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Ambrosiaster

Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500 · 1,043 passages across 16 books

Commentary

261–280 of 1,043
1 Timothy 2:4

Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

That God wishes all men to be saved means that he wishes that all who freely and willingly desire it shall find salvation.

COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST LETTER TO TIMOTHY

1 Timothy 2:15

Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.

The salvation that comes to women through childbearing applies only to the children who are reborn in Christ.

COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST LETTER TO TIMOTHY

1 Timothy 3:11

Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.

Paul does not refer here to women deacons, since these are not allowed in the church. It is heretics who have such persons. The reference here is to women in general.

COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST LETTER TO TIMOTHY

1 Timothy 4:2

Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

The seared conscience is a branded conscience, with the implication that they have been corrupted by falsehood which makes a mark on their consciences like a brand on skin.

COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST LETTER TO TIMOTHY

1 Timothy 5:17

Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.

Effective presbyters should be rewarded not only with sublime honor but with earthly as well, that they not be burdened with poverty.

COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST LETTER TO TIMOTHY

2 Corinthians 1:1

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia:

Freed from all anxiety about the Corinthians, Paul confidently declares that he is an apostle of the Lord. In the first letter he said that he was “called an apostle,” though he was not approved of by those who had been lured away from his teaching. In order to affirm that his apostleship has been ratified, he adds that he has been made an apostle by the will of God. He writes in association with Timothy, from whom he has heard the good news of the changes which have taken place at Corinth, and he associates the people there with believers in other churches, in order to confirm to them that they have made progress.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 1:2

Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Since the gift of God and of Christ is one and the same, Paul wants them to be partakers in the grace of God, that is, in the grace of Jesus Christ.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 1:3

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

Paul always speaks in this way, indicating the personhood of the Father and the Son, even though they are of one substance. Now he is giving much relief to people who had been grieved by his rebuke, for when they hear that God is not just the Father of creation but the Father of mercies as well, they will have hope and be assured that they have been rebuked so that they may find the mercy of God, once they have mended their ways. Through repentance they were being born again and made anew, which was not just a pardon but a restoration of their previous state of existence. He puts “mercies” in the plural because of their many sins, his aim being to console those who have been grieved on account of their faults.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 1:4

Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

Paul mentions two kinds of consolation. One is the sort by which people who are suffering distress unjustly on account of the name of Christ find consolation in being set free. The other is the consolation of those who, when they are grieved because of sins, receive consolation from the fact that hope of forgiveness is promised to them when they mend their ways. This happens amid a community of those who have received consolation from God and been rescued from distress.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 1:5

For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

It is clear that Christ himself, for whose sake we are suffering, is present with us, consoling us and rescuing us from trouble by his divine intervention.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 1:6

And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.

Because they were suffering persecutions from unbelievers for the sake of believers, they would be set free by God’s help. This was viewed as a consolation to believers, so that they would not desert their faith because of such a stumbling block. The injuries suffered by the apostles were a temptation to believers to abandon their faith. When they saw the preachers overcome by force, they were inclined to wonder whether the promise of Christ might be an empty one.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 1:8

For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:

Paul wanted the Corinthians to know what evils he was enduring for the sake of their salvation. That way, they would not take it too badly if their own errors were admonished by people who were enduring such harsh treatment for their sake.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 1:9

But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:

Paul means that there was such a violent upsurge of evil against preachers of the faith that death was staring them in the face. But God does not refuse his protection to people in extreme danger, especially when they belong to him. He rescued them when they were in deep despair. Their affliction was so great that they would not have withstood it if God had not been with them.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 1:12

For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.

The boast of Paul’s conscience was simplicity and sincerity, qualities which belong to God’s teaching. In his first letter Paul had criticized teaching based on earthly wisdom, and he alludes to that again here. He accused preachers of that kind both because they preached according to the wisdom of the world and because they were doing it in order to make money. For that reason, Paul was unwilling to receive any payment from the Corinthians.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 1:13

For we write none other things unto you, than what ye read or acknowledge; and I trust ye shall acknowledge even to the end;

What Paul says is backed up by his actions. It is through actions that we learn what a person really thinks.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 1:14

As also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Paul asserts that his boasting over his obedient children is noticed and that this will be to their advantage on the day of judgment.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 1:15

And in this confidence I was minded to come unto you before, that ye might have a second benefit;

This is proof that the Corinthians have mended their ways, because earlier on Paul did not want to see them at all. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.

2 Corinthians 1:17

When I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness? or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be yea yea, and nay nay?

Paul dismisses the charge that he cannot be trusted by telling the Corinthians that he did not change his mind lightly. He had good reasons for not doing what he had originally planned. When a spiritually minded person does not do what he intends to, it is because he has in mind something more providential for the salvation of someone’s soul. The apostle did not carry out his original plan in order that the Corinthians might become better men and women. He delayed his coming specifically because there were some among them who had not purified themselves, and he was waiting for that to happen first. This is spiritual thinking. Carnal thinking, by contrast, makes changes of plan in order to suit personal desires, not in order to do what is beneficial.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 1:18

But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay.

Paul is saying that God’s preaching through him has been faithful. Flatterers, on the other hand, frequently fail to mention things which are true in order not to offend people. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.

2 Corinthians 1:19

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea.

Competent preachers ought to be unambiguous about what they say. Say nothing that is not beneficial. Given that our human will often tends in ambivalent directions, Paul is insistent that he is not acting according to his will but according to what he knows will be helpful. In Christ, of course, this problem does not exist, because he always wills what is beneficial. Furthermore, Christ’s will never changes and is never uncertain.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

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