ACC ~ 1 Timothy 6 v11 - 16

OVERVIEW:

The life of the believer is directed toward future rewards, not present pleasures. For such a person rejects the love of money, stands fast in the profession of faith, refuses to be intimidated by earthly powers and places all hope in God who is incomprehensible in his majesty (CHRYSOSTOM). The essence of Christian living is the struggle for the truth of faith, a struggle in which the rejection of earthly pleasures is uppermost (PELAGIUS). Carefully attend to those stirrings in the soul that predominate in prayer (ISAAC OF NINEVEH). Do not let other interests divert you from the central combat (ATHANASIUS, CHRYSOSTOM, AMBROSE). You are about to enter a noble contest in which the Holy Spirit is your trainer, whose crown is eternity, whose prize is citizenship in heaven (TERTULLIAN). One does not first set out to become a martyr but holds fast to the good confession by deeds, knowing that it will be confirmed by the angels (ORIGEN).

God is alive and immortal in a more complete way than any creature or soul is alive and immortal (ORIGEN, AMBROSE, GREGORY OF NYSSA, AUGUSTINE). The soul images God’s incorruptibility (METHODIUS). Charity does not most love what is corruptible (ORIGEN). Recall your baptismal confession (JOHN OF DAMASCUS) and the confession of the saints you have known (BASIL). The one who is King of kings is the same one who voluntarily lowers his rank to become a Father to orphans and a Judge to widows (GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS, CHRYSOSTOM). Seek to behold in mental contemplation the One whom you entreat, so as to realize what sort of person you should be in offering yourself prostrate before him (CASSIODORUS). It was the Son who gave visibility to the invisible Father (TERTULLIAN). God is seen not in his substance (AUGUSTINE, PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS) but in manifestation in the flesh of Christ (CHRYSOSTOM, AUGUSTINe).

God is beyond our comprehension (CHRYSOSTOM). Yet the inaccessible light in which God dwells shines upon us (AMBROSe) in the life of love (AUGUSTINE). God’s light is said to be inaccessible in its unique and almighty nature, but when the grace of God pours forth, we both approach him and obtain blessed enlightenment (CASSIODORUS).

6:11a | Man of God

CLOSE TO SPIRITUAL THINGS. ISAAC OF NINEVEH: Strive to discover stirrings that are good during the time of prayer, as the wise do. These consist in reflection on the Spirit’s insights and sagacious thought, and consideration during the time of prayer of how to please the will of the Maker of all. This is the final end of all virtue and of all prayer. When in these matters you receive the power that stems from grace to be bound firmly to their continual stirrings, you will become a “man of God” and will be close to spiritual things. INSTRUCTIONS FOR MONKS, SECOND PART.

6:11b | Shun All This

FREEDOM OF THE HEART. AUGUSTINE: “As for you, man of God, flee from these things.” You see, he didn’t just say, “Leave and forsake,” but “Flee from,” as from an enemy. You were trying to flee with gold; flee from gold instead. Let your heart flee from it, and your use of it need have no worries. Do without greed; don’t do without concern for others. There’s something you can do with gold, if you’re its master, not its slave. If you’re the master of gold, you can do good with it; if you’re its slave, it can do evil with you. SERMONS 177.3.

6:12a | Fight the Good Fight

DO NOT BE DIVERTED. AMBROSE: Let godliness move you to justice, continence, gentleness, that you may avoid childish acts, and that rooted and grounded in grace you may fight the good fight of faith. Do not entangle yourself in the affairs of this life, for you are fighting for God. For he who fights for the emperor is forbidden by human laws to enter upon lawsuits or do any legal business or sell merchandise. How much more ought he who enters upon the warfare of faith to keep away from every kind of business. Let him be satisfied with the produce of his own little bit of land, if he has it. If he has not that, let him be content with the pay he will get for his service. DUTIES OF THE CLERGY 1.36.184.

SUFFERING PERSECUTION. ATHANASIUS: In another place the apostle says, “And all those who will live godly lives in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” Then, to help prevent people from renouncing godliness when they are persecuted, he urges them to cling to the faith. “You, therefore, continue in the things you have learned and been assured of.” Just as brothers become strongly knit together when one helps another, so faith and godliness, coming from the same family, cohere together. A person who gives his attention to one of the two is strengthened by the other. Consequently, wishing Timothy to live godly to the end and to fight the battle in faith, St. Paul says, “Fight the good fight of faith, and lay hold on eternal life.” FESTAL LETTERS 9.

6:12b | When You Made the Good Confession

FAITHFULNESS TO THE GOOD CONFESSION. ORIGEN: For the angels, as it were, have charge over our souls, to whom “while we are still children we are committed,” as it were, “to tutors and governors until the time appointed by the father.” And they, therefore, now say about the progress of each of us, “Now I know that you fear God.” Suppose, for example, I intend to be a martyr. An angel could not say to me on this basis, “Now I know that you fear God,” for an intention of the mind is known to God alone. But if I shall undertake the struggles, if I shall utter a “good confession,” if I shall bear calmly all things which are inflicted. Then an angel can say, as if confirming and strengthening me, “Now I know that you fear God.” HOMILIES ON GENESIS 8.8.

THE CHRISTIAN ATHLETE. TERTULLIAN: In like manner, O blessed, consider whatever is hard in your present situation as an exercise of your powers of mind and body. You are about to enter a noble contest in which the living God acts the part of superintendent and the Holy Spirit is your trainer, a contest whose crown is eternity, whose prize is angelic nature, citizenship in heaven for ever and ever. TO THE MARTYRS 3.3.

MAINTAIN YOUR ORIGINAL VOWS. BASIL THE GREAT: Recall your glorious profession which you made before God, the angels and men. Remember the august company, the holy chorus of virgins, the assembly of the Lord and the church of saints. Call to mind also your grandmother, old in Christ but still young and strong in virtue, and your mother, vying with her in the Lord and striving by new and unusual toils to destroy former habits. Remember also your sister, who is likewise both imitating and aspiring to surpass them, and who by the advantage of her virginity is outstripping the virtuous actions of her elders and is industriously summoning, both by word and by life, you her sister, as she thought, to a contest of like eagerness. Recall these, and also the angelic chorus singing with them to God, the spiritual life in the flesh and the heavenly life on earth. LETTERS 46, TO A FALLEN VIRGIN.

6:14 | Free from Reproach

SPIRITUAL COMBAT. CHRYSOSTOM: There is need not only of profession but of patience also to persevere in that profession, and of vehement contention, and of numberless toils, that you be not overthrown. … It is necessary therefore to be self-collected and well belted in on every side. All around appear pleasures attracting the eyes of the soul. Those of beauty, of wealth, of luxury, of indolence, of glory, of revenge, of power, of dominion, and these are all fair and lovely in appearance, and able to captivate those who are unsteady and who do not love the truth. HOMILIES ON 1 TIMOTHY 17.

6:15a | The Blessed and Only Sovereign

THE SOVEREIGN SON INSEPARABLE FROM THE FATHER. AMBROSE: When I speak of the Father, I do not make separation of the Son, because the Son is in the bosom and the solitude of the Father. When I speak of the Son alone, I also associate the Father, even as the Son also associated him, saying, “Behold the hour is coming for you to leave me alone. But I am not alone, because the Father is with me.” In this way is the Father called “the blessed and only Sovereign”—in such a way that the Son, who is always in the Father, is not separated from him. THE PRAYER OF JOB AND DAVID 2.4.15.

6:15b | King of Kings and Lord of Lords

A KING TO KINGS, YET LOWLY. CHRYSOSTOM: When someone sees resplendent lords of rank, kings, leaders and all those who appear prominent in wealth, to them he speaks in fearful words. Their dynasties are advantaged by his fear. Yet “now, kings, understand; be instructed, all you who judge the earth; serve the Lord with fear and rejoice in him with trembling,” because “he is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.” Wherever the mighty rules, God threatens with the fear of his kingdom. Yet wherever the worthless are humbled, God offers the medicine of his clemency. For this God is a great King to those who reign and a Lord to those who exercise lordship. Again, the very same one lowers his rank and is found, according to holy Scripture, to be a Father to orphans and a Judge to widows, a King to kings, a Leader to leaders, a Lord to lords. ON REPENTANCE AND ALMSGIVING 7.3.9.

THE ECONOMY OF TITLES. GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS: God’s other titles fall into two distinct groups. The first group belongs to his power, the second to his providential ordering of the world, a twofold providential ordering—involving, and not involving, incarnation. Clear cases of titles which belong to his power are … “King” of “rulers” and “Lord of the masters.” … For since we are controlled by three conditions—fear of punishment, hope for salvation and glory too, and the practice of the virtues which result in these last—the name which mentions retribution deals with fear. The one which mentions salvation with hope, and that which refers to virtues, disciplines us to practice them. The intention is that by, as it were, carrying God inside him, one may have some success here and press on all the harder to perfection, toward that affinity with God which comes from the virtues. Orations 30.19.

TO BEHOLD IN MENTAL CONTEMPLATION. CASSIODORUS: Prayer itself must come from a humble, meek, pure heart. It must confess its sins without making excuses. In the course of bitter tears it will show trust in the most sweet pity of the Lord. It must not seek earthly aims but desire heavenly ones. It must be sequestered from desires of the body and attach itself solely to the divine. In short, it must be wholly spiritual, bestowing nothing but tears on the flesh. Insofar as it is lawful, seek to behold in mental contemplation him whom you entreat and then you realize what sort of person you should be in offering yourself prostrate before him. He is, as Paul says, “the blessed and only Mighty, the King of kings and Lord of lords.” EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 141, CONCLUSION.

BAPTISMAL FAITH. JOHN OF DAMASCUS: He, the framer of all creation and maker of our race, became man for our sake, and coming from a holy Virgin’s womb, on earth conversed with men. For us ungrateful servants the master endured death, even the death of the cross, that the tyranny of sin might be destroyed, that the former condemnation might be abolished, that the gates of heaven might be open to us again. In this way he has exalted our nature, and set it on the throne of glory, and granted to them that love him an everlasting kingdom and joys beyond all that tongue can tell or ear can hear. He is the mighty and the only potentate, King of kings and Lord of lords, whose might is invincible and whose lordship is beyond comparison. He alone is holy and dwells in holiness, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit is glorified. Into this faith I have been baptized. BARLAAM AND IOASAPH 24.211.

6:16a | Who Alone Has Immortality

GOD’S IMMORTALITY UNIQUE. ORIGEN: To be fully alive belongs to God, more fully than to any creature. The apostle considered the superiority of the life of God to be beyond comparison. It is with this in mind that Scripture says “Surely as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord.” This is God, “Who alone has immortality,” because none of the living beings with God has the life whose aliveness is absolutely unchangeable and immutable. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 2.123.

SHARED WITH THE SON. AMBROSE: How could the Son not have immortality who has life in himself? He has it in his nature. He has it in his essential Being. God has it not as a temporal grace but owing to his eternal Godhead. He has it not by way of a gift as a servant but by peculiar right of his generation, as the coeternal Son. He has life in the same way that the Father has life. OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 5.2.35.

THE SON IS THE IMMORTALITY. GREGORY OF NYSSA: But we, even when we are told that God “only has immortality,” we understand by “immortality” the Son. For life is immortality, and the Lord is that life, who said, “I am the Life.” And if he is said to dwell “in the light that no man can approach,” again we make no difficulty in understanding that the true Light, unapproachable by falsehood, is the Only-begotten, in whom we learn from the Truth itself that the Father is. Are we to think of the Only-begotten in a manner worthy of the Godhead, or to call him, as heresy prescribes, perishable and temporary? AGAINST EUNOMIUS 2.4.

THE UNCHANGEABLE IS IMMORTAL. AUGUSTINE: Already you have told me, O Lord, by means of a loud voice in my interior ear, that you are eternal, alone possessing immortality, since you change in relation neither to any form nor to motion. Your will is not altered in regard to periods of time, because no will is immortal if it is now one way and now another. In your sight this is clear to me. May it become more and more clear, I pray, and may I continue to live soberly under your protecting wings, within the influence of this revelation. CONFESSIONS 12.11.11.

THE SOUL ONLY RELATIVELY IMMORTAL. AUGUSTINE: I am doing the right thing in taking my time over this question [about the origin of the soul], because I have no doubt at all that the soul is immortal, not as God is, “Who only has immortality,” but in a certain way according to its own nature, and that it is a created being, not the substance of the Creator: this I hold most firmly, as well as all other truths about the nature of the soul. LETTERS 143.1.7.

GOD’S IMMORTALITY DISTINGUISHED FROM THE SOUL’S. AUGUSTINE: So if God alone has immortality, is the soul mortal? That’s why I said the soul is immortal after its own fashion. You see, it can also die. Your graces must try to understand, and then the problem will be solved. I make bold to say, the soul can die, can be killed. Certainly it’s immortal. So there you are; I make bold to say it is both immortal in one sense and capable of being killed in another sense. And that’s why I said there is a kind of immortality, that is to say, an absolute and total unchangeableness, which God alone has, as it says of him, “Who alone has immortality.” SERMONS 65.4.

6:16b | Dwells in Unapproachable Light

CHARITY DOES NOT LOVE THE CORRUPTIBLE. ORIGEN: We must understand, therefore, that this charity, which God is, in whoever it exists loves nothing earthly, nothing material, nothing corruptible. It is against its nature to love anything corruptible, seeing that it is itself the fount of incorruption. For, because God, “who only has immortality and inhabits light inaccessible,” is charity, it is charity alone that possesses immortality. COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS, PROLOGUE 2.28.

THE SOUL IMAGES GOD’S INCORRUPTIBILITY. METHODIUS: For the unbegotten and incorporeal beauty, which neither begins nor is corruptible but is unchangeable and grows not old and is in need of nothing, he resting in himself and in the very light which is in unspeakable and inapproachable places, embracing all things in the circumference of his power, creating and arranging, made the soul after the image of his image. Therefore, also, it is reasonable and immortal. THE BANQUET OF THE TEN VIRGINS 6.1.

BEYOND COMPREHENSION. CHRYSOSTOM: And pay heed to the accuracy with which Paul speaks. He did not say, “Who is an unapproachable light” but “Who dwells in unapproachable light.” Why? So that you may learn that if the dwelling is unapproachable, so much more so is the God that dwells in it. But Paul did not say this to make you suspect that there is a house or place surrounding God. Rather, he wished you to have a deeper and superior knowledge that God is beyond our comprehension. … A thing is unapproachable which, from the start, cannot be investigated nor can anyone come near to it. We call the sea incomprehensible because, even when divers lower themselves into its waters and go down to a great depth, they cannot find the bottom. We call that thing unapproachable which, from the start, cannot be searched out or investigated. ON THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE NATURE OF GOD 3.2.

CREATION BY MEANS OF LIGHT. AMBROSE: There would be no purpose in the world if it were not seen. In fact, God himself was in the light, because he “dwells in light inaccessible,” and he “was the true light that enlightens every man who comes into the world.” But he wishes the light to be such as might be perceived by mortal eyes. The person who desires to erect a house as a fitting habitation for the head of a family determines first how it may receive light abundantly before he lays the foundation. This is the first requisite. If this is lacking, the whole house is without beauty and is uninhabitable. It is light which sets off the other beautiful objects in the house. SIX DAYS OF CREATION 1.9.33.

GOD IS LIGHT. GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS: God is light: the highest, the unapproachable, the ineffable, that can neither be conceived in the mind nor uttered with the lips, that gives life to every reasoning creature. He is in the world of thought what the sun is in the world of sense; presenting himself to our minds in proportion as we are cleansed; and loved in proportion as he is presented to our mind; and again, conceived in proportion as we love him; himself contemplating and comprehending himself and pouring himself out on what is external to him. That light, I mean, which is contemplated in the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, whose riches is their unity of nature and the one out-leaping of their brightness. ORATIONS 40.5.

SEEN WITH THE EYES OF THE HEART. AUGUSTINE: If you ask whether he can also be seen at any time as he is, I answer that this was promised to his sons, of whom it is said, “We know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” If you ask by what means we shall see him, I answer: as the angels see, for we shall then be equal to them, as the angels see those things which are called visible; but no one has ever seen God nor can see him, because “he inhabits light inaccessible,” and his nature is invisible as it is immortal. LETTERS 147.15.37.

CHARITY THE EYES OF THE HEART. AUGUSTINE: This, then, is charity, however small a thing it appears to us, as it inheres in our will; “it is not seen in any locality, nor sought by bodily eyes, nor limited by our sight, nor held by touch, nor heard by its utterance, nor perceived in its approach.” How much more true this is of God, of whom charity is the pledge within us! If our interior man is an image of him—insignificant, indeed—not begotten of him but created by him, and, although it is still renewed day by day, it now dwells in such light that no faculty of corporeal sight comes near to it, and if those things which we perceive with the eyes of the heart by means of that light are distinguished from each other and separated by no intervals of space, how much more is this true of God, who inhabits light inaccessible to the bodily senses, to whom there can be no approach except for the clean of heart! LETTERS 147.18.44.

ENLIGHTENED BY THE LIGHT. CASSIODORUS: Since Paul says, “Only he that has immortality and inhabits inaccessible light,” how can the psalmist say here, “Come to him, and be enlightened? But the problem is solved by this brief statement of the truth: his light is said to be inaccessible when the unique and almighty nature of its substance is described; but when the grace of the sacred Godhead pours forth, we both approach him and obtain blessed enlightenment. EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 33.6.

6:16c | Whom No One Has Ever Seen or Can See

GOD INVISIBLE AND GOD VISIBLE. TERTULLIAN: There is a certain emphatic saying by John, “No man has seen God at any time”; meaning, of course, at any previous time. But he has indeed taken away all question of time, by saying that God has never been seen. The apostle confirms this statement. For, speaking of God, he says, “Whom no man has seen, nor can see,” because the man indeed would die who should see him. But the very same apostles testify that they had both seen and “handled” Christ. Now, if Christ is himself both the Father and the Son, how can he be both the Visible and the Invisible? … It is evident that he was always seen from the beginning, who became visible in the end; and that he, on the contrary, was not seen in the end who had never been visible from the beginning; and that accordingly there are two—the Visible and the Invisible. It was the Son, therefore, who was always seen. … For the Father acts by mind and thought, while the Son, who is in the Father’s mind and thought, gives effect and form to what he sees. AGAINST PRAXEAS 15.

GOD IS SEEN IN CONTEMPLATION. CHRYSOSTOM: But if Paul said elsewhere, “God was manifested in the flesh,” do not wonder, because the manifestation took place in the flesh, not in his substance. Furthermore, Paul also testified here that God himself was invisible, not only to men but also to the powers above. Having said “was manifested in the flesh,” he added, “he appeared to angels.” Thus he became visible to the angels as well, at the time when he put on the flesh. … Similarly, when he said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,” he was speaking of mental vision—which is within our power—and also of thought about God, so, likewise, it may be said of the angels that by reason of their pure and constant nature, they continually think of nothing else but God. . . .Therefore, just as he has been seen by many, in whatever way vision of him was possible for them, but no one has ever beheld his essence, so also we all now know God, but no one knows his substance, whatever it is, except only he who has been begotten from him. HOMILIES ON JOHN 15.1-2.

GOD IS SEEN IN THE MIND AND HEART. AUGUSTINE: God, Father Son and Holy Spirit, is in his own proper nature invisible. But he has appeared when he wished and to whom he wished; not as he is but in whatever way he wished, being served after all by all creation. If your mind, though it is invisible in your body, can appear by uttering your voice, and the voice in which your mind appears when you speak is not the substance of your mind, it means that mind is one thing and voice another, and yet mind becomes apparent in a thing which in itself is not. So too God, if he appeared in fire, is all the same not fire; if he appeared in smoke, still he isn’t smoke; if he appeared in a sound, he isn’t a sound. These things are not God, but they indicate God. If we bear this in mind, we may safely believe that it could have been the Son who appeared to Moses and was called both Lord and angel of the Lord. SERMONS 7.4.

SO BRIGHT THAT IT IS DARK. PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS: The divine darkness is that “unapproachable light” where God is said to live. And if it is invisible because of a superabundant clarity, if it cannot be approached because of the outpouring of its transcendent gift of light, yet it is here that is found everyone worthy to know God and to look upon him. And such a one, precisely because he neither sees him nor knows him, truly arrives at that which is beyond all seeing and all knowledge. LETTERS 5.

KEEP THE TRUST

OVERVIEW: Riches are inherently unstable, whereas eternal life is essentially enduring. The only way to this eternal life is through faith that leads to virtue and not by the fleeting esoteric knowledge that some claim to possess (CHRYSOSTOM). If you should attempt to throw over wealth a thousand chains, it will find a route of running away, dragging the chains after it (CHRYSOSTOM). Riches make humility all the harder (AUGUSTINE). Riches are like a disease (AUGUSTINE) or like a gnawing worm (CAESARIUS). Nothing is ours except that which is possessed by the heart, which clings to the soul and can never be taken away by anyone (JOHN CASSIAN).

Timothy’s task is to remain faithful to the teachings entrusted to him by his master, Paul (TERTULLIAN, AMBROSIASTER). The greatest gifts God gives are held in common (CHRYSOSTOM). The rich stand in more uncertainty than the poor, experiencing frequent vulnerabilities (CHRYSOSTOM, AUGUSTINE). Those who give generously enjoy great gains to compensate them for light losses (AUGUSTINE, LEO, CAESARIUS). Without this comfort there is more grief than consolation to be found in earthly comforts, whatever they may be (AUGUSTINE).

The faith once delivered to the saints is the same faith held universally in all cultures by all believers of all times and places (VINCENT). The deposit is variously interpreted as the public teaching of the kerygma (TERTULLIAN) or the divine image in the soul (ORIGEN) or the rule of faith (NICETAS). The deposit is that which is committed to you, not that which is invented by you; not of private assumption but of public tradition (LEO, VINCENT). Heresy took firmer form only after the first generation of apostles died (EUSEBIUS).

6:17a | Not to Be Haughty

WEALTH A FAITHLESS SLAVE. CHRYSOSTOM: For nothing is so faithless as wealth; of which I have often said, and will not cease to say, that it is a runaway, thankless servant, having no fidelity. If you should throw over him the thousand chains, he will make off dragging his chains after him. Frequently, indeed, have those who possessed wealth shut him up with bars and doors, placing their slaves round about for guards. But he has overpersuaded these very servants and has fled away together with his guards, dragging his keepers after him as if in a manacle, so little security was there in this custody. HOMILIES CONCERNING THE STATUES 2.4.

HUMILITY IS THE KEY. AUGUSTINE: Praise to the rich if they remain humble. Praise the rich for being poor. The one who writes to Timothy wants them to be like that, when he says, “Order the rich of this world not to be haughty in mind.” I know what I am saying: give them these orders. The riches they have are whispering persuasively to them to be proud; the riches they have make it very hard for them to be humble. SERMONS 14.2.

THE DISEASE OF RICHES. AUGUSTINE: It wasn’t riches he was in dread of, but the disease of riches. The disease of riches is great pride. A grand spirit it is indeed, that in the midst of riches is not prone to this disease, a spirit greater than its riches, surpassing them not by desiring but by despising them. SERMONS 36.2.

RICHES A THING INDIFFERENT. JOHN CASSIAN: Riches are understood in a threefold way in holy Scripture—that is, as bad, good and indifferent. … The indifferent are those which can be either good or bad, since they can tend either way depending on the desire and the character of those who use them. The blessed apostle says with regard to these, “Charge the rich of this world not to be haughty or to hope in uncertain riches but in God, who gives us everything abundantly to enjoy, to do good, to give freely, to share, to store up for themselves a good foundation in the future, so that they may seize the true life.” … When we abandon the visible riches of this world, then, we reject not our own but others’ wealth, even though we boast either of having acquired it by our own labor or of having inherited it from our ancestors. For, as I have said, nothing is ours except this one thing, which is possessed by the heart, which clings to the soul and which can never be taken away by anyone. CONFERENCES 3.9.1, 3; 10.1.

THE GNAWING WORM. CAESARIUS OF ARLES: Pride is the first worm of riches; it is a harmful gnawing worm which gnaws at everything and reduces it to ashes. “Charge the rich of this world not to be proud, or to trust in the uncertainty of riches,” lest perhaps one goes to sleep as a rich man and arises a poor man. SERMONS 153.3.

6:17b | God Richly Furnishes Us with Everything

DIVINE LIBERALITY. CHRYSOSTOM: The rich man stands in more uncertainty than the poor man, experiencing, as he does, frequent and diversified changes. What is the sense of this phrase: “Hope in God who richly furnishes us with everything to enjoy”? God gives all things with liberality that are more necessary than riches: the air, the water, the fire, the sun—all things of this kind. The rich man is not able to say that he enjoys more of the sunbeams than the poor man. He is not able to say that he breathes more plenteous air. These are offered to all alike. It is the greater and more necessary blessings, and those which maintain our life, that God has given to all in common. The smaller and less valuable (I speak of money) are not thus common. HOMILIES CONCERNING THE STATUES 2.6.

6:18 | To Be Rich in Good Deeds, Liberal and Generous

THE JOY OF GIVING. AUGUSTINE: Those who have given liberally of their riches have had great gains to compensate them for light losses. Their joy at what they assured for themselves more securely by readiness to give outweighed their sadness at the surrender of possessions they more easily lost because they clung to them fearfully. Reluctance to remove their goods from this world exposed them to the risk of loss. There were those who accepted the Lord’s advice: “Do not store your treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. Pile up treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Such people proved in the time of tribulation how wise they were in not despising the finest of advisers and the most faithful and unconquerable guardian of treasure. THE CITY OF GOD 1.10.2.

VIRTUE FOR THE WEALTHY. CAESARIUS OF ARLES: Whenever we talk about contempt for riches, some rich man replies to me: I have learned not to hope in the uncertainty of riches; I do not want to be rich, lest I fall into temptation; but since I am rich already, what am I to do with the possessions which I now happen to have? The apostle continues, “Let them give readily, sharing with others.” What does it mean to share with others? To share your possessions with the man who does not have any. Therefore, if you begin to share with others, you will not be that plunderer and robber who broods over the wants of the poor as over the property of another. SERMONS 182.2.

THE COST OF THE KINGDOM. LEO THE GREAT: Let those who want Christ to spare them have compassion for the poor. Let those who desire a bond with the fellowship of the blessed be “readily disposed” toward nourishing the wretched. No human being should be considered worthless by another. The nature which the Creator of the universe made his own should not be looked down upon in anyone. SERMONS 9.2.

6:19 | The Life That Is Life Indeed

THIS TRUE LIFE. AUGUSTINE: Through love of this true life you ought to consider yourself desolate in this world, no matter what happiness you enjoy. That is the true life in comparison with which this other, which is so much loved, is not to be called life, however pleasant and prolonged it may be. Similarly, that is the true comfort which God promised by the prophet saying, “I will give them true comfort, peace upon peace.” Without this comfort there is more grief than consolation to be found in earthly comforts, whatever they may be. LETTERS 130.2.3.

6:20a | Guard What Has Been Entrusted to You

THE PUBLIC TEACHING. TERTULLIAN: Nothing that was proclaimed before many witnesses could be kept secret. Nor can they [the Gnostic heretics] interpret as evidence of some hidden gospel Paul’s desire that Timothy should entrust “these things to faithful men, fit to teach others.” “These things” meant the things of which he was then writing. To refer to things hidden in their minds he would have said “those,” as of something absent, not “these.” PRESCRIPTIONS AGAINST HERETICS 25.

THE DEPOSIT OF THE DIVINE IMAGE IN THE SOUL. ORIGEN: What is “the deposit” that each one of the faithful receives? For my part I think that we receive our soul itself and the body as a deposit from God. And do you want to see another greater “deposit” that you received from God? God entrusted “his own image and likeness” to your own soul. That deposit, therefore, must be restored by you just as intact as it was received by you. For if you are merciful, “as your Father in heaven is merciful,” the image of God is in you and you preserve the “deposit” intact. If you are perfect, “as your Father in heaven is perfect,” the deposit of God’s image remains in you. In like manner, in all other things, if you are pious, if you are just, if you are holy, if you are “pure in heart,” and if all things which are present in God through nature remain in you by imitation, “the deposit” of the divine image is safe within you. HOMILIES ON LEVITICUS 4.3.

CORRECT BELIEF ABOUT CHRIST. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: I have many other testimonies from holy Scripture to the fact that the kingdom of Christ endures throughout all ages. But I will content myself with what I have said, because the day wears on. And do you, my hearers, worship him alone as king, and flee every misguided heresy. … Flee the false Christ, and look for the true. You have been taught the way to be among those on his right hand at the judgment. Retain “that which is committed to you” concerning Christ, and be adorned with good works. So you will stand with a good courage before the Judge and thereafter inherit the kingdom of heaven. CATECHETICAL LECTURES 15.33.

FAITH IN THE TRINITY. NICETAS OF REMESIANA: Make strong in your hearts, my brothers, this faith in the Trinity, believing in one God the Father Almighty and in his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, and in the Holy Spirit, the true light and sanctifier of souls, who is the pledge of our inheritance, who will lead us, if we will but follow, into all truth and will make us one with the citizens of heaven. This rule of faith the apostles received from the Lord. … May this faith remain in you. O beloved, “keep that which is committed to your trust, avoiding profane novelties of words and oppositions of knowledge falsely so called.” EXPLANATION OF THE CREED 8.

THE MESSAGE OF GRACE. JEROME: The apostle labors, and, although he has lived blameless, according to the justice that is from the law, he counts everything as worthless for Christ, that he may be found in Christ, not having his own justice which is from the law but that which is from the faith of Christ, from God. … Therefore, we are saved, not by the power of the free will but by the mercy of God. And, lest you think that the truth of faith can be subverted by vain argumentations which raise questions in the minds of the hearers, the same apostle writes to Timothy, “O Timothy, guard the trust and keep free from profane novelties in speech and the contradictions of so-called knowledge, which some have promised and have fallen away from the faith.” For the goodness and mercy of our Savior have saved us, not by reason of good works that we did ourselves but according to his mercy, in order that, justified by his grace, we may be heirs in the hope of life everlasting. AGAINST THE PELAGIANS 2.10.

THE PUBLIC LEGACY. LEO THE GREAT: What is meant by “the deposit”? That which is committed to you, not that which is invented by you. That which you have received, not that which you have devised. A thing not of wit but of learning; not of private assumption but of public tradition; a thing brought to you, not brought forth by you; wherein you must not be an author but a keeper; not a leader but a follower. Keep the deposit. SERMONS 85.3.

THE HEAVENLY HIERARCHY. PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS: And you, my child, must follow the recommendations of our hierarchic tradition. Listen carefully to the things sacredly said and be inspired by them in an initiation into inspired things. Keep these holy truths a secret in your hidden mind. Guard their unity safe from the multiplicity of what is profane, for, as Scripture says, you must not throw before swine that pure, shining and splendid harmony of the conceptual pearls. THE CELESTIAL HIERARCHY 2.5.

6:20b | Godless Chatter Falsely Called Knowledge

FALSE GNOSIS. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Pride and opinionated views have corrupted philosophy. In the same way, false knowledge, though it bears the same name, has corrupted true knowledge. The apostle writes of it, saying, “Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you. Avoid the godless chatter and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge, for by professing it some have missed the mark as regards the faith.” Because this verse exposes them, the heretics regard the letters to Timothy as inauthentic. Well, if the Lord is “truth” and “the wisdom and power of God,” as in fact he is, it would be demonstrated that the true knower is the one who has come to know Son and his Father through him. STROMATA 2.11.52.5-7.

GOING INTO THE WAY OF THE GENTILES. ORIGEN: To go into the way of the Gentiles is to adopt some Gentile teaching which is foreign to the “Israel of God” and to walk according to it. And to enter a city of the Samaritans is to be engaged in some knowledge falsely so-called of those who claim to devote themselves to the words of the law or the prophets or the Gospels or the apostles. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 13.343.

VARIETIES OF INTERPRETATION FROM THE BEGINNING. ORIGEN: Celsus also says that “they were of one mind,” not seeing even here that from the outset there were disagreements among the believers about the interpretation of the books regarded as divine. … In the epistles of Paul, who was contemporary with those who had seen Jesus, there are some statements to be found which concern certain disputes about the resurrection, and about the view that it had already occurred, and about the question whether the day of the Lord was already present or not. Moreover, the words “Turning away from the profane babblings and oppositions of the knowledge falsely so-called, which some have professed and made shipwreck concerning the faith” show that from the beginning there were certain varieties of interpretation. AGAINST CELSUS 3.11.

THE FIRST RISE OF HERESY. EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA: Besides this, the same man [Hegesippus], when relating the events of these times, adds that until then the church had remained a pure and undefiled virgin, since those who attempted to corrupt the sound rule of the Savior’s preaching, if any did exist, until then lurked somewhere in obscure darkness. But when the sacred band of the apostles had received an end of life in various ways, and the generation of those who were deemed worthy to hear the divine wisdom with their own ears had passed away, then the league of godless error took its beginnings because of the deceit of heretical teachers who, since none of the apostles still remained, attempted henceforth barefacedly to proclaim in opposition to the preaching of truth “the knowledge falsely so-called.” ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 3.32.

COMBATING THE DENIAL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT’S DEITY. BASIL THE GREAT: But we must proceed to attack our opponents, in the endeavor to confute those “oppositions” advanced against us which are derived from “knowledge falsely so-called.” It is not permissible, they assert, for the Holy Spirit to be ranked with the Father and the Son, on account of the difference of his nature and the inferiority of his dignity. Against them it is right to reply in the words of the apostles, “We ought to obey God rather than men. OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 9.23-10.24.

FALSE SPIRITUALITY. JOHN CASSIAN: The psalmist also declares that this is the sequence we must follow. He says, “Blessed are those who are unsullied upon their journey, who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are those who pay heed to his witness.” … In this way he shows clearly that no one can manage to engage in the correct scrutiny of God’s Word unless in his daily life he proceeds unstained along the road of Christ. Therefore those whom you have mentioned cannot possess this knowledge if they are unclean. What they have is a false so-called lore, the kind about which the apostle has this to say, “O Timothy, guard what has been given to you. In all that you say avoid profane novelties and the claims of a falsely named knowledge.” CONFERENCES 14.16.

THE CATHOLIC FAITH IS ANCIENT TRUTH. VINCENT OF LÉRINS: “Avoiding,” he says, “profane novelties of words.” Are there really people who can listen to such adjurations and then remain in such hardened and shameless stubbornness, such stony impudence, such adamant consistency, as not to yield to the mighty weight of these divine words and to weaken under such a load, as not to be shattered by these hammer strokes, as not to be crushed by such powerful thunderbolts? “Avoiding,” he says, “profane novelties of words.” He did not say “antiquities” or “the old traditions.” No, he clearly shows the positive implications of this negative statement: Novelty is to be avoided, hence, antiquity has to be respected; novelty is profane, hence, the old tradition is sacred. COMMONITORIES 21.

CATHOLIC TRUTH DOES NOT CHANGE. VINCENT OF LÉRINS: What does “avoiding” mean? “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine.” Of course, this means the catholic and universal doctrine, which remains one and the same through all successive ages in the uncorrupted tradition of truth and which will remain so without end for ever and ever. COMMONITORIES 24.

THE SECOND EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY

ARGUMENT: Paul writes in order to offer consolation in the midst of the practical cares of Timothy’s ministry and as a consolation for their separation from one another. Timothy is in need also of continuing support in the struggle with heresy. Paul knows that his own death is approaching (CHRYSOSTOM). There is a lengthy period of time between the first and second letters to Timothy, since Paul is no longer at Ephesus and is on the verge of martyrdom. He now writes from Rome at a point between his first and second imprisonments, as 2 Timothy 4:12 suggests. While it is clear from 1 Timothy 3:14 that Paul still expects to join Timothy, in 2 Timothy 4:6, 9, it is also clear that by now this expectation no longer exists (THEODORE). In 1 Timothy Paul had laid out the order of good teaching and good administration for Timothy. Now he focuses on the promise of the gospel and the blessings to come in eternity (SEVERIAN). Paul is particularly concerned here to encourage Timothy and others as they face difficult contests with heresy and to guard them against certain dangers (THEODORET). Paul’s purpose is to refresh Timothy for faithful witness to the hope contained in the gospel (AMBROSIASTER).