site: migne

title: Epistola II ad Thessalonicenses

author: Anselm of Laon and his school

languages: en la

source_edition: Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 114, coll. 619D–624C

source_text:
## ARGUMENTUM.

[0619D]

Ad Thessalonicenses secundam scribit Epistolam Apostolus, et notum facit eis de temporibus novissimis, et de adversarii dejectione. Scribit hanc Epistolam ab Athenis per Titum diaconem et Onesimum acolythum.

## CAPUT PRIMUM.

[0620D]

VERS. 3.-- *Gratias agere,* etc. Hic gratias agit Deo de bonis eorum, ne forte de tanto bono quod ex Deo habebant, extollantur, tanquam a seipsis habentes. *In invicem.* Ut scilicet, qui diligitur diligat alios, et mutuis obsequiis charitatem ostendat.

[0621A]VERS. 5.-- *In exemplum justi,* etc. Si enim tam severe punit peccata in poenitentibus, quid faciet induratis? Hoc dicit, ut intelligatur quod non parcit impiis qui non parcit justis. *Justi: si tamen justum est,* quod constat esse. Non enim ponitur hic, *si tamen,* pro dubitatione, sed pro affirmatione, unde alius interpres ait: *Siquidem justus est,* etc.

VERS. 7.-- *In revelationem.* Incipit ostendere quam horribilis tribulatio illis, et quam jucunda requies istis futura est.

VERS. 8.-- *Domini Jesu.* Venientis *in flamma ignis* non quod sit flamma circumdatus, sed per effectum, quia inimicos exuret. *His qui non noverunt Deum.* Nam alii sunt qui nesciunt legem.

VERS. 9.-- *Qui poenas dabunt.* Id est sustinebunt. [0621B] Dare enim aliquando ponitur pro sustinere, ita et hic. Et congrue, qui enim patitur, dat ei quem offendit, poenas quasi gratas. *In interitu aeternas.* Quasi dicat: Semper sentient poenas, non tamen semper deficient.

*Cum venerit glorificari,* etc. Ipse enim clarus et mirabilis videbitur in credentibus, severus autem apparebit in incredulos, cum eos poenis aeternis coarctabit. Et est horum verborum brevis sensus: Veniet punire malos, et glorificare bonos.

VERS. 10.-- *Quia testimonium.* Ideo vobis tribulatis dat requiem nobiscum, quia testimonium, id est quidquid diximus de illo die judicii, credidistis de gloria bonorum et poena malorum.

VERS. 11.-- *In quo.* Ordo verborum talis est: *In quo die oramus, ut dignetur,* id est dignos judicet: [0621C] *Semper oramus.* Vel *in quo,* id est pro quo, vel cujus diei periculo vitando, semper orandum est. *Opus fidei.* Id est, confessionem quae proprie est opus fidei in virtute, ut a confessione nullo modo flecti possint. Vel, opus fidei, omne bonum quod fides exigit: et sine quibus fides mortua est. *In virtute* perseverantiae, ut scilicet det vobis perseverantiam usque ad finem.

## CAPUT II.

VERS. 1.-- *Rogamus autem vos, fratres, per adventum Domini nostri Jesu Christi,* etc. Hucusque dixit se eis gratias agere et orare, hic determinat de die judicii, obsecrans eos ne leviter et facile de adventu Domini quasi de prope imminenti opinionem recipiant vel terreantur.

VERS. 2.-- *Non cito moveamini.* Quasi dicat: Si moveamini; cito est, nihil enim vobis infertur quod diu duret. *Neque per spiritum.* Id est, si malignus spiritus, quasi angelus lucis apparens in visione hoc vobis persuadeat. Vel, si quis dicat per Spiritum sanctum revelantem hoc se cognovisse quod dies judicii immineat, nolite credere. *Neque per Epistolam.* Solent enim tergiversatores, ut fallant, sub nomine clari alicujus viri epistolam fingere, ut auctoritas nominis possit commendare quod per seipsum recipi non posset. *Quasi instet dies Domini.* Non hoc ita dicit quin velit, ut habeant succinctos lumbos et lucernas ardentes in manibus, exspectantes quando revertatur Dominus a nuptiis.

[0622A]VERS. 5.-- *Quoniam nisi venerit.* Occulte loquitur de destructione imperii Romani, ne irritaret eos ad persecutionem Ecclesiae. Vel hoc dicit de spirituali imperio Romanae Ecclesiae, vel discessione a fide. *Nisi venerit refuga primum.* Sic aliqui codices habent. Quod nulli dubium est de Antichristo eum dixisse, quem refugam vocat: utique a Domino Deo. Si enim hoc de omnibus impiis merito dici potest, quanto magis de isto! *Filius perditionis.* Antichristus, non per naturam, sed per imitationem.

VERS. 4.-- *In templo.* Vel, *templum.* Nonnulli non ipsum principem tantum, sed universum corpus ejus, id est, ad eum pertinentem hominum multitudinem simul cum ipso principe hoc loco intelligi volunt: rectiusque dici putant, sicut in Graeco est, [0622B] non *in templo,* sed *in templum Dei sedeat,* quasi ipse cum suis sit templum Dei, quod est Ecclesia. Sicut dicitur: Sedet in amicum, id est ut amicus.

VERS. 6.-- *Scitis.* Eos scire dicit quid detineat, nec aperte exponit, et ideo nos nescimus, nisi quod quidam suspicantur de Romano imperio dictum fuisse, donec tollatur, vel de medio fiat. Et ideo Apostolum non id aperte scribere voluisse, ne calumniam scilicet incurreret, quod Romano imperio male optaverit, cum speraretur aeternum. *Suo tempore.* Completa accessione ad Romanum imperium, et ad Romanae Ecclesiae obedientiam, aderit discessio ab utroque imperio: qua impleta aderit ille iniquus, impleto tempore misericordiae quo plenitudo [0622C] gentium intrat ad fidem: revelabitur discessio, et sic instabit dies Domini.

VERS. 7.-- *Nam mysterium,* etc. Jam in ipsis initiis accessionis invenitur iniquitas, sed mystica, id est pietatis nomine palliata, ut velint haberi ministri Christi cum sint pseudo. Diabolus occulte per Neronem et alios occidebat martyres, sicut per illum tunc aperte facturus est, occidendo Eliam et Enoch aliosque plurimos: et sunt Nero et alii umbra futuri Antichristi, sicut David et Abel Christi. *Donec de medio fiat.* Id est, tollatur illa potestas Romani imperii de medio mundi: quia omnes undique Romam quasi ad caput confluebant. Vel, qui fidem tenet, teneat, donec ipsa refrigescat. Vel, qui detinet illum, id est accessio ad fidem, detineat, donec ipsa tollatur de medio. Vel, donec iniquitas, quae modo est mystica, fiat de medio, id est quasi de communibus, ut non erubescat homo adulterari vel furari, sicut nec ambulare vel loqui. *De medio fiat.* Scilicet discessio, id est manifeste appareat: et tunc jam revelata discessione a Deo vero, jam refrigerata charitate ex abundantia iniquitatis revelabitur, etc.

VERS. 8.-- *Spiritu oris sui.* Id est virtute Spiritus sancti, qui dicitur spiritus oris, quia ab eo procedit.

VERS. 9, 10.-- *Mendacibus et in omni seductione.* Signa illa vocantur mendacia, vel quia non vera ut [0623A] videntur, sed phantastica erunt. Vel si vera, Dei permissione ad mendacium trahent.

*Ideo mittet illis Deus. [n: (AUG., lib. XX, de Civit. Dei, c. 19.)]* Deus diabolum ista facere permittet, etc., *usque ad* alias injustissime judicatum.

VERS. 12.-- *Primitias in salutem.* Ut scilicet non in illo periculoso tempore ultimo, sed in primitiva Ecclesia crederemus in Christum, atque fidem confiteremur. Vel, nos apostolos primitias omnium credentium, quia apostoli primi crediderunt, et hoc in salutem omnium gentium.

VERS. 13.-- *In acquisitionem gloriae Domini nostri Jesu Christi.* Vel, ut sitis acquisitio, in qua Deus glorificetur.

VERS. 15.-- *Et dedit consolationem.* Promittendo [0623B] coelorum regnum. *In gratia.* Id est per gratiam quam dedit, speramus aeterna. Vel haec omnia dedit non merito nostro, sed in gratia sua.

## CAPUT III.

VERS. 1.-- *De caetero, fratres, orate.* Orandum esse hortatur, ut dignetur Deus doctrinam suam infatigabili cursu dirigere et transfundere per ora apostolorum in aures audientium, et ab auribus in corda, ut compescantur malorum seditiones.

VERS. 2.-- *Ut liberemur.* A pseudo, ne nostros seducant, vel nobis insidias tendant. Vel, liberemur ab importunis, id est infidelibus qui resistunt verbo Dei, nec stant in portu quietis. *Et malis,* qui persequuntur infideles. Ideo dico *liberemur,* quia nondum [0623C] acceperunt omnes fidem per me qui accepturi sunt. *Non enim omnium est fides.* Id est, nec vobis orantibus omnes sunt credituri, sed tantum praeordinati in adoptionem filiorum.

VERS. 6.-- *Denuntiamus.* De curiosis incipit et otiosis, monens bonos ut eos corripiant.

VERS. 7.-- *Scitis quomodo oporteat nos imitari.* Et cum illi haec non faciant, debetis vitare. Vel, [0624A] non ambulant secundum traditionem. Scitis enim quomodo me habui, quod in illis non videtis, quasi dicat: Non est opus ut exponam vobis eam traditionem quia eam scitis, quod non inquieti fuerimus, ut ii qui aliena negotia curant, vagantes hac illac.

VERS. 9.-- *Sed ut nosmetipsos.* Notandum quia Apostolus non solum verbis docebat, sed hortabatur et factis. Idonei enim magistri est quae docet verbis, operibus explere.

VERS. 10.-- *Quoniam si quis non vult operari.* Dicunt quidam de operibus spiritualibus hoc Apostolum praecepisse, alioquin si de opere corporali hoc diceret, in quo vel agricolae vel opifices laborant, videretur sentire adversus Dominum, qui dicit in Evangelio: *Nolite solliciti esse, quid manducetis* [0624B] [n: (Matth. VI)], etc. Sed superflue conantur et sibi et caeteris caliginem obducere, ut quod utiliter charitas monet, non solum facere velint, sed nec intelligere, cum multis aliis locis epistolarum quid hic sentiat Apostolus apertissime doceat. Vult enim servos Dei corporaliter operari unde vivant ut non compellantur egestate necessaria petere. Nec est contra illud quod praedictum est: *Nolite solliciti esse quid manducetis,* etc. Non enim hoc ideo dictum est, ut non procurent quantum necessitati sat est, unde honeste potuerunt, sed non ut ista intueantur, nec propter ista faciant quidquid Evangelii praeconio facere jubentur.

VERS. 11.-- *Curiose agentes.* Hoc factum abhorret disciplina Dominica, eorum enim deus venter [0624C] est, qui foeda cura necessaria sibi provident.

VERS. 13.-- *Nolite deficere.* Quia etsi operentur, possunt tamen nonnullis indigere. Et ideo monet, ne illi qui habebant unde servis Dei necessaria praeberent, hac occasione pigrescerent. Non enim in reprehensionem venit qui humanus est in largiendo, sed hic qui, cum possit laborem ferre, otiose vult vitam agere.

english:
## THE ARGUMENT.

[0619D]

The Apostle writes a second Epistle to the Thessalonians, and makes known to them concerning the last times, and concerning the casting down of the adversary. He writes this Epistle from Athens by Titus the deacon and Onesimus the acolyte.

## CHAPTER ONE.

[0620D]

VERS. 3.-- *To give thanks,* etc. Here he gives thanks to God for their good things, lest perchance they be lifted up over so great a good as they had from God, as though they had it from themselves. *Toward one another.* Namely, that he who is loved may love others, and by mutual services show forth charity.

[0621A]VERS. 5.-- *For an example of the just,* etc. For if he punishes sins so severely in the penitent, what will he do to the hardened? He says this, that it may be understood that he spares not the ungodly who spares not the just. *Just: if indeed it is just,* which it is agreed to be. For *if indeed* is not put here for doubt, but for affirmation; whence another interpreter says: *Since indeed he is just,* etc.

VERS. 7.-- *Unto the revelation.* [var: Vulg. *in revelatione*, ablative, "at the revelation"] He begins to show how horrible the tribulation is to be for those, and how pleasant the rest for these.

VERS. 8.-- *Of the Lord Jesus.* Of him coming *in a flame of fire:* not that he is encompassed with flame, but by the effect, because he will burn up his enemies. *To them that have not known God.* For others are they who know not the law.

VERS. 9.-- *Who shall give penalties.* That is, they shall undergo them. [0621B] For "to give" is sometimes put for "to undergo," and so here also. And fittingly: for he who suffers gives to him whom he has offended penalties as it were acceptable. *Eternal in destruction.* As if he should say: They will always feel the penalties, yet they will not always fail.

*When he shall come to be glorified,* etc. For he himself will be seen glorious and wonderful in them that believe, but he will appear severe upon the unbelieving, when he shall shut them up in eternal punishments. And the brief sense of these words is this: He will come to punish the wicked, and to glorify the good.

VERS. 10.-- *Because the testimony.* Therefore he gives rest with us to you that are afflicted, because the testimony, that is, whatever we have said concerning that day of judgment, you have believed concerning the glory of the good and the punishment of the wicked.

VERS. 11.-- *In which.* The order of the words is this: *In which day we pray, that he may vouchsafe,* that is, may judge you worthy: [0621C] *We always pray.* Or *in which,* that is, for which, or for the avoiding of the peril of which day, prayer must always be made. *The work of faith.* That is, confession, which properly is the work of faith in power, so that they may in no wise be turned aside from confession. Or, the work of faith is every good thing which faith requires: and without which faith is dead. *In the power* of perseverance, namely, that he may give you perseverance even unto the end.

## CHAPTER II.

VERS. 1.-- *And we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,* etc. Thus far he has said that he gives thanks for them and prays; here he determines concerning the day of judgment, beseeching them that they do not lightly and readily take up an opinion concerning the coming of the Lord as of one close at hand, nor be terrified.

VERS. 2.-- *Be not soon moved.* As if he should say: If you be moved; it is soon, for nothing is brought upon you which lasts long. *Nor by spirit.* That is, if a malignant spirit, appearing in a vision as an angel of light, should persuade you of this. Or, if any man should say that through the Holy Spirit revealing it he has come to know this, that the day of judgment is at hand, do not believe him. *Nor by epistle.* For prevaricators are wont, that they may deceive, to feign a letter under the name of some famous man, that the authority of the name may commend what by itself could not be received. *As if the day of the Lord were at hand.* He does not say this in such a way as not to wish that they should have their loins girt and lamps burning in their hands, waiting for when the Lord shall return from the wedding.

[0622A]VERS. 5.-- *For unless there come.* He speaks covertly of the destruction of the Roman empire, lest he should provoke them to the persecution of the Church. Or he says this of the spiritual empire of the Roman Church, or of a departure from the faith. *Unless the deserter come first.* [var: Vulg. *discessio*, "the departure"] So some codices have it. And it is doubtful to none that he said this of Antichrist, whom he calls a deserter: from the Lord God, assuredly. For if this can deservedly be said of all the ungodly, how much more of this one! *The son of perdition.* Antichrist, not by nature, but by imitation.

VERS. 4.-- *In the temple.* Or, *the temple.* Some will have it that in this place not the prince himself only, but his whole body, that is, the multitude of men belonging to him together with the prince himself, is to be understood; and they think it more rightly said, as it is in the Greek, [0622B] not *in the temple,* but *that he sit into the temple of God,* as though he himself with his own were the temple of God, which is the Church. As it is said: He sits into a friend, that is, as a friend.

VERS. 6.-- *You know.* He says that they know what withholds, and he does not openly expound it, and therefore we know not, save that certain men suspect it to have been said of the Roman empire, until it be taken away, or be made out of the midst. And therefore that the Apostle did not wish to write this openly, lest, namely, he should incur the calumny of having wished ill to the Roman empire, since it was hoped to be everlasting. *In his own time.* The accession to the Roman empire and to the obedience of the Roman Church being completed, there will come the departure from both empires: which being fulfilled, that wicked one will come, the time of mercy being fulfilled in which the fulness [0622C] of the Gentiles enters into the faith: the departure will be revealed, and so the day of the Lord will be at hand.

VERS. 7.-- *For the mystery,* etc. Already in the very beginnings of the accession iniquity is found, but a mystical one, that is, cloaked under the name of piety, so that they wish to be held ministers of Christ when they are false ones. The devil secretly slew the martyrs through Nero and others, as he is then about to do openly through him, by slaying Elias and Enoch and very many others: and Nero and the others are a shadow of the Antichrist to come, as David and Abel are of Christ. *Until it be made out of the midst.* That is, let that power of the Roman empire be taken away out of the midst of the world: because all men from every side flowed together to Rome as to a head. Or, let him who holds the faith hold it, until it grow cold. Or, let him who withholds him, that is, the accession to the faith, withhold, until it be taken out of the midst. Or, until the iniquity which now is mystical be made out of the midst, that is, as it were among common things, so that a man blush not to commit adultery or to steal, as neither to walk or to speak. *Let it be made out of the midst.* Namely the departure, that is, let it appear manifestly: and then, the departure from the true God being now revealed, charity being now grown cold from the abundance of iniquity, he will be revealed, etc.

VERS. 8.-- *With the spirit of his mouth.* That is, by the power of the Holy Spirit, who is called the spirit of the mouth, because he proceeds from him.

VERS. 9, 10.-- *Lying, and in all seduction.* Those signs are called lying, either because they will not be true as they [0623A] appear, but phantastic. Or if true, by God's permission they will draw men to a lie.

*Therefore God shall send them. [n: (AUG., lib. XX, de Civit. Dei, c. 19.)]* God will permit the devil to do these things, etc., *as far as* otherwise most unjustly judged.

VERS. 12.-- *Firstfruits unto salvation.* Namely, that not in that perilous last time, but in the primitive Church we should believe in Christ, and confess the faith. Or, us the apostles the firstfruits of all believers, because the apostles believed first, and this unto the salvation of all nations.

VERS. 13.-- *Unto the purchasing of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.* Or, that you may be a purchase in which God may be glorified.

VERS. 15.-- *And hath given consolation.* By promising [0623B] the kingdom of heaven. *In grace.* That is, through the grace which he has given, we hope for eternal things. Or, he gave all these things not by our merit, but in his grace.

## CHAPTER III.

VERS. 1.-- *For the rest, brethren, pray.* He exhorts that prayer must be made, that God may vouchsafe to direct his doctrine with unwearied course and to pour it through the mouths of the apostles into the ears of the hearers, and from the ears into the hearts, that the seditions of the wicked may be curbed.

VERS. 2.-- *That we may be delivered.* From the false ones, lest they seduce ours, or lay snares for us. Or, that we may be delivered from importunate men, that is, from unbelievers who resist the word of God, and stand not in the haven of quiet. *And from wicked men,* who, being unbelievers, persecute. Therefore I say, *that we may be delivered,* because not yet [0623C] have all received the faith through me who are to receive it. *For faith is not of all men.* That is, not even with you praying will all believe, but only those foreordained unto the adoption of sons.

VERS. 6.-- *We charge.* He begins concerning the curious and the idle, admonishing the good to correct them.

VERS. 7.-- *You know how you ought to imitate us.* [var: Vulg. *quemadmodum oporteat imitari nos*, "how you ought to imitate us"] And since they do not these things, you ought to shun them. Or, [0624A] they walk not according to the tradition. For you know how I bore myself, which you do not see in them; as if he should say: There is no need that I should expound to you that tradition, because you know it, namely that we were not restless, as those are who mind other men's business, wandering hither and thither.

VERS. 9.-- *But that we ourselves.* It is to be noted that the Apostle taught not by words only, but exhorted also by deeds. For it belongs to a fit master to fulfil in works the things which he teaches in words.

VERS. 10.-- *For if any man will not work.* Certain men say that the Apostle enjoined this concerning spiritual works; otherwise, if he said this of bodily work, in which either husbandmen or craftsmen labour, he would seem to hold an opinion against the Lord, who says in the Gospel: *Be not solicitous, what you shall eat* [0624B] [n: (Matth. VI)], etc. But to no purpose do they strive to draw a mist over both themselves and others, so that they not only wish [sic: *velint*] to do what charity profitably admonishes, but not even to understand it, since the Apostle in many other places of the epistles most plainly teaches what he here means. For he wills that the servants of God work bodily whereby they may live, that they be not compelled by want to beg for necessaries. Nor is this against that which was said before: *Be not solicitous what you shall eat,* etc. For this was not said to this end, that they should not procure as much as is enough for necessity, from whence they honourably could, but not in order that [sic: *sed non ut*] they may look upon these things, nor do for the sake of these things whatever they are bidden to do by the proclamation of the Gospel.

VERS. 11.-- *Curiously meddling.* The Lord's discipline abhors this deed, for their god is the belly, [0624C] who with foul care provide necessaries for themselves.

VERS. 13.-- *Faint not.* Because although they work, yet they may want some things. And therefore he admonishes, lest those who had wherewith to supply necessaries to the servants of God should on this occasion grow slothful. For he does not come under reproof who is kindly in bestowing, but he who, when he could bear labour, wishes to lead his life in idleness.

license_source: Public Domain Mark 1.0

license_translation: CC BY-NC 4.0

license_apparatus: CC BY-NC 4.0


title: Epistola II ad Timotheum

source_edition: Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 114, coll. 633A–638D

source_text:
## ARGUMENTUM.

[0633A]

Item Timotheo scribit de exhortatione martyrii, et de omni regula veritatis, et quid futurum sit temporibus novissimis, et de sua passione, scribens ei ab urbe Roma.

## CAPUT PRIMUM.

VERS. 1.-- *Paulus apostolus.* Primo Apostolus salutat, deinde gratias agit de bono quod habet, ubi suum videndi eum desiderium ostendit. Postea monet ad praedicandum, et ad patientiam martyrii, suo exemplo et aliis modis. Inde dicit quales futuri sunt in novissimis diebus: tandem de tempore resolutionis suae instanti. *Per voluntatem Dei.* Non meis meritis, quasi dicat: Similiter et tu gratis missus es, [0633B] et ideo praedicandae gratiae magis obnoxius.

VERS. 3.-- *Gratias ago.* Agit gratias de bono ejus, commendans fidei gratiam quae in Christo est.

*Memoriam.* Flevit enim Timotheus a Paulo dimissus, paratus cum eo ire ad omnia pericula. Quod ergo praesens habuit, absens teneat, *accipiens etiam recordationem fidei* quae te commoneat, cum etiam in feminis fuerit firma.

VERS. 6.-- *Propter quam.* Commendata fide illius, ad eam sine timore et erubescentia praedicandam exhortatur. *Per impositionem manuum.* Hoc est, gratiam Spiritus sancti, quam accepisti ad Ecclesiae institutionem, ad perpetranda miracula, ad omne religionis obsequium.

[0633C]VERS. 7.-- *Timoris.* Timore turbatus Petrus negavit Christum. Unde: *Nolite timere eos qui occidunt corpus [n: (Matth. XXVI.)]* Hujus timoris non accepimus spiritum, sed illius de quo Dominus ait: *Eum timete qui potest corpus et animam perdere in gehennam.* Spiritus enim sanctus dat timorem non mundi, sed Dei, qui potest perdere in gehennam ignis.

VERS. 8.-- *Noli itaque.* Constantiam habendam docet nec erubescendum esse in professione: non est enim ut erubescatur in ea: quia sicut homo visus est Christus, gestis tamen apparuit Deus etsi crucifixus est, resurrexit tamen a mortuis, et multis videntibus suscipiente eum nube, in coelum [0633D] ascendit. Ubi ergo putatur infirmitas, ibi apparet potentia.

VERS. 9.-- *Qui nos liberavit.* Vicem reddere liberanti convenit: Cujus cum beneficiis digne respondere non valemus, saltem legationem ejus fideliter et instanter agamus.

VERS. 10.-- *Qui destruxit.* Mors utpote victa, non est timenda pro fide Christi. *Illuminavit autem.* Quo haec spectent, ibi aperit: *Formam habens. Per Evangelium.* Ostendit Deus vitam incorruptibilem, [0634A] quae prius ignota erat, ostendit, inquam, per praedicationem Evangelii cujus praedicator est Paulus.

VERS. 11.-- *In quo positus sum.* Hic suo exemplo hortatur. *Praedicator, et apostolus, et magister,* etc. Quaenam vero ratio est, cum seipsum jugiter gentium magistrum vocet? persuadere quippe vult, gentes quoque in haereditatem Dei vocatas esse, atque ideo a consortio fidei non repellendas.

VERS. 12.-- *Scio enim.* Quasi dicat: Ideo *non confundor,* id est deficio, vel non frustra patior, quia promisit et verax est et potens: et ideo credidi illum ipsum, qui mihi reddet. *Quia potens est.* Spe et magnificentia Salvatoris securus est, quia quod commendat illi, in tuto est. Illi autem commendat salutem suam, ut hic pro illo patiens, salutem inveniat [0634B] penes illum cum coeperit judicare, ut puniens infideles, istum dignum aeterna vita pronuntiet.

VERS. 13.-- *Formam habens.* Hic ostendit quo de se praedicta spectent. Quasi dicat: Ita laboro in isto officio mihi credito: similiter ergo et tu formam habens, etc.

*Ex quibus est Phigellus et Hermogenes.* Simulate hi cum Apostolo fuerunt, ut calumniam invenirent: sed postquam viderunt se manifestatos, recesserunt ab eo.

## CAPUT II.

VERS. 4.-- *Nemo militans.* Quasi dicat: Si bonus miles esse vis, non implices te saecularibus negotiis, quia nemo, etc. *Negotiis.* Negotia saecularia sunt cum animus occupatur colligendae cura pecuniae [0634C] sine labore corporis, ut negotiatores et hujusmodi: quod ne iste faceret, quia infirmus laborare non poterat, prohibet.

VERS. 6.-- *Laborantem agricolam.* Quasi Timotheus quaereret: Unde ergo vivam cum fodere non possim, mendicare confundar? subdit *laborantem agricolam.* Quasi dicat, etsi non implices te negotiis saecularibus, est tamen unde vivere possis: *Quia oportet,* etc. *Primum percipere.* Id est sumere. *De fructibus.* Id est necessaria ab auditoribus, quia dignus est operarius mercede sua; ut agricola vel vinitor primos fructus laboris sui degustat, ita Apostolus prius jubet eum sumere qui primus est, et sic, caeteris distribuere. Primo enim debet ille suam necessitatem implere ex his qui accepit, et post, aliis [0634D] de his quae supersunt ministrare.

VERS. 8.-- *Memor esto.* Labora sicut ego, et hoc spe vitae aeternae. Haec autem non propter Timotheum memorat, sed propter haereticos quos praevidit futuros et ista negaturos.

VERS. 9.-- *Quasi male operans.* Hic contumeliam notat quae ei ingerebatur. *Sed verbum Dei non est alligatum.* Quasi dicat: Licet ergo sim alligatus corpore, tamen verbum Dei non est alligatum: qui [0635A] et sermone praesentes, et litteris absentes docere non cesso.

VERS. 10.-- *Salutem,* etc., *cum gloria,* etc. Quasi dicat: Justificati estis ut hic consequamini salutem, et, post hanc vitam, gloriam coelestem.

VERS. 11.-- *Fidelis sermo.* Est iste, quod consequentur salutem et gloriam, nam sumus mortui mundo, sicut Christus veteri homini, et sustinentes, id est martyres.

VERS. 14.-- *Haec commone.* Haec praedicta ut patiaris, commoneo te. Vel, haec commone tuos. *Ad nihil enim utile est.* Contentio minus stabilis saepe generat scrupulum. Solent enim in contentione talia opponi elimato malevolentiae argumento, ut moveant animos insipientium fratrum. Nec potest [0635B] esse, quin contentio extorqueat aliquid quod dicatur contra conscientiam, ut intus in animo perdat, et foris victor accedat. Nemo enim patitur se vinci, licet sciat vera esse quae audit. Collatio ergo inter Dei servos esse debet, non altercatio.

VERS. 17.-- *Ex quibus est Hymenaeus et Philetus.* Horum prodidit nomina, ut ab his spiritualiter caveat, quos et profanos et impios designat et errantes a veritate.

VERS. 18.-- *Dicentes resurrectionem jam factam.* Duae sunt resurrectiones. Prima est quae fit in anima per fidem, quando qui mortuus erat in infidelitate et aliis peccatis, per fidem et baptismum vivificatur. Altera, quae erit corporum, quae erit in die judicii. De illa resurrectione quae fit in anima per fidem loquitur [0635C] hic Apostolus, cum ait: *Dicentes resurrectionem,* mentium scilicet *esse factam* in baptismo, et in fide nullam resurrectionem corporum futuram. Omnes sectae quae religionem promittunt, concedunt resurrectionem mentium in fide. Aliter enim non viderentur audiendi. Volentes ergo credi sibi omnes etiam qui instituerunt alicujus falsae religionis sectam, negare istam resurrectionem mentium non potuerunt, omnes de illa consenserunt. Sed corporum resurrectionem multi negaverunt, sicut isti quos nominat Apostolus.

VERS. 19.-- *Cognovit Dominus qui sunt ejus,* etc. Id est, amat et defendit praescitos suos. In hoc notatur praescientia, qua quos praescivit futuros esse conformes imaginis Filii sui, id est praedestinavit, [0635D] vocavit, justificavit, glorificavit.

VERS. 20.-- *Vasa aurea et argentea.* Sicut enim vasa lignea et fictilia valent ut purgentur aurea et argentea, sic mali prosunt ad profectum bonorum. Magna ergo domus, Ecclesia, in qua sunt vasa aurea et argentea, id est, boni et fideles et sancti Dei servi ubique dispersi et spirituali unitate devincti, in eadem communione sacramentorum degentes. Et vasa lignea et fictilia, id est illi qui sunt in domo, ut non sint in compage domus, nec in societate pacifica, et tamen adhuc corpore simul cum bonis.

VERS. 23.-- *Stultas autem et sine disciplina quaestiones devita.* Non omnes quaestiones vitandae, sed mutiles et sine disciplina.

[0636A]VERS. 24.-- *Servum autem Domini non oportet litigare, sed mansuetum esse ad omnes.* Satis obstrepunt contradicentes. Ne ergo servus Dei sibi obstrepat studio altercandi. Non deesse voluit nos fratrum correptioni, nec studere certamini. Multi enim homines cum a somno excitantur, litigare volunt, aurursus dormire, cum litigare prohibentur.

VERS. 25.-- *Nequando det illis Deus poenitentiam ad cognoscendam veritatem.* Non prodest correptio, nisi supernus medicus respiciat, id est nisi faciat, ut peccati sui quemque poeniteat. Quae poenitentia pudore et timore displicendi aliis interdum impeditur, dum plus delectat hominem aliorum existimatio; quam justitia, qua se quisque humiliat poenitendo. Ideoque non solum cum agitur poenitentia, [0636B] verum etiam ut agatur, Dei misericordia necessaria est. Ut enim Petrus amare fleret, respexit eum Dominus. Et ideo Apostolus hic dicit: *Det illis Deus poenitentiam [n: (Matth. XXVI)]*.

## CAPUT III.

VERS. 2.-- *Seipsos amantes.* Non Dominum, ut Petrus, qui ter interrogatus a Domino, ter professus est se eum diligere dicens: *Tu scis quia amo te.* Unde et Dominus ei oves pascendas credidit: quia in pascendis ovibus vera monstratur dilectio, si quis ibi non quaerit sua, sed quae Christi sunt. Ex eo autem quod seipsos, non Deum amant, quasi ex radice haec quae sequuntur mala oriuntur. *Ingrati.* Illi sunt ingrati qui corrigentibus mala pro bonis [0636C] reddunt.

VERS. 5.-- *Habentes speciem.* Quia habent eadem sacramenta cum piis. *Virtutem autem.* Virtus est, charitas de corde puro, conscientia bona, et fide non ficta.

VERS. 6.-- *Qui penetrant.* Ingrediebantur enim domos mulierum, et decipiebant eas.

VERS. 7.-- *Semper discentes et nunquam ad scientiam,* etc. Nos autem semper ambulemus in via donec eo veniamus quo ducit via, nusquam in illa remaneamus, donec perducat ubi maneamus. Atque ita et quaerendo tendimus, et inveniendo, ad aliquid pervenimus.

VERS. 8.-- *Quemadmodum autem Jannes,* etc. Quasi dicat: Tales seducunt: veritati autem semper [0636D] resistunt. Et hoc est quod ait: *Quemadmodum autem Jannes,* etc. Jannes et Mambres, duo fratres, fuerunt magi Pharaonis. Horum nomina non invenit Apostolus in divinis libris, sed in apocryphis, de quibus hoc sumitur. Hi autem restiterunt Moysi usque ad tertium signum, in quo defecerunt dicentes: *Digitus Dei est hic.* Et sicut illi restiterunt Moysi, ita hi scilicet haeretici mihi resistunt.

VERS. 13.-- *Mali autem homines,* etc. Tales sunt qui timent hos laedere coram quibus loquuntur qui non praeparant ad tentationes, sed promittunt felicitatem hujus saeculi, quam Deus ipse saeculo nos promisit. Ille praedicit labores usque in finem venturos saeculo: tu prospera. Ille ad confortandum cor [0637A] tuum, venit pati, mori, sputis illiniri, spinis coronari, opprobria ferre, fel et acetum bibere, ligno configi. Omnia haec ille tulit pro te. Ille confortans infirmum, ut cum crediderit, non speret prospera hujus saeculi; unde: *Fili, accedens ad servitutem Dei, sta in justitia et timore, et praepara animam tuam ad tentationes.*

VERS. 15.-- *Sacras litteras nosti quae te,* etc. Multum signat prodesse Veteris Testamenti habere notitiam, ubi Christi persona et incarnatio insinuatur quae ad salutem hominum valet.

## CAPUT IV.

VERS. 2.-- *Importune.* Tu opportune agis, sed importunus esse videris ei qui non libenter audit, [0637B] quod tamen ei aliquando prodest. Tu tamen sciens hoc illi esse opportunum, quod ei videtur importunum, dilectionem curamque sanitatis ejus, animo teneas mansueto et modesto. *Increpa in omnibus.* Timotheo acriorem suadet patientiam. Tito nimis patienti, imperium persuadet.

VERS. 3.-- *Coacervabunt sibi magistros.* Id est, qui ea doceant quae volunt. Prophetia est sancti apostoli, qui praescius futurorum, in doctrina praecipit esse instandum, ut contra hoc quod futurum erat, praeparetur Ecclesia. Tales enim dicit futuros, qui pro desideriis suis doceri volunt ut a magistris scilicet constantibus et veracibus ad eos convertantur qui haec illos doceant quae libenter audiant, quia veritas illis aspera videbitur, ut relicta vera doctrina fabulis [0637C] vacent.

VERS. 5.-- *Opus fac evangelistae.* Testando opere quod ore praedicans, ut retorqueatur os turturis ad ascellas, et sint mala punica et tintinnabula in extremis oris hyacinthinae tunicae.

VERS. 6.-- *Delibor.* Libare dicimus, degustare, fundere et immolare. Inde delibare, quod tamen hic pro ipsa immolatione ponitur, passionem enim suam delibationem appellat. Deo enim immolatur qui pro justitia patitur.

VERS. 7.-- *Fidem,* quae est caput Christianae religionis, *servavi,* quae non potest haberi nisi Deo miserante, quia donum Dei est; unde alibi ait: *Misericordiam [0637D] consecutus sum,* non quia fidelis eram, sed [0638A] *ut fidelis essem.* Apostolum enim invenimus sine ullis bonis meritis, imo cum multis vitiis Dei gratiam consecutum, reddentibus bona pro malis. Qui sua jam propinquante passione bona merita sua commemorat, post quae consequetur coronam, qui post mala merita consecutus est gratiam: quae nisi prius gratuita donaretur, corona non redderetur. Non ergo merita ipsius tanquam ipsius sunt, id est ex ipso ei comparata, sed dona Dei sunt.

VERS. 8.-- *Reddet.* Si enim fides gratia est, et vita aeterna quasi merces est fidei; videtur quidem Deus vitam aeternam tanquam debitum reddere cui debet fideli, quia promeruit illam per fidem; sed quia fides gratia est, et vita aeterna est gratia, per gratiam ergo reddet. *Justus judex.* Utique justus retribuendo [0638B] bona pro bonis, quia tamen prius misericors est retribuendo bona pro malis; ipsa justitia qua retribuuntur bona pro bonis non est sine misericordia.

VERS. 13.-- *Penulam. [n: (CHRYS.)]* Pallium hic penulam dicit, etc., *usque ad* ne ab aliis hanc accipere opus sit.

VERS. 14.-- *Alexander.* Iste est quem supra dixit reversum ad apostasiam, qui fabricabat aedes Dianae apud Athenas, et omnes contra Apostolum commovit. *Multa mihi mala ostendit. [n: (CHRYS.)]* Qui a magno aliquo premitur, etc., *usque ad* ut infirmiores quoque etiam ex hac parte solatium capiant.

VERS. 16.-- *Defensione.* Pressuram et tribulationem sibi illatam defensionem appellat: tribulatio defensio est Christianis, quia defendit eos in die [0638C] judicii.

*Non illis imputetur.* Non orat pro Alexandro, qui invidentia fraternitatem oppugnando peccaverat, sed pro his qui abruperant amorem, sed timore succubuerunt; orat ut eis ignoscatur. Multum enim interest inter eos qui hoc modo et eos qui illo modo peccant.

VERS. 17.-- *De ore leonis.* Neronis, de cujus manibus liberatus est a Domino, quando venit Romam adductus ab his qui praeerant Judaeae, ob hoc quod Caesarem appellasset. Nam cum venisset Romam duobus annis mansit in libera custodia, post etiam transivit ad alias nationes quae erant in circuitu [0638D] Romae.

english:
## THE ARGUMENT.

[0633A]

Likewise he writes to Timothy concerning the exhortation to martyrdom, and concerning the whole rule of truth, and what shall come to pass in the last times, and concerning his own passion, writing to him from the city of Rome.

## CHAPTER ONE.

VERS. 1.-- *Paul an apostle.* First the Apostle salutes, then he gives thanks for the good which he has, where he shows his own desire of seeing him. Afterwards he admonishes him to preaching, and to the patience of martyrdom, by his own example and in other ways. Thence he says what sort of men they shall be in the last days: at last, concerning the time of his own release, which is at hand. *By the will of God.* Not by my merits, as if he should say: In like manner thou also hast been sent freely, [0633B] and therefore art the more bound to the grace that is to be preached.

VERS. 3.-- *I give thanks.* He gives thanks for his [Timothy's] good, commending the grace of faith which is in Christ.

*Remembrance.* For Timothy wept when he was dismissed by Paul, being ready to go with him unto all perils. What therefore he had while present, let him hold while absent, *receiving also the recollection of the faith* [var: Vulg. *recordationem accipiens ejus fidei*, "receiving the recollection of that faith"] which may admonish thee, since it was firm even in women.

VERS. 6.-- *For which cause.* His faith having been commended, he exhorts him to preach it without fear and without shame. *By the imposition of hands.* That is, the grace of the Holy Spirit, which thou hast received for the establishing of the Church, for the accomplishing of miracles, for every observance of religion.

[0633C]VERS. 7.-- *Of fear.* Peter, being troubled by fear, denied Christ. Whence: *Fear ye not them that kill the body [n: (Matth. XXVI.)]* Of this fear we have not received the spirit, but of that fear of which the Lord says: *Fear him who is able to destroy both body and soul into hell.* For the Holy Spirit gives a fear not of the world, but of God, who is able to destroy into the hell of fire.

VERS. 8.-- *Be not thou therefore.* He teaches that constancy is to be had, and that there is no shame to be felt in the profession: for it is not such that one should be ashamed in it: because as Christ was seen a man, yet by his deeds he appeared God; although he was crucified, yet he rose again from the dead, and, while many beheld it and a cloud received him, ascended [0633D] into heaven. Where therefore weakness is supposed, there power appears.

VERS. 9.-- *Who hath delivered us.* It is fitting to render a return to him who delivers: And since we are not able worthily to answer his benefits, let us at least perform his embassy faithfully and urgently.

VERS. 10.-- *Who hath destroyed.* Death, as being conquered, is not to be feared for the faith of Christ. *But hath illuminated.* Whither these things look, he there opens: *Having a form. Through the Gospel.* [var: Vulg. 2 Tim. I, 13 *Formam habe*, imperative, "hold thou the form"] God showed forth incorruptible life, [0634A] which before was unknown; he showed it, I say, through the preaching of the Gospel, whose preacher is Paul.

VERS. 11.-- *Wherein I am appointed.* Here he exhorts by his own example. *A preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher,* etc. But what is the reason, since he continually calls himself the teacher of the Gentiles? he wishes, forsooth, to persuade that the Gentiles also have been called into the inheritance of God, and therefore are not to be driven back from the fellowship of the faith.

VERS. 12.-- *For I know.* As if he should say: Therefore *I am not confounded,* that is, I fail, or I do not suffer in vain, because he has promised and is truthful and powerful: and therefore I have believed that very one who will render to me. *Because he is able.* He is secure through the hope and the magnificence of the Saviour, because what he commends to him is in safety. And to him he commends his own salvation, that here suffering for him he may find salvation [0634B] with him when he shall have begun to judge, so that, punishing the unfaithful, he may pronounce this man worthy of eternal life.

VERS. 13.-- *Having a form.* Here he shows whither the things foretold about himself look. As if he should say: Thus I labour in this office committed to me: in like manner therefore thou also, having a form, etc.

*Of whom is Phigellus and Hermogenes.* These were with the Apostle feignedly, that they might find matter of calumny: but after they saw themselves made manifest, they withdrew from him.

## CHAPTER II.

VERS. 4.-- *No man being a soldier.* As if he should say: If thou wilt be a good soldier, do not entangle thyself in secular affairs, because no man, etc. *With affairs.* Secular affairs are when the mind is occupied with the care of gathering money [0634C] without labour of the body, as merchants and men of this sort: and lest this man should do that, because being weak he was not able to labour, he forbids it.

VERS. 6.-- *The husbandman that laboureth.* As if Timothy should ask: Whence then shall I live, since I cannot dig, and to beg I am ashamed? he subjoins *the husbandman that laboureth.* As if he should say, although thou dost not entangle thyself in secular affairs, yet there is whence thou mayest live: *Because it behoveth,* etc. *First to partake.* That is, to take. *Of the fruits.* That is, the necessaries from his hearers, because the labourer is worthy of his hire; as the husbandman or the vinedresser tastes the first fruits of his own labour, so the Apostle bids him who is first to take first, and so to distribute to the rest. For he ought first to fulfil his own need out of those things which he has received [cj: *qui*; read *quae*, "those things which"; the printed *qui* construes instead as "he who has received"], and afterwards [0634D] to minister to others out of those which remain over.

VERS. 8.-- *Be mindful.* Labour as I do, and this in the hope of eternal life. But he calls these things to mind not for Timothy's sake, but for the sake of the heretics whom he foresaw would come and would deny these things.

VERS. 9.-- *As an evildoer.* Here he notes the contumely which was heaped upon him. *But the word of God is not bound.* As if he should say: Although therefore I am bound in body, yet the word of God is not bound: I who [0635A] cease not to teach both those present by speech and those absent by letters.

VERS. 10.-- *Salvation,* etc., *with glory,* etc. As if he should say: You have been justified that here you may obtain salvation, and, after this life, heavenly glory.

VERS. 11.-- *A faithful saying.* It is this, that they shall obtain salvation and glory, for we are dead to the world, as Christ to the old man, and enduring, that is, martyrs.

VERS. 14.-- *Put them in mind of these things.* That thou mayest suffer these things foretold, I put thee in mind. Or, put thine own in mind of these things. *For it is profitable to nothing.* Contention, being less stable, often begets scruple. For in contention such things are wont to be objected, the argument of ill-will being polished, that they may stir the minds of unwise brethren. Nor can it [0635B] be but that contention wrings out something that is spoken against conscience, so that within, in the mind, he loses, and outwardly comes off victor. For no one suffers himself to be overcome, although he knows that the things he hears are true. There ought therefore to be conference among the servants of God, not altercation.

VERS. 17.-- *Of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus.* He gave out their names, that [Timothy] might beware of them spiritually, whom he designates both profane and impious and erring from the truth.

VERS. 18.-- *Saying that the resurrection is already past.* There are two resurrections. The first is that which takes place in the soul through faith, when he who was dead in unbelief and in other sins is made alive through faith and baptism. The other, which shall be of bodies, which shall be in the day of judgment. Of that resurrection which takes place in the soul through faith the Apostle here speaks, [0635C] when he says: *Saying that the resurrection,* namely of minds, *hath been made* in baptism and in faith, and that there shall be no resurrection of bodies to come. All sects which promise religion concede a resurrection of minds in faith. For otherwise they would not seem to be worth hearing. Therefore all, even those who founded the sect of some false religion, wishing to be believed, could not deny that resurrection of minds; all agreed about it. But many denied the resurrection of bodies, as do these whom the Apostle names.

VERS. 19.-- *The Lord knoweth who are his,* etc. That is, he loves and defends his own foreknown ones. In this is noted foreknowledge, by which those whom he foreknew would be conformable to the image of his Son, that is, he predestinated, [0635D] called, justified, glorified.

VERS. 20.-- *Vessels of gold and of silver.* For as wooden and earthen vessels avail that the golden and the silver ones may be cleansed, so the wicked are of profit toward the advancement of the good. The great house therefore is the Church, in which are vessels of gold and of silver, that is, the good and faithful and holy servants of God scattered everywhere and bound fast by spiritual unity, dwelling in the same communion of the sacraments. And wooden and earthen vessels, that is, those who are in the house in such wise that they are not in the framework of the house, nor in the peaceable fellowship, and yet are still bodily together with the good.

VERS. 23.-- *But avoid foolish questions and those without discipline.* Not all questions are to be avoided, but the unprofitable [sic: *mutiles*] ones and those without discipline.

[0636A]VERS. 24.-- *But the servant of the Lord must not wrangle, but be mild toward all.* They that contradict make clamour enough. Let not therefore the servant of God clamour against himself by the zeal of altercation. He willed that we should not be wanting to the correction of brethren, nor be eager for strife. For many men, when they are roused from sleep, wish to wrangle, [sic: *aurursus*] or again to sleep, when they are forbidden to wrangle.

VERS. 25.-- *Lest at any time God give them repentance to know the truth.* Correction profits nothing, unless the physician from above look upon him, that is, unless he bring it about that each man repent of his own sin. Which repentance is sometimes hindered by shame and by the fear of displeasing others, while the esteem of others delights a man more; than justice, by which each man humbles himself in repenting. And therefore not only when repentance is performed, [0636B] but also that it may be performed, the mercy of God is necessary. For that Peter might weep bitterly, the Lord looked upon him. And therefore the Apostle here says: *May God give them repentance [n: (Matth. XXVI)]*.

## CHAPTER III.

VERS. 2.-- *Lovers of themselves.* Not of the Lord, as Peter was, who being thrice questioned by the Lord thrice professed that he loved him, saying: *Thou knowest that I love thee.* Whence also the Lord entrusted to him the sheep to be fed: because in the feeding of sheep true love is shown, if a man seek not there his own things, but the things which are Christ's. And from this, that they love themselves and not God, as from a root, arise these evils which follow. *Ungrateful.* They are ungrateful who render evil things for good [0636C] to those who correct them.

VERS. 5.-- *Having an appearance.* Because they have the same sacraments as the godly. *But the power.* The power is charity out of a pure heart, a good conscience, and faith unfeigned.

VERS. 6.-- *Who penetrate.* For they entered the houses of women, and deceived them.

VERS. 7.-- *Ever learning, and never unto knowledge,* etc. But let us always walk in the way until we come thither whither the way leads; let us nowhere remain in it, until it bring us through to where we may remain. And thus both by seeking we press on, and by finding we arrive at something.

VERS. 8.-- *Now as Jannes,* etc. As if he should say: Such men seduce: but they always [0636D] resist the truth. And this is what he says: *Now as Jannes,* etc. Jannes and Mambres, two brothers, were the magicians of Pharao. Their names the Apostle did not find in the divine books, but in the apocrypha, from which this is taken. And these resisted Moses as far as the third sign, in which they failed, saying: *This is the finger of God.* And as they resisted Moses, so these, namely the heretics, resist me.

VERS. 13.-- *But evil men,* etc. Such are they who fear to hurt those before whom they speak, who do not prepare men for temptations, but promise the felicity of this world, which God himself promised us to the world [cj: *nos*; read *non*, "which God himself did not promise to the world"]. He foretells labours that shall come upon the world unto the end: thou, prosperous things. He, to strengthen thy heart, [0637A] came to suffer, to die, to be smeared with spittle, to be crowned with thorns, to bear reproaches, to drink gall and vinegar, to be fastened to the wood. All these things he bore for thee. He strengthens the weak, that when he has believed he may not hope for the prosperous things of this world; whence: *Son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear, and prepare thy soul for temptations.*

VERS. 15.-- *Thou hast known the holy scriptures which thee,* etc. He signifies that it profits much to have knowledge of the Old Testament, where the person of Christ and the incarnation is intimated, which avails unto the salvation of men.

## CHAPTER IV.

VERS. 2.-- *Out of season.* Thou actest in season, but thou seemest to be out of season to him who does not willingly hear, [0637B] which nevertheless sometimes profits him. Do thou, however, knowing that this is in season for him which seems to him out of season, hold with a mild and modest mind the love and the care of his soundness. *Rebuke in all things.* [var: Vulg. *increpa in omni patientia*, "rebuke in all patience"; the gloss turns on *patientia*] To Timothy he urges a sharper patience. To Titus, who is too patient, he urges command.

VERS. 3.-- *They will heap to themselves teachers.* That is, such as may teach them the things they wish. It is a prophecy of the holy Apostle, who, foreknowing things to come, commands that men be instant in doctrine, so that against that which was to come the Church might be prepared. For he says that such men shall be as wish to be taught according to their own desires, so that, namely, from teachers steadfast and truthful they may turn aside to those who will teach them the things which they willingly hear, because the truth will seem harsh to them, so that, true doctrine being forsaken, they may give themselves to [0637C] fables.

VERS. 5.-- *Do the work of an evangelist.* By testifying in work what thou art preaching with the mouth, that the mouth of the turtle-dove be twisted back to its wings, and that there be pomegranates and little bells upon the outermost edges of the hyacinth tunic.

VERS. 6.-- *I am poured out as a libation.* We say *libare*: to taste, to pour out, and to immolate. Hence *delibare*, which nevertheless here is put for the immolation itself, for he calls his own passion a *delibatio*. For he is immolated to God who suffers for justice.

VERS. 7.-- *The faith,* which is the head of the Christian religion, *I have kept,* which cannot be had unless God have mercy, because it is the gift of God; whence elsewhere he says: *I have obtained [0637D] mercy,* not because I was faithful, but [0638A] *that I might be faithful.* For we find that the Apostle obtained the grace of God with no good merits at all, nay rather with many vices, good things being rendered for evil. He who now, with his passion already drawing near, calls to mind his own good merits, after which he shall obtain the crown; he who after evil merits obtained grace: unless this grace were first freely given, the crown would not be rendered. Therefore his merits are not as though his own, that is, procured for him out of himself, but they are the gifts of God.

VERS. 8.-- *He will render.* For if faith is grace, and eternal life is as it were the wage of faith; God does indeed seem to render eternal life as a debt to the faithful man to whom he owes it, because he has merited it through faith; but because faith is grace, and eternal life is grace, therefore he will render it through grace. *A just judge.* Assuredly just in repaying [0638B] good things for good, because nevertheless he is first merciful in repaying good things for evil; the very justice by which good things are repaid for good is not without mercy.

VERS. 13.-- *The cloak. [n: (CHRYS.)]* He here calls the *pallium* a *penula*, etc., *as far as* lest it be needful to receive this from others.

VERS. 14.-- *Alexander.* This is he whom he said above had turned back to apostasy, who used to make shrines of Diana at Athens, and stirred up all men against the Apostle. *He hath shown me much evil. [n: (CHRYS.)]* He who is pressed by some great man, etc., *as far as* that the weaker also may from this side take comfort.

VERS. 16.-- *Defence.* He calls the pressure and tribulation brought upon him a defence: tribulation is a defence to Christians, because it defends them in the day [0638C] of judgment.

*Let it not be laid to their charge.* He prays not for Alexander, who by envy had sinned in assailing the brotherhood, but for those who had broken off love, but yielded through fear; he prays that they may be pardoned. For there is a great difference between those who sin in this manner and those who sin in that.

VERS. 17.-- *Out of the mouth of the lion.* Of Nero, out of whose hands he was delivered by the Lord, when he came to Rome brought by those who were set over Judaea, for this cause, that he had appealed to Caesar. For when he had come to Rome he remained two years in free custody, and afterwards he passed over also to other nations which were round about [0638D] Rome.


title: Epistola II B. Joannis

source_edition: Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 114, coll. 703D–706B

source_text:
## ARGUMENTUM.

[0703D]

Usque adeo ad sanctam feminam scribit, ut eamdem dominam non dubitet litteris appellare, ejusdemque filiis testimonium, quod ambulent in veritate, perhibet.

## CAPUT UNICUM.

[0704D]

VERS. 1.-- *Non ego.* Scripturus contra haereticos qui a veritate exciderunt, dicit omnium qui veritatem noverunt, unam esse dilectionem in sanctos ut similitudine catholicorum ab haereticorum deterreat [0705A] societate. Omnes enim fideles in una veritate consentiunt, haeretici in erroribus se invicem impugnant.

VERS. 4.-- *Gavisus sum valde.* Quasi dicat: Quod tenetis, tenete. Nihil aliud ab haereticis recipite, quia in his quae habetis gaudeo; nihil aliud ad salutem vobis superaddi expeto. Cum ergo gaudeam de vestro bono principio, ne me faciatis dolere defectu vestro, quia ut sollicitus custos, omnia quae circa vos fiunt cognosco. *Ambulantes in veritate.* Positus est Adam in paradiso, ut operaretur et custodiret illud. Operatio, effectus provectionem: custodia, perfectionis ipsius statum atque constantiam designat.

VERS. 8.-- *Videte vos,* etc. Istis talibus ne consentiatis, sed potius attendite qualiter sitis perfecte [0705B] instructi ad fidem et constantiam. *Sed ut mercedem plenam accipiatis,* id est verum Deum plena cum jucunditate capiatis, perseverando in doctrina vobis tradita, et non consentiendo eorum errori.

VERS. 9.-- *Et non permanet.* Si quis separat se a [0706A] divina doctrina, ut extra rectam fidem conversationemque mandatorum Dei sit, separat se a Deo ne habeat Deum. Per actualem et contemplativam vitam fit alicujus Deus ei manifestando qui est Creator omnium. *Qui permanet.* Manet in evangelica doctrina, qui secundum eam sapit et agit; separat se ab illa is qui aliter sapit et agit.

VERS. 10.-- *Nec Ave ei dixeritis.* Quia signum videtur consensus erroris, hoc enim dicimus amicis quorum opera nobis placent, et vos si forte decepti non essetis, alii tamen per talem vestram familiaritatem possent decipi, qui crederent illos placere vobis, et sic crederent illis.

VERS. 12.-- *Plura habens.* Intelligite hanc admonitionem vobis fore perutilem, quia ad confirmationem [0706B] illius, decrevi etiam venire ad vos, nec tamen ex toto interim potui silere.

VERS. 13.-- *Salutant te.* Sicut adversariis veritatis prohibet dicere: Ave, ita econtra electos ex persona electorum salutat.

english:
## THE ARGUMENT.

[0703D]

So far does he write to a holy woman, that he does not hesitate to call her lady in his letter, and he bears witness to her sons that they walk in truth.

## THE ONLY CHAPTER.

[0704D]

VERS. 1.-- *Not I only.* About to write against the heretics who have fallen away from the truth, he says that of all who have known the truth there is one love toward the saints, so that by the likeness of catholics he may deter them from [0705A] the fellowship of heretics. For all the faithful agree in one truth; heretics attack one another in their errors.

VERS. 4.-- *I rejoiced greatly.* As if he should say: What you hold, hold. Receive nothing else from the heretics, because I rejoice in these things which you have; I seek that nothing else be added to you unto salvation. Since therefore I rejoice at your good beginning, do not make me grieve at your falling away, because, as a watchful guardian, I know all the things that are done about you. *Walking in truth.* Adam was placed in paradise, that he might work and keep it. Working designates the advancement of the effect; keeping designates the state and the constancy of that perfection itself.

VERS. 8.-- *Look to yourselves,* etc. Do not consent to such men as these, but rather consider in what manner you are perfectly [0705B] instructed unto faith and constancy. *But that you may receive a full reward,* that is, that you may lay hold of the true God with full gladness, by persevering in the doctrine delivered to you, and by not consenting to their error.

VERS. 9.-- *And abideth not.* If anyone separates himself from the [0706A] divine doctrine, so as to be outside the right faith and the manner of life of the commandments of God, he separates himself from God, that he may not have God. Through the active and the contemplative life he who is the Creator of all becomes the God of someone, by manifesting himself to him. *He that abideth.* He abides in the doctrine of the Gospel who thinks and acts according to it; he separates himself from it who thinks and acts otherwise.

VERS. 10.-- *Neither say ye Ave to him.* Because it seems a sign of consent to error, for this we say to friends whose works please us; and if perchance you were not deceived, others nevertheless might be deceived through such familiarity of yours, who would believe that those men pleased you, and so would believe them.

VERS. 12.-- *Having more things to write to you.* Understand that this admonition will be very useful to you, because for the confirmation [0706B] of it I have determined to come to you also, nor yet could I meanwhile be altogether silent.

VERS. 13.-- *They salute thee.* As he forbids to say Ave to the adversaries of the truth, so on the contrary he salutes the elect in the person of the elect.


title: Epistola II B. Petri

source_edition: Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 114, coll. 689A–694C

source_text:
## ARGUMENTUM.

[0689A]

Simon Petrus per fidem huic mundo sapientes mortuos esse declarat, eisdemque pietatis quanta sit magnitudo luce ipsa clarius manifestat.

## CAPUT PRIMUM.

VERS. 1.-- *Simon. [n: (BEDA.)]* Istam eisdem quibus et primam scribit epistolam, etc., *usque ad* non cesserunt, haereticis non cedant.

*Servus et Apostolus.* Commendatur persona scribentis.

*Coaequalem. [n: (BEDA.)]* Coaequales sibi cognoscit, non pro circumcisione, sed quia eadem quam ipsi acceperant Christi gratiam et fidem et hanc per opera exercebant. *In justitia.* Hanc justitiam non humana [0689B] prudentia reperit, nec legis institutio docuit, sed noster Salvator in Evangelio ostendit: *Nisi abundaverit justitia vestra plus quam scribarum et Pharisaeorum, non intrabitis in regnum coelorum [n: (Matth. V)]*.

VERS. 2.-- *Gratia vobis. [n: (BEDA.)]* In prima Epistola scripsit *multiplicetur;* in hac, *adimpleatur:* quia illam incipientibus, hanc perfectioribus scribit. Multiplicatur gratia bene proficientibus in hac vita per fidem, adimplebitur pervenientibus in alia vita per speciem. Unde addit, *in cognitione Dei,* id est ut noscatis unum verum Deum, et quem misit Jesum Christum.

VERS. 3.-- *Quomodo omnia. [n: (ID.)]* Ita adimpleatur gratia Christi, etc., *usque ad* sed infirmos et inglorios sua virtute reparavit et gloria.

[0689C]VERS. 4.-- *Maxima et pretiosa nobis promissa donavit.* Id est vitam aeternam quam per ejus cognitionem consequamur. Vel quae promisit nobis, de conversione aliorum per nos, vel de adventu Spiritus sancti, vel de potentia miraculorum donavit.

VERS. 5.-- *Ministrate in fide. [n: (BEDA.)]* Non solum fugiatis concupiscentiam mundi, etc., *usque ad* ne sitis molles et dissoluti.

VERS. 6.-- *In scientia autem abstinentiam. [n: (ID.)]* Cum bona facere didiceritis, spe vitae aeternae mox a malis abstinete, et in cogitatione et in opere, ne in vacuum scientia coelestium cedat, si se ab illecebris saeculi aliquis non coerceat.

VERS. 7.-- *In pietate autem. [n: (ID.)]* Non alterius [0689D] rei intuitu pietatis opera adversariis vestris impendatis, nisi fraternae dilectionis, ut pro eis oretis ut convertantur, qui doctrina vestra vel increpationibus nolunt converti.

VERS. 8.-- *Haec enim si vobiscum,* etc. Ideo haec tenete et aliis ministrate, quia haec omnia si adsint vobis in affectu cordis, et etiam superent, id est adversum vitiorum bella praevaluerint, non vos vacuos virtutibus constituent in hoc saeculo, vel sine fructu in futuro.

[0690A]VERS. 9.-- *Caecus est et manu tentans. [n: (BEDA.)]* Oculus scientiam, manus operationem designat, etc., *usque ad* praescire nequibat, incidit.

*Oblivionem accipiens.* Quando homo de peccato in peccatum cadit, videtur oblitus pacti quod in baptismo cum Deo iniit.

VERS. 10.-- *Non peccabitis aliquando.* Id est, ad vitam aeternam attingetis, ubi amplius non peccabitis. Vel criminalia vitabitis, quae qui egerit, non habebit haereditatem in regno Christi, a quibus immunis juvante Domino permanet, qui supradictis virtutibus se mancipaverit. Sine venialibus vero nullus esse potest.

VERS. 11.-- *Sic enim. [n: (BEDA.)]* Ezechiel loquens de aedificio in monte constituto, etc., *usque ad, et videbitur [0690B] Deus deorum in Sion [n: (Psal. LXXXIII)]*.

VERS. 12.-- *Vos incipiam semper commonere de his.* Ut sit vobis introitus patens ad Sancta sanctorum, iterum et iterum monebo vos, et semper ero in incoeptione, quia nunquam erit finis monitionis. Quod ergo non est mihi pigrum saepius iterare, vobis non sit onerosum saepius audire.

*Et quidem scientes. [n: (BEDA.)]* Quare vult monere illos qui sciunt, et confirmati sunt? Ideo scilicet ut scientiam quam habent, operibus exerceant, et veritatem cujus praesentia confirmati sunt, fixa mente custodiant, ne quando per magistros erroris excidant a simplicitate et castitate fidei.

VERS. 13.-- *Justum autem,* etc. Ideo monebo, quia justum arbitror, per hoc quod Dominus benigne vocavit [0690C] me, et confirmavit, et alios confirmare monuit, dicens: *Confirma fratres tuos,* suscitare vos quasi dormientes ad haec praedicta, semper exsistens in commonendo sollicitus.

VERS. 14.-- *Depositio tabernaculi mei. [n: (BEDA.)]* Pulchre non mortem, sed depositionem vocat, quia sic est famulis Dei carnis retinacula eruere, sicut viatoribus confecto itinere domum propriam pro habitatione tabernaculi adire, sicut positis in expeditione prostrato hoste ad patriam redire.

VERS. 15.-- *Dabo autem operam.* Quia cito sum transiturus, ideo interim dum vivo, dabo operam ut vos frequenter, scilicet quoties instabunt pseudo et volent vos abstrahere, habeatis haec in memoria [0690D] post obitum meum, quando me praesentem non habebitis doctorem, non quolibet modo habere, sed ita ut horum memoriam faciatis opere adimplendo, et alios docendo.

*Post obitum,* etc. Obitus dicitur sanctorum quando exeunt obviam sponso.

VERS. 16.-- *Non enim indoctas fabulas,* etc. [n: (BEDA.)] Hic et paganos tangit et haereticos. Pagani, quidquid eos delectabat, deos appellare non timuerunt. Haeretici, acceptis Dei veri mysteriis, de caetero non divinis [0691A] Scripturis attendere, sed potius ad sensum erroneum has male interpretando transferre studuerunt.

*Sed speculatores facti,* etc. Transfiguratio Domini et claritas ejus signum erat resurrectionis suae et nostrae. Per Eliam qui cum eo apparuit, intelligitur resurrectio eorum qui fuerunt ante legem. Per Moysen, eorum qui sub lege; per Petrum, et Jacobum, et Joannem, eorum qui sub gratia. Vel, per Moysen mortuum mortuorum, per vivos vivorum.

VERS. 19.-- *Et habemus firmiorem.* Quod dixi vobis, non est fabulosum, sed certum, et non tantum his signis declaratum, sed etiam ad confirmationem nostrae praedicationis habemus propheticum sermonem David: *Dominus dixit ad me, Filius meus es tu [n: (Psal. II)]*, etc., firmiorem inter alios prophetas, [0691B] quia clarius aliis de Christo prophetavit.

*Cui benefacitis attendentes. [n: (BEDA.)]* Ut lucem possitis habere scientiae, etc., *usque ad* ad comparationem futurae vitae lucerna indigemus.

VERS. 20.-- *Hoc primum intelligentes.* Attendite prophetico sermoni, nam a Deo est. Quod potest probari per hoc, quod prophetia non est talibus verbis et tali modo locutionis scripta, quali utuntur homines in locutione sua, et quali saeculares scripturae sunt compositae et interpretatae. Et vere non est locutio prophetarum secundum suam, vel audientium voluntatem, sed secundum voluntatem Spiritus sancti qui loquebatur in illis.

VERS. 21.-- *Non enim voluntate humana. [n: (BEDA.)]* Sicut in potestate prophetarum non erat semper habere [0691C] spiritum, semper futura praedicere: ita non erat potestatis eorum ut quaecunque vellent, docerent, sed ea sola dicebant quae a spiritu didicerant. Haec ideo dicuntur, ne quis ad libitum suum Scripturas exponat.

## CAPUT II.

VERS. 1.-- *Perditionem.* Merito perditionem sibi inducunt, qui Redemptorem suum negant, vel non qualem veritas ostendit, sed qualem sibi ipsi fingunt, praedicant. Et propterea alieni a Redemptore, nil certius quam foveam exspectant.

VERS. 2.-- *Via veritatis blasphemabitur. [n: (BEDA.)]* Per haereticos non solum in eis quos suae haeresi seductos associat, sed in eis quoque quos per impurissima [0691D] facta sua et sacrificia vel mysteria exsecranda quae faciunt, in odium Christiani nominis concitant, existimantibus imperitis omnes Christianos hujusmodi flagitiis mancipatos, via veritatis blasphemari solet.

VERS. 4.-- *Si enim Deus angelis. [n: (ID.)]* Si Deus apostatas angelos traditos poenis inferni, etc., *usque ad* in abyssi profunda sunt rapti.

VERS. 5.-- *Originali mundo. [n: (ID.)]* Idem mundus est post diluvium qui et ante, etc., *usque ad* justi gloriam vitae accipient.

VERS. 6.-- *Et civitates.* Hae civitates dupliciter in ignem sunt redactae, quia et primo eas per incendium cum adjacentibus terris in cinerem redegit, [0692A] et cum loca incendii postmodum Mortui maris undis contexerit, servare adhuc voluit circumpositam regionem priscae speciem poenae. Nascuntur enim poma pulcherrima, quae et edendi cupiditatem spectantibus generent. Si carpas, fatiscunt et resolvuntur in cinerem, fumumque excitant quasi adhuc ardeant. *In cinerem.* Ignis qui Sodomitas semel punivit, significat quod impii sine fine sunt passuri. Quod terra fumigabunda, quod fructus pulcherrimi cinerem intus habent et fetorem, innuit quia dilectio carnalis, etsi stultis arridet, nil tamen in invisibilibus nisi incendium sibi reservant, vel ut fumus tormentorum eis in saecula saeculorum ascendat.

VERS. 7.-- *Loth oppressum. [n: (BEDA.)]* Cruciabant justum iniqua proximorum facta et dicta, quae cernens, [0692B] corrigere non valebat, ipse autem in bonis actibus se reservabat. Nec visis, vel auditis flagitiis se fuscabat. Dicitur item visu, vel auditu justus; quia nihil in illo videbant, nihil de eo audiebant, nisi quod pertinebat ad justitiam.

VERS. 9.-- *Iniquos.* Pseudo et eorum sequaces, et ideo nolite eos sequi.

*In diem judicii. [n: (BEDA.)]* Et ante diem judicii soluti corpore poenas luunt, et in judicio graviora exspectant, quando corpore et anima cruciabuntur.

VERS. 11.-- *Ubi angeli.* Ibi cruciabuntur iniqui, ubi angeli mali, qui prius contra Deum superbierant, et inde puniti sunt, jam non portant, sed potius abjiciunt judicium superbiendi contra Deum: quod est exsecrabile adversus seipsos, quia pro illo graviter [0692C] puniuntur, et territi magnitudine poenarum, jam ab illo judicio praesumptioni desistunt: sed isti iniqui nondum desistunt. Vel torquebuntur ibi, id est apud Deum: ubi angeli non boni, non sustinent, sed vindicant si quid exsecrabile contra illos dicitur.

VERS. 13.-- *Mercedem injustitiae. [n: (BEDA.)]* Id est poenam pro malis operibus, et maxime illi qui cum corruptioni carnis serviant, et vesanis teneantur erroribus, conversationem justorum blasphemant, et eis qui sanum sapiunt, detrahere non cessant.

VERS. 17.-- *Hi sunt.* Non sunt imitandi pseudoapostoli, quia licet videantur utiles, nihil tamen in eis est nisi vanitas et immunditia.

VERS. 18.-- *Superba.* Superbe dicentes se esse justos, quamvis sit vanum, carnaliter desiderantes [0692D] et luxuriose viventes pellicunt eos qui paululum refugerint a peccatis; qui cum similes eis sunt, tamen aliquatenus declinant eorum societatem, et a peccatis aliquatenus abstinent. *In desideriis carnis,* etc. Immundus est omnis qui exaltat cor suum, ut qui paululum refugerint a peccatis, ad suum revertantur errorem et studeant in luxuria.

VERS. 20.-- *Si enim,* etc., *cognitione Domini nostri et Salvatoris Jesu Christi,* etc. Si fugientes coinquinationem et animae et corporis quam mundus immittit; rursus implicati (sicut ante baptismum) superantur ab illis coinquinationibus, apparet quod facta sunt posteriora eorum deteriora prioribus: quia magis offendunt Deum quam ante baptismum, [0693A] et majores poenas patientur, quia mendaces sunt promissiones factae in baptismo.

VERS. 22.-- *Contigit enim illis. [n: (BEDA.)]* In Proverbiis cum expositione positum est, etc., *usque ad* ante Dei oculos sordidas ipsas etiam lacrymas facit.

## CAPUT III.

VERS. 1.-- *Hanc ecce vobis.* Quasi dicat: Jam aliam Epistolam scripsi ad repellendos pseudo; et ut meam magnam sollicitudinem vobis ostendam, ecce pro eadem causa hanc etiam secundam scribo Epistolam.

VERS. 2.-- *Ut memores.* Id est ut per illas Epistolas sitis memores eorum verborum quae ego ipse praesens praedixi vobis. *Verborum,* dico acceptorum, [0693B] *a sanctis prophetis* quae auctoritate sanctorum prophetarum confirmantur, et sitis memores praeceptorum sanctorum *apostolorum:* ne praecepta quae sancti apostoli dederunt vobis, dimittatis pro praedicatione illorum pseudo, et quae *praecepta* sunt etiam *Domini et Salvatoris* quia ipse Dominus, qui venit salvare nos, haec praecepta instituit et servare praecepit.

VERS. 5.-- *Latet. [n: (BEDA.)]* Ideo dicunt omnia eodem modo perseverare, etc., *usque ad* in diem judicii et perditionis impiorum hominum.

VERS. 8.-- *Unum vero hoc.* Probato quod judicium vere erit, ostendit quam efficax futurum sit. Si dicitur vobis a pseudo: Quod vultis potestis facere, quia tantum tempus restat usque ad diem judicii, [0693C] quod ex longinquitate temporis judex scire multa non poterit; non credatis eis, quia quidquid potest fieri mille annis, ita videt, sicut illud quod fit una die. Si dicunt: Mille annis, poenitendo non assequemini veniam delictorum; non credatis: quia unus dies verae poenitentiae tantum valet ad salutem, quantum mille anni, sicut latroni.

*Sicut mille anni. [n: (BEDA.)]* In agnitione divinae virtutis, etc., *usque ad* unde et recte subjungitur: [0694A] VERS. 9.-- *Non tardat Dominus.* Et quia omnia videt, potestis credere quod Dominus non tardat promissis implendis, quia nondum est tempus quo implenda implebit. Sed ideo differt, ut electorum summam, quam praevidit, prius adimpleat, unde in Apocalypsi: *Et dictum est illis, ut requiescerent adhuc modicum tempus, donec compleantur conservi eorum [n: (Apoc. VI)]*.

VERS. 10.-- *Coeli magno. Coeli,* id est sancti; si quid ergo in eis purgandum est, per ignem purgabitur.

*Elementa. [n: (BEDA.)]* Quatuor, quibus mundus consistit, etc., *usque ad* et per temporale supplicium, solventur in melius.

VERS. 13.-- *Novos vero coelos. [n: (ID.)]* Non ait, [0694B] *alios,* sed veteres et antiquos in melius commutandos, etc., *usque ad* habemus et in prophetis: *Lux lucernae non lucebit ibi amplius [n: (Isa. LXV)]*.

VERS. 14.-- *Satagite immaculati et inviolati.* Hae sunt vigiliae de quibus dicitur: *Beati servi illi quos cum venerit Dominus, invenerit vigilantes.* Vigilat qui se a sordibus immunem custodit, qui quantum in se est, cum omnibus hominibus pacem habet, qui omnes illecebras carnis spiritus regimini subdit, in seipso pace felicissima utens.

VERS. 15.-- *Frater noster. [n: (BEDA.)]* Paulum illis scripsisse dicit, in quo ostendit, etc., *usque ad* et per has se ad profectum excitent.

VERS. 16.-- *Difficilia.* In Epistolis Pauli quae depravantur ab haereticis, etc., *usque ad* quidam luxuriae [0694C] frena laxantes, et alia multa, etc.

*Depravant. [n: (BEDA.)]* Nullus Veteris vel Novi Testamenti liber est in quo haeretici aliquid non perverterint, vel demendo, vel addendo, vel mutando. Unicum remedium indoctis, humili stabilitate verba doctorum auditum praebere, quam stabilitatem quia haeretici non habent, vento superbiae quasi palea levis de Ecclesia tolluntur, ad suam ipsorum perditionem.

english:
## THE ARGUMENT.

[0689A]

Simon Peter declares that the wise are dead to this world through faith, and to those same men he makes manifest, more clearly than the light itself, how great is the greatness of piety.

## CHAPTER ONE.

VERS. 1.-- *Simon. [n: (BEDA.)]* He writes this epistle to the same persons to whom he wrote the first also, etc., *as far as* they did not yield, let them not yield to the heretics.

*Servant and Apostle.* The person of the writer is commended.

*Equal. [n: (BEDA.)]* He acknowledges them as equal to himself, not on account of circumcision, but because the same grace and faith of Christ which they themselves had received, this also they exercised through works. *In justice.* This justice human [0689B] prudence did not find out, nor did the institution of the law teach it, but our Saviour showed it in the Gospel: *Unless your justice abound more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven [n: (Matth. V)]*.

VERS. 2.-- *Grace unto you. [n: (BEDA.)]* In the first Epistle he wrote *be multiplied;* in this, *be fulfilled:* because he writes that one to beginners, this one to the more perfect. Grace is multiplied to those who advance well in this life through faith; it shall be fulfilled to those who arrive in the other life through sight. Whence he adds, *in the knowledge of God,* that is, that you may know the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom he sent.

VERS. 3.-- *How all things. [n: (ID.)]* So may the grace of Christ be fulfilled, etc., *as far as* but he restored the weak and inglorious by his own power and glory.

[0689C]VERS. 4.-- *He hath given us most great and precious promises.* That is, eternal life, which we may obtain through the knowledge of him. Or he gave the things which he promised us, concerning the conversion of others through us, or concerning the coming of the Holy Spirit, or concerning the power of miracles.

VERS. 5.-- *Minister in faith. [n: (BEDA.)]* Not only should you flee the concupiscence of the world, etc., *as far as* lest you be soft and dissolute.

VERS. 6.-- *But in knowledge, abstinence. [n: (ID.)]* When you shall have learned to do good things, in the hope of eternal life abstain forthwith from evil things, both in thought and in deed, lest the knowledge of heavenly things go for nothing, if anyone restrain not himself from the allurements of the world.

VERS. 7.-- *But in piety. [n: (ID.)]* Bestow not the works of piety upon your adversaries with a view to any other [0689D] thing save that of brotherly love, that you may pray for them that they may be converted, who by your teaching or by rebukes are unwilling to be converted.

VERS. 8.-- *For if these things be with you,* etc. Therefore hold these things and minister them to others, because if all these things be present with you in the affection of the heart, and also abound, that is, shall have prevailed against the wars of the vices, they will not constitute you void of virtues in this world, or without fruit in the world to come.

[0690A]VERS. 9.-- *He is blind and groping with the hand. [n: (BEDA.)]* The eye designates knowledge, the hand designates work, etc., *as far as* he could not foreknow, he fell.

*Receiving forgetfulness.* When a man falls from sin into sin, he seems to have forgotten the covenant which he entered upon with God in baptism.

VERS. 10.-- *You shall not sin at any time.* That is, you shall attain unto eternal life, where you shall sin no more. Or you shall shun criminal sins, which whoever has committed shall not have an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ; free from which he remains, with the Lord helping, who shall have given himself over to the aforesaid virtues. But without venial sins no one can be.

VERS. 11.-- *For so. [n: (BEDA.)]* Ezechiel, speaking of the building set upon the mountain, etc., *as far as, and there shall be seen [0690B] the God of gods in Sion [n: (Psal. LXXXIII)]*.

VERS. 12.-- *I will begin always to admonish you of these things.* That there may be for you an entrance open unto the Holy of holies, again and again will I admonish you, and I shall always be at the beginning, because there shall never be an end of admonition. What therefore it is not irksome to me to repeat the oftener, let it not be burdensome to you the oftener to hear.

*And indeed knowing. [n: (BEDA.)]* Why does he wish to admonish those who know, and are confirmed? For this reason, namely, that they may exercise in works the knowledge which they have, and may guard with fixed mind the truth by whose presence they are confirmed, lest at any time through masters of error they fall away from the simplicity and chastity of the faith.

VERS. 13.-- *But it is just,* etc. Therefore I will admonish, because I judge it just, by reason of this, that the Lord graciously called [0690C] me, and confirmed me, and admonished me to confirm others, saying: *Confirm thy brethren,* to rouse you up as though sleeping unto these things foretold, being always solicitous in admonishing.

VERS. 14.-- *The putting off of my tabernacle. [n: (BEDA.)]* Beautifully he calls it not death, but a putting off, because it is so for the servants of God to pluck out the bonds of the flesh, as it is for travellers, the journey finished, to go to their own home instead of the dwelling of a tent; as it is for men set on campaign, the enemy laid low, to return to their fatherland.

VERS. 15.-- *But I will give diligence.* Because I am soon to pass over, therefore meanwhile, while I live, I will give diligence that you may frequently, namely as often as the false ones shall press upon you and shall wish to draw you away, have these things in memory [0690D] after my decease, when you shall not have me present as a teacher; not to have them in any manner whatever, but so that you may make a memorial of them by fulfilling them in work, and by teaching others.

*After the decease,* etc. The decease of the saints is so called when they go forth to meet the bridegroom.

VERS. 16.-- *For not unlearned fables,* [var: Vulg. *doctas fabulas*, "learned fables"] etc. [n: (BEDA.)] Here he touches both the pagans and the heretics. The pagans feared not to call gods whatsoever delighted them. The heretics, having received the mysteries of the true God, thereafter were zealous not to attend to the divine [0691A] Scriptures, but rather to transfer them by ill interpretation to an erroneous sense.

*But made beholders,* etc. The transfiguration of the Lord and his brightness was a sign of his resurrection and of ours. By Elias, who appeared with him, is understood the resurrection of those who were before the law. By Moses, that of those who were under the law; by Peter, and James, and John, that of those who are under grace. Or, by Moses dead, that of the dead; by the living, that of the living.

VERS. 19.-- *And we have the more firm.* What I have said to you is not fabulous, but certain, and not only declared by these signs, but also for the confirmation of our preaching we have the prophetic word of David: *The Lord said to me, Thou art my Son [n: (Psal. II)]*, etc., more firm among the other prophets, [0691B] because he prophesied of Christ more clearly than the others.

*Whereunto you do well to attend. [n: (BEDA.)]* That you may be able to have the light of knowledge, etc., *as far as* in comparison with the life to come we have need of a lamp.

VERS. 20.-- *Understanding this first.* Attend to the prophetic word, for it is from God. Which can be proved by this, that prophecy is not written in such words and in such a manner of speech as men use in their own speech, and as secular writings are composed and interpreted. And truly the utterance of the prophets is not according to their own will, or that of the hearers, but according to the will of the Holy Spirit who was speaking in them.

VERS. 21.-- *For not by human will. [n: (BEDA.)]* As it was not in the power of the prophets always to have the [0691C] spirit, always to foretell things to come: so it was not of their power that they should teach whatsoever things they would, but they spoke those things alone which they had learned from the spirit. These things are therefore said, lest anyone expound the Scriptures according to his own pleasure.

## CHAPTER II.

VERS. 1.-- *Perdition.* Deservedly do they bring perdition upon themselves who deny their Redeemer, or who preach him not such as the truth shows him, but such as they themselves feign him to be. And therefore, being strangers to the Redeemer, they look for nothing more certain than the pit.

VERS. 2.-- *The way of truth shall be blasphemed. [n: (BEDA.)]* Through the heretics the way of truth is wont to be blasphemed, not only in those whom, seduced, he associates to his own heresy, but in those also whom, through their most impure [0691D] deeds and the execrable sacrifices or mysteries which they perform, they stir up into hatred of the Christian name, while the unskilled suppose that all Christians are given over to villainies of this kind.

VERS. 4.-- *For if God spared not the angels. [n: (ID.)]* If God [spared not] the apostate angels, delivered over to the punishments of hell, etc., *as far as* they were hurried away into the depths of the abyss.

VERS. 5.-- *To the world. [n: (ID.)]* The world after the flood is the same which was before it also, etc., *as far as* the just shall receive the glory of.

VERS. 6.-- *And the cities.* These cities were in a twofold manner brought into fire, because first he reduced them to ashes by burning, together with the adjacent lands, [0692A] and when he had afterwards covered the places of the burning with the waves of the Dead Sea, he willed the surrounding region still to preserve the appearance of the ancient punishment. For there grow most beautiful fruits, which beget also in those who look upon them a desire of eating. If thou pluck them, they crumble and are dissolved into ashes, and stir up smoke as though they still burned. *Into ashes.* The fire which once punished the Sodomites signifies that the ungodly are to suffer without end. That the earth is smoking, that the most beautiful fruits have ashes within and a stench, intimates that carnal love, though it smile upon fools, yet they reserve to themselves nothing among things invisible but burning, or that the smoke of their torments may go up for ever and ever.

VERS. 7.-- *Lot oppressed. [n: (BEDA.)]* The unjust deeds and words of his neighbours tormented the just man, which, beholding, [0692B] he was not able to correct; but he himself kept himself in good works. Nor did he darken himself by the villainies seen or heard. He is likewise called just in seeing, or in hearing; because they saw nothing in him, they heard nothing of him, save what pertained to justice.

VERS. 9.-- *The unjust.* The false ones and their followers; and therefore do not follow them.

*Unto the day of judgment. [n: (BEDA.)]* Both before the day of judgment, loosed from the body, they pay their penalties, and in the judgment they look for heavier things, when they shall be tormented in body and in soul.

VERS. 11.-- *Where the angels.* There shall the unjust be tormented, where the evil angels, who before had been proud against God, and were punished thereupon, now bear not, but rather cast away, the judgment of being proud against God: which is execrable against themselves, because for it they are grievously [0692C] punished, and, terrified by the greatness of the punishments, they now desist from that judgment, to presumption [cj: *praesumptioni*; read *praesumptionis*, "of presumption"]: but these unjust ones do not yet desist. Or they shall be tortured there, that is, with God: where the angels, not good ones [cj: *non boni*; read *boni*, "the good angels"], endure not, but avenge, if anything execrable be said against them.

VERS. 13.-- *The reward of injustice. [n: (BEDA.)]* That is, punishment for evil works; and chiefly those who, while they serve the corruption of the flesh and are held by mad errors, blaspheme the conversation of the just, and cease not to detract from those who are of sound understanding.

VERS. 17.-- *These are they.* The false apostles are not to be imitated, because although they may seem useful, yet there is nothing in them but vanity and uncleanness.

VERS. 18.-- *Proud things.* Proudly saying that they are just, although it be vain, desiring carnally [0692D] and living luxuriously, they allure those who have fled a little from sins; who, though they are like unto them, yet in some measure decline their fellowship, and in some measure abstain from sins. *In the desires of the flesh,* etc. Every one is unclean who exalteth his heart, so that they who have fled a little from sins return to their own error and are zealous in luxury.

VERS. 20.-- *For if,* etc., *the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,* etc. If, fleeing the defilement both of soul and of body which the world sends in; being again entangled (as before baptism) they are overcome by those defilements, it appears that their latter things are made worse than the former: because they offend God more than before baptism, [0693A] and they shall suffer greater punishments, because the promises made in baptism are lying ones.

VERS. 22.-- *For it hath befallen them. [n: (BEDA.)]* In the Proverbs it is set down with an exposition, etc., *as far as* it makes even those tears themselves foul before the eyes of God.

## CHAPTER III.

VERS. 1.-- *Behold, this to you.* As if he should say: I have already written another Epistle for the driving back of the false ones; and that I may show you my great solicitude, behold, for the same cause I write this second Epistle also.

VERS. 2.-- *That you may be mindful.* That is, that through those Epistles you may be mindful of those words which I myself, being present, foretold to you. *Of the words,* I say, received, [0693B] *from the holy prophets* which are confirmed by the authority of the holy prophets; and that you may be mindful of the precepts of the holy *apostles:* lest you let go the precepts which the holy apostles gave you in exchange for the preaching of those false ones; and which *precepts* are also *of the Lord and Saviour* because the Lord himself, who came to save us, appointed these precepts and commanded them to be kept.

VERS. 5.-- *It is hidden. [n: (BEDA.)]* Therefore they say that all things continue in the same manner, etc., *as far as* unto the day of judgment and of the perdition of ungodly men.

VERS. 8.-- *But this one thing.* It being proved that the judgment shall truly be, he shows how effectual it shall be. If it be said to you by the false ones: You can do what you will, because so great a time remains until the day of judgment, [0693C] that from the length of time the judge will not be able to know many things; believe them not, because whatsoever can be done in a thousand years, he sees it even as that which is done in one day. If they say: In a thousand years, by repenting, you shall not obtain pardon of your offences; believe them not: because one day of true penitence avails as much unto salvation as a thousand years, as it did for the thief.

*As a thousand years. [n: (BEDA.)]* In the acknowledgment of the divine power, etc., *as far as* whence also it is rightly subjoined: [0694A] VERS. 9.-- *The Lord delayeth not.* And because he sees all things, you may believe that the Lord delays not in fulfilling his promises, because the time is not yet in which he shall fulfil the things to be fulfilled. But he therefore defers, that he may first fill up the sum of the elect which he foresaw; whence in the Apocalypse: *And it was said to them that they should rest yet a little time, until their fellow servants be filled up [n: (Apoc. VI)]*.

VERS. 10.-- *The heavens with a great violence. The heavens,* that is, the saints; if therefore there be anything in them to be purged, it shall be purged by fire.

*The elements. [n: (BEDA.)]*, of which the world consists, etc., *as far as* and through a temporal punishment, they shall be dissolved into something better.

VERS. 13.-- *But new heavens. [n: (ID.)]* He saith not, [0694B] *others,* but that the old and ancient ones are to be changed into something better, etc., *as far as* we have it also in the prophets: *The light of the lamp shall shine there no more [n: (Isa. LXV)]*. [var: Vulg. Apoc. XVIII, 23 *lux lucernae non lucebit in te amplius*, "in thee"]

VERS. 14.-- *Be diligent to be unspotted and undefiled.* These are the watchings of which it is said: *Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching.* He watches who keeps himself free from defilements, who, as much as in him lies, has peace with all men, who subjects all the allurements of the flesh to the governance of the spirit, enjoying in himself a most happy peace.

VERS. 15.-- *Our brother. [n: (BEDA.)]* He says that Paul had written to them, wherein he shows, etc., *as far as* and by these may stir themselves up unto advancement.

VERS. 16.-- *Difficult things.* In the Epistles of Paul, which are perverted by the heretics, etc., *as far as* certain men loosing the [0694C] reins to luxury, and many other things, etc.

*They pervert. [n: (BEDA.)]* There is no book of the Old or of the New Testament in which the heretics have not perverted something, either by taking away, or by adding, or by changing. The one remedy for the unlearned is, with humble steadfastness, to lend an ear to the words of the doctors; which steadfastness because the heretics have not, they are lifted out of the Church by the wind of pride like light chaff, unto their own perdition.


title: Epistola III B. Joannis

source_edition: Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 114, coll. 705B–706D

source_text:
## ARGUMENTUM.

[0705B]

Gaium pietatis causa extollit, atque ut in ipsa pietate maneat exhortatur: Diotrephen impietatis et superbiae causa objurgat. Demetrio autem bonum testimonium perhibet cum fratribus universis.

## CAPUT UNICUM

VERS. 2.-- *De omnibus orationem,* etc. Sicut nunc intentio recta abundat tibi, et perseverat bona voluntas [0705C] largiendi indigentibus, et facultas opum; ita semper virtutibus plenam, Domino adjuvante, vitam ducere possis.

VERS. 4.-- *Majorem horum.* Ideo gavisus sum, quia horum fratrum venientium non habeo majorem gratiam, id est: quando fratres veniunt ad me, in nullo facto vel verbo eorum magis gaudeo quam quando annuntiant filios meos (quos praedicando vel baptizando genui) veritatem rectae fidei et operationis observare.

VERS. 5.-- *Charissime, fideliter,* etc. Ideo non debes deficere ab hospitalitate et eleemosynis. Quidquid enim operaris in fratres fideliter, id est sicut fidelis, id est sicut decet fidelem facis, non pro vana gloria, sed fidem tuam operibus ostendis.

[0705D]VERS. 7.-- *Pro nomine enim ejus,* etc. Quasi: Vere sunt honorandi, non enim pro suis sceleribus expulsi sunt a patria, sed sponte profecti sunt pro nomine Christi ampliando, et pro nomine ejus patiendo.

VERS. 9.-- *Scripsissem forsitan,* etc. Perseverare [0706B] debes in eleemosyna, quia utilitatem tantam in ea intelligo, quod non solum tibi, sed etiam toti Ecclesiae scripsissem de commendatione eleemosynae, sed hac necessitate dimisi, quia Diotrephes non curat nostram auctoritatem. Diotrephes haeresiarcha illius temporis nova docendo principatum sibi usurpabat. Diotrephes interpretatur *speciose insulsus,* sive *decor insaniens,* ut perfidiam cordis etiam nomine signet. [0706C] *Ecclesiae.* Illi Ecclesiae, *quae forsitan,* id est dubitative est Ecclesia, et ut per observationem eleemosynae mereretur perfecta fieri Ecclesia, scripsissem.

VERS. 10.-- *Commonebo.* Id est, in omnium notitiam manifestius arguendo producam; quorum exemplar nusquam habet; sed *facit* ea, et nova invenit, *garriens,* falsis rationibus utens *in nos* confutandos et sic ad vos a fide retrahendos. Sicut linguas detrahentium nostro vitio non debemus excitare, ne ipsi pereant, ita per suam malitiam excitatas debemus aequanimiter tolerare, ut meritum nobis crescat, aliquando compescere, ne dum de nobis disseminant, eorum qui audire bona poterant, corda corrumpant.

VERS. 12.-- *Demetrio testimonium.* Quod illum velit imitari bonum, aperit ut imitetur Demetrium, [0706D] ut simili laude omnium possit et ipse dignus existere.

VERS. 14.-- *Pax tibi.* Amicis gratiam pacis et salutis mandat, ut veritatis inimicos a salute monstret extraneos esse.

english:
## THE ARGUMENT.

[0705B]

He extols Gaius on account of his piety, and exhorts him to remain in that same piety: he rebukes Diotrephes on account of his impiety and pride. But to Demetrius he bears good testimony, together with all the brethren.

## THE ONLY CHAPTER

VERS. 2.-- *Concerning all things I make prayer,* etc. As right intention now abounds in thee, and the good will [0705C] of bestowing upon the needy perseveres, and the means of wealth; so mayest thou be able always, with the Lord helping, to lead a life full of virtues.

VERS. 4.-- *I have no greater grace than these.* Therefore I rejoiced, because I have no greater grace than these brethren who come, that is: when the brethren come to me, in no deed or word of theirs do I rejoice more than when they announce that my sons (whom I begot by preaching or by baptizing) keep the truth of right faith and of working.

VERS. 5.-- *Dearly beloved, faithfully,* etc. Therefore thou oughtest not to fail from hospitality and from alms. For whatsoever thou workest toward the brethren faithfully, that is, as a faithful man, that is, thou doest as befits a faithful man, not for vainglory, but thou showest thy faith by works.

[0705D]VERS. 7.-- *For on account of his name,* etc. As if [to say]: They are truly to be honoured, for they were not driven out from their country for their own crimes, but they set out of their own accord for the enlarging of the name of Christ, and for suffering for his name.

VERS. 9.-- *I would perhaps have written,* etc. Thou oughtest to persevere [0706B] in almsgiving, because I perceive so great a usefulness in it, that not only to thee, but even to the whole Church I would have written concerning the commendation of almsgiving, but by this necessity I let it go, because Diotrephes does not care for our authority. Diotrephes, a heresiarch of that time, by teaching new things was usurping the primacy to himself. Diotrephes is interpreted *speciously foolish,* or *comeliness gone mad,* so that he may betoken the perfidy of his heart by his name also. [0706C] *To the Church.* To that Church, *which perhaps,* that is, it is doubtfully a Church, and that through the keeping of almsgiving she might deserve to be made a perfect Church, I would have written.

VERS. 10.-- *I will admonish.* That is, I will bring them forth into the knowledge of all by reproving more openly; of which things he nowhere has a model; but he *doeth* them, and invents new things, *prating,* using false reasonings *against us* to confute us and so to draw you back from the faith. Just as we ought not by our own fault to stir up the tongues of detractors, lest they themselves perish, so those stirred up through their own malice we ought to bear with an even mind, that merit may grow for us, sometimes to check them, lest, while they spread abroad things concerning us, they corrupt the hearts of those who were able to hear good things.

VERS. 12.-- *Testimony is borne to Demetrius.* That he would have him imitate the good, he discloses, namely that he should imitate Demetrius, [0706D] that by the like praise of all he too may be able to stand forth worthy.

VERS. 14.-- *Peace be to thee.* To his friends he sends the grace of peace and of salvation, that he may show the enemies of the truth to be strangers to salvation.