Homilies on 1 Timothy

Contents

Reading pages: 0.1–1.3 · 2.1–2.2 · 3.1–3.4 · 4.1–4.2 · 5.1–6.3 · 7.1–7.3 · 8.1–9.2 · 10.1–10.3 · 11.1–12.1 · 12.2 · 12.4 · 14.1–14.5 · 15.1–15.2 · 16.1–16.2 · 17.1–17.2 · 18.1–18.2

1. 0.1In the argument to the homilies Chrysostom describes Timothy’s character and explains why Paul wrote to Timothy and Titus, who had been put in charge of churches.
2. 1.1Chrysostom explains why Paul calls himself an apostle “by command of God,” why the teacher is most exposed to the devil’s attacks, and in what sense Timothy is Paul’s “true child in the faith.”
3. 1.2Chrysostom explains why Paul adds “mercy,” why he urges Timothy gently but tells him to command the false teachers, and why inquiries and genealogies undermine faith.
4. 1.3In the moral part of Homily 1 Chrysostom urges belief without curious inquiry and argues at length against astrological fate (the “nativity”), defending providence despite the prosperity of the wicked.
5. 2.1Chrysostom explains that love is the aim of Paul’s charge, that heresies spring from envy and love of power, and that the law is used lawfully by one who keeps it from virtue rather than fear.
6. 2.2Chrysostom explains that the righteous live above the law, calls the gospel “glorious,” and in the moral part contrasts the passing glory of fine clothes and perfumes with the glory and spiritual fragrance of virtue.
7. 3.1Chrysostom shows how Paul humbles himself by giving thanks to Christ for his calling while keeping his own part, so as not to deny free will, and how he condemns his former life as a persecutor.
8. 3.2Chrysostom explains why Paul, who persecuted from zeal and ignorance, received mercy while other Jewish leaders acting from love of power did not, and how God’s grace went far beyond mercy.
9. 3.3Chrysostom argues that faith must be joined with love for Christ, and shows that Christians love their friends more than Christ, whom they neglect in the hungry and the imprisoned.
10. 3.4Chrysostom charges his hearers with treating Christ as an enemy by their sins and by envying those who serve the church, and urges them to love their enemies.
11. 4.1Chrysostom explains why Paul calls the salvation of sinners by faith alone a “trustworthy saying,” answers pagan objections to forgiveness, and explains how the blameless Paul can call himself the foremost of sinners.
12. 4.2Chrysostom explains that Paul was pardoned as an example to all sinners, defends the Son’s equal incorruptibility and lordship against the heretics, and in the moral part urges glorifying God in body and soul, especially by rejecting cosmetics and vanity about beauty.
13. 5.1Chrysostom explains that teachers and priests ought to be chosen by God’s vote rather than human favor, that Timothy’s charge comes from the prophecies that chose him, and that a corrupt life and reliance on reasoning lead to shipwreck of the faith.
14. 5.2Chrysostom explains why Paul handed Hymenaeus and Alexander over to Satan, and warns that receiving the Eucharist unworthily, even once a year, brings judgment, since the sacrifice is the same on every day and Easter communion is no holier.
15. 6.1Chrysostom explains why Paul commands prayer and thanksgiving for all people, including pagan rulers, in the church’s daily worship, and why thanksgiving binds Christians to their neighbors.
16. 6.2Chrysostom forbids Christians to pray against their enemies or brothers, since one who asks God not to forgive another condemns himself, and holds up Stephen’s prayer for his killers.
17. 6.3Chrysostom shows that the Lord’s Prayer already includes prayer for unbelievers, urges imitation of God who feeds even blasphemers, and explains why he keeps repeating the command to pray for enemies.
18. 7.1Chrysostom distinguishes three kinds of war (with barbarians, with one another, and within oneself) and explains that Paul’s “peaceful life in all godliness” means the inner peace of a godly life in doctrine and conduct.
19. 7.2Chrysostom urges prayer for pagans and heretics because God wills all to be saved, and argues that Christ, the “one mediator,” must share both the divine and the human nature, while “one God” excludes idols, not the Son.
20. 7.3Chrysostom shows that Christ’s self-giving for his enemies should move Christians to love him in the poor, and attacks the love of money and the wearing of gold jewelry as self-imposed chains.
21. 8.1Chrysostom reconciles Christ’s command to pray in secret with Paul’s “pray in every place,” explains “holy hands without anger or doubting,” and rebukes women who come to pray adorned with gold and finery.
22. 8.2Chrysostom warns that immodest attire earns women a reputation for adultery, and exposes how consecrated virgins use plain clothes, careful grooming, and studied gestures to attract attention more than gold would.
23. 8.3Chrysostom urges consecrated virgins, as brides of Christ, to give up all studied adornment for the beauty of the soul, warning that their vanity makes worldly women despise virginity.
24. 9.1Chrysostom explains Paul’s command that women be silent and not teach in church, drawing on the order of creation and Eve’s deception, and begins to ask in what sense women are “saved through childbearing.”
25. 9.2Chrysostom explains that women are saved through childbearing when they raise their children in faith and purity, and urges parents to train sons and daughters in self-control and virtue rather than to care only for their inheritance.
26. 10.1Chrysostom explains Paul's qualifications for an overseer, reading “the husband of one wife” as restraining the excess of second or plural marriage rather than requiring marriage.
27. 10.2Chrysostom explains why Paul asks for a measured virtue in overseers, a well-ruled household, no recent convert, and a good name among outsiders, and suggests “the husband of one wife” was meant not to narrow the choice.
28. 10.3Chrysostom urges Christians to win pagans by their lives, laments that worldliness keeps them away, and argues that sharing punishment with others brings no consolation in hell.
29. 11.1Chrysostom explains the qualifications of deacons, applies “the women likewise” to women deacons, and expounds the “great mystery of godliness,” the incarnation, proclaimed and believed in all the world.
30. 11.2Chrysostom urges his hearers to entrust their wealth to God through almsgiving, since possessions are only on loan, and mocks the vanity of those who parade through the city with horses, silk, and attendants.
31. 12.1Chrysostom applies Paul’s prophecy of apostasy to the Manichaeans, Encratites, and Marcionites who forbid marriage and foods, and teaches that every creature of God is good and is sanctified by the sign of the cross and thanksgiving, though food knowingly eaten as an idol offering defiles.
32. 12.2Chrysostom explains “being nourished on the words of the faith,” distinguishes urging virginity from forbidding marriage, explains the purpose of the Jewish food laws, and argues that wealth is not truly a good, since great riches are seldom gathered without injustice.
33. 12.4The end of Homily 12 argues that wealth is rooted in injustice and that God made the necessities of life common to all; the section then contains Homily 13, on teaching with authority, reading the Scriptures, correcting the old and young, honoring true widows, and the living death of the self-indulgent.
34. 14.1Chrysostom explains that neglecting one's own family is a denial of faith, and begins on Paul's qualifications for enrolled widows: sixty years, wife of one husband, known for good works.
35. 14.2Chrysostom explains that a widow's not remarrying is worthless without good works, since Paul did not condemn second marriage but wished her free for God, and praises personal hospitality and almsgiving.
36. 14.3Chrysostom urges giving alms with one's own hand rather than through church officials, and praises visiting the monasteries, “houses of mourning”, where monks rise before dawn to sing.
37. 14.4Chrysostom describes the monks' day of night prayer, psalms, Scripture reading, work, fasting, and simple meals, free of the cares of the world.
38. 14.5Chrysostom describes how monks meet sickness and death, urges respect for hidden saints in the city churches, and teaches secrecy in almsgiving from Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac.
39. 15.1Chrysostom explains why Paul refuses to enroll younger widows and wishes them to remarry: remarriage is not forbidden and is better than broken vows and idle gossip.
40. 15.2Chrysostom explains the “double honour” due to presbyters who preside well and teach, the rules for accusing and rebuking presbyters, and then urges fear of Gehenna, contempt for passing things, and imitation of God's generosity.
41. 16.1Chrysostom explains Paul’s solemn charge to judge without partiality, his warning against hasty ordination, his advice that the ailing Timothy drink a little wine, and his command that Christian slaves honor their masters so that the gospel may not be blasphemed.
42. 16.2Chrysostom explains why Paul instructs slaves rather than masters, and in the moral part shames his hearers by contrasting the patient service of their household slaves with their own careless service of God, adding that slavery is not from nature.
43. 17.1Chrysostom teaches that a teacher needs both authority and gentleness, that pride and endless disputes spring from ignorance and greed, that Timothy should avoid such men, and that godliness with contentment is the true gain.
44. 17.2Chrysostom explains Paul’s warning to those who desire to be rich, calls Timothy as a “man of God” to flee greed and fight the good fight, and in the moral part denounces the love of money as the root of all evils and the value set on gold, pearls, and silk as mere prejudice.
45. 18.1Chrysostom explains Paul’s final charge before God and Christ, who confessed before Pilate, the doxology to the immortal and invisible King, which he applies also to the Son, and the command that the rich hope in God and be rich in good works.
46. 18.2Chrysostom explains “knowledge falsely so called” as reasoning without faith (perhaps aimed at the Gnostics), and in the final moral contrasts the stable goods of virtue with the cruel commands of the love of money, a tyranny worse than any barbarian’s.