the generous Giver.
Rich in the Present Age
The phrase marks a time frame as much as a bank balance. Wealth belongs to this age only. That does not make poverty holy, but it does put the rich on notice.
William KellyYet nothing here gives fanatical credit to the clothing or habits of poverty. There is no pious avoiding of ordinary food or shelter among the homes of men. Still less is there a hint that a life shut away in a monastery is worth more... But those who are rich in the present age ("this present evil age," as the same apostle stamps it in Gal. 1:4) especially need to be on their guard. They must listen, not to the voice of flattery that is so often close at hand, but to the solemn warning of the Holy Spirit.
The First Danger: A High Mind
Money changes how a person sees himself. The verse warns the rich not to be haughty. One writer shows where that pride surfaces inside the church.
F. B. HoleHis words show first of all the dangers that come with having wealth. Wealth tends to breed high-mindedness. It turns the owner from trusting God to trusting money. The rich man of the world thinks highly of himself. He feels safe from the ordinary troubles and struggles that other people face. The wealthy Christian must not imagine that his money gives him the right to dominate the church of God and lord it over fellow believers.
The Second Danger: A Sandy Foundation
The verse points to "the uncertainty of riches." Money is not called dirty here. It is called unstable — and something unstable cannot carry a hope.
William KellySo the apostle warns first against high-mindedness. Next he warns against building one's hopes on the stability of what so quickly takes wings and flies away. The owner is so often called away from it in the middle of his own ambitious plans. "Uncertainty of riches" indeed: how true and how fitting!
Hope Fixed on the Living God
The verse does not stop at what to avoid. It names the alternative, and one writer links it to what rich believers should be reaching for.
F. B. HoleWe saw that trust in the living God is the very essence of godliness when we were looking at 1 Tim. 4:10. The expression occurs again in verse 17 here. Rich believers are to be godly. They are to bend their energies not to laying hold of larger things in this world but to laying hold of "eternal life," or "that which is really life." Real life is not found in money and the pleasures it buys but in the knowledge and service of God.
This trust also changes how rich and poor compare.
Hamilton SmithThe safeguard against these snares is found in trusting in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. However rich a man may be, he cannot buy the things that God gives. However poor, he can receive and enjoy what God gives.
Everything to Enjoy
The word enjoy rules out a grim, self-denying religion. One writer sets luxury and harsh self-denial side by side and finds the same root under both.
William KellyYou could not imagine a sentence that condemns the spirit of asceticism more completely. Strict self-denial looks better than the love of ease and luxury. But both are only forms of selfishness, however opposite they seem. Neither has the character of God, who has not left Himself without witness of His goodness toward men, even among the nations allowed to go their own ways.
Trust That Turns Into Giving
Real trust does not stay private. It begins to look like the God it rests on.
Leslie M. GrantWe must constantly exercise trust in the Living God, He who gives richly all things to enjoy. If this trust is real, then it will reflect His own character of unselfish giving. They were to do positive good with what they had: let them be rich in good works, not only in possessions.
Summary
- Trust misplaced — Wealth breeds high-mindedness and a false sense of safety. Money must not make a believer feel above other people.
- Trust exposed — Riches belong to the present age and are uncertain. They take wings and fly away, often in the middle of the owner's plans.
- Trust relocated — The cure is not less money but a new anchor: the living God. Trusting Him is the very essence of godliness.
- Trust rewarded — God gives richly to enjoy. Harsh self-denial is condemned as much as luxury, and the poorest believer receives what the richest cannot buy.
- Trust displayed — Real trust reflects the Giver. It makes the rich man rich in good works, not only in possessions.