Theodore of Mopsuestia

In his own words on 1 Timothy

• 1 Timothy 1:4

  Paul here discourses about the common theme of all of his letters written to those converted from the Gentiles. He does this to point out that often things said by converts from Judaism may undermine the genuine piety of Gentile converts. In the case of the Galatians, he found that they were observing things required by the law, including especially the rite of circumcision. He pointed out that the use of genealogies was a particularly bad practice, because it made it possible for Jews to argue that Christ was not the promised offspring of Abraham and David and thereby throw into confusion Gentiles who are not well grounded in the Scriptures. He calls these genealogies "endless" because they can be turned in a great variety of bewildering directions. They are called "myths" because they contain only narration and nothing really necessary to the understanding of salvation.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 TIMOTHY

• 1 Timothy 1:8

  The purpose of the law is to prohibit all iniquity and to set a minimum standard for those in need of it. For those who have been justified and freed from sin it is superfluous. These are the baptized, who need not to be instructed to refrain from sin, but rather to be taught to conform to the pattern in which they now stand.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 TIMOTHY

• 1 Timothy 1:18

  It was according to divine revelation that I, Paul, laid hands on you and entrust to you the work of teaching.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 TIMOTHY

• 1 Timothy 1:20

  The sinner is handed over to Satan, that is, is separated from the church, so that penitence may follow.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 TIMOTHY

• 1 Timothy 2:5

  This refers to the perfect humanity by which salvation is wrought. The fact that Jesus shares a common humanity with us is the whole key to salvation.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 TIMOTHY

• 1 Timothy 2:11

  While Paul forbids women teaching in church, he very much wants them to exercise their authority in the home as the teachers of virtue.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 TIMOTHY

• 1 Timothy 2:15

  The claim that she will be saved by childbearing is said of all women, not just of Eve.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 TIMOTHY

• 1 Timothy 3:2

  For they [i.e., various interpreters] say that Paul has spoken thus, so that any man who is brought forward to be a bishop and has taken a wife will live chastely with her, being content with her alone as the recipient of his natural desires. Likewise any man who lives on after the death of his first wife may legitimately take a second wife, as long as he lives in the same way with her as with the first, and ought not be prohibited from becoming a bishop. They say that Paul has laid down a canon here. I accept this view, though I am not persuaded that he lays down a specific rule with regard to the second matter, i.e., that of the eligibility of remarried men for episcopal office.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 TIMOTHY

• 1 Timothy 3:2

  "Without reproach" can scarcely mean "without critics," since Paul himself had such, but blameless as to living.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 TIMOTHY

• 1 Timothy 3:3

  Not striking without reasonable cause, for sometimes this is permitted, if for a good reason and not with undue fierceness.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 TIMOTHY

• 1 Timothy 3:4-5

  What is meant by good management, in the case of the children, is that the father is to guide them with wise counsel, such that, if they end up as nonbelievers, it is not his fault.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 TIMOTHY

• 1 Timothy 3:7

  This reason is foremost, and in no way weaker than the ones already mentioned, that it is not prudent to entrust the care of others to such a one and to offer such great power so quickly. Why? Because he has not yet given proof of his life and manners, and it is not yet certain as to whether anything is left of his former life, since the devil has many devices to use against him. These are such that he may fall back into old sins. Indeed, because it seems that he has moved away from his former and worse state, he cannot be corrected in the direction of better things, for he is now seen to have had the nurture of others entrusted to him instead.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 TIMOTHY

• 1 Timothy 3:8

  Since the ministry of deacons is at least as much toward the women in the community as the men, their integrity is all the more important. They are to be honorable and sincere in performing the duties assigned to them by the presbyters.

  COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST LETTER TO TIMOTHY

• 1 Timothy 3:9

  The mystery of faith referred to by the apostle here is the teaching about Christ, which he is about to expound in what follows.

  COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST LETTER TO TIMOTHY

• 1 Timothy 3:13

  A "good reward" refers to a future, heavenly good, since earthly promotion would have required the idea of "better reward."

  COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST LETTER TO TIMOTHY

• 1 Timothy 3:16

  The "mystery" is the scriptural teaching concerning Christ.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 TIMOTHY

• 1 Timothy 4:2

  "Having their consciences seared" means not having a whole conscience, for they live the opposite of what they teach.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 TIMOTHY

• 1 Timothy 4:7

  Paul is here rejecting apocryphal books that profess to contain his teaching or that of other apostles but that are really misrepresentations of that teaching.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 TIMOTHY

• 1 Timothy 4:14

  Those whom he calls presbyters in this passage are not those whom we now call by that name—Paul does not usually allow to presbyters as such the power of ordination by the laying on of hands. Rather he says that the gathering of the apostles was present with him when he laid hands in his ordination. He calls this the "council of presbyters" as a designation of honor. It is in accordance with this custom that at the ordination of a bishop not one, but the multitude of bishops present, implement the ordination.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 TIMOTHY

• 1 Timothy 5:3

  Paul's intention is precisely not to give honor to women who have given only a promise of widowhood but rather to give honor to those who have clearly fulfilled the promise by their action.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 TIMOTHY

• 1 Timothy 5:4

  It is the children and grandchildren who should learn their religious duties, namely, to care for widowed forebears, and not the widows who are to learn, for it is precisely they who are worthy of assistance, partly because they have no children.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 TIMOTHY

• 1 Timothy 5:9

  What is said here applies only to the order of widows and not to deaconesses, as some believe.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 TIMOTHY

• 1 Timothy 5:19

  It is the duty of the presbyter to function as the common father of both the men and women of the congregation; because the care of both sexes involves seeing and speaking discreetly with the women, pastoral work must be done with great reverence. Furthermore, the duty of presbyters involves the administration of penitential discipline on admitted sinners and the exercise of oversight where such discipline is substandard. For both reasons the presbyters are vulnerable to charges.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 TIMOTHY