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 1:5

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

Nothing is so injurious to mankind as to undervalue friendship; and not to cultivate it with the greatest care; as nothing, on the other hand, is so beneficial, as to pursue it to the utmost of our power. This Christ has shown, where He says, "If two of you shall agree on earth, as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father" (Matt. xviii. 19); and again, "Because iniquity shall abound, love shall wax cold." (Matt. xxiv. 12.) It is this that has been the occasion of all heresies. …

Homily on 1 Timothy 2 ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

If you, he says, will admonish them not to teach otherwise, you will achieve this, namely love. If you instill love in them, then every corrupt doctrine will find no place among them. Before, when there was no love, there was envy; from envy came love of power; from love of power the desire to teach; and from this, heresies. But now it is not so. …

Commentary on 1 Timothy ↗

Ignatius of Antioch

None of these things is hid from you, if ye perfectly possess that faith and love towards Christ Jesus which are the beginning and the end of life. For the beginning is faith, and the end is love. Now these two, being inseparably connected together, are of God, while all other things which are requisite for a holy life follow after them. No man [truly] making a profession of faith sinneth; nor does he that possesses love hate any one. …

Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians ↗

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

But when the sight shall have come which is promised anew to us face to face, we shall see this not only incorporeal but also absolutely indivisible and truly unchangeable Trinity far more clearly and certainly than we now see its image which we ourselves are: and yet they who see through this glass and in this enigma, as it is permitted in this life to see, are not those who behold in their own mind the things which we have set in order and pressed upon them; but those who see this as if an image, so as to be able to refer what they …

On The Trinity 15.23.44-15.24.44 ↗

Thomas Aquinas

Then when he says, now the end, he shows what should be kept of the law. In regard to this he does two things: first, he proves this; second, that there is a danger for those who do not hold this, at from which things. In regard to the first it should be noted that the old law is called the law of the commandments, because it is hemmed in by commandments and precepts: making void the law of commandments contained in decrees (Eph 2:15). …

Commentary on 1 Timothy ↗

Bonaventure

And in this commandment consists the consummation of God's precepts, whether the world accepts it or not — this, indeed, he asserted — that is, in the abdication of all cupidity. And so, as a ninefold series is completed and made perfect by the addition of a single unit, so the nine commandments are made perfect through the abdication of cupidity, which consists in private love and disregard for the common good. …

Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 21 ↗