TRV
Augustine of Hippo
Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500 · 7,530 passages across 62 books
Commentary
2 Timothy 2:19
· 4 passages
Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
It is the elect who are meant in the letter to Timothy, where, after mention of the attempts of Hymenaeus and Philetus to undermine the faith, the text goes on, “But the sure foundation of God stands firm, bearing this seal: ‘The Lord knows who are his.’ ” The faith of these latter, which works through charity, either does not ever fail, or, if it fail in some, the loss is repaired before death, the sin that intervened is blotted out and perseverance to the end is granted. On the other hand, those who are not to persevere to the end, those who are to fall from Christian faith and conduct, in such a way that the end of this life will find them thus fallen—these men are certainly not to be counted in the number of the elect, not even at the time during which they are living in goodness and piety.
The abundance of bad people in the world is the big heap of stuff needed for refining the good. Although the good can’t be seen, mixed up in the vast multitude of the bad, the Lord knows who are his own. Under the hand of such a great craftsman, the speck of gold cannot get lost in the huge pile of straw. How much straw is there, how little gold! But have no fear: the craftsman is so great that he can refine it and cannot lose it.
Something is always going on in this olive press. The world is the press; there is no end to its pressures. Be oil, not dregs. Let each of you be converted to God and change your manner of life. The oil goes by hidden channels to its own secluded vats. Others sin, mock, blaspheme, make loud accusations in the streets—the dregs are oozing out. Yet the Lord of the press does not cease from operating it through his workmen, the holy angels. He knows his oil; he knows how much it can take, the exact pressure needed to squeeze it out. “The Lord knows,” you see, “who are his own.” Avoid the dregs. They are murky, out in the open for all to see.
And we know that the apostle said of the vessels placed in the great house, “If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and ready for the Master’s use, and prepared for every good work.” But in what manner each man ought to purge himself from these he shows a little above, saying, “Let everyone that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” This is so that he may not in the last day be blown away with the chaff from the threshing floor. Nor may he be separated at the last by hearing the command, “Depart from me, you that work iniquity.”
2 Timothy 2:20
· 3 passages
But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.
But in the Christian community, as far as sharing and communion in the sacraments goes, they have been multiplied beyond number. So number is one thing; beyond number is something else. Number is those of whom the apostle says, The Lord knows who are his. There are some beyond number, though, because in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also ones of wood and earthenware; some for noble, others for ignoble use. Number, then, applies to vessels for noble use; beyond number are vessels for ignoble use.
That law of charity was pronounced by the lips of the Lord Christ, for those parables are his about the cockle scattered through the world in the unity of the field until the time of the harvest and about the bad fishes which are to be left in the same net until the time for landing on the shore.
Cyprian argued against those who, under the pretext of avoiding the society of wicked men, had severed themselves from the unity of the church. By the great house of which the apostle spoke—in which there were not only vessels of gold and of silver but also of wood and of earth—Paul understood nothing else but the church. In the church there should be good and bad, till at the last day it should be cleansed as a threshing floor by the winnowing fan.
2 Timothy 2:24
And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,
Since there are so many deceptions and errors of wicked and perverse men clamoring against wisdom, how great is the need of a clean and single eye in order to find the path to wisdom! To escape all of these is the same as to reach the utmost security of peace and the unchangeable abode of wisdom. The noise of wranglers is of little account unless a man becomes a hindrance even to himself. But this can be seen only by a few, and there is great danger that no one may see it in the midst of contention and strife.… Therefore, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.”
2 Timothy 2:25
· 3 passages
In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
But then in the correction and repression of other men’s sins, one must take heed that in rebuking another he does not lift up himself. The sentence of the apostle must be remembered: “Let one who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall.” Let the voice of chiding sound outwardly in tones of terror, let the spirit of love and gentleness be maintained within.… So then you must neither consent to evil, so as to approve of it, nor be negligent, so as not to reprove it, nor be proud, so as to reprove it in a tone of insult.
Let Pelagius confess that pardon is granted to the repentant according to the grace and mercy of God, not according to his merits. It is that very repentance which the apostle called the gift of God when he said of certain ones, “Lest God perhaps may grant them repentance.”
Now, penance itself is often omitted because of weakness, even when in church custom there is an adequate reason why it should be performed. For shame is the fear of displeasing men, when one loves good opinion more than he regards judgment, which would make him humble in penitence. Thus not only for one to repent but also in order that he may be enabled to do so, the mercy of God is prerequisite. Otherwise, the apostle would not say of some, “In case God gives them repentance.”
2 Timothy 3:1
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
We do not think that in this passage he used his verbs in the present tense for the future, because, in fact, he was warning his correspondent to avoid these persons. Yet he had a purpose in saying: “In the last times shall come on dangerous days.” He demonstrates that the times will be dangerous by prophesying that evil men will become more numerous as the end draws near. They are already numerous at present. But what does that signify if they will be even more numerous after us and most numerous of all when the end itself is imminent, although it is not known how far off it is? Indeed, those last days were spoken of even in the first days of the apostles when the Lord’s ascension into heaven was a recent happening.… So there were last days even then! How much more now is this so, even if there remained as many days to the end as have already passed from the ascension of the Lord to this day, or even if there remain more or less days to come!
2 Timothy 3:2
· 2 passages
For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
There isn’t anyone, after all, who doesn’t love himself. But we have to look for the right sort of love and avoid the wrong sort. You see, anyone who loves himself by leaving God out of his life and leaves God out of his life by loving himself, doesn’t even remain in himself but goes away from himself.… Listen to the apostle giving his support to this understanding of the matter. “In the last days,” he says, “dangerous times will loom up.” What are the dangerous times? “There will be people loving themselves.” That’s the core of the evil. So let’s see if they remain in themselves by loving themselves; let’s see, let’s hear what comes next: “There will be people, he says, loving themselves, lovers of money.” Where are you now, you that were busy loving yourself? Obviously, you’re outside. Are you, I’m asking you, are you money? Obviously, after loving yourself by neglecting God, by loving money you have even abandoned yourself.
Since I have already given an example of love [amor] used in a good sense, someone may want an example of the same word used in a bad sense. If so, let him read the text, “Men will be lovers [amantes] of self, covetous [amatores pecuniae].”
2 Timothy 3:5
· 2 passages
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
You heard just now, when that reading was read, that Simon Magus was baptized and yet did not lay aside his evil mind. He had the form of the sacrament, but the power of the sacrament he did not have. Listen to what the apostle says about the godless, “having,” he says, “the form of godliness, while refusing its power.” What is the form of godliness? The visible sacrament. What is the power of godliness? Invisible charity.
Shut out the evil love of the world so that you may be filled with the love of God. You are a vessel, but you are still full. Pour out what you have that you may receive what you have not.… It is good for us not to love the world in order that the sacraments may not remain in us for our damnation rather than as the mainstays of our salvation. The mainstay of salvation is to have the root of love, to have the power of godliness, not the external form alone.
2 Timothy 3:7
Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Let us direct the mind’s gaze and, with the Lord’s help, let us search out God. The word of the divine canticle is, “Seek God and your soul will live.” Let us seek him who is to be found, and in doing so let us seek him who has been found. He has been hidden so that he may be sought for and found. He is immeasurable so that, even though he has been found, he may still be sought for.… Therefore it was not thus said, “Seek his face always,” as about certain men: “always learning and never attaining to a knowledge of the truth,” but rather as that one says, “When a man ends, then he is beginning.”
2 Timothy 3:8
Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
Do they not resist this truth, men corrupted in mind, reprobates concerning the faith, who respond and speak iniquity, saying, “We have it from God that we are men but from our own selves that we are just”? What are you [Pelagians] saying? You deceive your own selves, not protecting but jettisoning free will, from the height of haughtiness through empty expanses of presumption into the depths of a drowning deep in the sea. Without doubt it is your pronouncement that man of himself does justice. This is the height of your presumption.
2 Timothy 3:9
But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.
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.
2 Timothy 3:12
Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
What sort of people, though, are those who, being afraid to offend the ones they are talking to, not only don’t prepare them for the trials that are looming ahead but even promise them a well-being in this world which God himself hasn’t promised to the world? He foretells distress upon distress coming upon the world right up to the end, and do you wish the Christian to be exempt from these distresses? Precisely because he’s Christian, he is going to suffer more in this world.