Fathers

1 Timothy 1

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Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ our hope; to Timothy, my true child in faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. As I urged you when I was going into Macedonia, stay at Ephesus that you might command certain men not to teach a different doctrine, and not to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which cause disputes, rather than God’s stewardship, which is in faith— but the goal of this command is love, out of a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith, from which things some, having missed the mark, have turned away to vain talking, desiring to be teachers of the law, though they understand neither what they say, nor about what they strongly affirm. But we know that the law is good, if a person uses it lawfully, as knowing this, that law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for the sexually immoral, for homosexuals, for slave-traders, for liars, for perjurers, and for any other thing contrary to the sound doctrine, according to the Good News of the glory of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. I thank him who enabled me, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he counted me faithful, appointing me to service; although I used to be a blasphemer, a persecutor, and insolent. However, I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. The grace of our Lord abounded exceedingly with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. The saying is faithful and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. However, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first, Jesus Christ might display all his patience for an example of those who were going to believe in him for eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. I commit this instruction to you, my child Timothy, according to the prophecies which were given to you before, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience, which some having thrust away made a shipwreck concerning the faith, of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan, that they might be taught not to blaspheme.

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What the Fathers say

1 Timothy 1:19

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

"Holding faith, and a good conscience." For he that would be a Teacher must first teach himself. For as he who has not first been a good soldier, will never be a general, so it is with the Teacher; wherefore he says elsewhere, "Lest when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-away." "Holding faith," he says, "and a good conscience," that so thou mayest preside over others. When we hear this, let us not disdain the exhortations of our superiors, though we be Teachers. …

Homily on 1 Timothy 5 ↗

Basil of Caesarea

But what storm at sea was ever so fierce and wild as this tempest of the Churches? In it every landmark of the Fathers has been moved; every foundation, every bulwark of opinion has been shaken; everything buoyed up on the unsound is dashed about and shaken down. We attack one another. We are overthrown by one another. If our enemy is not the first to strike us, we are wounded by the comrade at our side. If a foeman is stricken and falls, his fellow soldier tramples him down. …

On The Spirit 30.77 ↗

Athanasius of Alexandria

But the sectarians, who have fallen away from the teaching of the church and made shipwreck concerning the faith, wrongly think that evil has some sort of eternal existence. They arbitrarily imagine another god besides the true One, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. They fantasize that he is the unmade producer of evil and the head of wickedness, who is also artificer of creation. …

Against the Heathen 6.3 ↗

Western Saints

Ambrose of Milan

The truth of the Lord encompasses him, so that he is not afraid of the terror of the night or of the thing that walks about in darkness. Therefore, "Zabulon shall dwell by the sea." Thus he may look upon the shipwrecks of others while himself free from danger. He may behold others driven here and there on the sea of this world, those who are borne about by every wind of doctrine, while himself persevering on the ground of an immovable faith.

On the Blessings of the Patriarchs, Chapter 5 ↗

Thomas Aquinas

Here is mentioned: first, the way to wage the war; second, the necessity of a good conscience, at which some rejecting. He says, therefore: that you war in them a good warfare. As if to say: you can wage a good war: first of all, having faith: this is the victory which overcomes the world, our faith (1 John 5:4); second, through a good conscience, because men quickly flee from things that are bothering them; hence, remorse of conscience is like a goad pricking a man with a bad conscience. …

Commentary on 1 Timothy ↗