Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He describes the impious manners of heretics, from verse 1 to verse 10; then he exhorts Timothy to constancy, patience, and martyrdom, up to verse 14.
From verse 11 to the end, he urges him to the study of sacred Scripture, as that which is useful, so that the man of God may be perfect, and instructed for every good work.
Vulgate Text: 2 Timothy 3:1-17
1. Know also this, that in the last days dangerous times shall come: 2. men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, 3. without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness, 4. traitors, stubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasures more than of God: 5. having an appearance indeed of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Now these avoid: 6. for of these sort are they who creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, who are led away with various desires: 7. ever learning, and never attaining to the knowledge of the truth. 8. Now as Jannes and Mambres resisted Moses, so these also resist the truth, men corrupted in mind, reprobate concerning the faith; 9. but they shall proceed no farther: for their folly shall be manifest to all men, as theirs also was. 10. But you have fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, patience, 11. persecutions, afflictions, such as came upon me at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra: what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord delivered me. 12. And all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. 13. But evil men and seducers shall grow worse and worse, erring, and driving into error. 14. But continue in those things which you have learned, and which have been committed to you: knowing of whom you have learned them. 15. And because from your infancy you have known the holy scriptures, which can instruct you to salvation, by the faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16. All Scripture inspired by God is useful for teaching, for reproving, for correcting, for instructing in justice: 17. that the man of God may be perfect, instructed for every good work.
Verse 1: Know Also This, That in the Last Days Dangerous Times Shall Come
1. Know also this, that in the last days dangerous times shall come. — The Apostle continues to forewarn and confirm Timothy, that he may not be amazed when he sees heretics arising in the Church who would eliminate the Christian faith and virtue, such as were Simon, Menander, Carpocrates, Cerinthus and the Gnostics: of whom St. Epiphanius understands this passage of the Apostle, in heresy 26. For these were most wicked, and wholly given over to the delights and lusts of the flesh; and they bore the appearance of piety before themselves, but denied its power. For that the Apostle is speaking of heretics will be clear from verses 6, 8 and following. Note: Some understand the last times to mean the times of Antichrist; for then both heretics and men will be most wicked, and especially Antichrist himself the heresiarch. But that not only those, but also the times immediately following Paul are here called the last, is clear from what He commands Timothy, verse 5, saying: "And these avoid;" and from what follows in verse 6: "For of these are they who creep into houses," etc., by which words he denotes the present times, or those just beginning.
You will ask, how then does he here call them the last? I answer, through a Hebraism: for the Hebrew אחרי achare, which our Translator usually renders as "last," signifies that which is following and afterwards, whether it follows immediately or remotely, as if the Apostle were saying: "In the last," that is in the following, and indeed in the times now beginning, there will be perilous days. The last times here therefore he calls those which were to elapse and follow from his time up to the end of the world. Add to this, that the Prophets call the time of the Messiah, or of Christ, the last, because it is the last age of the world, and the last law, religion, and Church of Christ, which no other shall succeed. Thus it is said from Joel, Acts II: "And it shall be in the last days, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh." And I John II, 18: "Little children, it is the last hour," that is the last time, the last state of the Church and of the world is now.
Note secondly: For "dangerous times," the Greek has kairoi chalepoi, that is, difficult and troublesome times; namely because men in those times to come will be difficult and troublesome, indeed most wicked, as follows. So Chrysostom.
Verse 2: Men Shall Be Lovers of Themselves
2. And men shall be lovers of themselves. — Note: The copula "and" here is not so much copulative as causal, and it signifies the same as "because": for it gives the reason why the times will be perilous, namely because men will be lovers of themselves. Thus the Hebrews often take the copulative vau for כי ki, that is, "because." The Roman Bibles do not have "and."
Note secondly: For "lovers of themselves," the Greek has philautoi, that is, lovers of self, devoted to their own glory, gains, advantages. This philautia or self-love is the origin of all evils. "For the self-lover who loves himself," says Plato, in book V Of the Laws, "since he thinks himself rather than the truth more to be honored, judges badly what is just, good, and beautiful." And Plato adds: "It surely behooves him who is to be a great man, neither to love himself nor his own things; but always to love just things, whether they are done by himself or by another." Hence St. Augustine, at the beginning of book I Of the City, establishes two cities, one of God, the other of the devil. "The City of God," he says, "begins and is constructed from the love of God, and grows to the contempt of self: but the city of the devil begins from love of self, and grows even to hatred of God through contempt of neighbors. For he who hates and despises his neighbor, will soon hold God too in hatred and contempt." For these two are most opposed to each other, namely charity and philautia, or self-love. For charity expands and diffuses itself toward God and neighbor, while self-love constrains all its things into a narrow space and reflects them upon itself, as Theophylact notes. Whence St. Anselm from St. Augustine, applying and explaining each of the vices that here follow to the pastors of the Church, shows that all flow from philautia, or self-love. See him, if you wish. Wherefore St. Augustine rightly concludes, tract. 123 on John, that self-love is not love, but hatred of self. "I know not," he says, "by what inexplicable manner, whoever loves himself and not God, does not love himself; and whoever loves God and not himself, he loves himself. For he who cannot live of himself, certainly dies by loving himself: but when He is loved by whom one lives, by not loving oneself one loves more, who therefore does not love himself, that he may love Him by whom he lives."
Covetous. — In Greek philargyroi, that is, lovers of money, greedy.
Haughty. — In Greek alazones, that is, ostentatious, arrogant, boastful, so that they extol and boast of their erudition, eloquence, and virtues even above the truth.
Verse 3: Without Affection, Without Peace, Slanderers, Incontinent
3. Without affection. — In Greek astorgoi, that is, as Primasius says, without piety, inhuman, impious toward parents, wives, servants, kinsmen, benefactors, so that they seem to have stripped off natural affection and compassion, which is called by the Greeks storgē, and having become insensible and barbarous, to have put on the hardness and stupor of brutes or stones. So Theophylact. Whence from St. Augustine, Anselm translates: without bowels of compassion.
Without peace. — In Greek aspondoi, that is, without covenant, namely covenant-breakers, so that, just as they do not keep piety with their own, so with strangers they do not enter into the rights of friendship and covenants, or do not cultivate them when entered into, but violate them. St. Augustine, tract. 123 on John, understands restless men, who do not allow others to rest, but everywhere disturb peace.
Incontinent. — In Greek akrateis, that is, intemperate, namely gluttonous and lustful. Chrysostom, however, more generally understands those who do not know how to moderate and restrain whatever immoderate pleasures and desires of the mind; but follow them prone, as cattle do. For to restrain these the general virtue, namely continence, is set forth by Aristotle.
Without kindness. — In Greek aphilagathoi, that is, not loving good men, namely haters of good men, as Vatablus translates. For these privative vices, by meiosis, signify the positive vice opposed to the virtue of which they deprive, as I have already explained in each.
Verse 4: Stubborn, Puffed Up, Lovers of Pleasures More Than of God
4. Stubborn. — In Greek propeteis, that is, as Vatablus translates, headlong and rash; Theophylact translates, fickle and unstable.
Puffed up. — tetyphōmenoi, that is, those who swell with the smoke of pride, are inflated and puffed up.
Lovers of pleasures more than of God. — This the Greek expresses more elegantly and significantly with a single word, philēdonoi mallon ē philotheoi. Epiphanius, in heresy 36, thinks that here the Apostle is censuring the most filthy pleasures and lusts of Simon and the Gnostics. Jude in his epistle censures the same, that they "turn the grace of our Lord into wantonness." Thus everywhere heresiarchs and heretics have been voluptuaries, and for that reason had very many followers, just as Epicurus had more disciples than other philosophers. "The teaching of Epicurus," says Lactantius, in book III of the Divine Institutes, chapter XVI, "has always been much more celebrated, not because it brings forth anything of truth, but because it invites many by the popular name of pleasure: for no one is not prone to vices, and to conquer them is most difficult. For, as Cyprian says, in his book On the Good of Modesty, to have conquered pleasure is the greatest pleasure: nor is any victory greater than that which is gained over the desires. For he who conquered an enemy was stronger, but stronger than another; but he who suppressed lust was stronger than himself."
Theophylact notes that those who love the pleasures of the body cannot be affected toward God and divine things; for spiritual pleasures, which raise the mind to heavenly things, are contrary to carnal ones, which depress and effeminate the mind. Hence that noble Gentile, when he was being enticed by his own people to the allurements of the flesh: "Far be it," he said, "that I should cast down a noble mind to that, and make myself a slave of my body."
Verse 5: Having an Appearance of Godliness But Denying the Power Thereof
5. Having the appearance of piety but denying the power thereof. — For "appearance of piety," St. Cyprian, in his book On the Unity of the Church, reads "deformation of religion," that is, the form and appearance of religion, so that they may seem to want to bring about a reformation of it, and call themselves of the reformed religion, when in reality they are bringing about a deformation of the same, and are deformers. For, as follows, "power" — in Greek δύναμιν, that is, the force and substance, namely piety itself, which they feign — they do not have, nor do they show by works, but "deny," as if to say: They are hypocrites, who cover hidden impiety with the appearance of virtue. "They profess themselves Christians," says Ambrose, "though they are most wicked in deed and perverse in mind." Of whom Christ, in Matthew chapter 7, verse 15: "Beware," He says, "of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." For, as Cyprian says to Jubaianus: "Heretics imitate Catholics, just as apes imitate men, and as wolves imitate dogs, to whom they are like." Hence St. Augustine, in sermon 41 on Matthew, teaches that heretics indeed have the form of piety, but without virtue and fruit, unless they are reconciled to the Church. "Just as," he says, "there can be the visible form of a vine-branch even outside the vine, yet it cannot have the life of the invisible root, unless it be in the vine." Therefore the Apostle here properly censures the heretics, who by their flattery, smooth speech, hypocrisy, garb, and outward appearance seem pious and religious, speaking piously and holily, but meanwhile gradually instill their impious dogmas imperceptibly, and at the same time draw others — and especially women laden with sins, as follows — to satisfy their own vices and lusts. "For," says Ambrose, "they defend holiness, and with their own law favoring them they live shamefully; they praise mercy, while among themselves they are caught in injustice; they assert that the world is to be despised, and always proceed punctiliously; they boastfully proclaim that they apply themselves to fasts, when they all appear well-fed, only that by some art they are seen to be pale, that they may deceive."
And avoid these, — ἀποτρέπου, that is, turn away from. For it is not enough for a bishop to avoid heretics, but he must turn away from them, indeed he must oppose them.
Verse 6: Of These Are They Who Creep Into Houses and Lead Captive Silly Women Laden With Sins
6. For of these are they who creep (in Greek ἐνδύνοντες, that is, slip in, and, as Ambrose says, sneak in) into houses and lead captive (St. Cyprian reads, plunder) silly women laden with sins, who are led away with divers lusts. — For "laden" the Greek is σεσωρευμένα, that is, heaped up and overwhelmed by a mass of sins; who like brute beasts are driven by various desires of curiosity, novelty, glory, delicacies, adornment, luxury. "It is a wondrous thing," says Cyprian, in his book On the Good of Modesty, "that women, dainty in all things, are stronger than men in bearing the burdens of vices." These, as a fitting cover for such a pan, the heretics easily lead away captive into their heresies, both because woman is a soft, pliable, and inconstant creature; and because they indulge their desires and accommodate themselves to them; and because they teach license of the flesh and remove fear of punishment and hell. Hence Theophylact and Oecumenius teach that the man who allows himself to be seduced by a heretic should be considered not a man, but a woman.
St. Jerome notes, in his epistle to Ctesiphon, vol. II, that all heresies began to be propagated through women: "Simon Magus," he says, "founded a heresy aided by the help of Helena the harlot. Nicolaus of Antioch, the founder of all impurities, led female choruses. Marcion likewise sent a woman ahead to Rome to prepare the way for greater lasciviousness. Apelles had Philomena as his companion. Montanus first corrupted Prisca and Maximilla with gold, then polluted them with heresy. Arius, in order to deceive the world, first deceived the sister of the prince. Donatus was helped by the wealth of Lucilla. Blind Agape led the blind Elpidius. Galla — not by race, but by name — was joined to Priscillian."
Verse 7: Ever Learning, and Never Coming to the Knowledge of the Truth
7. Ever learning, and never coming to the knowledge of the truth, — that is, never able to come: for this is the Greek δυνάμενα, and this both because of their teachers and through their own fault. For heretics, especially those who called themselves Gnostics, as if they were wise and knowing, can teach nothing true or of true piety. Again, these silly women laden with sins and full of lusts are incapable of truth and piety, both because they have little discernment and are inconstant, so that from one question, before they grasp its solution, they slip to another; both because they wish only to know and understand curious things, not to be wise and act practically; and because they are driven and blinded by their desires. "For how can minds laden with sins walk on the right way, much less advance, when, being blinded, they cannot see or enter upon the way itself?" says Anselm, drawing from Augustine.
Verse 8: As Jannes and Mambres Resisted Moses, So These Also Resist the Truth
8. Now as Jannes and Mambres resisted Moses, so these also resist the truth, men corrupted in mind, reprobate concerning the faith. — Thus, namely "Jannes and Mambres," read the Roman, Plantinian editions, Anselm, and others. But the Royal, Greek, and Syriac editions, and Numenius in Eusebius, book IX On the Preparation for the Gospel, read "Jannes and Iambres."
Note: These are the names of the two magicians of Pharaoh, who in Exodus are narrated to have resisted Moses and to have contended with him in performing miracles and wonders; and although Moses does not express their names, Paul nevertheless learned them from another source, and expressed them here. You will ask, whence did Paul learn them? Ambrose and Origen, hom. 35 on Matthew, answer: from an apocryphal book published on this subject, entitled "Jannes and Mambres." For Gelasius, distinction 15, lists this among the apocrypha. But this cannot be said; for Paul could not assert these names with certainty from a book of uncertain reliability. I say therefore that Paul learned these names by tradition, or certainly by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who dictated them to him. So Chrysostom, Theophylact, and others. For Numenius the Pythagorean, in Eusebius at the place cited, also teaches that these magicians were truly so called.
Note: He calls them corrupted in mind, because they corrupted the integrity of mind by various lusts and vices, and thereby became reprobate concerning the faith, so that, of course, they likewise cast aside the faith, rejected it, corrupted it, and became heretics — indeed, heresiarchs. Note here: Just as a good and uncorrupted mind easily drinks in faith and sound doctrine, so a bad and corrupted mind will easily drink in heresy, magic, and other errors; and so there is no other cause of heresy than a bad life and corrupted morals — on which subject see Alfonso de Castro in the preface to his book Against Heresies.
Verse 9: But They Shall Proceed No Further; Their Folly Shall Be Manifest to All
9. But they shall proceed no further. — That is, beyond the silly women laden with sins and similar light and inconstant men, whom they have seduced and do seduce (of such kind he says, verse 13: "Erring and driving into error"), they shall not go on to seduce others who are of a sound and solid mind.
Secondly, as Theophylact says, "they shall not proceed," namely in their hypocrisy and feigned appearance and mask of piety, but it shall be uncovered, detected, and their fraud and falsehood exposed. Whence follows, Their folly (ἄνοια, that is madness) shall be manifest to all, as theirs also was. — Just as Jannes and Mambres, resisting Moses, succumbed at the third portent of gnats and were forced to say: "This is the finger of God," Exodus viii, 19; so every error does not long endure without its deception and falsehood at last being laid bare and vanishing like smoke. Hence there is a Hebrew proverb: "Truth has stable feet, falsehood weak feet," because the former always lasts, the latter for a short time. The Hebrew letters שקר sheqer, that is, of falsehood, signify the same — they have pointed and therefore weak feet — and אמת emet, that is, of truth, which have square and therefore solid and stable feet. The Apostle, says Primasius, is speaking of Simon and the Gnostics, namely the heretics of his own time, whose heresy and impurity of life, once exposed, soon vanished. But in like manner we see that the heresies of Photinus, Nestorius, Sabellius, Manes, Pelagius, and all others vanished one after another with great rapidity. The same we see gradually happening in our time, and shall see more clearly in a short while: that Lutheranism and Calvinism are growing old and dying out among many, while among others they pass into atheism, and their followers become outright Politicians and Libertines. And, to omit others, a clear example is Manes himself, the father of the Manichaeans, who, having promised to cure the son of the king of the Persians from a disease, instead killed him, and was caught and punished with death. "Manes is captured," says Cyril of Jerusalem, catechesis 6, "and is brought to the king: the king reproached him with his lie and flight, mocked his slavery, accused him of the killing of his son, and condemned him for the murder of the guards committed on his account. Thus, by Persian law, he ordered Manes to be flayed; he handed over the rest of his body to be devoured by beasts, but the skin in which so great a wickedness was contained he had hung up before the gates like a wineskin."
Verse 10: You Have Followed My Doctrine, Manner of Life, Purpose, Faith, Long-Suffering, Love
10. But you have followed my doctrine, instruction, purpose, faith, long-suffering, love. — Erasmus, Vatablus, and others translate: but you have accompanied my doctrine, that is, from beginning to end you were present with me as I evangelized, you were my inseparable companion. But this does not seem true, nor fitting to this passage: for Timothy was not present with Paul from the beginning of his preaching; indeed those persecutions which Paul endured at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, of which Acts xiii and xiv speak, occurred before Timothy joined him — indeed, before he was even known to Paul. For he first became known to him in Acts xvi, verse 1. Again, it is incongruous to say that someone accompanies another's persecutions, sufferings, long-suffering, or devotion, instead of saying that someone is a companion to another, and present at his persecution, suffering, or devotion. Therefore I say properly: "but you have followed," that is, you have known and understood my doctrine, whether by being present and looking on, or by hearing it from trustworthy people: for this is also what the Greek παρακολουθῶν means, namely to follow and reach something with the mind, that is, to understand, e.g. when a disciple grasps and understands the meaning and mind of his master, as Budaeus rightly noted. Hence things which can be known and understood with difficulty are called δυσπαρακολούθητα.
Note: For "instruction" the Greek is ἀγωγή, that is, conduct and the manner of life, and, as the translator of Theophylact renders it, "my conversation."
Secondly, "purpose," that is, alacrity and readiness of mind, says Theophylact; but Theodoret puts it better — "purpose," he says, that is, the end and aim which I set for myself and for my evangelization, namely that I might propagate the faith and glory of Christ throughout the whole world among all peoples, as if to say: Follow then, O son, O disciple Timothy, this purpose of mine, who am your master, so that you may strenuously labor with me in propagating the Gospel of Christ.
Thirdly, "faith," that is, constancy in the faith, says Theophylact. Again, "faith," that is, firm confidence, by which, leaning and relying on God, I bravely undertook and overcame so many labors, dangers, and hardships.
Fourthly, "long-suffering," namely in tolerating both the infirmities and sins of brethren, says Theodoret; and also the enemies of the faith, namely Jews, Gentiles, and heretics. For when they resisted me, "I did not raise a tumult, nor stir up crowds, but received all and each one with meekness," says Chrysostom.
Fifthly, "love," by which I dearly loved all alike — enemies as well as friends, the wicked as well as the good, Gentiles as well as Jews — as though they were my brothers and sons, and I sought to help all, to join them to Christ, and bring them to salvation.
Verse 11: Such Things as Happened to Me at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra; the Lord Delivered Me
11. Such things as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra: what persecutions I endured, and out of all the Lord delivered me. — Erasmus reads it as a question, as though Paul exclaimed in wonder: Good God! what things and how great did I endure? But the Roman, Greek, Syriac, and Latin Bibles generally read it without a question. So "what things," that is, what kind of persecutions and sufferings. Hence Vatablus more plainly translates "what things" as "which," namely sufferings, befell me. For the Greek οἷα μοι is put for ἃ μοι.
Note: This Antioch is not the one in Syria, but the one in Pisidia, near Iconium and Lystra, where Paul, when the Jews stirred up a sedition, was stoned and nearly killed, Acts xiii and xiv.
Paul adds: "And out of all the Lord delivered me," so as to encourage Timothy to like things, tacitly hinting to him that God will likewise be present to him in persecutions, just as He was present to himself; and from them He will deliver him, or, crowned with martyrdom, will translate him to heaven — so Chrysostom.
Verse 12: All Who Wish to Live Godly in Christ Jesus Shall Suffer Persecution
12. All who wish to live piously in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. — You will ask, how is this universally true? For many of the pious among Christians live piously and quietly without persecution. Chrysostom answers that by "persecution" here are understood all the difficulties, labors, sorrows, and anxieties which those suffer who pursue piety, while they try to bridle their lusts, to pursue continence, humility, temperance, and to apply themselves to pious labors. "And so the tribulation of persecution is never lacking, if the observance of piety is never lacking. Therefore, as it belongs to the whole of time to live piously, so it belongs to the whole of time to bear the cross," says St. Leo, sermon 9 on Lent.
Secondly, St. Augustine, sermon 24 on the Words of the Apostle, on these same words of the Apostle, says that the pious suffer persecution while they grieve and are tormented over the evil life of the impious by whom they are hated, so that with David they may say in Psalm cxviii: "I beheld the transgressors, and I pined away." In the same way St. Peter, II Peter, chapter ii, verse 8, says of the Sodomites that they "vexed the just soul (of Lot) with their wicked works." "Lot, therefore," says Augustine, "suffered persecution not by being beaten, but by seeing the wicked." "For it is a great labor for the good to tolerate contrary morals," says St. Prosper in his Sentences.
Thirdly, the same Augustine in Psalm lv understands by "persecutions" any tribulations of the present life, of which Augustine himself says: "If you think you have no tribulations, you have not yet begun to be a Christian."
Fourthly, and more properly, the same Augustine, in Psalm cxxvii, understands by "persecutions" the temptations of the devil. "For it is not," he says, "because the devil does not now rage through kings, that therefore Christians do not suffer persecution. If the devil were dead, persecutions would be dead. But if our adversary lives, whence does he not stir up temptations? whence does he not rage? whence does he not bring on threats and scandals?" The Christian must know that he is not called to leisure, delicacies, peace, and joys, but must always set before his eyes that saying of the Wise One, Ecclesiasticus ii, 1: "My son, when you come to the service of God, stand in justice and fear, and prepare your soul for temptation."
Fifthly, and most literally, "all," that is, the majority, "all who wish to live piously," properly "will suffer persecution" from men — whether from Christian relatives and friends, or from unbelievers and heretics, or from the envious and other perverse and wicked persons: for from such Paul properly suffered such persecution at Antioch and Lystra. And this is what the Greek διωχθήσονται properly signifies. This statement was most true and most clear in the time of St. Paul, when those who were converted from paganism to Christ were immediately punished — both by their own and by outsiders, especially by governors — by being deprived of goods, country, liberty, and often life. The same thing is seen even today, whenever someone converts from a worldly and licentious life to a Christian, modest, and holy one, and especially to a perfect and religious one. For such a person is harassed by his own people, by companions, and by outsiders: he is mocked, tempted, torn by injuries and insults, and often deprived of his goods either entirely or in great part. For these things, as for the Apostle, exceptional patience and constancy are needed, so that, when assaulted on every side and continually, they may say that saying of Tertullian, in his book On Patience: "Let another's wickedness be wearied by your patience." And that of Chrysostom here: "It is impossible that one who has declared war on evils should be without pressures; it is unlawful for God's pugilist to be at leisure with delights, it is not lawful for the wrestler to feast: for present things are all wrestling, contest, war, pressure, distress, the arena; another time is the time of rest — this is appointed for hardships and toils. No one, when he has stripped for the contest and been anointed, seeks rest: for if you ask, why have you stripped, why have you declared war on lusts and on nature (on the world and on men)?" Hence St. Gregory infers, book VI, epistle 191 to Narsa: "In this matter I say boldly that you live the less piously the less persecution you have endured." For, as he himself adds, "adversity itself increases the zeal for good work. So the seeds of the harvests, covered by frost, sprout more fruitfully. So fire is pressed by the wind that it may grow."
Note here that this saying of the Apostle is, as it were, a paroemia, or proverb, signifying not that it happens to absolutely all the pious and always, but that it happens to most, and often: of which kind there are many sayings in Proverbs, as when it is said: "All seek the things that are their own;" all, that is, most: for Paul and the apostles did not seek their own. So in Proverbs xvi, 10, it is said: "A divine sentence is in the lips of the king, his mouth shall not err in judgment." The sense is, as if to say: The judgments and precepts of a just king are to be received as the oracles of God, in whose stead he presides, and who assists him as a kind of vicar, intent and fixed on God and justice, lest he err in judging or commanding; and yet we know that even just kings sometimes have strayed and do stray from the true and just in their judgments and commands. So in chapter xvii, verse 24, it is said: "Wisdom shines in the face of the prudent, the eyes of fools are at the ends of the earth," as if to say: as the mind of fools, so also are their eyes wandering, looking around hither and thither, even to the ends of the earth: but the eyes and countenance of the wise man are grave, constant, and composed to wisdom, that is, for the most part. For sometimes we see fools also compose their eyes and countenance to wisdom and gravity; and on the contrary, the wise relax and loosen their eyes and countenance to jokes and merriment. There are many similar sayings in Proverbs, as I said there.
Verse 13: Evil Men and Seducers Shall Grow Worse, Erring and Driving Into Error
13. Evil men and seducers shall grow worse, erring, and driving into error. — In Greek πλανῶντες καὶ πλανώμενοι, that is, leading into error and led astray by error, as if to say: The pious suffer persecution, but the impious, as Chrysostom says, are at leisure and quiet, and freely indulge their impiety, so that daily they grow in impiety, with no one resisting them; for this is the force of evil, and especially of error, that it always devises new things, and from one false principle deduces other and other false conclusions.
You will say: this passage contradicts verse 9 of this chapter, where he said: "They shall proceed no further." I have answered in that place that it is said, "they shall proceed no further," namely so as to seduce men of sound mind: for to those their fraud and impiety will soon be apparent; but here it is said that they themselves shall proceed in themselves and in their own impiety, and shall entice into their errors light and inconstant men, and those given over to their own desires.
Verses 14 and 15: Remain in What You Have Learned; From Infancy You Have Known the Sacred Scriptures
14 and 15. But remain in the things which you have learned, and which have been committed to you: knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from infancy you have known the sacred letters. — "Committed," that is, entrusted to you as bishop, to be preserved and promulgated. Otherwise Chrysostom: "which have been believed to you," or "by you," that is, which you have believed, which you have received by faith, as if to say: You have believed, among other things, that the pious will suffer persecution; remain therefore in this faith of yours, and in keeping with it suffer persecution for piety. But the former sense is plainer and more genuine: for in Greek it is not ἃ ἐπίστευσας, that is, what you have believed, but ἃ ἐπιστώθης, that is, what you have been entrusted with, that is, as our translator clearly renders it, which have been entrusted and committed to you and to your faith. Furthermore, Paul applies two spurs to Timothy for remaining in the doctrine which he has been taught. The first is, that he received it from the greatest teacher, namely Paul, who had been constituted by God the teacher of the Gentiles and doctor of the world. For Paul here means himself, but for modesty's sake omits his own name; the authority of the teacher above all wins faith for the doctrine among the disciples. Thus Pythagoras was venerated by his followers, so that the disciples gave no other answer to those asking the reason for his doctrine than αὐτὸς ἔφα — "he himself," namely Pythagoras, says so, judges so. The second spur is that from infancy Timothy has learned the sacred Scriptures — that is, the Old Testament, namely the Law and the Prophets, which clearly prophesied concerning Christ and Christ's life and mysteries — as if to say: Remain in those things which you sucked, as it were, with milk. So Chrysostom, Ambrose, Theophylact. So Plato, book VI On the Laws: "I assert," he says, "that those who are to turn out outstanding men in any thing must, from the very beginning of childhood, train themselves toward that very thing, both in playing and in studying, in each of the activities suited to that pursuit."
And hence what Jeremiah says, Lamentations III, 27: "It is good for a man, when he has borne the yoke from his youth: he shall sit solitary, and shall hold his peace: because he has taken it up upon himself." So the greatest Saints from their tender years began a holy, austere, religious, and perfect life; as did St. John the Baptist, of whom we sing:
The caverns of the desert in your tender years
You sought, fleeing the throngs of the citizens:
Lest you might stain your life
Even by a slight word.
So Samson and Samuel were consecrated as Nazirites from boyhood. So John the Evangelist, while still a young man and yet untouched by the corruption of the age, followed Christ, and therefore he was "the disciple whom Jesus loved," to whom He also revealed the greatest mysteries. So also Paul the first Hermit, and St. Anthony, and St. Hilarion, at the age of 15, sold everything and distributed it to the poor, and gave themselves wholly to the Lord in the desert. St. Benedict was very young when he abandoned everything, namely 10 or 12 years old. St. Maurus was 12. St. Placidus and many others were given over to St. Benedict as boys. St. John Calybita, when he was about 14, leaving home and his paternal wealth without his parents knowing, hid himself in a distant monastery, to give himself to prayer and fasting. St. Romuald began monastic life at age 20, St. Thomas at 14, St. Francis of Paola at 13, St. Anthony set his mind to it at 13 and was received at 14, St. Vincent Ferrer at 18, St. Laurence Justinian at 19, St. Bonaventure at 22; the Venerable Bede was educated in religious life from age 7. See more examples of saints who began as boys in the Mirror of Youth, recently published by Bernard Dorhoff, the whole of which is on this subject.
Which (the sacred Scriptures) can instruct you (σοφίσαι, that is, make you wise) unto salvation, by the faith which is in Christ Jesus, — that is, in Christ Jesus, as if to say: The Sacred Scriptures instruct you unto salvation by this very thing — that they teach that one must believe in Christ, and that through the faith of Christ, and through His Sacraments and the precepts established by Christ to that end, we must attain righteousness and salvation: "For there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved," Acts iv, 12. Therefore the end of the Law and the Prophets is Christ, whom because the Jews reject, hence they do not understand the Law and the Prophets, nor the faith of Christ, and consequently they do not attain salvation. As if Paul were saying: I am now dying, and going to martyrdom; you will no longer hear me as your teacher, O Timothy; you will grieve at My being taken, just as Elisha grieved when his master Elijah was taken up into heaven: but come, take heart, in my place I leave you the sacred Scriptures, as a teacher and counselor, that in them you may hear God speaking and teaching, and from them learn neither to contract your spirit in sad things, nor to be puffed up in joyful things. So St. Chrysostom. For, as St. Augustine says, sermon 112 On the Times, vol. X: "When we pray, we speak with God; but when we read the divine Scriptures, God speaks with us."
Verse 16: All Scripture Divinely Inspired Is Useful for Teaching, Reproving, Correcting, Instructing in Justice
16. All Scripture divinely inspired is useful to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice. — The Greek inserts καί, that is "and," so that the sense is: All Scripture, namely sacred, is divinely inspired, and is also useful for teaching. Sacred Scripture is more elegantly called in Greek θεόπνευστος, that is, inspired by God, as if to say: not by their own instinct, judgment, or guidance, as profane historians and philosophers wrote their works, but "holy men of God spoke, inspired by the Holy Spirit," and wrote, II Peter i, 21.
Note: Hence sacred Scripture is called the word of God and of the Holy Spirit; while the Prophets and other hagiographic writers are called the pens and instruments of the Holy Spirit, as it were of a swiftly writing scribe, who inspires and dictates the sacred Scriptures.
Note secondly, that the Holy Spirit did not dictate all the sacred Scriptures in the same way: for He revealed and dictated the Law and the prophecies word for word to Moses and the Prophets; but as for the historical narratives and moral exhortations which the hagiographic writers themselves had previously learned by sight, hearing, reading, or meditation, it was not necessary that these be inspired or dictated by the Holy Spirit, since the writers themselves already knew them and had a firm grasp of them. Thus St. John, chapter xix, verse 35, says that he writes what he saw; while St. Luke, chapter i, verse 2, says that he writes the Gospel which he heard and received by tradition from the Apostles. Yet the Holy Spirit is said to have dictated this also to them, first, because He stood by them as they wrote, lest they should err from the truth even by a single point. Secondly, because He prompted and suggested to them that they should write these things rather than those. Therefore the Holy Spirit did not put into them the conception and memory of the things they knew, but inspired them to write this conception rather than that. Thirdly, because the Holy Spirit ordered, arranged, and directed all their conceptions and sentences — for example, that they should place this sentence first, that one second, another third, and so on consecutively, and consign them to writing. For this is properly to compose and write a book; and for this reason the Holy Spirit is properly said to be the author of the sacred books. And this is what St. Gregory teaches in the preface to Job, chapter ii: that Job himself wrote his deeds not by his own hand, but by the higher hand, sense, and guidance of the Holy Spirit, and therefore speaks of them not as his own, but as the deeds of another: "The writers of the sacred eloquence," he says, "because they are filled with the Holy Spirit, are drawn above themselves, become as it were outside themselves, and thus utter God's sentences as though about others."
Note thirdly: From the fact that the sacred Scriptures have been inspired by God, St. Chrysostom infers that they have profound and divine senses, and therefore that they are not open and clear to just anyone; but contain many hidden things like a river, whose outermost surface of waters alone is visible, beneath which a deeper and far greater abundance of water lies hidden — "in which both the lamb (the humble) may swim, and the elephant (the proud) may be submerged," says St. Gregory in his epistle to Leander, which is prefixed, as in Job.
Note fourthly: Sacred Scripture is "useful": first, "for teaching," namely sound doctrine; secondly, "for refuting," namely the Simonians and other heretics; thirdly, "for correcting," in Greek πρὸς ἐπανόρθωσιν, that is, for correction; Ambrose translates, for restoration, by which, namely, you may correct Catholics straying from the good and Christian life, and restore them to integrity of life; fourthly, "for instructing in justice," by which, namely, we may instruct others unto all justice, that is, to every uprightness of morals, holiness, and perfection.
Verse 17: That the Man of God May Be Perfect, Instructed for Every Good Work
17. That the man of God may be perfect, instructed for every good work. — He calls the teacher and Bishop the "man of God," as I said in epistle I, chapter vi, verse 11.
Secondly, for "instructed," the Greek is ἐξηγμένος, that is, adorned, arranged, prepared, equipped. But the Syriac, Ambrose, and Theophylact read ἐξηρτισμένος, that is, accomplished and perfected; and so our Interpreter seems to have read, as if to say: The sacred Scriptures are useful for this — that they may make you a perfect teacher, O Bishop, so that you may be equipped and prepared for every good work, especially for the teaching, refuting, correcting, and instructing already mentioned, which is proper to a Bishop, and for undergoing martyrdom for it. For Paul foresaw that martyrdom for the Gospel was at hand both for himself and for Timothy.
Note: The Apostle does not say that Scripture alone makes a man perfect: for in this way he would exclude the Sacraments, grace, teachers, and traditions, which nevertheless he requires in II Thessalonians ii, 14. Nor does the Apostle say that sacred Scripture is sufficient, but that "it is useful that man may be perfect." Therefore, just as if you should say: The sun is useful, that every living thing may be produced and perfected; you do not deny that for this work the concurrence of the second cause that generates is equally needed: so in like manner, when the Apostle says that Scripture is useful for this — that man may be perfect — he does not deny that for perfection both of doctrine and of Christian life, traditions, Sacraments, acts of the virtues, and other things prescribed elsewhere by Christ are required. Add that, when the Apostle wrote these things, the Apocalypse had not yet been written, and several of the apostolic epistles, which Timothy therefore could not read, but which nevertheless are required, both for a complete Scripture and for this, that from it man may turn out perfect.
Yet the Apostle hints, as Chrysostom rightly noted, that no one without Scripture can be perfect in faith and in the Christian and divine life. For Scripture has been given by God for this usefulness and use.
Hence St. Basil, epistle I to Gregory Nazianzen, compares Sacred Scripture to an apothecary's shop, which is stocked with all medicines for driving away any kind of disease. "If anyone," he says, "is troubled and you long for it — for example, if you are afflicted, it consoles you, saying: A contrite and humbled heart, O God, You will not despise. If you rejoice, it heaps up your joy with the hope of the future, saying: Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you just. If you are angry, it calms you, saying: Cease from anger and forsake wrath. If you are in pains, it heals you, saying: The Lord heals all your diseases. If you are consumed by poverty, it consoles you, saying: The Lord lifts up the needy from the earth. Thus then the manna of the word of God yields in your mouth whatever flavor you desire."
Aptly therefore Origen, homily 7 on Exodus, compares Sacred Scripture to manna: "If you," he says, "receive the word of God with full faith and devotion, the word itself will become for you what you desire — for example, if you struggle with concupiscence and desire chastity, let him diligently read the story of Joseph, and from it he will learn and draw the love and spirit of chastity. If anyone is impatient and desires patience, let him read the deeds of St. Job. If anyone desires fortitude, let him read the acts of David. If anyone seeks meekness, let him peruse and imitate Moses." Thus St. Paula in every matter and temptation armed herself with sacred Scripture and prepared herself for perfection, as St. Jerome testifies in her epitaph, so that she seemed to be an ark of the testament and an armory of Scripture. "In dangers," says Jerome, "Paula would say: Whoever wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. When the overthrow of her whole patrimony was announced, she would say: Naked I came forth from my mother's womb. In her frequent infirmity: We have this treasure in earthen vessels, until this mortal puts on immortality. In sorrow she sang: Why are you sad, my soul? hope in God. When in the great fervor of her virtues she seemed mad to some: A spectacle, she said, we are made to the world, to angels, and to men; we are fools for Christ's sake," etc.