CHAPTER 6
On the obedience of slaves.
1 Timothy 6:1-2 Those who are under the yoke as slaves should regard their own masters as worthy of all honor; so that the name of God and the teaching may not be blasphemed. And those who have faithful masters should not despise them because they are brothers, but rather serve them all the more, because they are faithful and beloved, sharing in the benefit. Teach and encourage these things .
Paul discusses faithful slaves who have unbelieving masters, saying, so that even these things may be.
so that the name of God may not be blasphemed . For if, Paul says, because the masters are unbelieving, the faithful slaves disobey and act arrogantly, giving their own household members a reason, they provide the masters with grounds to blaspheme Christ and the preaching, as if it were the cause of the slaves' arrogance.
should not despise them because they are brothers . Do not let the fact that you are a brother be the cause of your despising, Paul says, but considering that the masters are faithful and beloved of God, serve more, mixing fear and love. For as much as you do good to the masters who are your brothers, so much more become grateful in serving more. Or because you are benefited by the masters, through being nourished and clothed.
but rather serve them all the more ; that is, the slaves. For by hyperbaton it is placed. However, it should be placed in the middle, because they are faithful and beloved, and the word masters should be understood. Simply, as it is written, one must understand sharing in the benefit , that is, the masters who take care to benefit the slaves.
Teach and encourage these things . Therefore, the teacher requires not authority, but gentleness.
According to those who are greedy for gain, and false teachers.
1 Timothy 6:3-8 If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the teaching that accords with godliness, he is inflated with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, strife, blasphamies, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are immoral in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. Depart from such people. But godliness with gladness is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content .
If anyone teaches otherwise : that is, one different from what is right.
and to the teaching that accords with godliness . Paule said, "They are sound words," and he says, "And with the teaching accords with godliness," evidently concerning faith.
he is inflated with conceit and understands nothing . For he who does not know what he ought to know, knows nothing. But he who does not know the sound things, obviously knows the demonic things. Moreover, arrogance is a matter welcoming and proper to demons.
an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels . For if you do not believe, but craving for controversy, there must be debate and conflicts of reasoning. Since Christianity promises future things, and these cannot be shown to the eyes, faith is necessary. But see that to crave controversy is to be ill.
blasphemies . For it is necessary that human reasoning permit what pertains to God, and that blasphemy arises from questioning.
evil suspicions . These are opinions and contaminated doctrines.
friction . The transmission of the disease of bad doctrines, from the contact of miserable sheep. For those who come into contact are filled with the disease, along with the healthy ones.
imagining that godliness is a means of gain . Do you know that even battles of words produce shameful profit? It is no wonder, for those who contend with words attract more students, making a profit from them, whether monetary gain. They pretend virtue in order to amass wealth through it.
Depart from such people . Paul did not say, "Join with such men and fight," but "depart," after one and then a second warning. For how will you ever be able to persuade men fighting for money? Therefore, since they are persistent, turn away from them.
But godliness with gladness is great gain . They indeed imagine godliness in such a way that it serves as a means for gain and profit. But true profit is godliness itself in its own nature, and having what is sufficient, not seeking those things that abound in earthly goods. Or rather, what profit is godliness itself if we do not seek more, but remain in sufficiency.
For we brought nothing into the world . If we have brought nothing in, and we can take nothing out, what need is there to have more than what is necessary?
But if we have food and clothing . One must eat as much as is sufficient to nourish, not as much as to create luxury; and one must have as much clothing and such as to cover nakedness, not as many as to create extravagance and folly for those who bear them. For this indicates the nature of food and clothing.
1 Timothy 6:9-12 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires, some of which plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evils; by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. But you, O man of God, flee these things; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of eternal life, to which you were called, and you made the good confession before many witnesses .
Paul does not speak of those who use wealth well, but of those who desire it. And the desirer would not share it with another, so that the things of desire would not be diminished for him.
who desire to be rich . For wealth flows abundantly, and having power, it leads to unreasonable desires.
some of which plunge people . To the point of no recovery anymore.
some have wandered away . For desire darkens the eye of the soul and does not allow it to walk straight.
and pierced themselves . For greed, like a thorn, causes the hands of the one who touches to bleed.
with many pains . Not only, Paul says, does the desire to be rich obstruct matters concerning God, but it also physically weakens the lovers, surrounding them with cares, sleeplessness, and fears.
But you, O man of God . Great is the dignity. For all men are servants of God, especially the righteous, not only according to the reason of creation, but also according to that of adoption.
flee these things . Both with emphasis; for Paul did not say, "Avoid this one, but approach that one," but rather, "Flee and pursue."
pursue righteousness . To have no more than is sufficient for life.
godliness . In doctrines.
faith . Without controversies.
love . The offspring of faith, towards God and men. The order of the statement is good. For from faith , love is born; and from love, patience . And patience, as it walks, makes gentleness .
Fight the good fight of faith . The fight of faith, both what has been said, and the courageous one in trials. And immediately the reward of such a fight, eternal life.
to which you were called . For everyone who comes to baptism is called to this.
the good confession . Rather confession, it refers to that in baptism, when we confess to renounce the Devil and to join and believe in Christ.
A command about purity, obedience until the end.
1 Timothy 6:13-16 I charge you before God, who gives life to all things, and Christ Jesus, who testified before Pontius Pilate the good confession, to keep the commandment without spot, blameless, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ; which in its own times he will show, the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen nor can see; to whom be honor and eternal power. Amen .
Again Paul makes God a witness, both increasing the fear and making the disciple more secure, because he has in mind the one who was witnessed.
who gives life to all things . This is also a comfort against dangers. For if God, Paul says, gives life to all things, why should we fear the struggles for faith? And that He encourages this is clear from what follows, Jesus Christ, who testified before Pontius Pilate . For if the Master testified, why do we delay?
Who testified before Pontius Pilate . For Jesus testified concerning what he was doing, that he himself is the Christ, the Son of God. Therefore, Clement in the seventh book of Hypotyposes.
the good confession . What good confession does it speak of? In a somewhat mysterious way, however, Jesus confessed that he is God. For when Pilate said, "Are you a king?" he said, "For this I was born." (Jn. 18:37)
to keep the commandment without spot . That is, neither tainted by doctrines nor by conduct.
until the appearing . Until, Paul says, your last breath. But he did not say it thus. However, in order to stir him more greatly, he remembered the Lord's appearance, and the dreadful glory.
which in its own times . That is, to the appropriate, the appointed times. Therefore, do not be upset that it has not already happened.
the blessed and only Sovereign . These things have been said about the Son. For the one who is coming shows the presence. But the Father will not come, but the Son, for judgment; these things have been said concerning the one who is coming.
the blessed , the self-blessedness. For all sorrow and pain have fled from him. Jesus is both a ruler and a good king. Therefore, the earthly ones should not be feared by us.
and only Sovereign . Where you might hear about one of the three holy Persons, this or that one alone, do not accept what is said of the other two by way of contrast, but rather about those who do not exist, yet are called gods. For behold, now speaking about the Son these things, which elsewhere have also been said about the Father and about the Spirit, He said, The Only one.
— [OECUMENIUS] who alone has immortality . How does he say about God that He alone has immortality, when both angels and souls and demons have immortality? Therefore, when he says about God: "Who alone has immortality," he either takes away immortality from those we mentioned, or he lies. And we say that those about whom the address is do not have immortality, but they partake in it, by the grace of Him who alone by nature is immortal. For this has been given to them by God. For God is the one from whom we all partake, just as we do with other things, so immortality is compared to that which is more excellent. [ end of the excerpt by Oecumenius A f. 15ν; B f. 211ν; G f. 300r ] —
dwelling in unapproachable light . Which itself is immortality and inaccessible light, do you think it is limited to a place? Is light one thing and the light itself another? Yet it is the light itself. Do you see that when we want to say something great, the tongue becomes powerless? It is truly called unapproachable because no one can approach the shining mind, " whom no man has seen ." For no one has seen the divinity of the Son, just as neither the Father nor the Spirit; for he was seen according to the flesh.
to whom be honor and eternal power . If his honor and power will be eternal, certainly his appearance will be as well. For he promised: "And behold, I am with you all the days." (Matt. 28:20)
A guide for the wealthy towards true life.
1 Timothy 6:17-19 To the rich, in this present age, command not to be arrogant, nor to hope in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment; to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the future, so that they may obtain eternal life .
For there are also other rich men, but not in this age. The truly rich are the righteous ones, that is.
not to be arrogant , Paul says. For nothing so much inflates and exalts the mind as money and possessions.
nor to hope in uncertain riches . See how he insults them, and how foolish they are. For who hopes for something uncertain?
but in the living God . For Paul says that he who hopes in God is not disappointed.
who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment . For he, to whom all things common belong, has given abundantly and freely: heaven, earth, air, life, food. But greed, having taken tyranny as a partner, has seized many of the common things and made them private.
to do good, to be rich in good works . If you seek wealth, seek true wealth, not uncertain. What are these? Goods, Paul says, are easy to distribute; for this is the nature of money.
to be generous . That is, gentle, friendly, modest, and humble.
storing up for themselves . That is, laying down, Paul says, a good foundation. Where the foundation is good, all is safe and secure.
so that they may obtain eternal life . Therefore, for this life, one must lay up the foundation. But how could this be? If by doing good here, we lay up for ourselves the foundation and security of this life. For the practice of good works, which Paul also called a foundation, is able to grant the enjoyment of that life.
1 Timothy 6:20-21 O Timothy, guard what has been delivered to you, avoiding profane and vain babblings and oppositions of falsely called knowledge, which some professing have strayed concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen .
guard what has been delivered to you . Paul says the commandment of God, which he delivered to you through me; or the grace of the Spirit, which he received through the laying on of hands.
avoiding profane and vain babblings . The impure, the defiled. Vain babblings, however, are pointless words, therefore empty sound is not profane. But Blessed John called the recent admonitions novelties of voices, reading as it seems “vain babblings” [καινοφωνίας], through the diphthong and the written "και," as the first syllable.
and oppositions . Therefore, there is an opposition to which one must not respond, because of its nonsense.
of falsely called knowledge . For when there is no faith, there is no knowledge. And that which seems to be, is false.
which some professing . Paul says that the knowledge is false and forbidden. For perhaps some were claiming knowledge discovered from human reasoning, which was opposed to faith. And it is obvious from this that they have suffered shipwreck concerning the faith.
Grace be with you. Amen . Paul prays for the seal or signet of all things, namely the grace of God, from which all which is good is both given and preserved.
The end, with divine assistance, of the first Epistle to Timothy.
It was written from Laodicea, which is a metropolis of Phrygia and Pacatiana.
COMMENTARY ON 2 TIMOTHY
BY OECUMENIUS
HYPOTHESIS ON THE SECOND EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY
Paul sends this from Rome. The pretext of the Epistle is this: Since those who had accompanied Paul on his journey left him, the Apostle, wishing Timothy to come to him, writes the Epistle. And first, he shows that he remembers Timothy’s devotion and the faith of his ancestors. Then he states that those from Asia, namely Phygelus and Hermogenes, have turned away from him, seeing his chains. But he bears witness to the greatest zeal only in Onesiphorus, and he received him when he came to Rome and stayed with him. Paul commands Timothy to avoid foolish disputes, because from them arise quarrels. For Hymenaeus and Philetus also turned aside in this way, departing from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened, and they overturn some people; therefore, Paul rather encourages Timothy to pay attention to himself and to the teaching, and to know that in the last times there will be men lovers of themselves, and of pleasures rather than of God, and foreseeing these things, to safeguard the people lest anyone be deceived by them. And having urged him much concerning morals and the accuracy of the teaching, and indicating that the time of his departure is at hand and that he is about to be offered as a drink offering and to bear witness, he instructed him to come to him quickly, bringing the cloak and the books. Paul warns Timothy about Alexander the coppersmith and to be on guard, as he indicated many things to him, and thus he concludes the Epistle.
THEODORET
What then does the Second Epistle to Timothy say? In the first, Paul said, "I hope to come to you soon." He was not able to go. For he was already held captive by Nero. Therefore, knowing this, instead of his presence, he sent letters, at once comforting him regarding his not coming, and at the same time encouraging Timothy, who was thus entrusted with the care of the Church.
The Second Epistle to Timothy by the Apostle Paul