English · KJV

Pelagius

Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500 · 465 passages across 8 books

Commentary

81–100 of 465
2 Corinthians 12:9

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

We learn from this that even a wrong prayer will receive an answer, even if it does not get what it wants.

COMMENTARY ON THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 12

2 Corinthians 12:14

Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.

Paul is telling the Corinthians that if he had more to give them, he would be bound to do so, as a loving parent.

COMMENTARY ON THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 12

2 Corinthians 13:13

All the saints salute you.

All the saints sent their greetings, not just the leaders.

COMMENTARY ON THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 13

2 Corinthians 13:14

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.

This is written against the Arians, who maintain that the Father is greater than the Son on the ground that he is usually mentioned first.

COMMENTARY ON THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 13

2 Thessalonians 1:6

Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;

“Since indeed” suggests confirmation, not doubt. It is as if Paul had said that since the source of righteousness can judge what is righteous, just as God has promised rest for those who suffer for his name, so tribulation will come for those who make tribulation for the faithful.

Pelagius’s Commentary on the Second Letter to the Thessalonians

2 Timothy 1:3

I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;

Paul says, My whole origin steered me to the worship of God. I devastated the church of Christ not from malevolence but from zeal for the law.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY

2 Timothy 1:9

Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

God foreknew those who would be reborn in response to the offer of grace.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY

2 Timothy 2:2

And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

Either “with many persons present I gave you mandates such as you should teach,” or “what I said I have confirmed with many examples and testimonies from the prophets.”

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY

2 Timothy 2:14

Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.

Do not manipulate Scripture testimonies. This kind of argument does not edify but does damage to one’s hearers, who come to think that a certain sharpness and subtlety of mind is everything. Or: Don’t try to win with words but with deeds.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY

2 Timothy 2:15

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

It is correct living that confirms the word and that interprets it rightly.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY

2 Timothy 2:17

And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;

That kind of wound is called a suppurating sore, which begins in the female breasts and then grows quickly into the abdominal region. When it finally becomes a poison that permeates the heart, there is no remedy. In just such a way the discussions of heretics are to be avoided, lest through the ears they reach the mind with an irremediable wound.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY

2 Timothy 2:18

Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.

The resurrection has happened, according to them, either in children or in Ezekiel’s reference to the revivified bones of the people of Israel in captivity.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY

2 Timothy 2:20

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.

The house described by Paul cannot be the church, which is pure, but must be the world with its mixture of wheat and tares.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY

2 Timothy 4:2

Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

Preaching is always appropriate, whether to those who hear willingly or not.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY

Philemon 1:2

And to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to the church in thy house:

Archippus is a deacon of the church, as suggested in Colossians 4:17.

Pelagius’s Commentary on the Letter to Philemon

Philemon 1:14

But without thy mind would I do nothing; that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly.

It is to be noted that he wished no one to do anything good by necessity, lest that person lose the reward of freely choosing to do the right thing.

Pelagius’s Commentary on the Letter to Philemon

Romans 1:1

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,

Do we wonder why he writes Paul, given that he was called Saul before? Doubtless he did this following the habit of the saints. When they advanced in virtue they were addressed with a different name, so that they might be new people even in name, e.g., Abraham, Sarah and Cephas. … Paul earned the office of an apostle by faithful and matchless service. He was set apart in Acts 13:2. Gospel … means “good news”, i.e., of Christ’s birth, suffering, resurrection and ascension into heaven.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 1:2

(Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)

Paul preaches no other Christ than the Christ whose gospel the prophets promised would go forth from Jerusalem. He declares that they are prophets of God and that the Scriptures which prophesied about Christ are holy. This entire passage contradicts the Manichaeans, for it says that the gospel was promised beforehand through God’s prophets and in the Holy Scriptures and that according to the flesh Christ came from the lineage of David, i.e., from the Virgin Mary, just as Isaiah had foretold.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 1:3

Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;

Many are sons by grace, but Christ is a son by nature.… By adding “according to the flesh” Paul has countered both Photinus and Arius. For if it is true that Christ was made according to the flesh, he most certainly was not made according to the substance of the Word.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 1:4

And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:

Christ was predestined as to the spirit of sanctification, so that because of his incorruptibility he might rise again before anyone else and open the way of resurrection for the children of God.… The nature of the resurrection (not of all who rise from the dead but of those who belong to Christ) is prefigured by Christ.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

All writers