Fathers

1 Timothy 3

Tap a verse to read the Fathers. Press and hold, then drag, to make a card.

This is a faithful saying: someone who seeks to be an overseer desires a good work. The overseer therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, modest, hospitable, good at teaching; not a drinker, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having children in subjection with all reverence; (but how could someone who doesn’t know how to rule one’s own house take care of God’s assembly?) not a new convert, lest being puffed up he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover he must have good testimony from those who are outside, to avoid falling into reproach and the snare of the devil. Servants, in the same way, must be reverent, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for money, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. Let them also first be tested; then let them serve if they are blameless. Their wives in the same way must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, and faithful in all things. Let servants be husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For those who have served well gain for themselves a good standing, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. These things I write to you, hoping to come to you shortly; but if I wait long, that you may know how men ought to behave themselves in God’s house, which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. Without controversy, the mystery of godliness is great: God was revealed in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, and received up in glory.

About · Privacy · Credits · Support VRSZ

What the Fathers say

1 Timothy 3:15

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

"That thou mayest know," he says, "how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." Not like that Jewish house. For it is this that maintains the faith and the preaching of the Word. For the truth is the pillar and the ground of the Church.

Homily on 1 Timothy 11 ↗

Cyril of Jerusalem

"For from the rising of the sun, even to its setting, my name is great among the nations." It is of this holy Catholic church that Paul writes to Timothy.… He calls the church "the pillar and mainstay of the truth."

Catechetical Lecture 18:25 ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

Do not say that people assembled the Church. She is the work of God — the living and fearsome God, not a dead and powerless one, such as are the gods of the Greeks. The Apostle here compares the Church with the Jewish temple and says that the latter was truly a type and shadow, such as, for example, the bells, the costly ornaments, and the high priest with the sacrifices. But the Church is the pillar of truth. …

Commentary on 1 Timothy ↗

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

Honor the holy church as your mother. Love her, proclaim her the Jerusalem which is above, the holy city of God. She it is who, in this faith which you have heard, bears fruit and grows in the whole world, the church of the living God, the pillar and buttress of the truth. She tolerates the wicked in the communion of the sacraments, knowing that they are due to be separated from her at the end and withdrawing from them meanwhile in the dissimilarity of their morals.

Sermons 214.11 ↗

Ambrose of Milan

Accordingly, as Scripture says, Jacob became rich by such means and reared a very good flock for Christ. He improved it with the title of faith and a diversity of virtues, the marks of a glorious name. And so he did not consider himself poor, for he was rich with the wealth of faith.… And it is no wonder that Jacob possessed peace, for he had set up a pillar and anointed it to God, and that pillar is the church. …

On Jacob and the Blessed Life 2.7.33 ↗

Thomas Aquinas

Hence he says, but if I tarry long; for we would have come unto you, I Paul indeed, once and again: but Satan has hindered us (1 Thess 2:18); I write that you may know how you ought to behave yourself in the house of God: God makes men of one mind to dwell in a house (Ps 67:7). …

Commentary on 1 Timothy ↗