1 Timothy 6:6 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

But godliness with contentment is great gain. — Here the Apostle changes the subject of his letter somewhat abruptly. The monstrous thought that these wordly men dare to trade upon his dear Master’s religion, dare to make out of his holy doctrine a gain — the hateful word suggests to him another danger, to which many in a congregation drawn from the population of a wealthy commercial city like Ephesus were hourly exposed. This is an admirable instance of the sudden change we often notice in the subject matter in the midst of St. Paul’s Epistles, of what has been aptly termed “going off at a word.” The reasoning in the writer’s mind was, probably — “these false men suppose godliness will be turned into gain.” Yes, though they were terribly mistaken, still there is a sense in which their miserable notion is true. True godliness is ever accompanied with perfect contentment. In this sense, godliness does bring along with it great gain to its possessor. “The heart,” says Wiesinger, “amid every outward want, is then only truly rich when it not only wants nothing which it has not, but has that which raises it above what it has not.”