Leo the Great — Commentary on Scripture

1 Timothy 1:15

What was foreknown about the malice of Jews and what was properly decreed regarding the passion of Christ were very different and quite contrary. For the will to murder did not proceed from the same place as the will to die. Nor did their heinous crime and the Redeemer’s patience arise from a single spirit. Our Lord did not himself cause the wicked hands of his attackers to be laid on him, but he permitted this. He did not force what was going to happen actually to happen simply by foreknowing it. Yet it was for this purpose that he had taken on flesh, so that it might happen. Finally, so disparate were the motives of the Crucified and of those crucifying, that what was undertaken by Christ could not be abolished, what was committed by those others could indeed have been put to a halt. He who came “to save sinners” did not deny his mercy even to his own murderers, but turned the evil of godless people to the good of believers.

SERMONS 67.2-3

1 Timothy 3:7

The wishes of the congregation and the testimony of the populace should certainly be waited for. The opinions of the nobles and the choice of the clerics should be asked for. These are the procedures ordinarily observed in the consecrating of bishops by those who know the decrees of the Fathers. That would be to preserve in every way the requirement made by apostolic authority which demands that a bishop who is to be in charge of a church must be supported not only by the testimony of his congregation but by a good reputation among outsiders as well. No opportunity for such a scandal should be left. One who is going to be the teacher of peace is himself consecrated in peace and in harmony pleasing to God, through the common efforts of all.

LETTERS 10.4

1 Timothy 3:16

No, indeed, it is not that God has just recently come up with a plan for attending to human affairs, nor that it has taken him this long to show compassion. Rather, he laid down from the very “foundation of the world” one and the same “cause of salvation” for all. For, the grace of God—by which the entire assembly of saints has always been justified—was not initiated at the time that Christ was born but augmented. This “mystery of great compassion,” with which the whole world has now been filled, was so powerful even in its prefigurations that those who believed it when promised attained to it no less than those who received it when actually given.

SERMONS 23.4

1 Timothy 4:4-5

The first cause of sin crept in from the enjoyment of food. What more salutary gift of God does our redeemed liberty use than that the will, which once did not know how to restrain itself from forbidden things, now knows how to restrain itself from lawful things? “Every creature of God is good, and nothing ought to be rejected, which is received with the giving of thanks.” We were not created to seek out all the riches of the world with a foul and shameless greed. We can restrain voluntarily from what is lawful.

SERMONS 81.1

1 Timothy 5:1

Among our negligent and sluggish brothers there is generally something requiring correction by a sterner show of authority. But the correction should be applied so as not to destroy charity. Hence, also, the blessed apostle Paul, instructing Timothy in the government of the church, says, “Do not rebuke an elderly man, but exhort him as you would a father, and young men as brothers, elderly women as mothers, younger women as sisters in all chastity.” If, by the apostle’s direction, this moderation is to be shown to any members of lesser rank, how much more should it be displayed without offense toward our brothers and fellow bishops?

LETTERS 14.1

1 Timothy 5:22

For the peace and order of the Lord’s whole household will be shaken, if what is required in the body be not found in the head. What is it to lay on hands hastily but to confer the priestly dignity on unproved men before the proper age, before there has been time to test them?

LETTERS 12.2

1 Timothy 6:18

Let those who want Christ to spare them have compassion for the poor. Let those who desire a bond with the fellowship of the blessed be “readily disposed” toward nourishing the wretched. No human being should be considered worthless by another. The nature which the Creator of the universe made his own should not be looked down upon in anyone.

SERMONS 9.2

1 Timothy 6:20

What is meant by “the deposit”? That which is committed to you, not that which is invented by you. That which you have received, not that which you have devised. A thing not of wit but of learning; not of private assumption but of public tradition; a thing brought to you, not brought forth by you; wherein you must not be an author but a keeper; not a leader but a follower. Keep the deposit.

SERMONS 85.3