ACC ~ 2 Timothy 3 v9

WHO WOULD DIE FOR A DECEIT? CHRYSOSTOM: For if errors flourish at first, they do not continue to the end, for so it is with things that are not fair by nature but fair in appearance. They flourish for a time and then are detected and come to nothing. But this does not happen to our teaching. Of this you are a witness. For in our doctrines there is no deceit. For who would choose to die for a deceit? HOMILIES ON 2 TIMOTHY 8.

PSEUDO-PROSPERITY. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: The growth that the heretics enjoy will only be in numbers, not in depth or substance. COMMENTARY ON 2 TIMOTHY.

PROGRESS IN IMPIETY. THEODORET OF CYR: The only progress which heretics will make is in impiety, for they cannot simulate genuine piety for very long. INTERPRETATION OF THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY.

EVENTUAL REVERSAL. AUGUSTINE: For those whom the Manichaeans lead astray are Christians who have already been born of the gospel, whose profession has been misled by the heretics. They make riches with inconsiderate haste but without good judgment. They do not consider that the followers whom they gather as their riches are taken from the genuine original Christian society and deprived of its benefits. … This recalls what the prophet said of the partridge, which gathers what it has not brought forth, “In the midst of his days they shall leave him, and in the end he shall be a fool.” In other words, he who at first misled people by a promising display of superior wisdom shall be a fool, that is, shall be seen to be a fool. He will be seen when his folly is manifest to all, and those to whom he was at first a wise man he will then be a fool. REPLY TO FAUSTUS THE MANICHAEAN 13.12.