But godliness with contentment is great gain.
Ironically, the false teacher would use godliness for gain while never receiving the gain of godliness. (See Proverbs 30:8 and Proverbs 15:16.) Poverty or wealth is not the key, but the spiritual blessings that come through godliness. The gain of godliness is contentment. A man who cannot be satisfied with what he has would never find it possible to be satisfied with what he wants (Ecclesiastes 5:10-11). MacKnight writes, "If the common translation is retained, the meaning will be that godliness makes a man contented, whatever his circumstances are; consequently it is great gain" (463).