From the outset Paul lifts up Timothy’s mind: Do not tell me of dangers in this life. They make us ready for eternal life, where there are no dangers, grief or mourning. God has not made us apostles that we might meet dangers but to be prepared to suffer and die. But Paul did not recount to him his own troubles, as this would merely increase his grief. Rather Paul begins immediately with offering comfort, saying, According to the promise of life which is in Jesus Christ. But if it is a promise, do not seek it here. For hope that is seen is not hope.^[1]

Those born of us physically are not loved purely on account of their virtue but out of the force of natural affection. But those born of us of faith are loved on account of nothing but their virtue [in Christ], for what else can it be?

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

When writing to Timothy he put at the head of the letter, To my dearly beloved son, for he had begotten him, not in body but in faith.

Paul speaks of his blameless life, for he everywhere calls his life his conscience. Even when he was a persecutor, he understood himself as sustaining a good conscience in what he sought. Hence he says, I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief,^[1] all but saying, Do not suspect that it was done of wickedness. Here he commends his own disposition, that he not appear insincere in his love. What he is, in effect, saying is: I am not false. I do not think one thing and profess another.

We grant that there are some among us who may deny that the God of the Jews is truly God. Yet that is no reason to criticize those who prove from the same Scriptures that there is one and the same God for Jews and Gentiles. So also Paul, who came to Christianity from the Jews, says clearly, I thank my God whom I serve from my forefathers in a pure conscience.

How then, you will say, were unclean persons considered worthy of the gospel? Because they wished and longed for it. Among these, some, though in error, were attracted to him because they were not made unclean through disordered loves. Then there are others who were not rejected because they sought God of their own accord. In these ways, many even from their ancestors have received the true religion.

When Paul persecuted the church, he did it for the love of God, not out of malevolence. In this way he served God in his ancestors and from his ancestors, as Levi was served in Abraham, when he gave and accepted tithes from Melchizedek.

Paul says, My whole origin steered me to the worship of God. I devastated the church of Christ not from malevolence but from zeal for the law.

For Timothy, Scripture says, was the son of a certain woman which was a Jewess, and believed.^[1] How a Jewess? How believing? Because she was not of the Gentiles, but on account of his father, who was a Greek, and of the Jews that were in those quarters, he took and circumcised him. Thus, as these mixtures of Jews and Gentiles took place, the law began gradually to be dissolved.

Great was the grace of Timothy. When Barnabas departed, Paul found another equivalent to him. Of him he says, Remembering your tears and your unfeigned faith, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and in thy mother Eunice. His father continued to be a Gentile.

For the praises of our ancestors, when we share in them, redound also to us. Otherwise, they avail nothing but rather condemn us.

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.

Paul urges Timothy to nurture his spirit with eagerness of mind, rejoicing in his faith, just as he once rejoiced in the newness of his ordination.

For it requires much zeal to stir up the gift of God. As fire requires fuel, so grace requires our alacrity, that it may be ever fervent. . . . For it is in our power to kindle or extinguish this grace. . . . For by sloth and carelessness it is quenched, and by watchfulness and diligence it is kept alive. For it is in you indeed, but you must render it more vehement, that is, fill it with confidence, with joy and delight. Stand manfully.

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

Therefore there are two degrees of fear. The one is for beginners—that is, for those who are still under the yoke and under servile dread. In regard to this it is said, The slave shall fear his master.^[1] And in the Gospel, I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know what his master is doing.^[2] And consequently he says, The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.^[3] For he is instructing us to pass from the fear of punishment to the fullest freedom of love and to the confidence of the friends and sons of God. And the blessed apostle, who had long since passed beyond the degree of servile fear, thanks to the power of the Lord’s love, disdains lower things and professes that he has been endowed with greater goods.

For the Spirit that makes us cry, Abba, Father, inspires us with love both toward him and toward our neighbor, that we may love one another. For love arises from power and not from fearing.

Just as a man would not have wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of God unless, according to the prophet’s words, he had received the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, of counsel and of fortitude, of knowledge and of godliness, and of fear of God,^[1] and just as he would not have power and love and sobriety, except by receiving the Spirit of whom the apostle speaks, We have not received the spirit of fear but of power and love and sobriety, so also he would not have faith unless he received the spirit of faith.

Observe . . . how Marcion, and Manes, and Valentinus, and others who introduced their heresies and pernicious doctrines into the church of God, measuring divine things by human reasonings, became ashamed of the divine economy. Yet it was not a subject for shame but rather for glorying; I speak of the cross of Christ. . . . For in themselves death and imprisonment and chains are matters of shame and reproach. But when the cause is added before us and the mystery viewed aright, they will appear full of dignity and a matter for boasting. For it was that death on the cross that saved the world when it was perishing. That death connected earth with heaven; that death destroyed the power of the devil and made men angels and sons of God; that death raised our nature to the kingly throne. Those chains enabled the conversion of many.

When Paul says that we are not called according to our works, he means that all who are called are sinners, though by comparison with others some were found to be more worthy. With regard to God’s own grace, however, all were totally unworthy.

If then he is mighty in calling us, and good, in that he has done it of grace and not of debt, we ought not to fear. For he who, when we should have perished, saved us, though enemies, by grace, will he not much more co-operate with us, when he sees us working? Not according to our own works, he says, but according to his own purpose and grace, that is, no one compelling, no one counseling him, but of his own purpose, from the impulse of his own goodness, he saved us. This is the meaning of according to his own purpose.

God foreknew those who would be reborn in response to the offer of grace.

Why, then, is it that, in what follows, where they mention what the Pelagians themselves think, they say they confess that grace also assists the good purpose of every one, but that yet it does not infuse the desire of virtue into a reluctant heart? They say this as if man of himself, without God’s assistance, has a good purpose and a desire of virtue, hence this preceding merit is supposedly worthy of being assisted by the subsequent grace of God. For they think perhaps that the apostle thus said, For we know that he works all things for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to the purpose,^[1] so as to wish the purpose of man to be understood. This purpose is then viewed as a good merit that the mercy of the God who calls might follow. They are ignorant that it is said, Who are called according to the purpose, so that this may be understood as the purpose of God, not man. Thus those whom he foreknew and predestinated as conformed to the image of his Son, he elected before the foundation of the world. . . . This then is the purpose of God, in relation to which it is said, He works together all things for good for those who are called according to his own purpose. Indeed subsequent grace assists man’s good purpose, but the purpose itself would not exist if grace did not precede.

Here again allusion is made to the economy according to the flesh. For the grace which came to us from the Savior appeared, as the apostle says, just now, and has come when he sojourned among us. Yet this grace has been prepared even before we came into being. . . . The God of all then created us by his own Word, and knowing our destinies better than we, God foresaw that even though we were made good, we should be transgressors of the commandment and be thrust out of paradise for disobedience. Being loving and kind, he prepared beforehand in his own Word, by whom also he created us, the economy of our salvation. Though by the serpent’s deceit we fell from him, we would not remain wholly dead, but having in the Word the redemption and salvation which was earlier prepared for us, we might rise again and abide immortal.

The gospel is ancient in the will of the Giver, even if new in the chain of events. God has demonstrated his eternal will in Christ.

Indeed, the God of all preformed 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.

From Adam to Moses death reigned;^[1] but the presence of the Word abolished death. No longer in Adam are we all dying.^[2] In Christ we are all reviving.

Is he not at the same time a lamb and a lion in both his suffering and his resurrection? Let us discern the lamb in the suffering. He was, as we just reminded you, mute as a lamb before its shearer, and he opened not his mouth.^[1] Let us discern the lion in the suffering. Jacob has said, Thou hast risen: resting thou hast slept as a lion.^[2] Let us discern the lamb in the resurrection. When the Apocalypse is speaking of the everlasting glory of virgins, it says, They follow the lamb wherever he goes.^[3] Let us discern the lion in the resurrection. The Apocalypse also says, The lion of the tribe of Judah has overcome to open the scroll.^[4] Why is he a lamb in his suffering? Because, although he was innocent, he suffered death.^[5] Why is he a lion in his suffering? Because he slew death when he himself was slain. Why is he a lamb in his resurrection? Because his innocence is everlasting.^[6] Why is he a lion in his resurrection? Because his power is everlasting.^[7]

Paul says [elsewhere], I have kept the faith,^[1] but the same apostle also says, For I know whom I have believed, and I am certain that he is able to keep that which I have deposited with him against that day. That which I have deposited with him means: What I have commended to him, for some [Latin] copies do not have the word depositum but commendatum, which is clearer. Now what do we commend to God’s keeping save those things which we pray he will preserve? Is not our very faith among these? For what did the Lord commend for the apostle Peter, by his prayer for him, when he said to him, I have prayed for you, Peter, that your faith shall not fail?^[2] This means that God would preserve his faith and that it would not fail by giving way to temptation.

The deposit is the pledge^[1] of the Spirit given to Paul that he may be preserved.

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

What is that which has been entrusted to me?^[1] The faith, the preaching of the gospel. God, who committed this to us, will preserve it unimpaired. I suffer everything, that I may not be despoiled of this treasure. I am not ashamed of these things, so long as the faith is preserved uninjured. Or by that which is entrusted to me he may be referring to the faithful people who God has committed to him.

After the manner of artists, Paul is saying, I have impressed on you the image of virtue, fixing in your soul a sort of rule and model and outline of all things pleasing to God. Hold fast to these things, whether you are meditating on any matter of faith or love or of a sound mind. Form your ideas from this pattern in the future.

Before all things, keep that truth which is committed to your trust, the holy Word of faith by which you have been taught and instructed. And let no weeds of heresy grow up among you, but preserve the heavenly seed pure and sincere, that it may yield a great harvest to the master, when he comes to demand account of our lives. He shall reward us according to our deeds, when the righteous shall shine forth as the sun, but darkness and everlasting shame shall cover the sinners.

If we offer glory to God in the Spirit, we mean that the Spirit enables us to fulfill the requirements of true religion. According to this usage, then, we say we are in the Spirit, but it is not objectionable for someone to testify, the Spirit of God is in me, and I offer glory because his grace has given me the wisdom to do so. The words of Paul are appropriate: I think that I have the Spirit of God,^[1] and guard the truth that has been entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.

It seems that there were then in Rome many persons from the regions of Asia. But no one stood by me, he says. No one acknowledged me. All were alienated. Take note of what his soul loves. He only mentions their conduct. He does not curse them, but he praises him who showed kindness to him and invokes a thousand blessings upon him, without any curse on them.

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.

Such ought the faithful to be—like Onesiphorus. Neither fear nor threats nor disgrace should deter them from assisting one another, standing by them and succoring them as in war. For they do not so much benefit those who are in danger, as themselves, by the service they render to them, making themselves partakers of the crowns due to them. . . . For as in the service of kings, not only those who fight the battle but those who guard the baggage share in the honor. Even more, they frequently even have an equal portion of the spoils, though they have not soaked their hands in blood, nor stood in array, nor even seen the ranks of the enemy. So it is in these conflicts. For he who relieves the combatant, when wasted with hunger, who stands by him, encouraging him by words and rendering him every service, is not inferior to the combatant.