ACC ~ 1 Timothy 6 v2 - 10

OVERVIEW:

The good pastor is instructed to teach and preach with authority and gentleness, and most of all to cultivate a genuine humility and an inner freedom from the desire for possessions (CHRYSOSTOM). The apostle played down appalling excesses in language skills (CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS) that give us rhetorical bellyaches (TERTULLIAN).

Learn humility from Christ (JEROME), not avarice from Judas (ORIGEN). People are happy who have everything they want but do not want anything improper (AUGUSTINE). If one does not choose to injure himself, no one else will be able to do this, for such a person is not stung by earthly losses who has learned of heaven (CHRYSOSTOM, AUGUSTINE). The believer is rich even when poor (CYRIL OF JERUSALEM), being like a wheel touching the ground only at one point but continuing to move (JEROME). We pray only for daily bread (AUGUSTINE), not letting a scrap of covetousness remain in our hearts (JOHN CASSIAN).

You cannot take worldly things with you to heaven (AUGUSTINE). Your soul is diminishing while you are afraid of your wealth diminishing (CYPRIAN). Listen to the physician of souls concerning what makes for your health (CHRYSOSTOM). Do not be so misled by one unworthy desire that you cling to many real evils (AUGUSTINE). Avarice is like a worm within the soul (VALERIAN). It dulls our moral senses (AMBROSE). Temptations would surely fail if they were not decked out with some fair color to entice to the desire of the one they are deceiving (GREGORY OF NYSSA). Do not consent to unworthy desires that lead to death (AUGUSTINE). One who possesses nothing fears nothing (CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, CHRYSOSTOM). Take away the love of money, and you put an end to war, to enmity, to strife and contention (CHRYSOSTOM). In its apostatizing pride, the beginning of sin, the soul seeks for something more than the whole, and while it is struggling to govern itself by its own laws, it is thrust into caring for a part; by desiring more, it becomes less (AUGUSTINE).

6:3-4 | Sound Words of Our Lord

HUMBLY KNOWING. CHRYSOSTOM: Presumption therefore arises not from knowledge but from “knowing nothing.” For he that knows the doctrine of godliness is also the most disposed to moderation. He who knows sound words is not unsound. For what inflammation is to the body, pride is to the soul. And as we do not in the first case say that the inflamed part is healthy, so neither do we say of the soul that the arrogant part is healthy. It is possible then to be knowing and yet to know nothing. HOMILIES ON 1 TIMOTHY 17.

6:4-5 | Disputes About Words

DANGEROUS SOPHISTRY. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Skill in sophistry, an enthusiasm of the Greeks, is a power operating on the imagination, using arguments to implant false opinions as if they were true. It produces rhetoric for persuasion and eristic for controversy. If the skills lack philosophy, then anyone at all would find them damaging. … So the admirable apostle was right to play down these appalling excesses in language skills. STROMATA 1.8.39.1—40.1.

THE MORBID CRAVING FOR CONTROVERSY. TERTULLIAN: The apostle forbids us to enter into hypothetical questions, or to lend our ears to newfangled statements or to consort with a heretic “after the first and second admonitions.” We do not enter into these discussions. Discussion has been inhibited in this way by designating admonition as the purpose of dealing with a heretic. The first reason, too, is because he is not a Christian. The instruction is given in order that he might not, after the manner of a Christian, seem to require correction again and again and “before two or three witnesses.” The impression could be created that he ought to be corrected, for the very reason that he is not to be disputed with. The second reason is that a controversy over the Scriptures can, clearly, produce no other effect than to upset either the stomach or the brain. PRESCRIPTION AGAINST HERETICS 16-17.

ACTIONS RATHER THAN ELABORATE WORDS. GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS: I shall address my words to those whose cleverness is in words. … “Strife of words” is the term given to all elaborate verbiage by Paul, who proclaims and confirms the “short and final account,” Paul, the pupil and teacher of fishermen. These people I speak of have versatile tongues and are resourceful in attacking doctrines nobler and worthier than their own. I only wish they would display comparable energy in their actions. ORATIONS 27.1.

6:5 | Godliness Is a Means of Gain

THE SIN OF JUDAS. ORIGEN: In appearance Judas championed the cause of the poor and said with indignation, “This ointment might have been sold for three hundred pence and given to the poor.” But in reality he “was a thief, and having the bag took away what was put in it.” If, then, anyone in our time who has the bag of the church speaks like Judas on behalf of the poor but takes away what is put in it, let there be assigned to him the portion along with Judas who did these same things. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 11.9.

THE SIN OF COMMERCE IN HOLY THINGS. JEROME: It is of all of us … that the apostle speaks. Christ is a pauper, let us blush with shame. Christ is lowly, let us be made lowly. Christ was crucified. He did not rule. He was crucified in order to rule. He conquered the world, not in pride but in humility. He destroyed the devil, not by derisive laughter but by weeping; he did not scourge but was scourged. He received a blow but did not give blows. Let us, therefore, imitate our Lord. HOMILIES ON MARK 83.

6:6 | Great Gain in Godliness

PROPER TEMPORAL DESIRE. AUGUSTINE: He, then, is happy who has everything he wants but does not want what is not proper. … But, when men have attained that welfare for themselves and for those whom they love, shall we be able to say that they are now happy? They have something which it is proper to wish for, but if they have nothing else, either greater or better or more to their advantage and personal distinction, they are still far from happiness. … Certainly it is proper for them to wish for these things, not for the sake of the things themselves but for another reason, namely, that they may do good by providing for the welfare of those who live under them, but it is not proper to covet them out of the empty pride of self-esteem or useless ostentation or hurtful vanity. LETTERS 1305.11.

THE POOR ALSO CAN ABUSE RESOURCES. AUGUSTINE: I’ve been wagging a finger at the rich. Poor people, you listen too. You should pay out too; you shouldn’t go plundering either. You should give of your means too. You too curb your greed. Listen, you poor, to the same apostle, “There is great gain,” he says, “in godliness with contentment.” You have the world in common with the rich. You don’t have a house in common with the rich, but you do have the sky, you do have the light in common with them. Just look for a sufficiency, look for what is enough, not for more than that. Anything more is a weighing down, not a lifting up of the spirit; a burden, not a reward. SERMONS 85.6.

6:7 | Bringing and Taking Nothing

ASSISTING A THIEF. ANONYMOUS: Abba Macarius, when in Egypt, found a man who had brought a beast to his cell and was stealing his possessions. As though he was a traveler who did not live there, he went up to the thief and helped him to load the beast, and peaceably led him on his way, saying to himself, “We brought nothing into this world, but the Lord gave; as he willed, so it is done. Blessed be the Lord in all things.” SAYINGS OF THE FATHERS MACARIUS 18.

NOT STUNG BY LOSSES. CHRYSOSTOM: For there is no one free, save only one who lives for Christ. He stands superior to all troubles. And if he does not choose to injure himself, no one else will be able to do this, for he is impregnable. He is not stung by the loss of wealth, for he has learned that we “brought nothing into this world, neither can we carry anything out.” He is not caught by the longings of ambition or glory, for he has learned that our citizenship is in heaven. No one annoys him by abuse or provokes him by blows. There is only one calamity for a Christian: disobedience to God. All the other things, such as loss of property, exile, peril of life, one does not even reckon to be a grievance at all. And that which all dread, departure hence to the other world—this is to him sweeter than life itself. LETTERS TO THE FALLEN THEODORE 2.5.

DETACHMENT. AUGUSTINE: But the world retains its hold on us. On all sides its charms decoy us. We like lots of money, we like splendid honors, we like power to overawe others. We like all these things, but let’s listen to the apostle, “We brought nothing into this world, neither can we take anything out.” Honor should be looking for you, not you for it. You, after all, should sit down in the humbler place, so he that invited you may make you go up to a more honored place. But if he doesn’t wish to, eat where you are sitting, because you brought nothing into this world. SERMONS 39.2.

DISORDERED DESIRE. AUGUSTINE: We neither take nor snatch anything away with us. What if we could take something—wouldn’t we be devouring people alive? What is this monstrously avid appetite, when even huge beasts know their limits? The time they pounce on something, you see, is when they are hungry; but when they feel satisfied, they spare their prey. It is only the avarice and greed of the rich that is forever insatiable. SERMONS 367.1.

6:8 | If We Have Food and Clothing

THE APOSTOLIC WAY OF LIFE. CHRYSOSTOM: For it is not by beautifying herself, or by living a life of luxury, or by demanding from her husband money, or by being extravagant and lavish that a good wife will be able to win him over. When she removes herself from all present concerns and imprints upon herself the apostolic way of life, when she displays great modesty, decorum, disdain for money and forbearance, then she will be able to capture him. When she says, “If we have food and clothing, we have all that we need,” when she practices this philosophy in her actions and, laughing at physical death, calls this life nothing, when she considers along with the prophet every glory of this life to be as the flower of the field, then she will capture him. ON VIRGINITY 47.1.

NOT FOR SELF-EXALTATION. CHRYSOSTOM: And observe also their laws, how moderate and freed from all vainglory. Thus: “Having,” says he, “food and covering, let us be content.” Not like him of Sinope [Diogenes the Cynic], who clothed in rags and living in a cask to no good, astonished many but profited none. Paul did none of these things. For neither had he an eye to ostentation, but was both clothed in ordinary apparel with all decency, and lived in a house continually, and displayed all exactness in the practice of all other virtue. These things the cynic despised, living impurely and publicly disgracing himself, and dragged away by his mad passion for glory. HOMILIES ON FIRST CORINTHIANS 35.4.

THE PARADOX OF FAITH. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: For those who in appearance are rich, though they have many possessions, are yet poor in soul. The more they amass, the more they pine with longing for what they lack. But the believer, paradoxically, is rich even when poor. Knowing that we have need only of raiment and food and being content with these, he has trampled riches underfoot. CATECHETICAL LECTURES 5.2.

TOUCHING THE GROUND. JEROME: Let us now speak in particular about the interior man. A wheel, as you know, rests upon the ground with a very slight base. Nor does it merely rest; it rolls along; it does not stand still but barely touches the ground and passes on. Further, when it rolls onward, it always mounts higher. So the saintly man, because he has a human body, has to give some thought to earthly matters. When it comes to food and clothing and other such things, he is content with what he has, and merely touching the ground with them, hastens on to higher things. HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 10.

DAILY BREAD. AUGUSTINE: “Give us today our daily bread.” It can be taken quite simply that we pour out this prayer for our daily sustenance, that we may have plenty of it; and if we don’t have plenty, that we may not lack it entirely. He called it “daily,” “for as long as it is called ‘today.’ ” Daily we live, daily we get up, daily we take our fill, daily we get hungry. May he give us our daily bread. SERMONS 58.5.

MODERATION. BASIL THE GREAT: But, if a man would also have mercy upon his body as being a possession necessary to the soul and its co-operator in carrying on life on earth, he will occupy himself with its needs only so far as is required to preserve it and keep it vigorous by moderate care in the service of the soul. He will by no means allow it to become unmanageable through satiety. ON DETACHMENT, HOMILY 21.

VICTORY OVER COVETOUSNESS. JOHN CASSIAN: This then is the perfect victory over covetousness. It is not to allow a gleam from the very smallest scrap of it to remain in our heart, as we know that we shall have no further power of quenching it if we cherish even the tiniest bit of a spark of it in us. And we can better preserve this virtue unimpaired if we remain in a monastery, and as the apostle says, having food and clothing, are therewith content. INSTITUTES 7.28-29.

6:9a | Those Who Desire to Be Rich

ANXIOUS FEAR. CYPRIAN: You are afraid that your wealth may fail. You may have begun to do some good generously from it, yet you do not know, in your wretchedness, that your life itself may fail, and your salvation as well. While you are anxious lest any of your possessions be diminished, you do not take notice that you yourself, a lover of mammon rather than of your soul, are being diminished. While you are afraid lest for your own sake you lose your estate, you yourself are perishing for the sake of your estate. WORKS AND ALMSGIVING 10.

SEE THE CONSEQUENCES. CHRYSOSTOM: Do you see the skill of physicians, who besides health are supplying you also with the riches of wisdom? Sit down therefore with them, and learn from them the nature of your disease. For instance, do you love wealth and greedy gain, like the fevered love water? Listen to their admonitions. For it is just as the physician says to you, If you wish only to gratify your desire, you will perish and undergo this or that consequence. In the same way Paul wrote, “They that will be rich, fall into temptation, and a snare of the devil, and into foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.” HOMILIES ON MATTHEW 74.4.

6:9b | Falling into a Snare

THE WORM OF AVARICE. VALERIAN: Therefore, dearly beloved, the rust is that worm which alone possesses the recesses of the human heart: the worm of envy and of avarice. But the thief is the devil. Believe this. To lay his plots against good deeds, he flatters us with the pomp of the world. To keep a man from sharing in the heavenly kingdom, he puts gold in his hands, silver before his eyes, gems about his neck. In this way he nourishes pride and by the goad of covetousness enkindles the desires of the flesh. HOMILIES 7.3.

6:9c | Hurtful Desires That Plunge People into Ruin

UNWORTHY DESIRE IS THE ISSUE. AUGUSTINE: He did not say: Those who are rich. He said: Those who seek to become rich. … The name of riches is, as it were, sweet-sounding to the ear. But, “many vain and harmful desires”—does that sound sweet? To be “involved in many troubles”—does that sound sweet? Do not be so misled by one false good that you will thereby cling to many real evils. SERMONS 11.3.

DO NOT CONSENT TO DESIRE THAT LEADS TO DEATH. AUGUSTINE: See what a fight we have with our dead sins, as that active soldier of Christ and faithful teacher of the church shows. For how is sin dead when it works many things in us while we struggle against it? What are these many things except foolish and harmful desires which plunge into death and destruction those who consent to them? And to bear them patiently and not to consent to them is a struggle, a conflict, a battle. AGAINST JULIAN 2.9.32.

6:10 | The Root of All Evils

THE JUST PERSON. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Poverty of heart is the true wealth, and the true nobility is not that founded on riches but that which comes from a contempt for riches. It is disgraceful to boast about one’s possessions. Not to be concerned about them any longer very clearly proves the just man. CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 2.3.39.

VIRTUE ITS OWN REWARD. AMBROSE: How happy is the man who has been able to cut out the root of vices, avarice. Surely he will not dread this balance. Avarice generally dulls men’s senses and corrupts their judgments, so that they think piety a gain, and money a sort of reward for sagacity. But great is the reward of piety and the gaining of sobriety. The possession of these virtues is sufficient. LETTERS 15.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. AMBROSE: Therefore the man of good counsel says, “I have learned in whatever state I am to be content.” For he knew that the root of all evils is the love of money. Therefore he was content with what he had, without seeking for what was another’s. Sufficient for me, he says, is what I have. Whether I have little or much, to me it is much. DUTIES OF THE CLERGY 2.17.89.

LOVE OF MONEY LEADS TO BAD LIVING AND BAD FAITH. CHRYSOSTOM: What evils does it not cause! What fraudulent practices, what robberies! What miseries, enmities, contentions, battles! Does it not stretch forth its hand even to the dead, even to fathers and brothers? Do not they who are possessed by this passion violate the laws of nature and the commandments of God? In short everything? Is it not this that renders our courts of justice necessary? Take away therefore the love of money, and you put an end to war, to battle, to enmity, to strife and contention. HOMILIES ON 1 TIMOTHY 17.

FAITH DAMAGED BY AVARICE. CHRYSOSTOM: In many places Paul covertly signifies this point: a corrupt life is the parent of evil doctrines. “The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, which some reaching after, have been led astray from the faith.” Indeed, many of those who are conscious of wickedness and would prefer not to pay its penalty are by this fear damaged also in their faith concerning the resurrection. This can happen even when they on a daily basis are virtuously desiring to behold the resurrection. HOMILIES ON FIRST CORINTHIANS 40.3.

POSSESSING NOTHING AS IF EVERYTHING. CHRYSOSTOM: The man who possesses nothing as if he had everything disdains all. He is very outspoken with officials, and rulers, and the sovereign. For by despising possessions and advancing methodically, he will scorn even death with ease. Since he is above these things, he will speak openly with everyone and tremble with fear before no one. But the man who has devoted himself to money is a slave to it and also to his reputation, honor, the present life, in short, to all human concerns. Consequently, Paul has called it the root of all evil. ON VIRGINITY 81.

SOME PHANTOM OF GOOD. GREGORY OF NYSSA: The tree, then, from which comes this fruit of mixed knowledge is among those things which are forbidden. Its fruit is combined of opposite qualities, and therefore for this reason perhaps has the serpent to commend it. For the evil is not exposed in its nakedness, thereby appearing in its own proper nature; for wickedness would surely fail of its effect were it not decked with some fair color to entice to the desire of it him whom it deceives. But now the nature of evil is in a manner mixed and thus keeps destruction like some snare concealed in its depths and displays some phantom of good in the deceitfulness of its exterior. The beauty of the substance seems good to those who love money. ON THE MAKING OF MAN 20.2.

DISORDERED LOVE. AUGUSTINE: For when the soul loves its own power, it slips from the common whole to its own particular part. Had it followed God as its ruler in the universal creature, it could have been most excellently governed by his laws. But in that apostatizing pride, which is called “the beginning of sin,” it sought for something more than the whole; and while it struggled to govern it by its own laws, it was thrust into caring for a part, since there is nothing more than the whole. So by desiring something more, it becomes less, and for this reason covetousness is called “the root of all evils.” ON THE TRINITY 12.9.14.

GREED AND CHARITY. AUGUSTINE: So love God, and love your neighbor as yourself. I mean, I can see that you love yourself, because you love God. Charity is the root of all good works. Just as greed, after all, is the root of all evil, so charity is the root of all good things. SERMONS 179A.5.