_Of God, our Saviour. God the Father is here called our Saviour, as also to Titus, (iii. 4.) being the author of our salvation, as are all the three divine persons. (Witham) --- As this letter was to be read to the faithful, it was proper that St. Paul should speak with dignity and authority; and, a... [ Continue Reading ]
_To Timothy, my beloved son [1] in faith: not that St. Paul first converted him, but that by his instructions he was settled in the principles of faith and of the Christian religion. (Witham)_ [BIBLIOGRAPHY] Dilecto, _Greek: gnesio tekio. Some manuscripts, Greek: agapeto._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Not to teach otherwise; [2] i.e. than what I taught them. (Witham) --- The distinctive mark of a heretic, is the teaching differently from that which they found generally taught and believed in the unity of the Catholic Church before their time. The Greek word admirably expresses this; Greek: etero... [ Continue Reading ]
Nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, [3] or disputes about pedigrees from Abraham and David, which furnish questions rather than the edification of God, or godly edification.[4] In some Greek manuscripts is read, dispensation, or economy; and so the sense may be, which contribute nothing... [ Continue Reading ]
_The end of the commandment. By the precept many understand, as it were by way of a parenthesis, all that is here contained from the 3rd to the 18th verse, were precept is again repeated. We may understand by the commandment, the law of Moses in general, comprehending both the ceremonial part and th... [ Continue Reading ]
_The law is good. Do not think I condemn the law of Moses, or those who observe it; it is good, if properly understood and rightly practised. I only blame those who make the law an occasion of disturbance; who, without understanding, pretend to be masters, and teach idle curiosities. (Theodoret)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_The law is not, &c. He means that the just man doth good, and avoideth evil, not as compelled by the law, and merely for fear of the punishment appointed for transgressors, but voluntarily, and for the love of God and virtue; and would do so, though there were no law. (Challoner) --- If all men wer... [ Continue Reading ]
_Because I did it ignorantly in unbelief, or in incredulity. Not that we can think it an invincible and altogether an inculpable ignorance, such as would have made St. Paul blameless in the sight of God. It was through his pure mercy that he called St. Paul, when his great sins and false zeal made h... [ Continue Reading ]
_Christ Jesus, the true Son of God, came into the world to save sinners, of whom (says St. Paul) I am the chief, the first, the greatest. (Witham)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_This precept I commend to thee. Some understand it a precept of what follows, that he should wage a good warfare against the enemies of God and of his salvation. Others refer it to the precept mentioned before, ver. 5, to wit, that Timothy should charge all the new converts not to give ear to new t... [ Continue Reading ]
An evil life is not unfrequently the leading principle of defection from the faith. The heart, not the mind, is generally the first corrupted.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have delivered to Satan; whom I have excommunicated, that they may learn not to blaspheme, or speak against the truth of the faith. (Theophylactus) --- The devil frequently, at that time, took possession of, or afflicted the excommunicated with diseases and other temporal evils. (St. John Chrysos... [ Continue Reading ]