Homilies on 2 Timothy 8.1–8.5

“But know this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boasters, arro[gant … reckless], conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lo[vers of God …].” If anyone is vexed now at the heretics, let him consider that such things have happened from the beginning, since the devil has always set falsehood up beside the truth. God promised good things from the beginning; the devil also came with promises. God planted paradise; the devil deceived, saying, “You will be like gods.” For since he could show nothing by deeds, he promises greater things in words; deceivers are like that. After this there were Cain and Abel, then the sons of Seth and the daughters of men, then Ham and Japheth, Abraham and Pharaoh, Jacob and Esau; and so it goes on to the end: Moses and the magicians, the prophets and the false prophets, the apostles and the false apostles, Christ and the antichrist. So it was before, and so it was then. There was Theudas, there was Simon, when there were the apostles, and these people around Hermogenes and Philetus. There is no time, then, when falsehood has not stood beside the truth. Let us not, then, be vexed; these things were foretold from of old. That is why he said, “Know that in the last days difficult times will come. For people will be lovers of self, boasters, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, without natural affection.” So the ungrateful man is unholy—and rightly so. For one who is ungrateful toward his benefactor, what would he ever be toward others? The ungrateful man is implacable; the ungrateful man is without natural affection. “Slanderers,” he says; that is, evil-speakers. For those who are conscious of no good in themselves, as though they found some consolation in blackening the reputations of others, commit countless offences and sins. “Without self-control”: of tongue and belly and everything else. “Savage.” From this comes cruelty, from this comes harshness, when someone is a lover of money, when someone is a lover of self, when … “Traitors”: of friendship. “Reckless, [conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of] God, having a form of godliness, but having denied its power.” And writing to the Romans he says something like this: “having the form of knowledge and of truth in the law.” But there he puts it down as praise, while here he shows this to be a sin more grievous than all the other failings. Why? Because he did not take the word in the same sense. For just as he often takes “image” to mean likeness, but often to mean what is lifeless and worthless—as he himself says, writing to the Corinthians, “For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God,” and the prophet, “Surely man walks about as an image”—and as Scripture takes the lion sometimes for what is kingly—“He lay down,” it says, “as a lion, and as a lion's whelp; who will rouse him?”—and sometimes for what is rapacious—“as a lion ravening and roaring”—so we too do the same. For since things are composite and varied, they are naturally used for many images and examples. For instance, when we wish to admire a beautiful woman, we compare her to paintings; and when we wish to admire painted women, we say that they speak, that they utter sounds. But we are not doing the same thing: in the one case it is because the painting has come close to likeness, in the other because the woman is close to beauty. So too with “form”: there it means a type and image and teaching and archetype of godliness; here it indicates something lifeless and dead, a mere shape and outline and pretence. So faith without works is a mere shape without power—and rightly so. For like a beautiful and blooming body that has no strength but resembles painted figures, so is right faith without works. For suppose someone is a lover of money, a traitor, reckless, and then believes rightly: what is the gain, if he has none of the things that befit a Christian? When he does none of the things that mark out godliness, but outstrips the Greeks in ungodliness? When he is a ruin to those around him? When he causes God to be blasphemed? When he discredits the doctrine by his works? “And avoid these,” he says. If, then, such people will exist in the later times, how does he say, “And avoid these”? It is likely that even then there were some such people, if not in the extreme form, yet they existed; and in truth he exhorts everyone through Timothy to turn away from such. “For among these,” he says, “are those who creep into houses and take captive silly women laden with sins, led away by various desires, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

Do you see them using the ancient deceit, the weapon the devil used against Adam? “Creeping into houses,” he says. Do you see how by saying “creeping in” he showed their shamelessness, their dishonour, their deceit, their flattery? “And taking captive silly women.” So whoever is easily deceived is a “silly woman” and far from being a man. Being deceived belongs to women, or rather not even to women, but to silly women … from their sins, from being conscious of no good in themselves. And he said very aptly “laden”: for by this he presents the multitude of their sins, and their disorder and confusion. “Led away by various desires.” He did not accuse their nature; for he did not simply say “women,” but women of a certain kind. What does “various” mean? Here he hinted at much: luxury, indecency, lust. “By various desires,” he says, that is, for money, glory, luxury, self-will, honour. Perhaps he is also hinting at other, shameful desires. “Always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Why does he say this? Not to excuse them, but rather to threaten them severely. For since they had buried themselves in those desires and sins, their mind was hardened. “Just as [Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses], so these too oppose the truth.” Who are these magicians in Moses' time? And how is it that their names are not given anywhere else? Either they were handed down unwritten, or it is likely that Paul knew them from the Spirit. “So these too,” he says, “oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind, disqualified regarding the faith; but they will not advance further, for their folly will be plain to all, as theirs was.” “But they will not advance,” he says. How then does he say elsewhere, “They will advance further in ungodliness,” but here, “They will not advance”? There he means that once they begin to innovate and lead astray, they will not stop in their error, but will always invent new deceits and corrupt doctrines; for error stops nowhere. But here he means that they will not deceive or carry people off, even if at the beginning they seem to lead some astray, but will quickly be found out. That this is what he means, hear what he says: “For their folly will be plain to all.” How? From every side. “As theirs was.” For even if error blooms at first, it does not last to the end. Such are the things that are not good by nature but only seem good: they bloom for a time, and are found out, and perish. But our things are not such—and you are a witness of them; for our things are not founded on deceit; for who would choose even to die for a deceit? “But you have followed my teaching.” So be strong; for you were not simply present, but have followed closely. Here, by saying, “You have followed my teaching,” he indicates that a long time had passed. This concerns his word. “My conduct”: this concerns his life. “My purpose”: this concerns his eagerness and the resolve of his soul. I did not say these things and fail to do them, he says, nor did I practise philosophy in words only. “My faith, my patience”: how none of these things troubled me, he says. “My love,” which these men did not have. “My endurance,” which they did not have either. “My patience,” he says: I showed great patience toward the heretics. “My endurance”: toward the persecutions. “My persecutions, my sufferings.” For these two things trouble the teacher: that the heretics are many, and that people do not hold out under sufferings. But nevertheless he has spoken at length about these: that they existed of old and will exist, and no time is free of them; that they will be able to do us no harm; and that in the world there are vessels of gold and silver. Do you see him now speaking about afflictions? “What happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra.” Why did he mention only these out of many? Because the others were known to Timothy; and perhaps he mentions these as recent, not those of long ago; and he does not list them in detail, for he is not vainglorious or ambitious; he speaks to console the disciple, not to show off. By Antioch he means here Antioch in Pisidia, and Lystra, which was Timothy's home town. “What persecutions I endured.” Both are for encouragement: that I too showed noble eagerness and was not abandoned; one cannot say that God betrayed me; rather, he made my crown more brilliant. “What persecutions I endured,” he says, “and from them all the Lord rescued me. And all who wish to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

Why do I speak about myself at all, he says? Everyone who wishes to live godly will be persecuted. By persecutions here he means afflictions and pains. For it is not possible for a man travelling the road of virtue to be without grief, affliction, pain and trials. How could he be, when he travels the narrow and hard-pressed road, when he has heard, “In the world you will have affliction”? If in that ancient time Job said, “The life of man on earth is a trial,” how much more then? “But wicked men and impostors,” he says, “will advance to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” Let none of these things trouble you, he says, if they are in prosperity and you in trials; such is the nature of the matter. From my own case you can learn that it is not possible for a man fighting the wicked not to be in affliction. One who boxes cannot live in luxury; one who wrestles cannot feast. Let none of those in the contest, then, look for ease, none for good cheer. Again, the present is a contest, a war, affliction, distress, trial, the stadium of the contests. The times of ease are different; this is the time of sweat, this the time of labours. No one who has stripped and oiled himself looks for ease. And if you are looking for ease, why did you strip? Why did you raise your hands? “And how am I not raising them now?” someone says. When you do not master your desires, when you do not fight against the violence of nature. “But you, continue in what you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you learned it, and that from infancy you have known the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” What is this? As the prophet David advised, saying, “Do not envy evildoers,” so he too advises, saying, “But you, continue in what you have learned and been assured of.” Not simply “you have learned,” but also “been assured of,” that is, you have believed. And what have I believed? That this is life. Even if, then, you see here things contrary to what you have believed, do not be troubled, since Abraham too saw things contrary, but suffered nothing: he heard, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named,” and was ordered to slaughter Isaac, and he was not troubled or disturbed. Let no one be scandalized at the wicked; Scripture said this from of old. What, then, when the good also rejoice and the wicked are punished? The one is likely to happen, but the other no longer; for it is possible for the wicked to be punished, but not for the good always to rejoice. No one was equal to Paul, yet he spent all his time in affliction, in tears, in groans night and day. “For with tears [I did not] cease”; and again, “the pressure on me every day,” he says. He did not rejoice today and grieve tomorrow, but every day, without a break. How then does he say, “Wicked men will advance to worse”? He did not say that they obtain ease, but “they will advance to worse”: this advance is toward the worse. He did not say, “They will be in prosperity.” And if they are punished, they are punished so that you may not think that sins go unpunished. For since hell is not strong enough to keep us from wickedness, he spares us and wakes us up and rouses us. If no wicked man were punished, no one would have thought that God watches over human affairs; if all were punished, no one would have expected [the judgment] to come. That is why he both punishes and does not punish; that is why the righteous are afflicted here: because they are sojourners, because they are strangers, because they are in a foreign land. The righteous, then, endure these things for their testing; for hear God saying to Job, “Do you think I have dealt with you for any other reason than that you might be shown to be righteous?” But sinners, if they ever endure anything of the kind, pay the penalty for their sins. In all things, then, let us give thanks to God, whether it is so or otherwise; for both are useful. He does nothing to us from hatred or aversion, but both from care and concern. “Knowing,” he says, “that from infancy you have known the sacred writings”: that is, from your earliest age you learned the sacred writings. He calls the divine Scriptures “sacred writings.” In these you were brought up, so that through them your faith ought to be firm and suffer no harm. For the root lies deep, nourished for a long time; nothing can turn it aside. Having said, “the sacred writings,” he added, “which are able to make you wise,” that is, they do not let you suffer anything foolish, as the many do …

For whoever knows the Scriptures as one ought to know them is scandalized by nothing that happens, but bears everything nobly, entrusting some things to faith and to the incomprehensibility of God's dispensation, while of others he knows the reasons and finds examples in the Scriptures. Indeed, not prying into everything and not wishing to know everything is a great proof of knowledge. And if you wish, I will put it by an example. Suppose there is a river, or rather suppose there are rivers (I do not say this as a hypothesis, but as rivers really are): they are not all equal in depth; some have a shallower bed, others a deep one, able to drown one who does not know it; and here there are whirlpools, there none. Not wishing to attempt every place alike, then, is good, and not wishing to know all the depths is no small proof of knowledge; for the one who wishes to venture on every part of the river is the very one who least knows the character of rivers, and he will often perish, venturing on the deep with the same boldness with which he crossed the shallow. So too with God: the one who wishes to know everything and ventures on everything is the one who least of all knows what God is. But in rivers the greater part is safe, and the whirlpools and depths are few; with God the greater part is hidden, and his works cannot be traced out. Why, then, do you force yourself to drown? Know this only: that God orders all things, that he provides for all things, that we are free, that some things he works and others he permits, that he wishes nothing evil to happen, that not everything happens by his will but also by ours, that all evils come from our will alone, all good things from both our will and his aid, that nothing escapes him. That is why he works all things. Then, knowing this, reckon up which things are good, which evil, and which indifferent: for instance, virtue is good, wickedness evil; wealth, poverty, life, death are indifferent. If you know these things, you will know with them that the righteous are afflicted so that they may be crowned, and sinners so that they may pay the penalty for their sins. But not all sinners pay the penalty here, so that the many may not disbelieve in the resurrection; just as not all the righteous are afflicted, so that you may not think wickedness praiseworthy rather than virtue. These are rules and boundaries; bring whatever you wish to them, and you will not be at a loss. For as among teachers of arithmetic there is the number six thousand, and everything is brought under it, and one can divide and multiply everything by the rule of six thousand, and everything turns on this number—all who have learned their letters know this—so whoever knows these rules, which I will state again more briefly, is never scandalized. What, then, are they? That virtue is good; that wickedness is bad; that diseases, poverty, plots, false accusations and the like are indifferent; that the righteous are afflicted here, and if some are well off, it is so that virtue may not seem hateful; that … (As for rivers, not all are equal …, some having a shallower bed, others so deep as to be able to drown one who does not know them, and here there are whirlpools, there none; so too among the questions about God, some are such that they present the solution at once to those who seek it, others so ineffable and hidden that they even destroy those who strive to learn something too curiously; just as, then, not …) the wicked rejoice here so that they may be punished there; and if some of them are punished, it is so that wickedness may not seem good nor its deeds go unpunished; that not all are punished, so that the time of the resurrection may not be disbelieved; that among the good there are some who have bad deeds, and they lay them down here, and among the wicked some who have good deeds, and they receive their reward here, so that they may be punished there; that most of God's works are incomprehensible; that the distance between us and him is great, more than can be told. If we reckon up these things, nothing will be able to trouble us. If we listen to the Scriptures continually, we shall find many such examples too. “Which are able,” he says, “to make you wise for salvation.” For the Scriptures set out both what is to be done and what is not to be done. Hear this blessed man saying elsewhere, “You are confident that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants.” Do you see that the law is a light to those in darkness? And if the one who shows the letter—the letter that kills—is a light, what then is the one who shows the Spirit that gives life? If the Old is light, what is the New, in which so much has been unveiled, and where the difference is as great as if one were to show heaven to those who know nothing beyond the earth? … We have learned about hell, about the kingdom, about the judgment. Let us not believe in things without reason: all those things are sorcery. “What then,” someone says, “when they foretell something and it comes about?” It is because you believe, if indeed it does come about. Whoever has taken a captive is master of his life, and manages it as he wishes. Tell me, if a robber chief held in his hands and power a king's son who had fled to him and had come to love the wilderness and living with him, would he be able to tell him whether he will die or live? Yes, very well. Why? Not because he foreknows the future, but because he has become master of both, of destroying the boy and of saving him, since the boy made him master. For he will be able to kill him if he wishes, and equally able to let him go if he chooses; for the boy has come under his power. If he says, “You will be rich” or “poor,” he is master of both. The greater part of the world has given itself into the devil's hands.

And besides, once a man has grown used to believing, no one pays attention to their failures, but only to the times they happen to succeed. If they have any power of foreknowledge, bring them to me, a believer. I do not say this boastfully; for being free of these things is no matter for boasting. I am full of sins; but in this respect I will not be humbled: by God's grace I laugh at them all. Bring me the man, the magician: if he has any power of foreknowledge, let him tell what will happen to me, what will happen to me tomorrow. But he will not tell it; for I am under the authority of the King, and he has no rule over me and I am not subject to him; I am far from his dens and caves; I serve as a soldier of the King. “But so-and-so stole,” he says, “and so-and-so informed against him.” In the first place this is not true in every case, but is a joke and a lie; for they know nothing. And if they knew anything, they ought rather to have told their own affairs: how the many offerings of the idols were stolen, how so much gold was melted down. Why did they not foretell these things to their priests? So they know nothing. Even concerning money they could tell nothing when their idol temples were burned and many perished with them. Why do they not look after their own safety? No, the thing is mere chance, if ever they happen to foretell something. We have prophets, but they do not fail; they do not tell one thing truly and lie about another, but they are true in everything; for this is foreknowledge. Stop your madness at last, I beg you, if indeed you believe in Christ; and if you do not believe, why do you disgrace yourselves, why do you deceive? “How long will you limp on both your hams?” For why do you go to them? Why do you ask them? As soon as you went, as soon as you asked, you made yourself their slave; for you ask as one who believes. “No,” he says, “I do not believe that he tells the truth; I am testing him.” But testing whether he tells the truth is not the mark of one persuaded that he lies, but of one who still doubts. Why, then, do you ask what will happen? If he says, “This will happen; do this and you will escape,” you ought not even then to practise idolatry again; but the madness would not be so great. But if they foretell what is to come, the one who has learned it gains nothing but needless grief; for the thing does not happen, but he has endured the grief and wasted himself away. If this were profitable, God would not have grudged it to us; he who told us the things in heaven would not have begrudged it. For he says, “I have made known to you everything, and all that I heard from my Father I have declared to you”; and, “I no longer call you servants, but friends; you are my friends.” Why, then, did he not make these things known to us? Because he wishes us to take no account of them. For it is not that he grudges them: these things were told to the people of old, about an ass and some other matters, because they were infants; but to us, since he wishes us to have no concern about them, he did not even take the trouble of making them known. But what do we learn? What they did not learn; for all those things are small. What we have learned is this: that we rise again, that we shall be immortal, that we shall be incorruptible, that the life to come has no end, that all things will pass away, that we shall be caught up in the clouds, that the wicked will pay a penalty, and countless other things besides, and none of it is a lie. Is it not much better to know these things than that the ass that was lost has been found? Look, you have found it: what is the gain? Will you not lose it again in another way? For even if it does not leave you, you will leave it at your death; but the things that I have spoken of, if we wish to hold them, we have forever. Let us, then, pursue those things; let us hold to the things that remain, that are firm. Let us not pay attention to diviners, nor to oracle-mongers, nor to charlatans, but to God, who knows all things clearly, who has the knowledge of all; and so we shall know everything that we ought to know, and obtain all the good things.