John Chrysostom

"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; greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I might be filled with joy." "'I thank God,' he says, 'that I remember thee,' so much do I love thee." This is a mark of excessive love, when a man glories in his affection from loving so much. "I thank God," he says, "Whom I serve": and how? "With a pure conscience," for he had not violated his conscience. …

Homily on 2 Timothy 1 ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

Do you see the extraordinary love? I thank God, he says, for the fact that, loving you, I remember you. This is true love, when someone marvels at their own love for another. How is it "with a pure conscience," when in the beginning he did not know Christ? …

Commentary on 2 Timothy ↗

Oecumenius

I give thanks to God, whom I have served from my ancestors with a pure conscience, that I unceasingly remember you in my prayers day and night, longing to see you, mindful of your tears, so that I may be filled with joy. Do you see the excess of love? Paul says, I thank God that I remember you. This is love, when someone takes pride in loving someone. with a pure conscience. How is it in a pure conscience? Where Paul originally was ignorant of Christ? They show that he was conscious of nothing evil in himself. …

Commentary On 2 Timothy ↗

Thomas Aquinas

Here begins the epistolary message, in which first, he warns him against present persecutions; second, against coming dangers of the Church, at know also this (2 Tim 3:1). In regard to the first he does two things: first, he exhorts him to keep busy with preaching, which was then the cause and occasion of persecution; second, he urges him to endure tribulations for Christ, at you, therefore, my son (2 Tim 2:1). …

Commentary on 2 Timothy ↗