ACC ~ 2 Timothy 3 v10 - 4 v8

OVERVIEW:

Paul knew that his death was at hand (EUSEBIUS). He would endure death in the confession of Christ as a libation of wine is poured out on behalf of honoring God (THEODORE, THEODORET). The dogged pursuit of virtue lies at the very center of the Christian life, with all of its necessary self-denial and with the suffering that must inevitably come. Scripture is our constant reminder that we must not be overcome by weakness but must be strong in the wisdom of Christ. Thus we must always persist in the teaching that rejects false doctrine and its imbalanced ways (CHRYSOSTOM).

Writing from a prison cell, Paul recalls some of the sufferings that he and Timothy experienced together, so that Timothy will be consoled and strengthened for the refutation of heresy and for the exercise of that discipline, contained in Scripture, which is required for convicting sin, correcting the penitent and bringing persons to righteousness. In Paul’s sacrifice Timothy can see what it means to honor God in faithfulness (THEODORE). Paul’s intention is to recall Timothy to the presence of divine help in the adversities and struggles of ministry, so that he will be firm in teaching the truth of Christ. He calls Timothy to the work of proclaiming the word always, offering him the example of his own steadfastness and humility (THEODORET).

Anyone who pursues the course of virtue should not expect to avoid grief, tribulation and temptations (ORIGEN, CHRYSOSTOM, THEODORET, AUGUSTINE, CAESARIUS). Yet it is possible for even what is unendurable by nature to become light when we accept it with eagerness (CHRYSOSTOM). The faithful are comforted by the sufferings of the saints, prophets, apostles and martyrs (THEODORET). The reward comes after the battle, not before or during (CAESARIUS). Persecution is not only that which is done by the sword or fire but also by barbs of slanderous tongues (LEO). All who live in Christ will suffer persecution (ISAAC OF NINEVEH, BEDE). One cannot be wrestling and feasting at the same time (CHRYSOSTOM).

Learn what you have to teach (JEROME). Do not lead astray one who can be corrected (ANONYMOUS) or follow those drunk with illusions (ATHANASIUS). Some things God does, and other things God permits. All evil things are done by our wills alone, all good things by our will conjointly with God’s grace (CHRYSOSTOM). The mind and mouth of the priest of Christ should be in harmony (JEROME). The force of what is said is wasted when it is enfeebled in the hearts of the hearers by a careless and offensive torrent of words (GREGORY THE GREAT). When we have gone wrong because we haven’t understood Scripture, we don’t make out Scripture to be wrong, but it continues to stand upright for us that we may return to it for correction (AUGUSTINE). The soul refreshed by Scripture bears fruit in due season (JOHN OF DAMASCUS). Admonition is best given with comfort in the spirit of meekness (AMBROSE, CHRYSOSTOM).

The martyrs carried to heaven no treasure that could be plundered, but the riches of patience, courage and love (CHRYSOSTOM, NEMESIUS). The confidence shown by the faithful toward the future does not lie in their own power but in God’s generosity (CASSIODORUS). They trust in his judgment and mercy (AMBROSE). Whether the Lord comes sooner or later than expected, his coming is loved with faithful charity (AUGUSTINE). Eternal rest is not given in payment for a debt owed for works but as a grace of the generous God for those who have hoped in him (BASIL).

3:10 | My Teaching, My Conduct

NOT JUST IN WORDS. CHRYSOSTOM: I did not say these things, he says, and not do them. I was not a philosopher in words only. HOMILIES ON 2 TIMOTHY 8.

3:11 | Rescued from Persecutions

CONSOLATION. CHRYSOSTOM: Two consolations appear here, says Paul: I displayed sufficient steadfastness, and in doing so was not forsaken. It cannot be said that God abandoned me. Rather he rendered my crown more radiant. HOMILIES ON 2 TIMOTHY 8.

RECALLING DIVINE HELP. THEODORET OF CYR: Paul’s point in recalling these events is to show the divine help, thus adding spirit to the disciple. INTERPRETATION OF THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY.

3:12 | The Godly Will Be Persecuted

THE NATURE OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH. ORIGEN: When you flee Egypt, you come to these steep ascents of work and faith. You face a tower, a sea and waves. The way of life is not pursued without the waves of temptation. The apostle says, “All who wish to live piously in Christ will suffer persecution.” Job also, no less, declares, “Our life upon earth is a temptation.” HOMILIES ON EXODUS 5.3.

INEVITABLE STRUGGLE. CHRYSOSTOM: Here he calls afflictions and sorrows “persecutions.” Anyone who pursues the course of virtue should not expect to avoid grief, tribulation and temptations. HOMILIES ON 2 TIMOTHY 8.

WORTHY TO BE DISHONORED. CHRYSOSTOM: If the road is narrow and difficult, how can it be that “My yoke is easy and my burden is light”? He says difficult because of the nature of the trials but easy because of the willingness of the travelers. It is possible for even what is unendurable by nature to become light when we accept it with eagerness. Remember that the apostles who had been scourged returned rejoicing that they had been found worthy to be dishonored for the name of the Lord. ON LAZARUS AND THE RICH MAN 3.

COMFORTED BY SUFFERING. THEODORET OF CYR: Many are the devices secretly plotted against me and through me patched up against the faith of apostles. I am however comforted by the sufferings of the saints, prophets, apostles, martyrs and men famous in the churches in the word of grace and besides these by the promises of our God and Savior. For in the present life he has promised us nothing pleasant or delightful, but rather trouble, toil, and peril and attacks of enemies. LETTERS 109.

FAITH AND PRACTICE TOGETHER. 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. FESTAL LETTERS 9.

ONE WAY OR THE OTHER. AUGUSTINE: Persecution, therefore, will never be lacking. For, when our enemies from without leave off raging and there ensues a span of tranquillity—even of genuine tranquillity and great consolation at least to the weak—we are not without enemies within, the many whose scandalous lives wound the hearts of the devout. … So it is that those who want to live piously in Christ must suffer the spiritual persecution of these and other aberrations in thought and morals, even when they are free from physical violence and vexation. THE CITY OF GOD 18.51.2.

PREPARE FOR TRIALS. AUGUSTINE: What sort of people, though, are those who, being afraid to offend the ones they are talking to, not only don’t prepare them for the trials that are looming ahead but even promise them a well-being in this world which God himself hasn’t promised to the world? He foretells distress upon distress coming upon the world right up to the end, and do you wish the Christian to be exempt from these distresses? Precisely because he’s Christian, he is going to suffer more in this world. SERMONS 46.11.

CONSTANT VIGILANCE. CAESARIUS OF ARLES: “All who want to live piously in Christ suffer persecution,” says the apostle. They are under attack from the enemy. For this reason, with Christ’s help, everyone who travels the journey of this life should be armed unceasingly and always stand in camp. So if you want to be constantly vigilant so that you may know you serve in the Lord’s camp, observe what the same apostle says, “No one serving as God’s soldier entangles himself in worldly affairs, that he may please him whose approval he has secured.” SERMONS 103.1.

THE REWARD COMES AFTER THE BATTLE. CAESARIUS OF ARLES: Do not seek on the journey what is being kept for you in your fatherland. Because it is necessary for you to fight against the devil every day under the leadership of Christ, do not seek in the midst of battle the reward which is being saved for you in the kingdom. During the fight you ought not to look for what is being kept for you when victory has been attained. Rather pay attention to what the apostle says, “Anyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ can expect to be persecuted,” and again, “We must undergo many trials if we are to enter the reign of God.” Sermons 215.3.

A SEEMING CONTRADICTION. JOHN CASSIAN: Abba Germanus said: “Since you have given us the remedies for every illusion, and since the diabolical snares that used to trouble us have been disclosed to us by your teaching and by the Lord’s gift, we beseech you likewise to explain to us completely this phrase from the Gospel, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” For it seems quite contrary to the words of the prophet, which say, “On account of the words of your lips I have kept to hard ways.” Indeed, even the apostle says, “All who wish to live devoutly in Christ suffer persecution.” Whatever is hard and has reference to persecution, however, can be neither light nor easy.” Abba Abraham said, “We shall demonstrate by the easy proof of experience itself that the words of our Lord and Savior are most true, if we set out on the path of perfection in lawful manner and in accordance with the will of Christ. … For what can be heavy or hard to the person who has taken up Christ’s yoke with his whole mind, is established in true humility, reflects constantly upon the Lord’s suffering and rejoices in all the hardships that come upon him?” CONFERENCES 23-24.

EVERY VIRTUE A CROSS. ISAAC OF NINEVEH: And the blessed Mark the Monk has said, “Every virtue on being achieved is called a cross, when it fulfills the Spirit’s commandment.” That is why all those who wish in the fear of the Lord to live in Jesus Christ, will suffer persecution. HOMILIES 72.

PERSECUTION COMES IN ALL SHAPES AND SIZES. LEO THE GREAT: I am amazed that your charity is so overcome with tribulation from scandals, no matter from what occasion they arise, that you say you desire to be freed from the labors of your bishopric and prefer to live in silence and leisure rather than continue handling those problems which were entrusted to you. But, as the Lord said, “Blessed is he that perseveres to the end.” From what will this blessed perseverance come if not from the virtue of patience? For, according to the teaching of the apostle, “All who want to live piously in Christ will suffer persecution.” Persecution is to be reckoned not only as that which is done against Christian piety by the sword or fire or by any torments whatever, for the ravages of persecution are also inflicted by differences of character, the perversity of the disobedient and the barbs of slanderous tongues. LETTERS 167.1.

THE GLORY OF HIS WITNESS. THE VENERABLE BEDE: Paul permeated the corpus of his writings, which is made up of fourteen letters, with the aroma of Christ alone, if I may speak of Christ in this way. Whatever you read there either reveals the hidden mysteries of the faith, or shows the results of good works, or promises the joys of the heavenly kingdom, or lays bare the tribulations he sustained in preaching these things, or relates the divine consolation he received in the midst of his tribulations or suggests by a general exhortation that all “those who wish to live a good life in Christ” will not lack persecutions. … He knew most clearly and foretold with an unrestrained voice that his being killed for the Lord’s sake was nothing else but a most acceptable and pure sacrificial offering made to the Lord. Therefore Paul too glorified God, as did the rest of the apostles, for they too loved Christ with a pure heart and took care of Christ’s sheep with a sincere intent. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 2.22.

3:13a | From Bad to Worse

UNENDING STRIFE. CHRYSOSTOM: Do not allow yourself to be distressed, he says, if some people prosper, while you are in the midst of suffering. Such is the nature of the case. From my own instance you may learn that it is impossible for man, in his warfare with the wicked, not to be exposed to tribulation. One cannot be in combat and live luxuriously. One cannot be wrestling and feasting. HOMILIES ON 2 TIMOTHY 8.

DO NOT REMAIN STATIONARY. AUGUSTINE: Make progress, make progress in well-doing, for, according to the apostle, there are certain people who go from bad to worse. If you are progressing, you are advancing. Progress in well-doing, progress in good faith, progress in good deeds. Keep singing. Keep advancing. Do not wander. Do not return. Do not remain stationary. SERMONS 256.

3:13b | Deceivers and Deceived

DO NOT FOLLOW THOSE DRUNK WITH ILLUSIONS. ATHANASIUS: These ignorant men are drunk, not with wine but with their own wickedness. They make a profession of priesthood and glory in their threats. Do not believe them. When we are tried, let us humble ourselves, not being made captive by them. … So we, when we are tried by these things, must not become separated from the love of God. FESTAL LETTERS 13.7.

DO NOT LEAD ASTRAY ONE WHO CAN BE CORRECTED. ANONYMOUS: Suppose a counselor reprimands a brother under his care, instructing him in the fear of God and desiring to correct his error. Yet suppose another intervenes and wishes to defend the offender, so as to turn his heart astray again. One who thus intervenes sins against his own soul, because he led astray the person who could have been corrected. He threw to the ground the one who was rising. He deceived with evil persuasion the one who was tending to better things. Going astray himself, he led others astray too. THE TESTAMENT OF HORIESIOS 24.

3:14 | Continue in What You Have Learned

MIND AND MOUTH AT ONE. JEROME: Read the divine Scriptures constantly. Never, indeed, let the sacred volume be out of your hand. Learn what you have to teach. … Do not let your deeds belie your words, lest when you speak in church someone may mentally reply, “Why do you not practice what you preach?” He is a fine and dainty master who, with his stomach full, reads us a homily on fasting. Let the robber accuse others of covetousness if he will. The mind and mouth of a priest of Christ should be at one. LETTERS 52.7.

WHETHER GOD MAKES MEDICINES EFFECTIVE. AUGUSTINE: It may happen that even with the assistance of holy men, or even if the holy angels themselves take part, no one rightly learns those things which pertain to life with God unless he is made by God docile to God. … Medicines for the body which are administered to men by men do not help unless health is conferred by God, who can cure them without medicines. Yet they are nevertheless applied even though they are useless without his aid. And if they are applied courteously, they are considered to be among works of mercy or kindness. In the same way, the benefits of teaching profit the mind when they are applied by men where assistance is granted by God, who could have given the gospel to man even though it came not from men nor through a man. ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 4.16.33.

3:15 | The Sacred Writings Are Able to Instruct You

TRUE WISDOM. CHRYSOSTOM: For he who knows the Scriptures as he ought is not offended at anything that happens. He endures all things patiently, referring them partly to faith and to the incomprehensible nature of the divine dispensation, and partly knowing reasons for them and finding examples in the Scriptures. … Know this, however, that God dispenses all things, that he provides for all, that we are free agents, that some things he works and some things he permits. Indeed, God wills nothing evil to be done, for all things are not done by his will but some by ours also. All evil things are done by ours alone, all good things by our will conjointly with his influence. Thus, nothing is without his knowledge. Therefore he works all things. You then knowing this can reckon what things are good, what are evil and what are indifferent. HOMILIES ON 2 TIMOTHY 8.

REASONS TO REMAIN STEADFAST. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: Paul here lays out four reasons why Timothy ought to be steadfast, if he will recall them: first, because of the teacher from whom he learned; second, the time when he learned it; third, the source from which the teaching came; and finally, the sublime purpose for which he learned it. COMMENTARY ON 2 TIMOTHY.

3:16 | All Scripture Inspired by God and Profitable

A LIFETIME OF STUDY. APHRAHAT: For if the days of a man should be as many as all the days of the world from Adam to the end of the ages and he should sit and meditate upon the holy Scriptures, he would not comprehend all the force of the depth of the words. And man cannot rise up to the wisdom of God. DEMONSTRATIONS 22.26.

PROFITABLE FOR CORRECTION. CHRYSOSTOM: By Scripture we may disprove what is false, be corrected, be brought to a right understanding, and be comforted and consoled. HOMILIES ON 2 TIMOTHY 9.

SCRIPTURES TEACH RIGHTEOUSNESS. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: The usefulness of Scripture lies in its detailing of what one ought to do, either to convict sinners or to clarify what correction is necessary for penitents or to teach what can bring persons to righteousness. COMMENTARY ON 2 TIMOTHY.

RELIABILITY OF SCRIPTURE. ANONYMOUS: Indeed the words of Scripture, the very breath of God, are true and very dependable, whether concerning favors or punishments. THE REGULATIONS OF HORIESIOS 52.

THE PROFIT OF SCRIPTURE. GREGORY OF NYSSA: The Scripture is “given by inspiration of God,” as the apostle says. The Scripture is of the Holy Spirit, and its intention is the profit of men. For “every Scripture,” he says, “is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. “The profit is varied and multiform, as the apostle says—“for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” Such a gift as this, however, is not within any man’s reach to lay hold of. Rather, the divine intention lies hidden under the body of the Scripture, as it were under a veil, some legislative enactment or some historical narrative being cast over the truths that are contemplated by the mind. AGAINST EUNOMIUS 3.7.1.

ABSOLUTELY DEPENDABLE. AUGUSTINE: The Scriptures are holy, they are truthful, they are blameless. … So we have no grounds at all for blaming Scripture if we happen to deviate in any way, because we haven’t understood it. When we do understand it, we are right. But when we are wrong because we haven’t understood it, we leave it in the right. When we have gone wrong, we don’t make out Scripture to be wrong, but it continues to stand up straight and right, so that we may return to it for correction. SERMONS 23.3.

THE SOUL REFRESHED BY SCRIPTURE. JOHN OF DAMASCUS: To search the sacred Scripture is very good and most profitable for the soul. For, “like a tree which is planted near the running waters,” so does the soul watered by sacred Scripture also grow hearty and bear fruit in due season. This is the orthodox faith. It is adorned with its evergreen leaves, with actions pleasing to God. THE ORTHODOX FAITH 4.17.

3:17 | Equipped for Every Good Work

DEPEND UPON SCRIPTURES. CHRYSOSTOM: This is why the exhortation of the Scripture is given: that the man of God may be rendered complete by it. Without this he cannot grow to maturity. You have the Scriptures, he says, in place of me. If you would learn anything, you may learn it from them. HOMILIES ON 2 TIMOTHY 9.

UNINTERRUPTED CONVERSE. ATHANASIUS: Here is why meditation on the law is necessary, my beloved, along with an uninterrupted conversion with virtue: “that the saint may lack nothing but be perfect to every good work.” For by these things comes the promise of eternal life, as Paul wrote to Timothy, calling constant meditation exercise, and saying, “Exercise yourself unto godliness.” FESTAL LETTERS 11.7.