Passage

1 Timothy 6.12-13

Book: 1 Timothy · ASV

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"10. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil: which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 11. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness."

"12. Fight the good fight of the faith, lay hold on the life eternal, whereunto thou wast called, and didst confess the good confession in the sight of many witnesses. 13. I charge thee in the sight of God, who giveth life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed the good confession;"

"14. that thou keep the commandment, without spot, without reproach, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: 15. which in its own times he shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;" (1 Timothy 6:10-15, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"10. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some have been led astray from the faith in their greed, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 11. But you, man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness."

"12. Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you confessed the good confession in the sight of many witnesses. 13. I command you before God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate testified the good confession,"

"14. that you keep the commandment without spot, blameless, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ; 15. which in its own times he will show, who is the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;" (1 Timothy 6:10-15, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"10. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. ^{erred: or, been seduced} 11. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness."

"12. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. 13. I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession; ^{confession: or, profession}"

"14. That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: 15. Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;" (1 Timothy 6:10-15, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"10. for a root of all the evils is the love of money, which certain longing for did go astray from the faith, and themselves did pierce through with many sorrows; 11. and thou, O man of God, these things flee, and pursue righteousness, piety, faith, love, endurance, meekness;"

"12. be striving the good strife of the faith, be laying hold on the life age-during, to which also thou wast called, and didst profess the right profession before many witnesses. 13. I charge thee, before God, who is making all things alive, and of Christ Jesus, who did testify before Pontius Pilate the right profession,"

"14. that thou keep the command unspotted, unblameable, till the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15. which in His own times He shall shew, the blessed and only potentate, the King of the kings and Lord of the lords," (1 Timothy 6:10-15, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: Paul (per the letter's self-attribution) to Timothy
Audience: Timothy, Paul's apostolic delegate in Ephesus; the broader Ephesian church through Timothy
Location: Paul's location unknown (possibly Macedonia per 1 Tim 1:3); Timothy in Ephesus
Time period: composed c. AD 62-65, between Paul's first Roman imprisonment and the writing of 2 Timothy
Narrative context: the letter's climactic charge to Timothy. After dismantling false-teacher-greed (6:3-10) and exhorting Timothy to pursue righteousness (6:11), Paul issues the fight the good fight commission, anchored on Timothy's prior good confession (likely his baptismal or ordination confession) and paralleling it with Christ's own good confession before Pilate.

Theological reading

1 Timothy 6:12-13 is the foundational NT text on the good confession (hē kalē homologia) as a definite-content public-declaration that constitutes Christian and ministerial identity. The two occurrences of homologia in adjacent verses are calibrated: in v. 12, Timothy confessed the good confession in the sight of many witnesses (hōmologēsas tēn kalēn homologian enōpion pollōn martyrōn), naming a specific historical-public event in Timothy's life, almost certainly his baptismal-catechetical confession (perhaps also his ordination-to-ministry, since the contexts overlap in the early church). In v. 13, Christ before Pontius Pilate witnessed the good confession (epi Pontiou Pilatou tēn kalēn homologian), naming Christ's own public-declaration at the trial, the archetypal-paradigm kalē homologia that all subsequent Christian confession patterns itself after. The structure is theologically loaded: Christian confession is not invented by the believer but received-and-confessed; the model is Christ's own confession under pressure; the witnesses are God Himself ("in the sight of God") and Christ Himself ("in the sight of Christ Jesus"); and the commission to keep the commandment without spot (v. 14) follows the confessional-witness model: live the public-confession out until Christ's appearing (epiphaneia). The pastoral-epistolary deployment of kalē homologia anchors the early-church practice of baptismal-creedal confession that develops into the Old Roman Creed and ultimately the Apostles' Creed.

Key words

G3669 - homologia, homologia (Strong's G3669), the good confession; both NT occurrences of the noun in the Pastorals are here, anchoring the baptismal-creedal-confession tradition.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.