Continuing the idea of being satisfied with one’s own condition or state, Paul now gives a reason why stress should not be put on the gathering of material wealth. The reason he gives is an appeal to a person’s conditions at birth and at death: at birth a person brings nothing into the world, at death a person takes nothing out of the world. If this is so, then the gathering of wealth beyond what one needs is meaningless. This way of talking about birth and death has parallels in Stoic philosophical thought that may have a direct influence on the verse itself. It should be noted, however, that the idea is quite similar to Job 1.21, “I was born with nothing, and I will die with nothing” (Good News Bible).

In the Greek this sentence is awkward, as shown in New Revised Standard Version “for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it.” There are many ways of dealing with the awkwardness created by “so that” (literally “that” or “because”) that links the two parts of the sentence. The first way is to change the text, and as the Revised Standard Version margin shows, there is indeed a variant reading that can be translated “it is certain that.” The textual evidence, however, points to this variant as a secondary reading, and therefore it should not be used in translation. The second way is to take the connective with the meaning “because,” hence “there is no sense in bringing anything into the world, because we shall not be able to take anything out.” A third way is to ignore the connective altogether, which is what many modern translations have done (in addition to Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, see New English Bible “We brought nothing into the world; for that matter we cannot take anything with us when we leave”; similar are Jerusalem Bible and Phillips). This Handbook recommends the third option for translators.

It should also be noted that the sentence is in the first person plural, which in this context is a way of speaking in an impersonal way, that is, referring to people in general. If this is a natural way in the receptor language, then it should be retained; in this case the pronoun would be translated as inclusive, to include both Paul and Timothy, and anyone else who will read the letter. It is possible, however, to change the first person into a third person if this is more natural in the receptor language; for example, “When people are born, they bring nothing into this world; when they die, they take nothing out of this world.”

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to Timothy. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1995. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .