ACC ~ 2 Timothy 2 v19c

FAITH AND GODLINESS INTERTWINED. ATHANASIUS: Faith and godliness, you see, are so closely allied that they can be considered sisters. Anyone who believes in the Lord is godly, and the person who is godly believes all the more. On the other hand, one who is in a state of wrong relationships will certainly wander from the faith, and one who falls from godliness falls from the true faith. Paul, recognizing this, advised his disciples: “Avoid profane conversations, for they lead people further into ungodliness.” That is why the Ariomaniacs,being enemies of Christ, have left the church. They have dug a pit of unbelief into which they themselves have fallen. … The apostle Paul’s words against Philetus and Hymenaeus stand as a warning against ungodliness such as that of the Arians: “God’s foundation is firm, bearing this seed: ‘The Lord knows his own people’ and ‘Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.’” FESTAL LETTERS 9.

THE STONE AND THE SOUL. CHRYSOSTOM: These are the distinguishing marks of the foundation. A foundation is firm. The letters are inscribed upon the stone so that the letters may be seen. But these letters are shown by works, “Having,” he says, “this seal fixed thereon, let every one that names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.” Thus if any one is unrighteous, he is not of the foundation. So it belongs to the seal not to do wrong. HOMILIES ON 2 TIMOTHY 5.

PERSEVERE IN RIGHTEOUSNESS. AUGUSTINE: And we know that the apostle said of the vessels placed in the great house, “If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and ready for the Master’s use, and prepared for every good work.” But in what manner each man ought to purge himself from these he shows a little above, saying, “Let everyone that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” This is so that he may not in the last day be blown away with the chaff from the threshing floor. Nor may he be separated at the last by hearing the command, “Depart from me, you that work iniquity.”ON BAPTISM, AGAINST THE DONATISTS. 4.14.21.

REPENT NOW. FULGENTIUS OF RUSPE: He therefore will attain life who keeps the commandments. But who keeps the divine commandments except the one who, converted to God before the end of this present life, has departed from his earlier sins? So the blessed Peter warns us, “Let everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord avoid evil.” He said this, knowing that penance is done fruitfully in this present world in which forgiveness is given to penitents. But in the future world the penitence of the wicked will bear no fruit because there will be no conversion of the wicked. They will be sent into the exterior darkness where there will be wailing and the gnashing of teeth. ON THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS 2.7.

2 Tim