How to read this page

An Intertextuality Pair — one connection between two passages, shown as linked verse cards: the Later text and the Earlier text it quotes, alludes to or echoes. The Significance essay explains why the link matters and where it points in Christ.

Reference Type— how explicit the link is: Quotation, Allusion, or Echo
Connection Method(s)— how it carries meaning: e.g. Typology, Promise-Fulfillment, Analogy, Longitudinal Theme
Found via— where the connection was identified, e.g. the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge or an Anchor-Text Network

Graph View — tap the constellation icon in the top bar to see this page's connections as a web of light: gold points are passages, and the coloured threads are the connection types. Click any type in the graph's own legend to filter it in or out, and use the expand control for the full-screen night sky.

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Intertextuality Pair

1 Timothy 6:7 → Job 1:21

Echo

Later text

1 Timothy 6:7BSB

For we brought nothing into the world, so we cannot carry anything out of it.

Earlier text

Job 1:21BSB

saying: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD."

+ 2 more earlier texts

Earlier text

Psalm 49:16-17BSB

Do not be amazed when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases. For when he dies, he will carry nothing away; his abundance will not follow him down.

Earlier text

Ecclesiastes 5:14-16BSB

or wealth lost in a failed venture, so when that man has a son there is nothing to pass on. As a man came from his mother’s womb, so he will depart again, naked as he arrived. He takes nothing for his labor to carry in his hands. This too is a grievous evil: Exactly as a man is born, so he will depart. What does he gain as he toils for the wind?

Walk the Square · a single-voice walk of this pair around the Clowney square13:39

Significance

Paul appeals to a universally recognized wisdom principle about wealth's transitory nature ("we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out"), which has roots in OT wisdom literature (Job 1:21; Ps. 49:16-17; Eccles. 5:14-16) but was widespread in ancient ethical teaching across cultures. Rather than quoting any single source, Paul invokes a commonplace that provides rational support for his exhortations about contentment. The OT texts provide biblical foundation for this perspective, which had been thoroughly integrated into early Christian ethical teaching. This wisdom saying functions to relativize material wealth concerns by reminding readers that possessions have no ultimate significance—we arrive and depart this life empty-handed—thus preparing for Paul's warnings about the spiritual dangers of loving money and pursuing riches.

Found via: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Echo
Connection Method(s): Analogy