Augustine of Hippo — Commentary on Scripture

1 Timothy 1:5

When all these things have been said and considered, I am unwilling to contend about words, for such contention is profitable for nothing but the subverting of the hearer. But the law is profitable for edification if one uses it lawfully. For the end of the law “is love out of a pure heart, and a good conscience and faith unfeigned.” And our Master knew it well, for it was on these two commandments that he hung all the law and the prophets.

Confessions 12.18

1 Timothy 1:5

Now, you know, I think, not only the nature of your prayer but its object, and you have learned this, not from me but from him who has humbled himself to teach us all. Happiness is what we must seek and what we must ask of the Lord God. Many arguments have been fashioned by many men about the nature of happiness, but why should we turn to the many men or the many arguments? Brief and true is the word in the Scripture of God, “Happy is the people whose God is the Lord.” “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith,” that we may belong to that people and that we may be able to attain to contemplation of God and to eternal life with God.

LETTERS 130.13.24

1 Timothy 1:5

The end of all divine Scriptures is the love for the Being in which we should rejoice and love for the being that can rejoice with us in that love. … Whoever … thinks that he understands the divine Scriptures or any part of them so that it does not build the double love of God and of our neighbor does not understand it at all. Whoever finds a lesson there useful to the building of charity, even though he has not said what the author may be shown to have intended in that place, has not been deceived.… But anyone who understands in the Scriptures something other than that intended by them is deceived, although they do not lie.

ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 1.35.39-1.36.40-41

1 Timothy 1:5

Faith, hope and charity, those three virtues for whose building up is mounted all the scaffolding of the Bible, are only in the soul that believes what it does not yet see, and hopes and loves what it believes. Therefore there can be love even of One who is not known, if yet he is believed. Doubtless, we must beware lest the soul, believing what it does not see, fabricates for itself an image of that which is not and bases its hope and love upon a lie. Then there will not emerge that “charity from a pure heart and a good conscience and a faith unfeigned, which is the end of the commandment.”

ON THE TRINITY 8.4.6

1 Timothy 1:5

When the promised vision, “face to face,” has come, we shall behold the Trinity—that Trinity which is not only incorporeal but perfectly inseparable and truly changeless—far more clearly and surely than we now behold its image in ourselves. This present vision, through a mirror and in an enigma, as offered to us in this life, belongs not to any one who can perceive in their own mind all that we have here set out by our analysis but to those who see the mind as a reflective image. In this way they are able to relate what they see to the One whose image it is. They reach through their actual vision of the image to a presumptive vision of the original, which cannot yet be seen face to face. The apostle does not say, “We see now a mirror” but “we see now through a mirror.” Those who see the mind as it may be seen, and in it that Trinity of which I have attempted to give a variety of descriptions, yet without believing or understanding it to be the image of God: they are seeing as if in a mirror. But so far from seeing through the mirror him who is now to be seen only in that way, they ar…

When the promised vision, “face to face,” has come, we shall behold the Trinity—that Trinity which is not only incorporeal but perfectly inseparable and truly changeless—far more clearly and surely than we now behold its image in ourselves. This present vision, through a mirror and in an enigma, as offered to us in this life, belongs not to any one who can perceive in their own mind all that we have here set out by our analysis but to those who see the mind as a reflective image. In this way they are able to relate what they see to the One whose image it is. They reach through their actual vision of the image to a presumptive vision of the original, which cannot yet be seen face to face. The apostle does not say, “We see now a mirror” but “we see now through a mirror.” Those who see the mind as it may be seen, and in it that Trinity of which I have attempted to give a variety of descriptions, yet without believing or understanding it to be the image of God: they are seeing as if in a mirror. But so far from seeing through the mirror him who is now to be seen only in that way, they are unaware that the mirror seen is a mirror—which is to say, an image. If they knew it, they might be conscious of the need to seek and in some measure even now to see, through this mirror, him whose mirror it is—their hearts being purified by faith unfeigned, so that he who is seen now through a mirror may at last be seen face to face. But if they despise the faith that purifies hearts, no understanding of the most subtle analysis of our mind’s nature can serve but to condemn them, on the testimony of their own understanding itself.

ON THE TRINITY 15.23.44-15.24.44

1 Timothy 1:5

When anyone knows the end of the commandments to be charity “from a pure heart, and a good conscience and an unfeigned faith” and has related all of his understanding of the divine Scriptures to these three, he may approach the treatment of these books with security. For when he says “charity” he adds “from a pure heart,” so that nothing else would be loved except that which should be loved. And he joins with this “a good conscience” for the sake of hope, for he in whom there is the smallest taint of bad conscience despairs of attaining that which he believes in and loves. Third, he says “an unfeigned faith.” If our faith involves no lie, then we do not love that which is not to be loved, and living justly, we hope for that which will in no way deceive our hope.

ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 1.40.44

1 Timothy 1:7

What, therefore, if the soul and spirit of a human being is given by God himself, whenever it is given; and given, too, by propagation from its own kind? Now this is a position which I neither maintain nor refute. Nevertheless, if it must be defended or confuted, I certainly recommend its being done by clear and certain proofs. Nor do I deserve to be compared with senseless cattle because I avow myself to be as yet incapable of determining the question, but rather with cautious persons, because I do not recklessly teach what I know nothing about. But I am not disposed on my own part to return railing for railing and compare this man with brutes. Rather, I warn him as a son to acknowledge that he is really ignorant of that which he knows nothing about. I warn him not to attempt to teach that which he has not yet learned, lest he should deserve to be compared with those persons whom the apostle mentions as “desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things about which they make assertions.”

On the Soul and Its Origin 1.16.26

1 Timothy 1:7

Therefore, let us not love ourselves but him, and in feeding his sheep let us seek those things that are his, not those things that are ours. For in some inexplicable way whoever loves himself, not God, does not love himself; and whoever loves God, not himself, does himself love himself. For he who cannot live of himself dies, of course, by loving himself. Then he who loves himself so that he may not live does not love himself. But when he from whom comes life is loved, by not loving himself, he who does not love himself—precisely that he may love him from whom he has life—loves himself all the more. Therefore, let those who feed Christ’s sheep not be “lovers of themselves,” that they may not feed them as their own but as his. Let them not wish to acquire their own gains from them, as “lovers of money,” or to be their lords, as “haughty,” or to glory over honors which they take from them, as “proud,” or to go so far as even to create heresies, as “blasphemous,” or to not yield to the holy fathers, as “disobedient to parents.” Let them return evils for goods to those who wish them to…

Therefore, let us not love ourselves but him, and in feeding his sheep let us seek those things that are his, not those things that are ours. For in some inexplicable way whoever loves himself, not God, does not love himself; and whoever loves God, not himself, does himself love himself. For he who cannot live of himself dies, of course, by loving himself. Then he who loves himself so that he may not live does not love himself. But when he from whom comes life is loved, by not loving himself, he who does not love himself—precisely that he may love him from whom he has life—loves himself all the more. Therefore, let those who feed Christ’s sheep not be “lovers of themselves,” that they may not feed them as their own but as his. Let them not wish to acquire their own gains from them, as “lovers of money,” or to be their lords, as “haughty,” or to glory over honors which they take from them, as “proud,” or to go so far as even to create heresies, as “blasphemous,” or to not yield to the holy fathers, as “disobedient to parents.” Let them return evils for goods to those who wish them to perish because they do not wish them to perish, as “ungrateful.” Let them not kill their own souls and those of others, as “wicked.” Let them not sunder the motherly bowels of the church, as “irreligious,” not feel no compassion for the weak, as “without affection,” not attempt to taint the reputation of the saints, as “detractors,” or not fail to rein in their worst desires, as “incontinent.” Let them not engage in lawsuits, as “unmerciful,” or fail to know how to give help, as “without kindness.” Let them not point out to the enemies of the godly the things that they have learned ought to be kept secret, as “traitors.” Let them not disturb the human sense of shame by shameless pursuits, as “licentious,” or fail to understand what they say or assert, as if they were “blinded.” Let them not prefer carnal enjoyments to spiritual joys, as “lovers of pleasures more than of God.”

TRACTATES ON JOHN 123.5

1 Timothy 1:7

Two walls must adhere to the cornerstone in order to preserve “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”—one from the Jews and the other from the Gentiles. We mustn’t let our minds be put off by the great number of reprobate Jews, among whom were the builders; those, that is, who “wished to be teachers of the law,” but as the apostle says about them, “do not understand either what they are saying or the things about which they are making their assertions.” It was as a result of this mental blindness, after all, that they rejected the stone which was put at the head of the corner. But it wouldn’t be put at the head of the corner unless it offered to the two peoples coming from different points a peaceful joining, a coupling of grace.

SERMONS 204.3

1 Timothy 1:8

Accordingly “the law is holy and the commandment holy, just and good.” It commands what ought to be commanded, and prohibits what ought to be prohibited. “Was that which is good, then, made death to me? God forbid.” The fault lies in making a bad use of the commandment, which in itself is good. “The law is good if one uses it lawfully.” But he makes a bad use of the law who does not subject himself to God in humble piety, so that, with the aid of grace, he may become able to fulfill the law. He who does not use the law lawfully receives it to no other end than that his sin, which was latent before the prohibition, should be made apparent by his transgression.

TO SIMPLICIAN: ON VARIOUS QUESTIONS 1.1.6

1 Timothy 1:8

Indeed, “the precepts are good,” as Pelagius says, if we use them lawfully. And in virtue of our strong conviction “that the good and just God could not have prescribed impossibilities,” we are admonished both what to do in easy things and what to ask for in difficult ones. Indeed, all things are easy for love, to which alone the burden of Christ is light, or which alone is itself the burden which is light.

ON NATURE AND GRACE 1.69.83

1 Timothy 1:9

“The law is not made for the righteous,” and yet “the law is good, if one uses it lawfully.” Now by connecting together these two seemingly contrary statements, the apostle warns and urges his reader to sift the question and solve it. For how can it be that “the law is good, if one uses it lawfully,” if what follows is also true: “Knowing this, that the law is not made for the righteous”? For who but a righteous man lawfully uses the law? Yet it is not for him that it is made, but for the unrighteous.… The unrighteous man therefore lawfully uses the law, that he may become righteous. But when he has become so, he must no longer use it as a vehicle, for he has arrived at his journey’s end—or rather (that I may employ the apostle’s own simile, which has been already mentioned) as a schoolmaster, seeing that he is now fully instructed.

ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER 1.10.16

1 Timothy 1:13

We heard the reading from the apostle, and perhaps some of you may be worried by what is written there, “According to the justice which is from the law, I was without reproach. Whatever was a gain for me, that I have regarded as a dead loss on account of Christ.” Then he went on to say, “I have reckoned it to be not only a dead loss, but even muck, that I may gain Christ and may be found in him, not having my own justice which is from the law, but the justice which is from the faith of Jesus Christ.” The question is, how could he consider conducting himself without reproach according to the justice which is from the law, to be so much muck and loss? After all, who gave the law?… But let us listen to what he says in another place, “It was not as a result of works,” he says, “which we have done ourselves, but according to his own mercy that he saved us, by means of the bath of rebirth.” And again, “I, who was previously a blasphemer and persecutor, and an overbearing man; but I obtained mercy,” and so on. On the one hand he affirmed that he conducted himself without reproach; on the ot…

We heard the reading from the apostle, and perhaps some of you may be worried by what is written there, “According to the justice which is from the law, I was without reproach. Whatever was a gain for me, that I have regarded as a dead loss on account of Christ.” Then he went on to say, “I have reckoned it to be not only a dead loss, but even muck, that I may gain Christ and may be found in him, not having my own justice which is from the law, but the justice which is from the faith of Jesus Christ.” The question is, how could he consider conducting himself without reproach according to the justice which is from the law, to be so much muck and loss? After all, who gave the law?… But let us listen to what he says in another place, “It was not as a result of works,” he says, “which we have done ourselves, but according to his own mercy that he saved us, by means of the bath of rebirth.” And again, “I, who was previously a blasphemer and persecutor, and an overbearing man; but I obtained mercy,” and so on. On the one hand he affirmed that he conducted himself without reproach; on the other he confessed he had been a sinner of such proportions that no sinners need despair of themselves, precisely because even Paul had found remission.

SERMONS 170.1

1 Timothy 1:13

From being a persecutor he was changed into “a preacher and the teacher of the nations.” “Previously,” he says, “I was a blasphemer and persecutor and an insolent man. But the reason I obtained mercy was this, that Christ Jesus might demonstrate his forbearance first of all in me, and for the instruction of those who were going to trust him for eternal life.” It is by the grace of God, you see, that we are saved from our sins, in which we are languishing. God alone is the medicine that cures the soul. The soul was well able to injure itself but quite unable to cure itself. In the body, too, after all, people have it in their power to get sick, but not equally in their power to get better. I mean, if they exceed the proper limits, and live self-indulgent lives and do all the things that undermine the constitution and are injurious to health, the day comes, if that’s what they want, when they fall sick. When they’ve so fallen, though, they don’t get better. In order to fall sick, you see, they apply themselves to self-indulgence. But in order to get better, they must apply the doctor’s…

From being a persecutor he was changed into “a preacher and the teacher of the nations.” “Previously,” he says, “I was a blasphemer and persecutor and an insolent man. But the reason I obtained mercy was this, that Christ Jesus might demonstrate his forbearance first of all in me, and for the instruction of those who were going to trust him for eternal life.” It is by the grace of God, you see, that we are saved from our sins, in which we are languishing. God alone is the medicine that cures the soul. The soul was well able to injure itself but quite unable to cure itself. In the body, too, after all, people have it in their power to get sick, but not equally in their power to get better. I mean, if they exceed the proper limits, and live self-indulgent lives and do all the things that undermine the constitution and are injurious to health, the day comes, if that’s what they want, when they fall sick. When they’ve so fallen, though, they don’t get better. In order to fall sick, you see, they apply themselves to self-indulgence. But in order to get better, they must apply the doctor’s services to their health.… And so it goes with the soul.

SERMONS 278.1-2

1 Timothy 1:13

What then is this “grace for grace”? By faith we first win God’s favor; and for us who were not worthy to have our sins forgiven, from the very fact that, though unworthy, we received so great a gift, it is called grace. What is grace? That which is given gratuitously. That which is bestowed, not paid back. If it was owed, recompense was paid, not grace bestowed.… Having acquired this grace of faith, you will be just by faith. “For the just man lives by faith.” And you will first win God’s favor from living by faith. When you have won God’s favor from living by faith, you will receive as a reward immortality and everlasting life. And that is grace.… Paul acknowledges this grace when he says that he had before been a blasphemer and a persecutor, and insulting, “but I obtained mercy.”

TRACTATES ON JOHN 3.9-10

1 Timothy 1:15

There was no reason for Christ the Lord to come, except to save sinners. Eliminate diseases, eliminate wounds, and there is no call for medicine. If a great doctor has come down from heaven, a great invalid must have been lying very sick throughout the whole wide world. This invalid is the whole human race.

SERMONS 175.1

1 Timothy 1:15

We heard the blessed apostle Paul saying, “The word is human and worthy of total acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” So it’s a human word, and worthy of total acceptance. Why human, and not divine? Without the slightest doubt, unless this word were also divine, it would not be worthy of total acceptance. But this word is both human and divine in the same sort of way that Christ himself is both man and God. So if we are right in understanding this word to be not only human but also divine, why did the apostle prefer to call it human rather than divine?… So the aspect he chose was the one by which Christ came into the world. He came, after all, insofar as he was man. Because insofar as he was God, he was always there.

SERMONS 174.1

1 Timothy 1:15

“For all have sinned,” either in Adam or by themselves, “and are deprived of the glory of God.” Consequently, the whole human mass ought to be punished, and if the deserved punishment of damnation were rendered to all, beyond all doubt it would be justly rendered. This is why those who are liberated from it by grace are not called vessels of their own merits but “vessels of mercy.” But whose mercy was it but him who sent Jesus Christ into this world to save sinners, whom he foreknew, predestined, called, justified and glorified? Hence, who could be so advanced in foolish insanity as not to render ineffable thanks to the mercy of this God who liberates those whom he has wished, considering that one could not in any way reproach the justice of God in condemning all entirely?

On Nature and Grace 1.4.4-1.5.5

1 Timothy 1:15

Pay attention to the apostle Paul, “The word is faithful and worthy of total acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first.” He said, “of whom I am the first.” How was he the first? Weren’t there so many Jews who were sinners before him? Weren’t there any sinners before him in the whole human race?… So what’s the meaning of “of whom I am the first”? That I am worse than all of them. By first he meant us to understand worst.… Remember Saul, and you’ll discover why. Isn’t he the one who wasn’t satisfied with only one hand to stone Stephen, and who took care of the coats of the others? Isn’t he the one who persecuted the church everywhere?… So he it is who was the number one persecutor. There was none worse than he.

SERMONS 175.6-7

1 Timothy 1:16

So note how this Saul, later Paul, ironically “congratulates himself” on having attained to the mercy of God, because he was found to be the first, that is the most outstanding, in sins!… This was so that others could all say to themselves, “if Paul was cured, why should I despair? If such a desperately sick man was cured by such a great physician, who am I, not to fit those hands to my wounds, not to hasten to the care of those hands?” That people might be able to say that sort of thing, that’s why Saul was made into an apostle out of a persecutor. When a doctor comes to a new place, he looks for someone there who’s been despaired of and cures him, even if he finds he’s very poor, provided he finds him a desperate case. He is not looking for a fee but displaying his skill.

SERMONS 175.9