ACC ~ 1 Timothy 6 v16c

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 1 TIMOTHY 6:17-21

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).

1 Tim