Theodoret of Cyrus

In his own words on 2 Timothy

• 2 Timothy 1:2

  Timothy's sonship to Paul is that of the soul, not that generated by nature, and is based on the spiritual promise of life.

  INTERPRETATION OF THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY

• 2 Timothy 1:5

  Commenting on Timothy's Jewish background, Paul mentions Timothy's parentage in order to confirm Timothy in faith. Nothing helps so much as a domestic example.

  INTERPRETATION OF THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY

• 2 Timothy 1:7

  Grace was given to us so that we might not be afraid but love all the more steadily.

  INTERPRETATION OF THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY

• 2 Timothy 1:10

  Indeed, the God of all pre-formed these things from the beginning and before the ages. Now he has brought about a conclusion to all that was decreed. The incarnation is that in which the eternity of the Son is finally manifested.

  INTERPRETATION OF THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY

• 2 Timothy 1:12

  The "deposit" is the power and grace offered to Paul by the Spirit for serving the Lord.

  INTERPRETATION OF THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY

• 2 Timothy 1:15

  Paul was then at Rome. Many had wandered away, some for money, others for other reasons. Some of the Asian converts abandoned Paul there on account of the fear of Nero. Paul is afraid that they might be a problem to Timothy, and he wants him to be aware of them.

  INTERPRETATION OF THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY

• 2 Timothy 2:8

  Paul discusses here only the human nature of Christ because he is responding to Simon's heresy, where the true enfleshment of the Savior is denied.

  INTERPRETATION OF THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY

• 2 Timothy 2:15

  Good teachers are like farmers who plow straight furrows, thus presenting the rule of Scripture in a correct manner.

  INTERPRETATION OF THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY

• 2 Timothy 2:18

  The successions that happen through the procreation of children they unhappily call the resurrection.

  INTERPRETATION OF THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY

• 2 Timothy 2:20

  Paul applies the image of the great house to the world, where the golden vessels are persons of faith and virtue, the silver those who embrace civil life virtuously and righteously and the wooden those who live irreverent and disgraceful lives.

  INTERPRETATION OF THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY

• 2 Timothy 3:8

  Paul takes the story of Jannes and Jambres not from holy Scripture but from an unwritten Jewish tradition.

  INTERPRETATION OF THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY

• 2 Timothy 3:9

  The only progress which heretics will make is in impiety, for they cannot simulate genuine piety for very long.

  INTERPRETATION OF THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY

• 2 Timothy 3:11

  Paul's point in recalling these events is to show the divine help, thus adding spirit to the disciple.

  INTERPRETATION OF THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY

• 2 Timothy 3:12

  Many are the devices secretly plotted against me and through me patched up against the faith of apostles. I am however comforted by the sufferings of the saints, prophets, apostles, martyrs and men famous in the churches in the word of grace and besides these by the promises of our God and Savior. For in the present life he has promised us nothing pleasant or delightful, but rather trouble, toil, and peril and attacks of enemies.

  LETTERS 109

• 2 Timothy 4:2

  Every occasion is appropriate for teaching, so long as this is done boldly and with forethought.

  INTERPRETATION OF THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY

• 2 Timothy 4:6

  Paul calls his destruction a libation, as if his blood were poured out for the sake of true religion.

  INTERPRETATION OF THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY

• 2 Timothy 4:8

  He calls the "crown of righteousness" that which has been prepared for the righteous, which is given by a just sentence. When? On that day. By whom? By the just judge. I have known him as just; I have known him as the judge. I trust in his judgment. I look for a sentence. In this way Paul offers consolation to all children of faith.

  INTERPRETATION OF THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY