What kind of men he is to ordain priests. Some men are to be sharply rebuked.
Of vvhat qualitie the Priests and Bishops must be: 9 namely learned, considering the Iudaical seducers of that time. 12 That the Cretensians must be roughly vsed, 10 haue them continue sound in faith.
1Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of the elect of God and the acknowledging of the truth, which is according to godliness:Paolo servo di Dio, e Apostolo dì Gesù Cristo secondo, la fede degli eletti di Dio, e il conoscimento della verità, la quale è secondo la pietà,PAVL the seruant of God, and an Apostle of IESVS Christ according to the faith of the elect of God and knowledge of the truth: vvhich is according to pietiePaulus servus Dei, Apostolus autem Jesu Christi secundum fidem electorum Dei, et agnitionem veritatis, quæ secundum pietatem est 2Unto the hope of life everlasting, which God, who lieth not, hath promised before the times of the world:Per la speranza della vita eterna la quale Iddio, che non mentisce, promise prima del cominciamento de' secoli.into the hope of life euerlasting, vvhich he promised that lieth not, God, before the secular times:in spem vitæ æternæ, quam promisit qui non mentitur, Deus, ante tempora sæcularia: 3But hath in due times manifested his word in preaching, which is committed to me according to the commandment of God our Saviour:Ed ha manifestato a suo tempo il suo Verbo per mezzo della predicazione, che è stata confidata a me per ordine del Salvator nostro Dio:but hath manifested in due times his vvord in preaching, vvhich is cō mitted to me according to the precept of our Sauiour God:manifestavit autem temporibus suis verbum suum in prædicatione, quæ credita est mihi secundum præceptum Salvatoris nostri Dei: 4To Titus, my beloved son according to the common faith, grace and peace, from God the Father and from Christ Jesus our Saviour.A Tito diletto figlio secondo la comune fede, grazia, e pace da Dio Padre, e da Gesù Cristo Salvator nostro.to Titus my beloued sonne according to the cōmon faith, grace and peace from God the father, and Christ IESVS our Sauiour.Tito dilecto filio secundum communem fidem, gratia, et pax a Deo Patre, et Christo Jesu Salvatore nostro. 5For this cause I left thee in Crete: that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting and shouldest ordain priests in every city, as I also appointed thee:A questo fine io ti lasciai in Creta, perchè tu dia sesto a quel, che rimane, e stabilisca de' preti per le città conforme io ti prescrissi.For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest reforme the things that are vvanting, and shouldest ordaine priestes by cities, as I also appointed thee:Hujus rei gratia reliqui te Cretæ, ut ea quæ desunt, corrigas, et constituas per civitates presbyteros, sicut et ego disposui tibi,
6If any be without crime, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of riot or unruly.Uom, che sia senza taccia, che abbia avuto una sola moglie, che abbia i figliuoli fedeli, che non sian accusati di lussuria, o indisciplinati.if any be vvithout crime, the husband of one vvife, hauing faithful children, not in the accusation of riote, or not obedient.si quis sine crimine est, unius uxoris vir, filios habens fideles, non in accusatione luxuriæ, aut non subditos. 7For a bishop must be without crime, as the steward of God: not proud, not subject to anger, not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre:Conciossiachè fa d'uopo, che il Vescovo sia senza colpa, come economo di Dio: non superbo, non iracondo, non dedito al vino, non violento, non amante del vil guadagno:For a Bishop must be vvithout crime, as the stevvard of God: not proud, not angrie, not giuen to vvine, no striker, not couetous of filthy lucre:Oportet enim episcopum sine crimine esse, sicut Dei dispensatorem: non superbum, non iracundum, non vinolentum, non percussorem, non turpis lucri cupidum: 8But given to hospitality, gentle, sober, just, holy, continent:Ma ospitale, benigno, temperante, giusto, santo, continente,but giuen to hospitalitie, gentle, sober, iust, holy, continent:sed hospitalem, benignum, sobrium, justum, sanctum, continentem, 9Embracing that faithful word which is according to doctrine, that he may be able to exhort in sound doctrine and to convince the gainsayers.Tenace di quella parola fedele, che è secondo la dottrina: affinchè sia capace di esortare con sana dottrina, e di convincere i contraddittori.embracing that faithful vvord vvhich is according to doctrine, that he may be able to exhort in sound doctrine, & to reproue them that gainesay it.amplectentem eum, qui secundum doctrinam est, fidelem sermonem: ut potens sit exhortari in doctrina sana, et eos qui contradicunt, arguere. 10For there are also many disobedient, vain talkers and seducers: especially they who are of the circumcision.Imperocché vi sono ancora molti disubbidienti, chiaccheroni, e seduttori: massimamente quegli, che sono del numero de' circoncisi:For there be many disobedient, vaine-speakers, and seducers, especially they that are of the Circumcision.Sunt enim multi etiam inobedientes, vaniloqui, et seductores: maxime qui de circumcisione sunt: 11Who must be reproved, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake.A' quali bisogna turar la bocca: che mettono a soqquadro tutte le case, insegnando cose, che non convengono, per amore di vil guadagno.vvho must be controuled. vvho subuert vvhole houses, teaching the things they ought not, for filthie lucre.quos oportet redargui: qui universas domos subvertunt, docentes quæ non oportet, turpis lucri gratia.
12One of them a prophet of their own, said: The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slothful bellies.Disse uno di essi, proprio loro profeta: i Cretensi sempre bugiardi, cattive bestie, ventri pigri.One of them said, their ovvne proper prophete, The Cretensians alvvaies liers, naughtie beastes, slouthful bellies.Dixit quidam ex illis, proprius ipsorum propheta: Cretenses semper mendaces, malæ bestiæ, ventres pigri. 13This testimony is true. Wherefore, rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith:Questo dettato è vero. Per la qual cosa sgridali con rigore, affinchè siano sani nella fede,This testimonie is true. For the vvhich cause rebuke them sharpely, that they may be sound in the faith,Testimonium hoc verum est. Quam ob causam increpa illos dure, ut sani sint in fide, 14Not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn themselves away from the truth.Non dando retta alle favole giudaiche, e alle tradizioni d'uomini, che hanno in avversione la verità.not attending to Ievvish fables, and commaundements of men auerting them selues from the truth.non intendentes judaicis fabulis, et mandatis hominum, aversantium se a veritate. 15All things are clean to the clean: but to them that are defiled and to unbelievers, nothing is clean: but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.Tutto è puro pe' puri: per gli impuri poi, ed infedeli niente è puro, ma è immonda la mente, e la coscienza di essi.Al things are cleane to the cleane: but to the polluted and to infidels nothing is cleane: but polluted are both their minde and conscience.Omnia munda mundis: coinquinatis autem et infidelibus, nihil est mundum, sed inquinatæ sunt eorum et mens et conscientia. 16They profess that they know God: but in their works they deny him: being abominable and incredulous and to every good work reprobate.Professano di conoscer Dio, e lo rinnegano co' fatti: essendo abbominevoli, e miscredenti, e inetti a qualunque buona opera.They confesse that they knovv God: but in their vvorkes they deny, vvhereas they be abominable and incredulous and to euery good vvorke reprobate.Confitentur se nosse Deum, factis autem negant: cum sint abominati, et incredibiles, et ad omne opus bonum reprobi.
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According to the faith of the elect of God; that is, of the Christians, now the elect people of God.
Witham
Truth, which is according to piety: because there may be truth also in things that regard not piety. By truth, St. Chrysostom here understands the truth of the Christian religion, as distinguished from the Jewish worship, which consisted in a great measure in the figures and types of truth. (Witham)
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Who[Ver. 2. Qui non mentitur, o apseudes.] lieth not, or who cannot lie, being truth itself.
Hath promised; that is, decreed to give life everlasting to his faithful servants.
Witham
Before the times of the world.[Ver. 2. Ante tempora saecularia, pro chronon aionion.] Literally, before secular times. (Witham)
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Witham
To Titus, my beloved, (in the Greek, my true and[Ver. 4. Dilecto filio, gnesio tekno.] genuine son,...grace and peace. In the present ordinary Greek copies is added mercy, which the Protestant translators followed; but it is judiciously omitted by Dr. Wells, as not found in the best manuscripts nor in St. Chrysostom's Greek edition, nor in the ancient Greek and Latin Fathers. (Witham)
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Witham
That thou shouldst,[Ver. 5. Ut corrigas, epidiorthose, ut supercorrigas.] etc. The sense cannot be, that he was to change any thing St. Paul had ordered, but to settle things which St. Paul had not time to do; for example, to establish priests[Ver. 5. Per civitates presbyteros, presbuterous. St. Chrysostom, (p. 387) tous episkopous.] in the cities, that is to say, bishops, as the same are called bishops in ver. 7; and, as St. Chrysostom and others observe, it is evident from this very place, that the word presbyter was then used to signify either priests or bishops. If St. Jerome here meant that bishops were only placed over priests by ecclesiastical and not by divine institution, as some have expounded his words, his singular opinion against so many others is not to be followed. (Witham)
That the ordaining of priests belongs only to bishops, is evident from the Acts and from St. Paul's epistles to Timothy and Titus. It is true, St. Jerome seems to express himself as if in the primitive Church there was no great difference between priests and bishops, yet he constantly excepts giving holy orders, (ep. 85) as also confirming the baptized, by giving them the Holy Ghost by imposition of hands and holy chrism; (dial. contra Lucif. ch. IV.) which pre-eminence he attributes to bishops only. To assert that there is no distinction between a priest and bishop is an old heresy, condemned as such by the Church. See St. Epiphanius, haer. 75.; St Augustine, haer 53.
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Witham
Without crime. See the like qualifications, 1 Timothy iii. (Witham)
Calmet
These words if taken in their strictest meaning, do not seem to have all the force St. Paul meant them to have. For it is not sufficient that a bishop be free from great crimes; he ought, moreover to lead such a life as to draw others by his example to the practice of virtue. (Calmet)
If we consult all antiquity we shall find, that if in the early infancy of the Church some who had been once married were ordained to the ministry, we shall find that after their ordination they abstained from the use of marriage. See St. Epiphanius, lib. 3:cont. haer. and lib. 2:haeres. 59.
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Witham
Not proud.[Ver. 7. Non superbum. St. Jerome says, non tumidum, me authade. See Cornelius a Lapide and Legh's Critica. (2 Peter 2:10.)] The Greek word is of an extensive signification, which the Protestants have translated self-willed. The Latin interpreter (2 Peter 2:10.) for the same Greek word has put, pleasing themselves; as it were never pleased with others, the unhappy disposition of a proud man. (Witham)
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Witham
Continent:[Ver. 8. Continentem, egkrate. The Protestant translate the verb, (1 Corinthians 7:9.) If they cannot contain, let them marry.] though both the Latin and Greek word signify in general, one that hath abstained, or contained, and overcome himself: yet it is particularly used for such as contain themselves from carnal pleasures. (Witham)
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Josephus
For there are also many. St. Paul here alludes principally to the Jews, who were of the circumcision, from whom St. Paul suffered much during the greater part of his life. They constantly enforced the necessity of the new converted Gentiles observing the law of Moses, and of their being circumcised, if they wished to be saved. There were many Jews of this description in Crete; to resist whom, St. Paul here tells Titus he ought to appoint bishops remarkable for their zeal and learning. (Josephus; Socrates, lib. 2:chap. 38. Hist. Eccles.)
Witham
Especially they who are of the circumcision; which shews who were chiefly the false teachers. (Witham)
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Whole houses.[Ver. 11. Universas domos, olous oikous.]
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One of them, a prophet of their own.[Ver. 12. Propheta, prophetes. Cretenses, semper mendaces, malae bestiae, ventres pigri; Kretes, aei pseustai, kaka theria, gasteres argai. Aristotle, lib. III. Rhetor. ch. XVII. Epimenides ille de futuris non vaticinabatur: peri ton esomenon ouk emanteueto, alla peri ton gegonoton.
Witham
Kretixeiin was proverbially used for uttering falsehood, and it was a received adage, and very illiberal on the inhabitants of Crete, Cappadocia, and Cilicia. Kretes, Kappodokes, Kilikes, tria Kappa Kakista.] He does not mean a true prophet, but as the pretended prophets of Baal were called prophets. St. Paul understands Epimenides, a poet of Crete, who by some pagan authors was thought to know things to come; but Aristotle says, he knew only things past, not to come. The ill character he gave of the Cretians was, that they were always liars, evil beasts, slothful bellies, addicted to idleness and sensual pleasures. (Witham)
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Witham
This testimony, or character, says the apostle, is true, by public fame of them, and therefore they must be rebuked sharply,[Ver. 13. Durè, apotomos; a metaphor from surgeons cutting.] their condition and dispositions requiring it; which, therefore, is not contrary to the admonition he gave to Timothy, to be gentle towards all. (2 Timothy 2:24.) (Witham)
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Witham
Jewish fables, and commandments of men. False traditions of the Jewish doctors, which were multiplied at that time. Calvin pretended from hence, that holydays and fasting days, and all ordinances of the Catholic Church were to be rejected as null, because they are the precepts of men. By the same argument must be rejected all laws and commands of princes and civil magistrates, as being the precepts of men. Fine doctrine! He might have remembered what St. Paul taught, (Romans xiii.) that all power is from God; and what Christ said, (Luke 10:16,) "He that hears you, hears me," etc. He might have observed that the men the apostle here speaks of, had turned[Ver. 14. Adversantium se a veritate, apostrephomenon.] away themselves from the Christian faith. (Witham)
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Witham
All things are clean to the clean. That is, no creature is evil of its own nature; and the distinction of animals, clean and unclean, is now out of date, as are the other ceremonies of the Jewish law. And that to these unfaithful, defiled men, nothing is clean, because their consciences are defiled when they make use of them against their conscience. (Witham)
Calmet
St. Paul here tells Titus, to be particularly on his guard against those who wished to introduce among Christians a distinction of meats, and to preach up the necessity of divers purifications prescribed by the Mosaic law. All kinds of meats, he says, are clean to those who preserve their hearts free from sin; it is not what enters into the body defiles a man; it is from the heart that proceed wicked desires and wicked counsels: those defile a man. But to eat with unwashed hands; to eat swine's flesh, or meat that has been offered to idols: these things in themselves are indifferent actions, though particular circumstances may make them criminal. (1 Corinthians 8:4, 5, 6, etc.) (Calmet)
Estius
But to the defiled, etc. On the contrary, the man whose soul is defiled with sin, or who lives in infidelity, never can possess purity of heart; whatever legal washings or purifications, whatever sacrifices or ceremonies of the law he may make use of, all these cannot wash away the stains of the soul. (Estius; Menochius; Tirinus)
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Witham
They confess that they know God. He speaks not therefore of those who were properly infidels, without the knowledge of the true God; so that it is foolish to pretend from hence, that every action of an infidel must be a sin. (Witham)
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Concordance 2. Tim. 1, 9.
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5. Ordaine Priests.] Priests must be consecrated by Bishops only. Though Priests or Bishops may be nominated and elected by the Princes, people, or Patrons of places, according to the vse of the time and diuersitie of Countries and fashions, yet they can not be ordered and consecrated but by a Bishop vvho vvas him self rightly ordered or consecrated before, as this Titus vvas by S. Paul. And here it seemeth that he did not onely consecrate them vvhom the people had elected before, The popular election of the Cleargie taken avvay. but him self also made choise of the persons, no mention being here made of any other election popular. Vvhich though it vvere long vsed in the primitiue Church, yet for diuers causes and specially for continual tumultes, partialities, and disorders vvhich S. Augustine much complaineth of in his time, vvas iustly taken avvay, and other better meanes of their designement appointed. See Conc. Laodic. cap. 12. 13. S. August. de adult. coniug. li. 2. •. 20. Ep. 110. and Possid. in vita. Aug. •. •.
And that the ordering of Priests or imposition of hands to that purpose, belongeth onely to Bishops, The preeminēce of a Bishop aboue a Priest. and to no inferior Priests or other persons, it is plaine by the Apostolike practise set dovvne in the Scriptures, namely in the Actes, and in the Epistles to Timothee and Titus. And S. Hierom, vvho seemeth sometimes to say that in the primitiue Church there vvas no great difference betvvixt a Bishop and Priest, yet he euer excepteth giuing holy Orders, vvhich preeminence he attributeth to Bishops onely. ep. 85. as he doth also Confirming the Baptized by giuing them the holy Ghost through imposition of hand and holy Chrisme. To put no differēce betvvene them is Aërius heresie. Dial. cont. Lucifer. c. 4. Note also that Aërius vvas of old condemned of heresie, for holding that there vvas no difference betvvixt a Priest and a Bishop. Epiph. har. 75. August. har. 53. Note lastly the fraudulent translation of the Heretikes alvvaies, turning for Priests (vvhich here is euident to be a calling of Order and office) elders, saying, That thou ordaine Elders. vvhich in our vulgar tonge signifieth the age, and not the Office properly: Heret. translation. and al this for hatred of Priests.
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6. Of one vvife.] To that vvhich is said vpon the like vvordes 1 Tim. 3: adde this testimonie of S. Epiphanius li. 3. 〈◊〉. 2. cont. harese• in fine. Holy Priesthod, saith he, for the most part procedeth of Virgins: Bigami excluded from holy Orders, and the causes thereof. and if not of virgins, yet of them that liue a sole or single life: but and if the single and sole persons suffice not to the Ministerie, of such as conteine from their vviues, or after once marying remaine vvidovves. For, him that hath him maried tvvise, it is not lavvful to take to Priesthod &c. If you list to see the causes vvhy bigamie is forbidden them that are to be Priests, and continencie required of the Clergie, see the same author li. 2. to. 1. hares. 59. S. Ambrose li. 1. Offic. c. 50. and vpon 1 Tim. 3. S. Augustine de bono Coniugal. c. 18. S. Hierom ep. 50 c. 5 ad Pammachium, and against Iouinian li. 1 c. 19. S. L•o •p. 87. and other auncient authors.
And if the studious reader peruse al antiquitie, The notable men of both Testamēts, that liued cōtinētly from vviues. he shal finde al notable Bishops and Priests of Gods Church to haue been single, or continent from their vviues, if any vvere maried before they came to the Clergie. So vvas S. Paul, and exhorteth al men to the like. 1 Cor. 7, 7. So vvere al the Apostles after they folovved Christ, at S. Hierom vvitnesseth, affirming that our Lord loued Iohn specially for his virginitie. Apol. ad Pammach. c. 8. & li. 1 cont. Iouin. c. 14. S. Ignatius •p. • ad Philadelph. saith of the said Iohn, and of Timothee, Titus, Euodius, Clement, that they liued and died in chastitie, reckening vp of the old-Testament diuers notable personages that did the same, as Elias, Iesus Naue (othervvise called Iosue) Melchlsedec, Elisaeus, Hiere•••e, Iohn Baptist. No man is ignorant that al the notable fathers of the Greeke and Latin Church liued chast: Athanasius, Basil, Nazianzene, Chrysostom, Cyprian, Hilarie (vvho entered into holy Orders after his vviues death) Ambrose, Hierom, Augustine, Leo, Gregorie the great. Certaine other notable fathers had once vviues, but no holy men euer vsed them, much lesse maried, after they vvere in holy Orders. Only the Protestants complaine that they haue not the gift of chastitie. A maruelous thing, that so many heretofore should haue the gift of chastitie then, and novv so fevv, if the Protestants say true, that skarse one among them in our age of al their sectes, euen of their principal Superintendents, hath had it.
Concordance 1. Tim. 3, 2.
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Epimenides.
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He speaketh not of the Churches abstaining from meates some times, vvhich is not for any vncleannes in the creatures, but for chastening their bodies: but he meaneth the Ievvish superstition, vvho novv being Christians, vvould not cease to put difference of cleane and vncleane according to their old lavv. See S. Augustine Cont. Faust. li. 31. c. 4.
Concordance Rom. 14, 20.
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 4.7
… but that they should be thrown into the fire; to the end that not even any relics of these saints should remain, their bodies being altogether consumed, and their ashes being mingled with the ashes of the fagots. But God accordingly employed this very circumstance for the taking away of impiety.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Titus 1
Ver. 1 . “Paul, a servant of God, and an Apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect.”
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus 147
… But it is unnecessary to say more on this point. The opening of every one of his letters is distinguished by the divine Apostle with this address. At one time it is “Paul a servant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle.” At another “Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ.” At another “Paul a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ.”
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Pope St Clement I † AD 99 The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians 27
Having then this hope, let our souls be bound to Him who is faithful in His promises, and just in His judgments. He who has commanded us not to lie, shall much more Himself not lie; for nothing is impossible with God, except to lie.
St Hilary of Poitiers † AD 367 De Trinitate or On the Trinity 12.34
34. But, heretic, do you consider it pious and devout to confess that God indeed always existed, yet was not always Father? For if it is pious for you to think so, you must then condemn Paul of impiety, when he says that the Son existed before times eternal
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Exposition of the Christian Faith 5.17
… The Son was beaten, He was mocked, was crucified, and died. He suffered much worse things in the flesh than those servants who had been appointed before. Was the Father deceived, or was He ignorant of it, or was He unable to give help? But He that is true cannot make a mistake; for it is written: “God is faithful Who doth not lie.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Titus 1
Ver. 2 . “Which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 12.16
… But even the apostle speaks of time as eternal, and this with reference, not to the future, but, which is more surprising, to the past. For he says, “In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before the eternal times, but hath in due times manifested His word.”
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Titus 1
Ver. 3 . “But hath in due times manifested His word through preaching, which is committed unto me.”
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 13
… 1, 2 .) And to the Thessalonians, “As when a nurse cherisheth her children, even so being affectionately desirous of you, we were well pleased to impart unto you, not the Gospel only, but also our own souls.” ( 1 Thess. ii. 7, 8 .) And to Timothy, “Remembering thy tears, that I may be filled with joy.” ( 2 Tim. i. 4 .) And to Titus, “To my beloved son; (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Titus 1
Ver. 4 . “To Titus, mine own son after the common faith.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Titus 5
… For if our reproaches are true, it is not for us to utter them, but for the Judge to enquire into the matter. “For why,” he says, “dost thou judge thy brother?” ( Rom. xiv. 10 .) But if they are not true, how great the fire.
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Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 14.22
… And, in the Epistle to Titus, “For this cause,” he says, “I left thee in Crete that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city as I gave thee charge. If any one is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children, that believe”
Eusebius of Caesarea † AD 339 The Church History of Eusebius 3.4.6
6. Timothy, so it is recorded, was the first to receive the episcopate of the parish in Ephesus, Titus of the churches in Crete.
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Duties of the Clergy 2.20
… And what are we to say of Elijah and Elisha? Though Scripture has not in so many words stated that Elisha was a young man, yet we gather from it that he was the younger. In the Acts of the Apostles, Barnabas took Mark with him, and Paul took Silas and Timothy and Titus.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Philippians 1
… iv. 14 .) Yet Presbyters would not have laid hands on a Bishop. And again, in writing to Titus, he says, “For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldest appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge. If any man is blameless, the husband of one wife” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on 1 Timothy 10
… 7 .), that is, practicing continency. That he may not therefore confine them within too narrow a limit, by requiring an over-strict conversation, he is satisfied to prescribe moderate virtue. For it was necessary to appoint one to preside in every city, as he writes to Titus, “That thou shouldest ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Titus 1
Titus was an approved one of the companions of Paul; otherwise, he would not have committed to him the charge of that whole island, nor would he have commanded him to supply what was deficient, as he says, “That thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting.” (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 69.3
… not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 146
… Writing to Titus the apostle says: “For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain presbyters in every city, as I had appointed thee: if any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God.”
St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 1.21
… Moreover, he must have good testimony from them that are without, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.” Writing also to his disciple Titus, he briefly points out what sort of bishops he ought to ordain:
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St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Selections from the Letters of St. Ambrose 63.24
62. I have set down these things which I have been told are to be avoided, but the Apostle is the Master of virtues, and he teaches that gainsayers are to be convicted with patience, who lays down that one should be the husband of a single wife,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Ephesians 21
… when we train them to regard the present world as nothing. Let this then be our task, to mold and to direct both ourselves and them according to what is right. Otherwise with what sort of boldness shall we stand before the judgment-seat of Christ? If a man who has unruly children is unworthy to be a Bishop (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Titus 2
Ver. 6 . “If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of riot, or unruly.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 69.8
… I turn now to the passage in question. “If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.” Work, you see, not rank; toil not pleasure; work that he may increase in lowliness, not grow proud by reason of elevation. “A bishop then must be blameless.” The same thing that he says to Titus, “if any be blameless.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Good of Marriage 21
… on this account the Sacrament of marriage of our time hath been so reduced to one man and one wife, as that it is not lawful to ordain any as a steward of the Church, save the husband of one wife. And this they have understood more acutely who have been of opinion, that neither is he to be ordained,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise Concerning Man’s Perfection in Righteousness 38
… for it does not follow that a man is without sin because he has not a blot of accusation. Accordingly the apostle, when selecting ministers for ordination, does not say, “If any be sinless ,” for he would be unable to find any such; but he says, “If any be without accusation,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 1.28
… For no one is so foolish as to say that that precept of our Lord does not refer to baptized people: “Forgive and it shall be forgiven you, give and it shall be given you.” But none could rightly be ordained a minister in the Church if the apostle had said, “If any is without sin,” where he says, “If any is without crime;”
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 The Epistles of Cyprian 67.5
… But if Basilides could deceive men, he cannot deceive God, since it is written, “God is not mocked.” But neither can deceit advantage Martialis, in such a way as that he who also is involved in great crimes should hold his bishopric, since the apostle also warns, and says, “A bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God.”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Selections from the Letters of St. Ambrose 63.24
61. And so the Apostle has given a pattern, saying that a bishop must be blameless, and in another place: “A bishop must be without offence, as a steward of God, not proud, not soon angry, not given to wine, not a striker, not greedy of filthy lucre.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Treatise Concerning the Christian Priesthood 4
… “The bishop,” he says, “must be holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able to convict the gainsayers.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Eulogy 2
… not self-willed, not soon angry, no brawler, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but given to hospitality, a lover of good, sober-minded, just, holy, temperate, holding to the faithful word, which is according to the teaching, that he may be able both to exhort in the sound doctrine, and to convict the gainsayers;”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 3
… and the reason is, that it is an affair that requires a great mind. Many are the exigencies which throw a man out of his natural temper; and he had need have a thousand eyes on all sides. Do you not see what a number of qualifications the Bishop must have? to be apt to teach, patient, holding fast the faithful word in doctrine (see 1 Tim. iii. 2–9 ;
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Philippians 1
… If any man is blameless, the husband of one wife” ( Tit. i. 5, 6 .); which he says of the Bishop. And after saying this, he adds immediately, “For the Bishop must be blameless, as God’s steward, not self willed.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Titus 2
Ver. 7 . “For a Bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 69.9
… And the same lesson is taught by the poverty of the apostles who used to receive sustenance and refreshment from their brethren and to boast that they neither had nor wished to have anything besides food and raiment. What the epistle to Timothy calls covetousness, that to Titus openly censures as the desire for filthy lucre.
St Jerome † AD 420 The Dialogue Against the Luciferians 1
… Will you dare to spoil the savour of the Church with the salt which has lost its savour? Will you replace at the altar the man who having been cast out ought to lie in the mire and be trodden under foot by all men? What then will become of the Apostle’s command,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Baptism, Against the Donatists 3.18
… I trow not, since those are established by ordination as appointed of the Lord, of whom the apostle, in giving them a standard, says, "Not greedy, not given to filthy lucre."
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St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Apology to the Emperor. (Apologia Ad Constantium.) 28
… And enquiry was no longer made, as the Apostle enjoined, ‘if any be blameless
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Titus 2
Ver. 8 . “But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 14.7
… and this is in Scripture more commonly called charity, but it is also, even in the same books, called love. For the apostle says that the man to be elected as a ruler of the people must be a lover of good.
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Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 3.48
… that amongst the characteristic qualifications of those who are termed “bishops,” Paul, in describing what kind of man the bishop ought to be, lays down as a qualification that he should also be a teacher, saying that he ought to be able to convince the gainsayers, that by the wisdom which is in him he may stop the mouths of foolish talkers and deceivers.
St Hilary of Poitiers † AD 367 De Trinitate or On the Trinity 8.1
… For there are many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Letters 230
… I trust that it may be permitted me one day to visit and inspect a Church which is the nursing mother of true religion, honoured by me as a metropolis of orthodoxy, because it has from of old been under the government of men right honourable and the elect of God, who have held fast to “the faithful word as we have been taught.”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Selections from the Letters of St. Ambrose 63.24
62. I have set down these things which I have been told are to be avoided, but the Apostle is the Master of virtues, and he teaches that gainsayers are to be convicted with patience,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Titus 2
Ver. 9 . “Holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 52.7
… never, indeed, let the sacred volume be out of your hand. Learn what you have to teach. “Hold fast the faithful word as you have been taught that you may be able by sound doctrine to exhort and convince the gainsayers. Continue thou in the things that thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 53.3
… To Titus he gives commandment that among a bishop’s other virtues (which he briefly describes) he should be careful to seek a knowledge of the scriptures: A bishop, he says, must hold fast “the faithful word as he hath been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 69.8
… but all such attempts at dress and display are nastier than a beggar’s rags. As regards the obligation of priests to be teachers we bare have the precepts of the old Law and the fuller instructions given on the subject to Titus.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 34.4
… but could I do otherwise than utter my feelings when my heart was pierced with such grief? Shall they do such things, and am I to be commanded to hold my peace? When He commands me by the mouth of the apostle saying that those who teach what they ought not must be rebuked by the bishop,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 35.3
… For, since the Lord commands us to speak and proclaim the truth, and in teaching to rebuke what is wrong, and to labour in season and out of season, as I can prove by the words of the Lord and of the apostles,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Christian Doctrine 4.16
… “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and doctrine.” And so in the Epistle to Titus, does he not say that a bishop ought to “hold fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers?”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Christian Doctrine 4.28
… For where, then, would be what he says when he is describing the sort of man a bishop ought to be: “that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convince the gainsayers?”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 68.36
… long a task, and for the present work unnecessary?…Of whom, as it were bulls, that is, not subject to the peaceful and gentle yoke of discipline, the Apostle maketh mention, in the place where he hath said that such an one must be chosen for the Episcopate as is “able to exhort in sound doctrine and to convince the gainsayers. For there are many unruly;”
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 2.4
… neither do they at all discover the iniquity of sinners, since they refrain their voice from chiding. For the language of reproof is the key of discovery, because by chiding it discloses the fault of which even he who has committed it is often himself unaware. Hence Paul says, That he may be able by sound doctrine even to convince the gainsayers (
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St Ignatius of Antioch † AD 108 Epistle to the Trallians: Shorter and Longer Versions 6
I therefore, yet not I, out the love of Jesus Christ, “entreat you that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind, and in the same judgment.” For there are some vain talkers
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Letters 22.2
… it is idle ostentation. Cheap things ought to be used for bodily necessity; and nothing ought to be spent beyond what is necessary, or for mere extravagance; this is a misuse of our property. The Christian ought not to seek for honour, or claim precedence. Every one ought to put all others before himself. The Christian ought not to be unruly.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Titus 2
Ver. 10 . “For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 8.10
22. Let them perish from Thy presence, O God, as “vain talkers and deceivers”
St Vincent of Lérins † AD 445 The Commonitory of Vincent of Lérins, For the Antiquity and Universality of the Catholic Faith Against the Profane Novelties of All Heresies 7
… and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple,” “who enter into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with diverse lusts, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth;” “vain talkers and deceivers, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake;”
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Titus 2
Ver. 11 . “Whose mouths must be stopped.”
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Tertullian † AD 220 Ad Nationes 2.13
… Your Jupiter too, stolen in his infancy, was unworthy of both the home and the nutriment accorded to human beings; and, as he deserved for so bad a child, he had to live in Crete.
Tertullian † AD 220 A Treatise on the Soul 20
… The subject of national peculiarities has grown by this time into proverbial notoriety. Comic poets deride the Phrygians for their cowardice; Sallust reproaches the Moors for their levity, and the Dalmatians for their cruelty; even the apostle brands the Cretans as “liars.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 3.43
… and accordingly he accuses the Cretans in his hymn addressed to Jupiter, in the words:
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 On the Symbols 'Of the Essence' And 'Coessential.' 1
… speaking from the Scriptures, is silenced by the Saviour, the blessed Paul, though he speaks from profane writers, ‘The Cretans are always liars,’ and, ‘For we are His offspring,’ and, ‘Evil communications corrupt good manners,’ yet has a religious meaning, as being holy,—is ‘doctor of the nations, in faith and verity,’ as having ‘the mind of Christ’ (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans the-argument
… And let no one say to me, “I am unskilled and unlearned:” nothing were less instructed than Peter, nothing more rude than Paul, and this himself confessed, and was not ashamed to say, “though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge.” ( 2 Cor. xi. 6 .) Yet nevertheless this rude one, and that unlearned man,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 32
… iii. 19 .) But here he appears to me to intimate those of the Jews, whom he ever uses particularly to find fault with as gluttonous. For in writing to Titus too, he said of them, “Evil beasts, slow bellies.” (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 70.2
… all of which belong by right to the sphere of the dialectician and the philosopher. The Apostle Paul also, in writing to Titus, has used a line of the poet Epimenides: “The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.”
St Jerome † AD 420 Against Jovinianus 1.9
… You know the meaning of language, or you would not quote
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 19.2
… With the prophets of the Jews, of course, every one is acquainted. If any one is in doubt about the prophets of the Gentiles, let him hear what Paul says when writing of the Cretans to Titus: "A prophet of their own has said, The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies."
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist 2.30
… seeing that the Apostle Paul said that certain testimony of I know not what Cretan prophet was true, though he was not reckoned among the prophets of God for he says, "One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said the Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies: this witness is true."
Socrates Scholasticus † AD 440 The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates Scholasticus 3.16
… Whence did he get the saying, ‘The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow-bellies,’
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St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Persecution in Egypt 1
This was an easy proposition for the Meletians to comply with; for the greater part, or rather the whole of them, have never had a religious education, nor are they acquainted with the ‘sound faith
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on 2 Timothy 6
How is it then he says, “Rebuke with all authority” ( Tit. ii. 15 .); and again, “Let no man despise thy youth” ( 1 Tim. iv. 12 .): and again, “Rebuke them sharply”? (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Titus 3
Ver. 13 . “Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 130.10
… nor is it so miserable a thing to fail in obtaining what you wish as to wish to obtain what you ought not to desire.” What is your opinion? Are not these words, by whomsoever they are spoken, derived from the Truth itself? We may therefore here say what the apostle said of a certain Cretan poet whose sentiment had pleased him: “This witness is true.”
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St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 To the Bishops of Egypt 2
… For we know that, as it is written, ‘in the latter times some shall depart from the sound faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils, that turn from the truth
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 1.3
… But what is not from our fathers, but has come to light in this day, how can it be but that of which the blessed Paul
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Titus 3
Ver. 14 . “Not giving heed,” he says, “to Jewish fables.”
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St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.31.1
… but we should [rather] give thanks to God in their behalf, inasmuch as their sins have been forgiven them through the advent of our Lord; for He said that they gave thanks [for us], and gloried in our salvation.
Tertullian † AD 220 The Chaplet, or De Corona 10
… a nose, and smell not; hands, and they will not handle.” By means of these organs, indeed, we are to enjoy flowers; but if he declares that those who make idols will be like them, they already are so who use anything after the style of idol adornings. “To the pure all things are pure: so, likewise, all things to the impure are impure;”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 11.12
… But as for the things which are called impure, “All things become pure to the pure,” for, “To them that are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure, since both their minds and their conscience are defiled.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 The Epistles of Cyprian 58.4
4. For, with respect to what you say, that the aspect of an infant in the first days after its birth is not pure, so that any one of us would still shudder at kissing it, we do not think that this ought to be alleged as any impediment to heavenly grace. For it is written, “To the pure all things are pure.”
Novatian † AD 258 On the Jewish Meats 5
… For the illustrious Master, and the heavenly Teacher, and the ordainer of the perfected truth, has come, under whom at length it is rightly said: “To the pure all things are pure; but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, but even their mind and conscience is defiled.”
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 48
… come let us briefly dispel the error of the evil one by the grace of the Saviour, and confirm the mind of the simple. For ‘to the pure all things are pure,’ but both the conscience and all that belongs to the unclean are defiled
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 25
… For wherefore, when cleansing him by will and word, did He add also the touch of His hand? It seems to me, for no other end, but that He might signify by this also, that He is not subject to the law, but is set over it; and that to the clean, henceforth, nothing is unclean.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Titus 3
Ver. 15 . “Unto the pure,” he says, “all things are pure.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 22.13
… Some, when they find themselves with child through their sin, use drugs to procure abortion, and when (as often happens) they die with their offspring, they enter the lower world laden with the guilt not only of adultery against Christ but also of suicide and child murder. Yet it is these who say: “‘Unto the pure all things are pure;’
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 22.29
… For “what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial?” How can Horace go with the psalter, Virgil with the gospels, Cicero with the apostle? Is not a brother made to stumble if he sees you sitting at meat in an idol’s temple? Although “unto the pure all things are pure,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 10.31
46. Thou hast taught me, good Father, that “unto the pure all things are pure;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 55.36
… For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.” Again, in another place, he says, concerning these things: “Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 12.5
… since perhaps it may be answered that these things offend us in carnal things, because we think of bodily conceptions and births. Although these very things themselves are most chastely thought of by the pure, to whom all things are pure; but to the defiled and unbelieving, of whom both the mind and conscience are polluted, nothing is pure;
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Enchiridion 75
… But the fact is, that all are unclean who are not made clean by the faith of Christ, according to the expression, “purifying their hearts by faith;” and that the apostle says, “Unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on Faith and the Creed 4
… For most true are these sayings of an apostle, both that “the foolishness of God is wiser than men,” and that “to the pure all things are pure.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Morals of the Catholic Church 33
71. With all this, no one is pressed to endure hardships for which he is unfit; nothing is imposed on any one against his will; nor is he condemned by the rest because he con fesses himself too feeble to imitate them: for they bear in mind how strongly Scripture enjoins charity on all: they bear in mind "To the pure all things are pure,"
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 6.3
… But, as the apostle says, "To the pure all things are pure. But to the impure and unbelieving nothing is pure, but both their mind and conscience are defiled."
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 6.6
… Unhappy sheep and oxen, that are not so tenacious of life, and therefore are refused entrance into your bodies! Such is the absurdity of your notions. And you persist in making out an opposition in us to the Old Testament, because we consider no flesh unclean: according to the opinion of the apostle, "To the pure all things are pure;"
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 16.31
… Why then do you call wine unclean? It is not in order to subdue the body by abstinence that you prohibit these things, but because they are unclean, for you say that they are the poisonous filth of the race of darkness; whereas the apostle says, "To the pure all things are pure."
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 25
… They ought thus to consider the rite with a Christian instead of a heretical mind; as it is written, "To the pure all things are pure." But, considering the truth of the following words, "To the unclean and unbelieving nothing is pure, but even their mind and conscience are defiled,"
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist 2.52
… Therefore, if a bad man offer sacrifice to God, and a good man receive it at his hands, the sacrifice is to each man of such character as he himself has shown himself to be, since we find it also written that "unto the pure all things are pure."
Sozomen † AD 450 The Ecclesiastical History of Sozomen 1.11
… When it was prepared, he sat down to table with the stranger, partook of the meat, and told him to follow his example. But the stranger declining, under the plea of being a Christian, he said to him, “It is for that very reason that you ought not to decline partaking of the meat; for the Divine word shows that to the pure all things are pure.”
Pope St Leo I the Great † AD 461 Sermons 42
… But if it is taken with immoderate greed, it is the excess that disgraces the eaters and drinkers, not the nature of the food or drink that defiles them. “For all things,” as the Apostle says, “are clean to the clean. But to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is clean, but their mind and conscience is defiled
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.19
… but God shall destroy both it and them ( 1 Cor. vi. 13 ). And again, Not in rioting and drunkenness ( Rom. xiii. 13 ). And again, Meat commendeth us not to God ( 1 Cor. viii. 8 ). Let the latter hear, To the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure (
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 Register of the Epistles of St. Gregory the Great 11.64
… 19 ). Hence it is abundantly indicated that what is shewn by Almighty God to be polluted in act is that which is engendered of the root of polluted thought. Whence also Paul the Apostle says, All things are pure to the pure; but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure (
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 47
… and we, when we are bidden by our passions to abjure, let us not be overcome. Gold saith: Say that Christ is not Christ. Then listen not to it as to God, but despise its biddings. The evil lusts “profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Ephesians 13
This then surely is to learn Christ, to live rightly; for he that lives wickedly knows not God, neither is known of Him; for hear what he saith elsewhere, “They profess that they know God, but by their works they deny Him.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on 1 Timothy 7
… For of what advantage is it to be godly as to doctrine, but ungodly in life? and that it is very possible to be ungodly in life, hear this same blessed Apostle saying elsewhere, “They profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on 1 Timothy 14
… But if he who provides not for them has denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel, where shall he be ranked who has injured his relatives? With whom shall he be placed? But how has he denied the faith? Even as it is said, “They profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Titus 3
Ver. 16 . “They profess that they know God; but in works they deny Him, being abominable, and disobedient, and to every good work reprobate.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 28
“He that believeth on the Son, is not judged.” He that “believeth,” not he that is over-curious: he that “believeth,” not the busybody. But what if his life be unclean, and his deeds evil? It is of such as these especially that Paul declares, that they are not true believers at all: “They profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 50
… For He speaketh of a different kind of knowledge, when He saith, “ye know not”; as when He saith, “The sons of Eli were wicked sons, they knew not the Lord” ( 1 Sam. ii. 12 ); and again, “Israel doth not know Me.” ( Isa. i. 3 .) So also Paul saith, “They profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 82
[4.] Let us then believe and love God, that it may not be said of us, “They profess that they know God, but in their works they deny Him.” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Christian Doctrine 4.29
… And if you look closely into the matter, it is not really themselves who say the good things they say. For how can they say in words what they deny in deeds? It is not for nothing that the apostle says of such men: “They profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 31.1
… For it would follow that Moses and the prophets were not only influenced by devils in making so much in their laws of the distinctions in food, but also that they themselves were impure and defiled in their mind and conscience, so that the following words also might properly be applied to them: "They profess to know God, but in works deny Him."
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Baptism, Against the Donatists 4.2
… For among many other evils of which he makes mention, he speaks of them also as "renouncing the world in words only and not in deeds;" as the apostle says of certain men, "They profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him."
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 74.1
… For many call Him so with their lips, but deny Him in their hearts and works; just as He saith of such, “For they profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John 3.8
… Where find we this in Scripture? Hear Paul the Apostle; speaking of such, he saith, “For they confess that they know God, but in their deeds deny Him.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John 6.13
… because neither do we deny, nor do those deny. And we found that some do in their deeds deny; and we brought testimony from the apostle, who saith, “For they confess that they know God, but in their deeds deny Him.”
Pope St Leo I the Great † AD 461 Letters 162
… it is altogether unworthy and unjust to admit to freedom of discussion men whom the Holy Spirit describes in the words of the prophet, “the sons of the stranger have lied unto me .” For even though they resist not the Gospel, yet they have shown themselves to be of those of whom it is written “they profess that they know God but by their deeds they deny Him
Pope St Leo I the Great † AD 461 Sermons 36
… Men’s hearts are shown by the character of their works, and the fashion of their minds is betrayed by the nature of their actions. For there are some, as the Apostle says, “who profess that they know God , but deny Him by their deeds
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 Register of the Epistles of St. Gregory the Great 7.15
… For it is evident that after the incarnation of the Lord no one can be saved, even of those who hold His faith, who have not the life of faith; since it is written, They acknowledge that they know God , but in deeds they deny Him (
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Verses 1 and 2. Paul, a servant of God, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of the elect of God, and the knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness, unto the hope of life everlasting. — Note: By a new and special title of honor, Paul here designates himself a "servant of God," not merely a servant by creation, by which every creature is a servant of God; nor merely by faith, by which all the faithful are servants of God: but by legation and apostolate, by which, just as legates are said to be servants of the king, so the Apostles are called servants of God. See what is said at Philip. I, 1. Thus the Blessed Virgin calls herself, humbly indeed, but by a glorious title, "the handmaid of the Lord," when she was about to become the mother of God, because she served God in the mystery of the Incarnation as it were as a handmaid: "Behold," she says, "the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word." Note secondly: The preposition "according to" here signifies the matter or object concerning which the servant of God and Apostle, namely Paul himself, was occupied, and served God and Christ. "According to" therefore is the same as "concerning," as if to say: I am a servant of God and an Apostle concerning the faith of the elect of God, who namely am occupied concerning faith, so that I may teach all the faithful, especially the saints and the elect, the true, sincere and holy faith, by which they may know the truth not speculative, dry and philosophical, but that which is "according to," that is, concerning godliness, which namely teaches and persuades us to live holily and piously "unto," that is, toward, the hope of life everlasting to be stirred up in us, so that namely we may conceive the best hope, that we shall attain through a pious life in this world, life everlasting in the future, as if to say: I am a servant of God and an Apostle, so that I may preach the true faith which nourishes godliness, in which we have the hope of life everlasting, and which has sharpened and kindled this hope in us. Note thirdly: "Faith" here does not signify the commission entrusted to Paul, as Chrysostom wishes, as if Paul meant to say: I am a servant and Apostle concerning the elect, whom God has entrusted to my faith, that is, to my care, and whom he has committed to me; but it signifies the faith by which we believe in God and Christ, by which namely we acknowledge the truth and true godliness, as the Apostle adds here. Moreover, "knowledge and science of godliness," says St. Jerome, "is to know the law, to understand the Prophets, to believe the Gospel, not to be ignorant of the Apostles, so that namely from these you may learn the worship of God," so that namely through faith you may attain the hope of life everlasting, and finally life everlasting itself. Note fourthly: Here the Apostle designates four causes of his servitude and apostolate. First, the material cause, when he says that he is occupied "according to," that is, concerning, faith and knowledge of the truth. Second, the final cause, when he says: "Unto the hope of life everlasting." Third, the efficient cause, when he adds: "Of God, and of Jesus Christ," as if to say: By God and Jesus Christ I was created an Apostle and servant. Fourth, the formal cause, when he subjoins: "In the preaching which was committed to me." For the servitude of the Apostles, by which they served God and Christ, was nothing other than the preaching and propagation of the Gospel. Note fifthly: Tacitly here Paul opposes himself and the Apostles to Moses and the Prophets: for Moses, in Deuteronomy chapter xxxiv and elsewhere, is called a servant and minister of God, as if to say: Moses was a servant of God, but according to, that is, concerning, the law and ceremonies and shadows, which he taught and delivered to the people of the Jews, so that by observing them they might live a comfortable life and abound in earthly goods here: but I and the Apostles are servants of God concerning faith and godliness, so that we may bring men to life everlasting. Thus Theophylactus. For this is the truth according to godliness and the knowledge of the Saints; for there are many truths and sciences which do not conduce to godliness, such as Arithmetic, Grammar, Rhetoric and many others.
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2. Which (eternal life) He promised who cannot lie, God, before the eternal ages. — For "promised" the Greek is ἐπηγγείλατο, that is, by His free liberality, of His own accord, freely and unbidden He promised. You will ask, to whom did God promise from eternity this life? St. Jerome responds, that He promised it to His Son, or, as others say, to His wisdom and goodness. But Chrysostom better: "He promised," he says, "that is, He decreed to give, He purposed, He predestined in His divine mind, to give eternal life to His faithful." For he says the same thing here as in II Timothy, chapter 1, verse 9, where he says: "Which (namely grace) was given to us in Christ Jesus before the eternal ages." "Was given," that is, was decreed to be given, or was predestined: for what was decreed to be given to us, that very thing is as it were promised to us, not by a personal promise, but by a real one, or insofar as it is on the part of the thing which is decreed to be given. You will ask secondly, what are called here the eternal ages? I respond, the Greek is αἰώνιοι, which St. Jerome here and Augustine in the place soon to be cited, translate "eternal ages": nor did the Latins, says St. Augustine, dare to translate "saecularia," because "saeculare" sometimes means that which quickly passes away. By "eternal ages" St. Jerome understands ages and eternities, which preceded the creation of the world, in which angels lived and praised God. "Six thousand," he says, "years of our time have not yet been completed, and how many eternities before that, how many origins of ages must be thought to have existed, in which the angels, Thrones, Dominions and other Powers served God, and without the succession and measure of times stood at God's command?" Jerome hints here that angels were created before the world, and had their own eternity before the world, that is, their aevum. But Jerome says this not so much from his own opinion as from that of Origen, as he is accustomed to do. For Origen held this view, and after him many Greek and Latin Fathers. But the contrary, namely that angels were created not before, but together with the corporeal world, and consequently that there was no aevum or age of the angels before this world, is certain. For thus the Lateran Council under Innocent III defines it, chapter 1: "The Creator," it says, "of all invisible spiritual and corporeal things, by His almighty power at once from the beginning of time created both creatures from nothing, the spiritual and the corporeal, namely the angelic and the mundane." Where note: Although the mind of the Council was to condemn by these words the opinion of Origen, who said that God created angels and souls first, and then on account of their sins created bodies, in which they were enclosed as in prisons: nevertheless it at the same time clearly teaches that angels were created together with the corporeal world; for it could not be said or taught more clearly than this. For this dogma plainly overturns the foundation of Origen's opinion, and is established and proposed by the Council for the purpose of overturning it. Wherefore what some respond from St. Thomas, 1 part., Question LXI, article 3, that the mind of this Council, already explained, rather than its words, should be regarded, as though it were equally permissible after the Council as before, to hold without the mark of error that angels were created before the world, I do not see how it can be said soundly and safely. Hence secondly, St. Augustine better, in book XVI of the City of God, chapter XVII, Anselm and others understand by "eternal ages" those which preceded the creation of the world and angels, which nevertheless were not coeternal with God. You will say: There are no such times, nor were there any, because before the world there was no time, and therefore nothing existed except God and God's eternity. I answer: On the part of the thing itself, or in reality, nothing existed except God; yet there was an imaginary time which we conceive and imagine in our mind to have coexisted with God before the world, in which God could have created this world and infinitely many others far more quickly than He in fact created it. You will press further: We conceive this time as coeternal with God; but St. Augustine and the Apostle here deny this, who says that God promised eternal life before these eternal times; if before, therefore they are not coeternal with God. I answer: These imaginary times, which we conceive to have coexisted with God before the world, we conceive confusedly indeed as coeternal with God, but not distinctly and in particular, because thus we conceive them as posterior to God: for we conceive distinctly the definite parts of this time, so that one part of them has another part as prior to itself, and this in turn another and another as prior to itself, and this infinitely; for neither by our mind nor by our conception can we proceed through these parts of time gradually always ascending to the beginning, or to the very origins of eternity, since that, as it is infinite in its end, so also is it infinite in its principle, and therefore as it lacks an end, so also it lacks a beginning: and in this way before these eternal partial times, which we conceive in our mind divisibly and distinctly, God's eternity always precedes, as if the Apostle said: Before all time, before any part of time which we can conceive definitely as coexisting with God in eternity, God promised, that is, decreed to His faithful eternal life, namely from all eternity. This sense seems to be from the mind and meaning of the Apostle, as I shall say presently; but it is not full and adequate. Thirdly, others understand by "eternal times" ancient times, as in Acts xv, 7, it is said, "from ancient days," and thus some read here "ancient times" for "eternal," or "secular," as St. Thomas teaches; namely, they read in the Greek ἀρχαῖα for αἰώνια. But our Interpreter very well translated "before secular times," as I said in II Timothy i, 9. By "age" or "saeculum" however, he does not understand a space of a hundred or a thousand years (as we call the "secular games"), but properly speaking "age" or "aeon" and time, both that which truly began with the world and has flowed until now, and that which, as I said, we imagine to have coexisted with God before the world. Whence the Syriac translator renders it, "before the time of the age," as if to say: Before all the series of ages, before all the origin of the world and of time, whether true or imaginary, God promised that He would give us eternal life through Christ. St. Jerome notes that "times are called secular" because all time is in flux, and through its own age it runs in this course and wheel of the world. "Whence also certain Philosophers," says Jerome, "think that there is no present time, but either past or future; because namely all that we speak, do, think, either while it is being done, passes away; or, if it has not yet been done, we await the future." Others on the contrary said that time does not exist, but only the now, or the instant of time, and therefore it is falsely said: "At this time I study, I run, I eat," because from time nothing exists, nothing is present, either now or instant; whatever remains of time does not exist; but either it is past or future, that is, it has existed or will exist. Behold, this is the point in which we live.
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3. And He manifested His word in His own times by preaching (that is, through preaching), which has been entrusted to me according to the commandment of our Saviour God. — Note: "His word," namely of God, here He calls God's promise already spoken concerning eternal life. Whence more clearly the Greek, τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ, you should translate, that word of His, or that promise of His, once indeed hidden and concealed in God, now He has manifested through my preaching. For the article τὸ has the force of recalling and repeating that which preceded; and this is required by the adversative conjunction "and," which connects these things with what precedes. Thus in Luke 1, 72, it is said: "To remember (that He might remember) His covenant (that is, His pact), the oath which He swore to Abraham," as if to say, The covenant, or pact, this is God's great oath which He swore to our father Abraham: for although in Greek the oath is in the accusative case, nevertheless the Greeks use it for the nominative, when namely the relative of the accusative case is placed before it. For thus they speak ὅρκον ὅν, for ὅρκον ὅς ὤμοσε. Note secondly: Jerome understands by "word" the Son. For thus the Son is called λόγος, John cap. 1, vers. 1, that is, the Word, by which God spoke all things, and by speaking made and produced them; again by which now incarnate and manifested in the flesh, He promised to us grace and glory and all good things. But more simply with Chrysostom we shall understand by "word" the Gospel, or more clearly the promise of eternal life set forth in the Gospel, as I have said. Note thirdly: God manifested this "word," that is, promise, in His own times, in Greek καιροῖς ἰδίοις, that is, in opportune, fitting and proper times: which to Galatians IV, 4, He says in other words: "When the fullness of time came," when namely the law of nature and of Moses had preceded, as a preparation and pedagogue leading men to Christ, and when the times prescribed by Moses and the Prophets had been fulfilled, after four thousand years, namely, during which the world languishing and groaning under sins, vices, death and hell, sighed for Christ the redeemer and saviour. Note fourthly: "According to," that is, by, "commandment," and, as Vatable translates it, delegation. Hence Chrysostom rightly concludes that the preaching of the Apostles was not a matter of counsel, but of commandment: namely that Paul and the Apostles were bound and obligated by divine commandment, under the penalty of mortal sin and hell, by God to preach the Gospel. Whence Paul, I Cor. ix, 16: "Woe," he says, "is unto me, if I preach not the Gospel." Note fifthly: So long an exordium as it were a greeting does the Apostle here prefix, both because he was naturally of fertile, abundant and eloquent genius, and because in the grace of Christ and His apostolate he is accustomed to pour himself out in preaching, and finally because here in the exordium as it were he proposes the theme and argument of the whole epistle, namely that his and Titus's, and thus of all Bishops and Pastors, duty is to preach, not the ceremonies of the law, but the grace of Christ, and to teach not the fables of Jews, Gentiles or heretics, but Christian and holy morals, in which true piety and the worship of God are situated.
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4. To Titus, beloved (γνησίῳ, that is, genuine, true) son according to the common faith, grace (the Greek texts add ἔλεος, that is, mercy) and peace (supply be) from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour. — As if to say, I greet you, O Titus, who are not degenerate, but a genuine son of mine; not according to the flesh, but according to the common faith and spirit, by which I begot you in Christ. You are therefore my son begotten by me according to faith, that is, in faith. Note: He calls "common faith" the Catholic faith, as Chrysostom wishes; or rather and more significantly, as Jerome holds, which was common to Titus and Paul. Where observe the modesty of Paul, who calls himself thus the father of Titus, so that he acknowledges himself his brother, as if to say, In faith to you, O Titus, I am a father, because I begot you; and a brother, because you have the same faith with me: my faith, your faith is, and common to you, and you do not adulterate it, as heretics do, but you hold and guard it as genuine, equally as I do, as a genuine son to me in faith, nay rather a brother. Thus Theophylactus. Note secondly: Here he fittingly asks for grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus. For if God is He from whom all good flows, as from a most abundant fountain, and it is His property to communicate and pour forth Himself and His goods: He will not deny this grace and peace to those who pray and ask for it. If He is a most loving father, will He suffer any useful or advantageous thing to be lacking to His sons? If Christ, that is, He who is anointed with the oil of grace and mercy, surely He will pour forth the same upon us. "For thy name is as oil poured out," says the bride in Canticles 1, 2. If Jesus, that is, saviour, surely He will bestow grace by which we may be made safe.
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5. For this reason I left you in Crete (ἐν Κρήτῃ, that is, in Crete, namely the island), that you might set in order the things that are wanting. — In Greek ἵνα τὰ λείποντα ἐπιδιορθώσῃ, that is, that those things which remain, namely which still need to be corrected, and could not be corrected by me so quickly, you might continue to correct. Chrysostom notes the mind of Paul wholly intent upon labor and the Gospel, alien from ambition, regarding not his own honor, but the public good of souls everywhere. Hence he demands labors for himself, that he himself might first break through the hardness of the Gentiles as if it were ice; then, the way having been made for others, he yields the labor to them with honor, and so those things which are more honorific, such as to establish Bishops everywhere, he commends to Titus: meanwhile he himself seeks other new ground, to be broken up for the Gospel by great labor on his part. This truly is Apostolic. Let Prelates learn not only to share laborious duties, but also honorific offices with their subjects; not to seek and usurp honors, but labors, and to imitate the spirit of the Apostle, and to imprint the same upon their own. And ordain priests in every city (κατὰ πόλεις, that is, city by city), — that is Bishops and properly so-called priests, or sacred ministers and pastors. For "priest" was a common name for both Bishops and common priests, as I said on Philip. 1, 1. Paul therefore commands that Titus ordain priests in each city, namely Bishops in the larger cities, priests or pastors in the smaller: thus indeed Leo I explains and establishes it, epistle 87 to the Bishops of Africa, chapter 11, and the Council of Sardica, canon 6, where it is said: "It shall not be permitted to a Bishop to ordain indiscriminately, either in a village or in a small city, to which one priest might suffice; for it is not necessary that a Bishop be made there, lest the name of Bishop be cheapened and the authority of the highest honor be diminished." Note first: The Apostle commands Titus to ordain many Bishops in Crete. For Crete, although an island, was remarkably frequent in peoples and cities; for it had a hundred cities. Whence the Poet sings thus of Crete: A hundred great cities it inhabits, most wealthy kingdoms. Therefore by Homer, in the Iliad II, Crete was called Hecatompolis. Note secondly, that St. Jerome must be read here with caution; for he says: "Once the same person was priest who was Bishop, and on account of schisms it came about by custom rather than by institution of the Lord that Bishops presided over priests." Similar things are held by Sedulius and Anselm. Whence Aerius and Wycliffe taught that priests are equal to Bishops. But St. Jerome and Anselm and Sedulius following him wish to say that in former times by common consent, by spirit and zeal rather than by hierarchical order and authority, priests governed the Church, with Bishops conniving; but shortly after that same time, namely of the Apostles, when dissensions arose, as appears in I Corinthians 1, 12, and I Timothy v, 19, soon on account of the pride and schisms of priests, Bishops resumed their primacy. For it is certain that Bishops are greater than priests not only by custom, but also by divine right, both in the power of order and in the power of jurisdiction. This very thing St. Jerome teaches in his epistle to Heliodorus and to Marcella: "Among us," he says, "Bishops hold the place of the Apostles." But the Apostles were greater than the seventy disciples by Christ's calling and institution: therefore likewise Bishops are greater than priests by Christ's institution. What therefore Jerome says here: "More by custom than by divine institution are Bishops greater than priests," understand not of the very power and authority of Bishops themselves, but of the use and exercise of power. For Christ did not institute in fact the distinction of hierarchical order and jurisdiction, so as to reduce it into act and exercise; but he permitted that, so long as that first zeal should endure, the Churches should be governed by the common labor and spirit of all; but that zeal growing cold, he willed that the Apostles should reduce into practice and use the distinction and jurisdiction given by him to Bishops. This exposition is confirmed by what Jerome adds: "Imitating," he says, "Moses, who although he could preside alone over the people of Israel, chose seventy, with whom he might judge the people." But it is certain that Moses was greater than these seventy; therefore it is certain that a Bishop is greater than a priest: who nevertheless, if he wish to imitate Moses, should not command them ambitiously, but gently admit them into a share of his power and jurisdiction. See what is said on Philip. 1, 1. As I also have appointed to thee. — In Greek διεταξάμην, that is, I ordained, constituted, disposed: hence διατάξεις are called canons, constitutions and ordinances of the Apostles and Pontiffs, as if to say: Constitute such approved and select presbyters in such number, manner, order, and subordination, as I have prescribed and ordained to thee by word of mouth. Whence it is evident that Christ did not ordain all things, but committed to the Apostles and their successors the ordering of many matters concerning the government of the Church, according to the circumstances of future times. For this is required by the prudent institution of any commonwealth. Thus what the Apostle commands in the following verse, that a Bishop should be the husband of one wife, that he should have faithful children, that he should be hospitable and kind, is nowhere read to have been instituted or commanded by Christ. But, as the Apostle says, these things "I have appointed to thee," these are my precepts, my ordinances. Thus afterwards by new canons received throughout the whole world, many things were sanctioned by the Fathers of the Council of Nicaea, Ephesus, Chalcedon, Constantinople and other councils, concerning which neither Christ nor the Apostles sanctioned or ordained anything. Hence it is evident that these canons ought to be venerated and observed by all the faithful: for thus the Apostle here commands concerning his own.
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6. If any man be without crime, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not in the accusation of luxury, or not disobedient. — Here the Apostle prescribes what kind of man he wishes a presbyter and Bishop to be. First, that he be "without crime," not as if he wishes a Bishop to be chosen who has not sinned mortally since baptism, but one who is not marked with infamous crime or worthy of accusation, as St. Thomas says. "Many," says Augustine, book 1 Against Two Epistles of the Pelagians, chapter xiv, "are without crime, and live without reproach, but no one is without sin." For the Apostle requires here the same thing as in I Tim. chapter III, when he says: "A Bishop must be blameless." I have explained this and the following gifts of a Bishop in I Timothy III. Note: The third gift of a Bishop required here by the Apostle is that, if he be a father "and have children," they should be "faithful." For if he could not make his own children faithful, how, when made a Bishop, could he bring unfaithful and foreign others to the faith? Secondly, that his children "be not in the accusation of luxury," that is, be not accused of luxury in feasting and carousing, that is, be not feasters and carousers. For these would extort from their father, now made a Bishop, the goods of the Church and the poor, and squander them as their own, since they are gluttons and gulfs of wealth. "Luxury" therefore is here taken for luxuriousness: for this is what the Greek ἀσωτία signifies, concerning which I have spoken at Ephesians v, 18. Again, with Lyran, luxury could be taken for lust: for the Greek ἀσωτία also signifies this, as I have said in the place already cited: for the luxury of gluttony, and "the belly swollen with wine foams forth into lust," as St. Jerome says here at verse 7. Paul therefore wishes a Bishop to have educated his children so chastely that they cannot be marked or accused of luxury, just as the sons of Eli the priest were marked, and therefore both they and their father Eli were deprived of the priesthood and life, I Kings II. In a similar manner in I Tim. III Paul writes that a Bishop should be chosen who "has children obedient in all chastity." For the Cretans were given over to lust, and so much so, as Strabo relates, book X, that it was the custom of Crete that they should rage after boys, whom it was lawful to seize even if very noble, and keep with them for two months, and thus send them home enriched with gifts. Surely their king Jupiter taught them this, when he seized his Ganymede: and yet (O unspeakable blindness!) both were numbered among the gods by their wise men. And for this reason, as Strabo teaches in the same place, it was decreed by the ancient laws of the Cretans that all Cretans should immediately upon puberty enter into marriage to restrain this infamous pederasty, of which they finally became ashamed, as well as adulteries and other wandering lusts. Thirdly, the Apostle requires that the future Bishop have children obedient: for if the father could not rule them and subject them to his discipline, how, when made a Bishop, could he rule all the faithful and make them obedient to himself and the Church?
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7. For a Bishop must be without crime, as a steward of God, not proud. — For "steward" the Greek is οἰκονόμον, that is to say, A Bishop must be without crime, that is without grave sin, because he is not a master, but a steward and administrator of the house of God, which is the Church: he therefore ought to shine forth to the whole Church in the integrity of life, as the sun; for upon him the eyes of all are fixed. Secondly, for "proud" the Greek is αὐθάδη, that is, tenacious of his own judgment, and, as the Syriac has it, one who is led by his own will, that is stubborn, hard, harsh, inflexible, one who so pleases himself that others displease him. Thus Chrysostom and Theophylactus. St. Jerome translates it "wanton"; others, "contumacious." King Antigonus, seeing his son treating his subjects too fiercely, said: "Do you not know, my son, that our kingdom is a splendid servitude?" Bishops and Prelates should say the same to themselves.
Not greedy of filthy lucre, — namely, one who does not strive to enrich himself and his children from the fines which he imposes on transgressors of the canons; and one who does not greedily hoard grain and tithes, waiting for a scarcity of provisions so that he may sell them at a higher price; finally, one who does not seek profit from the exchange or trading of merchandise and other unseemly and sordid things. Thus the Fathers of the Council of Antioch, in Eusebius, lib. VII Hist., cap. xxiii and xxiv, gravely accuse Paul of Samosata, Bishop of Antioch, because, although he was formerly vile and poor, he extorted money from litigants through frauds and deceits, and enriched himself with them. How shameful this lucre is in clerics is taught by the sacred Canons 3, Quaest. II, cap. Si quis, and 17, Quaest. IV, cap. Alias.
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Benign. — Greek φιλάγαθον, that is to say, literally, a lover of the good, or a lover of good men. Thus Jerome; it can however also be translated "benign." Sober. — The Greek σώφρονα can also be translated with Jerome as "chaste" or "modest," and with Ambrose as "prudent": namely, a dry soul (that is, a sober soul) is most wise and prudent, and, as the Greeks say, ῥώμη ψυχῆς σωφροσύνη, that is, the strength of the soul is sobriety. Holy, — ὅσιον, which with Vatablus and others can be translated "pious toward God"; for, as St. Jerome says, what we call "holy," the Greeks call ἅγιον; but what they themselves call ὅσιον, we can call "pious toward God." Continent, — both from gluttony and lust, and from all vices of the soul. "Let a Bishop be," says Jerome, "abstinent not only, as some think, from lust and from the embraces of a wife, but from all perturbations of the soul, lest he be stirred to anger, lest sadness cast him down, lest fear disturb him, lest immoderate joy lift him up." Such was St. Martin, Bishop of Tours, of whom hear Severus Sulpicius, dial. 1: "No one ever saw Martin angry, no one saw him sad, no one saw him laughing: he was always the same, bearing in his countenance a certain heavenly joy, and seemed to be beyond human nature. He had assumed such patience against all injuries, that although he was the highest priest, he could be harmed with impunity even by the lowest clerics, and he never removed them from their place on that account, or repelled them from his charity. Never in his mouth was anything but Christ; never in his heart was anything but piety, peace, and mercy. He often wept even for those who seemed to be his detractors, on account of their sins." Hence not only while living, but also while dying, he did not relax the unconquered spirit of his soul. And when he prayed for a swift death, his disciples said to him: "Why do you abandon us, father? To whom do you leave us desolate?" Then he said: "Lord, if I am still necessary to your people, I do not refuse the labor; let your will be done." Burning with a raging fever, as he prayed lying on his back, his disciples asked him to rest lying face down. To which he said: "Allow me rather to look upon heaven than upon earth, so that my spirit, now about to depart on its journey to the Lord, may be directed in its course." As death drew near, seeing the enemy of mankind: "Why," he said, "do you stand here, cruel beast? You will find nothing deadly in me." With these words he gave up his soul to God, which a choir of angels received, and many heard them singing divine praises, especially Severinus, Bishop of Cologne."
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9. Holding fast the faithful word which is according to doctrine, — for "holding fast" the Greek is ἀντεχόμενον, that is, as Ambrose says, tenacious and retaining firmly, "faithful," that is truthful and undoubted (as I said in I Timothy 1, 15) "word, which is according to doctrine," that is which is consonant with sound doctrine and faith, or which sound doctrine befits. "He did not ordain," says Theodoret, "that a Bishop should be eloquent, but that he should be skilled in divine utterances."
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10. For there are many also disobedient, vain talkers and seducers (in Greek φρεναπάται, that is, deceivers of minds), especially those who are of the circumcision. — For "also" in Greek is καί, that is "and"; this conjunction depends on what follows, and connects it with what precedes, as if to say "There are many and disobedient, and vain talkers, and seducers." Whence Vatablus and others omit the "also" in their version, and then the sense is the same, but plainer and clearer. For "redargue" in Greek is ἐπιστομίζειν, that is to stop their mouth, and as it were to close it with a bridle, namely by imposing silence upon them, as St. Jerome translated it. He notes the Judaizers, who taught that circumcision and the ceremonies of the law, and Jewish fables, were to be joined with Christianity, and from this they were seeking gain.
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12. A certain one of them, their own prophet, said: The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies. — 13. This testimony is true. — St. Jerome refers these words partly to verse 5, where he said: "For this reason I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting," namely that thou shouldest correct the morals of the Cretans inclined to lying, gluttony of belly and idleness; partly to the immediately preceding words, namely that he might note these Judaizing false teachers, so that Titus might perceive their character, and know how and concerning what matters he ought to reprove them. Note: "Their own prophet" is Callimachus, or rather Epimenides the poet and philosopher of the Cretans, and priest of the temple of Mēris, that is, of the sun. Thus Jerome. But why is this poet called a "prophet"? I answer: First, because he was held to be a prophet by his own people, as testified by Laertius and Cicero, book I On Divination. Second, because poets are called "vates," that is, prophets, on account of poetic frenzy, and the Sibyls and Apollo delivered their oracles in verse; whence they themselves, like many others, were at once both poets and prophets. And for this reason Plato, book II of the Republic, calls poets the sons of the gods, and asserts that some of them were prophets. Hence the poets themselves boasted that a spirit was communicated to them from heaven, saying: There is a God in us, and there are also dealings with heaven, / This spirit comes from the ethereal seats. Third, because Epimenides here wrote a book περὶ τῶν χρησμῶν, that is, concerning Oracles. Fourth, "prophet," that is, a teacher and ethicist, who describes the native vices of a nation, which is the same as to foretell the morals of posterity, because the native vices of parents are generally transmitted to their descendants. See the sayings at I Corinthians xiv, at the beginning of the chapter. Note secondly: The saying of Epimenides and the verse which the Apostle cites here sounds thus in Greek: Κρῆτες ἀεὶ ψεύσται, κακὰ θηρία, γαστέρες ἀργαί. Which Faber Stapulensis rendered into Latin verse equally: Gnossius usque loquax, mala bestia, viscera pigra. But, as Erasmus rightly observed, "loquax" is not the same as "mendax"; nor are "viscera" the same as "ventres," that is, the gluttonous, devoted to one belly. Better therefore and more briefly thus wouldst thou render the verse into verse: Cres semper mendax, mala bestia, venter iners est. Note thirdly: Three vices of the Cretans are here censured. First, that they are liars, whence it became a proverb, so that it is commonly said, "To Cretize with a Cretan," that is, to lie to a liar, to deceive a deceiver, to trick a trickster. And, "He is a Cretan, he Cretizes," that is, he is a liar, he lies. Where note from St. Jerome and Chrysostom that the occasion which moved Epimenides and Callimachus to call the Cretans liars was that the Cretans believed that Jupiter did not live in heaven, but in Crete where he had been king, was dead and buried, and they inscribed upon his tomb: Here lies Jupiter. Hence Epimenides and Callimachus reprove them because they do not understand the gods and divine things: "A tomb," they say, "for thee, O Jupiter, the Cretans have made, but they lie: for thou hast by no means died, but in heaven as an immortal God thou livest forever." Thou wilt say, these poets err and lie, how then does the Apostle say of their saying: "This testimony is true"? St. Jerome and Chrysostom answer that the Apostle does not approve that opinion concerning the divinity of Jupiter, on the occasion of which Epimenides said this; but only the thing itself, namely that the Cretans are liars, that is, on account of an inborn proclivity to lying and deceiving: but this is true. Whence Erasmus at the beginning of the Chiliads, thus assigning to each nation its own vices by proverb, says: "More faithless than a Carthaginian, more savage than a Scythian, more inhospitable than a Scythotaur, more vain than a Parthian, more bibulous than a Thracian, more haughty than a Sybarite, more effeminate than a Milesian, richer than an Arab, more stupid than an Arcadian, cheaper than a Carian, more mendacious than a Cretan." Second, he calls the Cretans evil beasts, in Greek θηρία, that is, wild beasts, such as wolves, boars, tigers; because they were of savage morals, and like beasts thirsted for the blood of the deceived, says Jerome and Anselm; and much more did they prey upon souls, while they taught them false things for gain and persuaded them, and thus dragged them into ruin and perdition, as is evident from verse 11. Hence that Greek adage τρία κάππα κάκιστα, that is, three worst kappas, namely three nations beginning with kappa that are worst, namely Cilicians, Cretans, Cappadocians. For the Cappadocians, because they are descended from the Gibeonites, Isidore of Pelusium teaches that they are liars and perverse, epistle 282. Third, he calls the Cretans idle bellies, that is, those who study nothing except to stuff their belly and cram themselves with fat slop, like their own kind, and as it were the idle offspring of swine, concerning which Lucilius: Live, ye gluttons, ye eaters, live, ye bellies. Plato, in Book IV of the Laws, carefully observes and notes that maritime cities and regions (such as the island of Crete) are accustomed to be ill-mannered, and he gives the reason: "For when such a city is filled with merchandise and money through commerce," he says, "it produces deceitful minds, unstable and unfaithful customs: whence it cultivates little faith and stable friendship toward itself, and less toward other peoples." Hence that common saying: "All islanders are bad, but the Cretans are the worst." Yet through Christ, grace correcting nature and taming, subduing and directing that sharp disposition toward virtue and toward heroic works of virtue, we see that oracle of Isaiah fulfilled, chapter LX, verse 9: "The islands shall wait for me, and the ships of the sea in the beginning, that I may bring thy sons from afar: their silver and their gold with them, to the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee." And chapter XXIV, 15: "Glorify ye the Lord in the doctrines: in the islands of the sea the name of the Lord God of Israel." And that passage from Psalm LXXI, 10: "The kings of Tharsis and the islands shall offer presents." Indeed, how many and how great doctors of the Church, how many athletes of faith, how many Saints illustrious in every virtue has Christ given to Crete, Cyprus and other islands?
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13. For what reason he rebukes them harshly. — In Greek ἀποτόμως, that is, precisely, to the quick, severely, rigidly. Again ἀποτόμως, that is, cutting off and casting them out of the Church, if when admonished they are unwilling to correct their vices, says Turrian, in Book II of Clement's Apostolic Constitutions, chapter XLII, in the index.
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14. That they may be sound in the faith, not attending to Jewish fables and commandments of men, who turn away from the truth. — In Greek αποστρεφομένων, that is, turning away from the truth. Note: The Apostle here censures the commandments of men, not of all (for thus he would overturn the commandments of all kings and princes), but of those who turn away from the truth and substitute fables for the truth, especially Jewish ones, namely concerning the observance of the ceremonies of the law, and especially concerning the observance of the distinction of foods, lest anyone eat pork, hare, or any other flesh which the law in Leviticus XI forbids as unclean. For the Apostle hints at this in the following words, when he adds: "All things are clean to the clean." Thus St. Jerome, Chrysostom and others. Note secondly here, it is not surprising that these Jewish fables and observances of foods and Judaism flourished in Crete, because there was great communication of Jews with Cretans through the nearness of the sea; and so Josephus testifies in his Life that noble Jews were accustomed to dwell in Crete, and for this reason he relates that he took a wife from Crete. Indeed, from this source Cornelius Tacitus was deceived, in Book XXI, when he asserts that the Jews descended from Crete and were called Jews as if from Idaeans, from Mount Ida, which is in Crete.
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15. All things are clean to the clean. — Luther infers from this: Therefore fornication also is clean to the clean, namely to the faithful. For just as, he says, nothing justifies except faith, so nothing defiles except infidelity. But away with such a monster: let fornication, theft, sacrilege, murder and all iniquity be clean to you, just as filth, dirt and all uncleanness are clean and delightful to a pig. I say therefore that the Apostle speaks of the choice of foods which the Judaizers were introducing. For it is clear from verses 10, 11 and 14 that the matter concerns these and their fables; for some of the Judaizers said that certain foods were unclean by their very nature, as the Manichaeans and Marcionites who followed them later taught: others, however, held that certain foods were unclean and to be avoided by Christians, not in themselves, but because of the law of Moses, which forbids them in Leviticus xi. The Apostle refutes these here, saying: "All things are clean to the clean," that is to say, to Christians, who have been cleansed in the blood of Christ in baptism, no food, no animal, no thing, either by its nature or because of the law of Moses, is to be held unclean; but all things are clean to them, so that they may eat and use all things without scruple. That this is the meaning is evident, first, because, as I have said, he argues against the Judaizers; second, because thus it is explained in I Timothy iv, 3, of which this epistle to Titus is as it were a compendium; third, because thus Chrysostom, Jerome, Theodoret, Ambrose, Vatablus, Erasmus and others interpret it throughout. Whence St. Augustine, in book xxxi Against Faustus, chapter iv, says: "All things are clean to the clean, because the servants of God, in that they abstain from meats and wine, do not shun them as if they were unclean things, but follow the practices of a more pure life." This passage of the Apostle therefore makes nothing against fasts appointed by the Church, which are appointed not on account of the uncleanness of foods, but for temperance, the mortification of the flesh and the exercise of obedience, to appease the wrath of God, to devote oneself better to prayer, and for other holy purposes. Thus the Apostles in Acts xv prescribed abstinence from blood and things strangled. And Paul in I Corinthians x forbids the eating of things offered to idols. Thus God forbade Adam to eat of the fruit, for no other reason than to test and exercise his obedience. That great Spyridon, Bishop of Trimithus in Cyprus, a man most hospitable and kind, aptly applied this sentence of the Apostle to a certain guest of his, as Sozomen relates in book I of his History, chapter xi: "When," he says, "Lent was now approaching, a certain man happened to come to him (Spyridon) on those very days on which he was accustomed to fast with his household, and to taste food on the appointed day, having remained entirely without food on the intervening days; and when Spyridon saw his guest very weary from the journey, and had neither bread nor anything else in his house, having asked permission from God, he ordered pork, which alone he had in his house, to be cooked, and set before his guest, and he himself began to eat first of the meat, urging his guest to imitate him; when the latter refused to do so, saying that he was a Christian: For this reason, said Spyridon, you ought to refuse less. For all things are clean to the clean, the sacred writings declare." Here note that this example does not make against the fasts of the Church, as if it were permissible to break and violate them when a guest arrives. For in the first place, this was not then a fast prescribed by the Church; for he does not say: When it was, but: When Lent was approaching; therefore this fast was not prescribed, but voluntary. The same is suggested when he says it was a time in which he was accustomed to fast with his household, and to taste nothing at all until a certain day. This fast was therefore not of precept, but of his own custom: for ecclesiastical fasting does not prescribe such abstinence in which one may taste nothing at all. You will say: Why then did he ask permission from God before eating meat, and why did the guest refuse the meat, saying that he was a Christian? I answer: Because it seems that at that time there was a custom among Christians that from the Sunday of Quinquagesima they abstain from meat. For thus Telesphorus the Pontiff ordained, namely that fasting should begin from the Sunday of Quinquagesima; but his ordinance was not received as law, yet it was adopted by many as a custom; just as even now many Religious begin either a fast or abstinence from meat from that Sunday; that pious custom that guest did not wish to break, nor did Spyridon either except having asked permission from God. Add secondly, even if this custom had some binding force and had been received as law, nevertheless that guest was very weary, and Spiridon had nothing else but meat which he might set before him. Spiridon therefore, wholly devoted to charity and hospitality, thought that such necessity did not bind him to that custom, and that it was better, if he satisfied for the fast by charity and hospitality, to set meat before the guest, and in order to entice him, he himself tasted it first, thinking that from charity he might omit this in such a case, as Cardinal Hosius also thought in the Polish Confession, cap. xci, p. 188. Perhaps also he felt what Cassian felt, collat. 21, cap. xxix, namely that perfect men, and those who fast so often of their own accord, are not bound so strictly to fasts appointed by the Church, because otherwise they abundantly make them up. Finally, the examples of the Saints are admirable, but not always to be imitated. For it is certain that prescribed fasts are to be preferred to voluntary ones, and are to be observed before them. Mystically and spiritually, Abbot Pimenius receives the humble through the world. For when a certain man asked him: "What is it, father, that the Apostle says, All things are clean to the clean?" He answered: "If anyone could come to this saying and understand it, he will see himself to be less than all creation." To which the brother said: And how can I see myself less than him who is a murderer? The old man answered: "If a man could come to this saying of the Apostle, and see a man who perhaps has killed another, he says within himself: He indeed has committed this one sin, but I commit murder every hour, destroying myself." And when the brother asked how this could be done, the old man answered: "This alone is the justice of man, that he always reprove himself: and then he will be justified, when he condemns his own sins." Thus it is found in the Lives of the Fathers, lib. VII, cap. xv. But to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is clean, but their mind and conscience are defiled. — Some infer from this that all the works of unbelievers are sins; but this is an error, nor will the Apostle wish this, as will soon appear. Secondly, St. Thomas and Cajetan explain these words in a formal sense, in this way: to unbelievers, as such, or insofar as they eat, or do anything from unbelief, nothing is clean. But this sense, unless it be further explained and applied, does nothing for the matter and mind of the Apostle. I say therefore thirdly, the genuine sense is this: just as to the clean, that is to Christians, all things, that is all foods forbidden by the law are clean: so on the contrary to those Judaizing and unbelieving nothing, that is no food is clean; because these men superstitiously and with a Judaical or heretical mind and conscience, either abstain from all foods, or eat them. For they think superstitiously that the old law still binds even Christians, and according to it foods are to be discerned, so that they are bound to abstain from those forbidden by the law, but may eat those permitted by the law. Thus all the Fathers cited, and St. Augustine, lib. XXXI Against Faustus, cap. IV: "The unbeliever," he says, "whether he eats or abstains, does not eat or abstain holily or justly, because he does both from a perverse opinion." Fourthly, it could be a Hebraism, so that a neuter verb in qal might be taken for an active in hiphil, as if to say: To unbelievers nothing is clean, that is, no food cleanses them from their unbelief and crimes; just as on the contrary to others who are clean, who are of good conscience, nothing, that is, no food either by its nature or by the old law unclean is, which defiles them or contaminates them; there is none which casts upon them any uncleanness either corporal or legal, as formerly foods forbidden by the law of Moses cast a certain legal uncleanness upon the Jews. This exposition is favored by the antithesis which the Apostle subjoins, saying: "But their mind and conscience are defiled," as if to say: Therefore no food is clean to them, that is can cleanse them, because their mind and conscience is defiled and remains so, to which corporal food cannot penetrate, and which it cannot expiate. Although also according to the former sense this antithesis can be conveniently explained, as if it gives the reason why to unbelievers no food is clean, but rather all is unclean to them: namely because they use all food or abstain from it from an unbelieving and perverse conscience, by which they wish to subject themselves to the law of Moses equally as to Christ, and to embrace both: and thus they act against the law of Christ, and against evangelical liberty, which teaches that the law of Moses is abolished, and is in no way to be mixed with Christianity; and consequently as long as they persevere in this mind, and from it eat or do not eat foods, they always and in every act sin, and defile themselves with unbelief and Judaism.
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16. They confess (that is, they profess) that they know God, but by their deeds they deny it: since they are abominable, and disobedient, and reprobate unto every good work. — For "abominable" the Greek is βδελυκτοί, that is, abominable, and, as Jerome translates it, execrable, namely in life and morals. Secondly, for "disobedient" the Greek is ἀπειθεῖς, that is, disobedient; Jerome translates it, inobedient; others, intractable; the Syriac, impersuasible, to whom namely by no reasoning can the truth, purity and liberty of Christianity be persuaded. For this is what ἀπειθεῖς properly signifies, as I said on Ephesians II, 2. Thirdly, "reprobate," that is, wicked, turned away, unfit for good work, and that on account of their malice, whereby by their free and wicked will, obstinate in their infidelity and impious life, they reject and reprobate every good work, that is, most good works. It is a hyperbole, as if to say, These Judaizers are cast down into all wickedness. For this is what heresy, Judaism and infidelity bring with them: yet it does not follow from this that heretics and infidels cannot do at least some works that are morally good, and sometimes do: for they confess God: but this is a good work; for it is a work of faith and its profession. Note: The Apostle alludes to Job xv, 16, where it is said: "How much more abominable and unprofitable is man, who drinketh iniquity like water?" For "unprofitable" in Hebrew it is נאלח neelach, that is, reprobate. And to Psalm XIII, 3, which thus reads: "All have turned aside, together they are made unprofitable: there is none that doth good, there is not so much as one." Where again, for "they are made unprofitable," in Hebrew it is נאלחו neelachu, that is, they are made reprobate, that is, they are made weak and unprofitable unto every good: for this is the very same thing that the Apostle says here. Whence it is clear that reprobate is the same as weak, unfit, unprofitable unto good work. Morally St. Jerome teaches here that by any sin God is denied, not in word, but in deed: "Christ," he says, "is wisdom, justice, truth, holiness. Wisdom is denied by foolishness, justice by wickedness, truth by falsehood, holiness by baseness, fortitude by weakness of spirit; and as often as we are overcome by vices, we deny God; on the other hand, as often as we do something good, we confess God not by mouth, but by the deed itself."
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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Haec epistola dividitur in salutationem et epistolarem narrationem, ibi huius rei. In prima, primo ponitur persona salutans, quae notificatur tripliciter, scilicet ex nomine, cum dicit Paulus, quod significat humilitatem. I Cor. XV, 9: ego sum minimus apostolorum, et cetera. Item ex conditione, cum dicit servus. Ps. CXV, 16: domine, ego servus tuus. Contra, Io. XIV: iam non dicam vos servos. Respondeo. Sancti quandoque dicuntur servi, quandoque non, sed filii. Duplex enim est servitus. Una est ex timore, quae non competit filiationi Dei, sed condividitur contra eam. Rom. VIII, 15: non accepistis spiritum servitutis iterum in timore, et cetera. Alia ex amore, quae consequitur filiationem Dei. Et ratio huius distinctionis est, quia liber est qui est causa sui, qui operatur quod vult; servus vero est qui est causa alterius. Sed triplex est causa, quae est principium operis, scilicet finalis, formalis et efficiens. Si ergo propter causam finalem, sic omnes sancti sunt servi Dei, quia propter Deum faciunt. I Cor. X, 31: sive manducatis, sive bibitis, vel aliud quid facitis, omnia in gloriam Dei facite. Et hoc est ex amore, a quo procedit, quod omnia operemur propter Deum. Si vero propter causam moventem, quae est extrinseca, et compellit, sic est servitus timoris, et est malorum. Si propter causam formalem, sic est habitus inclinans, et sic quidam sunt servi peccati, quidam servi iustitiae, qui secundum habitum inclinantur ad malum vel ad bonum. Item ex auctoritate, cum dicit apostolus. Lc. VI, 13: elegit, scilicet super omnes fideles, duodecim ex ipsis, quos etiam apostolos nominavit. Eph. IV, 11: primum quidem apostolos. Et describitur primo ab auctore, cum dicit Iesu Christi, quia ab ipso est electus. Gal. I, v. 1: non ab hominibus, neque per hominem, sed per Iesum Christum, et cetera. Item quia solum Christum annuntiabat. II Cor. IV, 5: non enim nosmetipsos praedicamus, sed Iesum Christum dominum nostrum, nos autem servos vestros per Iesum. Item quia legatus Christi, cuius auctoritate utebatur. II Cor. V, v. 20: pro Christo ergo legatione fungimur. Eph. VI, 20: legatione fungor in catena. II Cor. II, 10: si quid donavi propter vos in persona Christi. Item secundo describitur ex idoneitate; nam apostolus est annuntiator. Matth. ult.: docete omnes gentes, et cetera. Doctor autem debet habere fundamentum doctrinae, et perfectionem. Primum pertinet ad quemlibet, secundum vero pertinet ad praedicatores, et ad doctores. Et sicut in aliis scientiis sunt principia, sic in hac sunt articuli fidei, qui innotescunt cuilibet fideli secundum lumen infusum, et articuli sunt fundamenta fidei, quae est substantia rerum sperandarum, etc., Hebr. XI, 1. Et ideo dicit secundum fidem electorum Dei. Item requiritur perfectio doctrinae. Unde dicit et agnitionem veritatis. Duplex autem habetur cognitio veritatis, scilicet perfecta in patria, scilicet quando videbimus facie ad faciem, et imperfecta per fidem, quam habent sancti. Io. VIII, 32: cognoscetis veritatem, et veritas liberabit vos. Sed cuius veritatis? In agnitionem eius, quae est secundum pietatem. Religio enim et pietas, secundum Tullium, sunt partes iustitiae; et differunt, quia religio est cultus Dei. Sed quia Deus non solum est creator, sed etiam est pater, ideo non solum debemus ei cultum ut creatori, sed amorem et cultum sicut patri. Et ideo pietas quandoque pro cultu Dei sumitur. Iob XXVIII, 28: ecce pietas, ipsa est sapientia, secundum aliam translationem, ubi nostra sic habet: ecce timor domini, ipsa est sapientia. Tertio describitur ex fine, et primo ponit ipsum finem; secundo eius dignitatem, ibi quam promisit. Finis autem est spes vitae aeternae, quia etsi Moyses possit dici apostolus, quia a domino missus; sed tamen non in spem vitae aeternae, sed terrae Hevei et Amorrhaei; sed Paulus est apostolus in spem vitae aeternae. Io. VI, 40: haec est voluntas patris mei qui misit me, ut omnis qui videt filium, et credit in eum, habeat vitam aeternam, et ego resuscitabo, et cetera. I Pet. I, 3: regeneravit nos in spem vivam. Rom. V, 2: gloriamur in spe gloriae filiorum Dei. Promissio autem haec est firma dupliciter: primo, ex parte promittentis; unde dicit qui non mentitur. Deus enim veritas est, cuius contrarium est mendacium. Num. c. XXIII, 19: non est Deus quasi homo ut mentiatur.
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Secundo ex divino proposito dandi; unde dicit ante tempora saecularia. Saeculum, secundum philosophum, est mensura durationis uniuscuiusque rei. Tempora ergo saecularia sunt tempora distincta secundum diversas successiones rerum; quasi dicat: antequam tempus successivum inciperet esse. Et quia incepit hoc tempus cum mundo, ideo fuit ante principium mundi. Alia littera habet, aeterna, id est, antiqua. Sic enim aliquando accipitur aeternum, id est, antiquum. Vel aeterna, non secundum veritatem, sed secundum imaginationem. Et ante ista promisit hoc, quia haec sunt successiva. Sed promittere est verbo nuntiare suam voluntatem de dando. Et Deus ab aeterno protulit verbum suum in quo erat ut sancti haberent vitam aeternam. Eph. I, 4: elegit nos ante mundi constitutionem. Confirmatur autem haec spes ex manifestatione promissionis, unde dicit manifestavit autem suis temporibus, et cetera. Et describitur haec manifestatio tripliciter.
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Primo ex tempore, unde manifestavit quando verbum suum incarnari constituit; unde dicit temporibus suis, id est, tempore congruo, quo homo esset convictus de superbia, per quam peccaverat. Et sic primo medicus convincit aegrotum, ut eum congruentius sanet. Homo enim superbiebat de scientia, sed convictus est de ignorantia ante tempus legis, ubi peccavit in idololatria, et vitiis contra naturam. Item de virtutibus, et de his convictus est tempore legis. Gal. IV, 4: at ubi venit plenitudo temporis, misit Deus filium suum, et cetera. Item, secundo, describitur ex modo, quia per publicam praedicationem. Mc. ult.: euntes in mundum universum, praedicate Evangelium omni creaturae. Unde dicit in praedicatione. I Cor. IX, 17: dispensatio credita est mihi. Item tertio ex auctore. Unde dicit secundum praeceptum, et cetera. Matth. I, 21: ipse enim salvum faciet populum suum a peccatis eorum. Act. IX, 15: vas electionis est mihi iste, ut portet nomen meum, et cetera. Persona salutata ponitur, cum dicit Tito, quem describit tripliciter: primo ex nomine; secundo ex dilectione; tertio ex filiatione. Filius ergo est per dilectionem et fidem, quae debet esse communis, ut idipsum dicant omnes.
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Et ideo dicit communem fidem, quae etiam dicitur Catholica, id est, universalis. Unde dicitur Eph. IV, 5: una fides, unus dominus, et cetera. Bona vero optata sunt gratia et pax. Haec saepe coniungit, quia omnium spiritualium donorum principium est gratia, et pax, finis. Ps. CXLVII, 14: qui posuit fines tuos pacem. A Deo, et cetera.
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Accedit ad narrationem; et, sicut dictum est, intendit munire Ecclesiam contra haereticos. Et primo monet Titum quod alios instruat ad resistendum haereticis; secundo docet, quomodo ipse eis resistat, ibi tu autem loquere, c. II. Item primo monet ut instituat episcopos, qui haereticis resistant; secundo ostendit necessitatem huius commissionis, ibi sunt enim multi. Item primo ponit commissionem Tito factam de instituendo episcopo; secundo ostendit quales debent esse episcopi, ibi si quis sine crimine; tertio manifestat quae dixit, ibi oportet enim. Quia ergo apostolus habuit universalem commissionem Ecclesiae gentium, et non poterat solus per se omnia exequi, ideo dicit huius rei gratia reliqui te Cretae, in Creta scilicet insula, ut loco apostoli, Ecclesiae Cretensi officium pastorale gerat. Prov. c. XVIII, 19: frater qui iuvatur a fratre, quasi civitas firma. Sed quod dicit ut quae desunt corrigas, videtur quod deberet dicere, suppleas. Respondeo. Dicendum est quod Glossa sic supplet: ut omnia quae sunt in malis, corrigas: et quae desunt in bonis, addas. I Thess. c. III, 10: impleamus ea quae desunt fidei vestrae. Vel dicendum est, quod est quoddam peccatum omissionis, et quoddam transgressionis, et utrumque indiget correctione. In sanctis autem et perfectis, sicut Titus fuit, non abundaverunt transgressiones; et ideo non dicit, transgressiones corrigas sed quae desunt, id est, omissiones. Et constituas presbyteros, id est, episcopos, unde inferius dicit oportet episcopum, et cetera. Et utitur indifferenter nomine episcoporum et presbyterorum. Unde sumpsit occasionem haereticus, qui ambivit episcopatum, quem quia non poterat adipisci, divisit se ab aliis, et multa falsa docuit. Inter quae dixit, quod episcopi in nullo differunt a sacerdotibus, quod est contra Dionysium in libro de Eccl. Hierar. Utitur ergo apostolus eodem nomine in utroque per identitatem rei, quia presbyter dicitur senior. Item, quia pertinet ad superiores episcopum constituere, licet eum canonici eligant. Et dicit constituas, non in villis, sed per civitates; sicut enim in republica reges sunt tantum in civitatibus, sic in spirituali regimine episcopi. I Petr. II, 9: regale sacerdotium. Item debent seniores esse. Eccle. X, 16: vae tibi, terra, cuius rex est puer. Et intellige senes non solum aetate, sed et moribus. Num. XI, 16: congrega mihi septuaginta viros de senioribus Israel, quos tu nosti, quod senes sint populi ac magistri, et cetera. Item secundum formam Ecclesiae; unde dicit sicut ego disposui tibi. Prov. XIII: fili mi, ne effluant haec ab oculis tuis. Deinde cum dicit si quis sine crimine, describit eos tripliciter, scilicet quantum ad seipsos, quantum ex parte uxoris et ex parte filiorum. De primo dicitur sine crimine. Si quis talis erit. I Io. I, 8: si dixerimus quia peccatum non habemus, ipsi nos seducimus, et veritas in nobis non est. Dicendum est, quod aliud est crimen, aliud est peccatum. Peccatum dicitur quodcumque, sive magnum, sive parvum, sive occultum. Crimen autem magnum et infame. Ps. XIV, 1: domine, quis habitabit in tabernaculo tuo, etc.; et postea subdit: qui ingreditur sine macula, et cetera. Non quod qui mortaliter peccat post Baptismum, non possit eligi; sed quod eligendus non sit infamis. Quo ad secundum dicit unius uxoris virum. Quod Orientales sic exponunt, id est, quod non habeat simul duas uxores, sicut quorumdam est consuetudo. Sed secundum hoc non esset necessarium quod apostolus hoc diceret; quia secundum leges Romanas, quibus apostolus scribebat, etiam ante fidem, non licebat simul habere plures uxores. Item I Tim. V, 9 dicit de vidua, quae fuit unius viri uxor, et tamen numquam licuit quod una plures viros simul posset habere. Et hoc modo vult istud etiam de vidua, scilicet quod non habuerit nisi unum virum. Sed Hieronymus dicit oportere, quod unam tantum uxorem post Baptismum habuerit, et quod non est vis, si ante Baptismum alias habuisset. Sed Augustinus et Ambrosius dicunt quod per Baptismum delentur omnia crimina; sed quod per Baptismum, matrimonium non deletur; ergo secundum hos dicendum est, et rectius, quod unam tantum et non plures, licet habuisset ante vel post. Secundum quosdam autem ratio huius est, quia signum esset incontinentiae si plures habuisset. Sed hoc non est verum; quia nihil repugnaret si plures habuisset meretrices, quae magis sunt incontinentes. Sed est alia ratio altior significato, scilicet quia ipse est dispensator sacramentorum, et ideo nullus defectus sacramentorum debet esse in eo; sed sacramentum matrimonii est significativum coniunctionis Christi et Ecclesiae; ergo ut signum respondeat signato, sicut Christus est unus, et Ecclesia una, sic et hic; quod quidem deficeret, si episcopus plures uxores habuisset. In veteri autem lege, patriarchae significabant coniunctionem hanc, non ut coniunctam Christo, sed coniungendam, et cum Ecclesia erat futura ex multis, ideo tunc non una, sed plures habebantur. Et ideo multitudo uxorum ipsorum hoc significabat.
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Quantum autem ad tertium, scilicet ex parte filiorum, subiungit, dicens filios habens fideles, non in accusatione luxuriae, et cetera. Episcopus enim constituitur, ut superintendat: et qui constituitur ad aliquid debet esse exercitatus in illo, alias non prudenter institueretur. Praesumitur autem esse bene exercitatus, si bene alios rexit. Episcopus autem constituitur ad tria. Primo ut fidem doceat. Matth. ult.: docete omnes gentes, et cetera. Et ideo dicit fideles. Secundo requiritur quod populum instruat ad virtutes. Eccli. VII, 25: filii tibi sunt? Erudi illos. Peccata autem lasciviae magis abstrahunt a virtute. Eccli.: lascivus et imprudens non servabunt tempus. Et ideo dicit non in accusatione luxuriae. I Reg. III, 13: Heli condemnatur, quia filios de hoc non correxit. Tertio oportet, quod pertinaces corrigat. Unde dicit aut non subditos, id est, non obedientes. Eccli. XXX, 8: equus indomitus evadet durus, et filius remissus evadet praeceps. Deinde cum dicit oportet enim, exponit quod dixit, et primo quod dixit sine crimine; secundo sine quibus debet esse, ibi non superbum. Causa autem primi est, quia debet dispensare divina. Eccli. X, 2: secundum iudicem populi, sic et ministri eius. Ps. c, 6: ambulans in via immaculata, hic, et cetera. Deinde cum dicit non superbum, ostendit a quibus debet esse immunis: et primo ostendit a quibus criminibus; secundo quibus virtutibus luceat, ibi hospitalem. Peccatorum autem quaedam sunt carnalia, quaedam spiritualia. De primis non facit mentionem, quia omnino debent mundi esse ab eis. Eph. V, 3: fornicatio autem et omnis immunditia, aut avaritia, nec nominetur in vobis, sicut decet sanctos. Sed tantum de spiritualibus, quae sunt quinque, quorum duo non habent locum in praelatis, scilicet invidia, quod est peccatum parvulorum. Iob V, v. 2: parvulum occidit invidia, praelatus autem est in summo. Item nec accidia, quia omnia ei ad votum succedunt; sed superbia, quia est in summo, et ira et cupiditas occasione temporalium, quorum est dispensator. Quantum ad primum dicit non superbum. Ps. c, 5: superbo oculo et insatiabili corde, cum hoc non edebam. Eccli. XXXII, 1: rectorem te posuerunt? Noli extolli, et cetera. Quantum ad secundum, primo excludit iram, cum dicit non iracundum. Secundo incendium irae, quod est vinum, dicens non vinolentum. Prov. XXIII, 29: cui suffossio oculorum? Nonne his qui commorantur in vino, et cetera. Tertio sequelam irae, quod est percussio. Ideo dicit non percussorem, id est, non crudelem. Is. l, 6: corpus meum dedi percutientibus, et genas meas vellentibus, et cetera. Vel, non percussorem, id est, non percutientem conscientias aliorum pravis moribus. I Cor. VIII, 10: et percutientem conscientiam eorum infirmam.
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Quantum ad tertium dicit non turpis lucri cupidum. I Tim. III, 8: non turpe lucrum sectantes. Sap. XV, 12: sed aestimaverunt lusum esse vitam nostram, et conversationem vitae compositam ad lucrum, et oportere undecumque etiam ex malo acquirere. Deinde ponit bona, quae debet habere: et primo, quae pertinent ad conversationem vitae; secundo, quae ad veritatem doctrinae, ibi amplectentem. Et patent omnia.
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Supra docuit qualem oportet esse episcopum in vita, hic ostendit qualem oportet esse in doctrina. Et primo ostendit quod ad ipsum requiritur diligentia studii; secundo ponit materiam studii; tertio eius utilitatem. Quantum ad primum dicit amplectentem. Aliquid enim amplectens, illud diligenter constringit, et amplexus ex dilectione fit. Oportet enim eum scientiae inhaerere cum amplexu, id est firma adhaesione animi et cordis dilectione. Sap. VI, 14: praeoccupat eos, qui se concupiscunt. Prov. IV, 8: arripe illam, et exaltabit te, glorificaberis ab ea, cum eam fueris amplexatus. Materia studii non debent esse fabulae, nec temporalia, sed sermo fidelis, id est verus. Ps. CXLIV, 13: fidelis dominus, et cetera. Vel sermo fidelis, id est, fidei, in qua oportet episcopum instrui. Sed aliqui student in eis dupliciter, ut scilicet addiscant solum et operentur. Sed hoc non sufficit episcopo, sed oportet ut et alios instruat. Et ideo dicit qui secundum doctrinam est. I Tim. IV, 12 dicitur: nemo adolescentiam tuam contemnat, sed esto exemplum fidelibus in verbo, in conversatione. Utilitas est facultas exequendi officium suum. Officium autem praelati est sicut pastoris. Io. ult.: pasce oves meas. Pastor vero duo habet facere, scilicet pascere gregem, I Petr. V, 2: pascite qui in vobis est gregem Dei, item arcere lupum. Sic et episcopus pascere debet per doctrinam veram. Ier. III, 15: dabo vobis pastores iuxta cor meum, et pascent vos scientia et doctrina. Et ideo dicit ut sit potens exhortari in doctrina. Non dicit ut exhortetur sed ut potens sit exhortari. Quod est quando habet in promptu exhortationes quando est necesse exequi. Quod figuratur Exod. XXV, 27, per vectes in circulis arcae, ut arca scilicet posset portari. Lc. ult.: potens in opere et sermone. Et dicit sana, id est, absque corruptione falsitatis. Infra II, 1: tu autem loquere quae decent sanam doctrinam. I Thess. II, 3: exhortatio nostra non fuit de errore, neque de immunditia, et cetera. Item ut custodiant contra haereticos. Et ideo dicit et eos qui contradicunt arguere, id est, convincere. Et hoc per studium sacrae Scripturae. II Tim. III, 16: omnis Scriptura divinitus inspirata utilis est ad docendum, ad arguendum. Iob VI, 10: nec contradicam sermonibus sanctis. Et haec duo secundum philosophum pertinent ad opus sapientis, scilicet non mentiri de quibus novit, quantum ad primum; et mentientem manifestare posse, quantum ad secundum. Consequenter cum dicit sunt enim multi, ponit necessitatem dictorum. Et primo ex parte falsorum doctorum, secundo ex parte malorum auditorum, ibi dixit quidam. Circa primum duo facit, quia primo describit conditionem falsorum doctorum; secundo perversitatem studii ipsorum, ibi qui universas. Item primo ostendit eorum conditionem; secundo docet remedium contra eos, ibi quos oportet. Conditionem ostendit quadrupliciter. Et primo ex numero, cum dicit multi. Eccli. I, 15: stultorum infinitus est numerus. Secundo ex vitio inobedientiae, cum dicit etiam inobedientes, quantum ad Deum et suos superiores. Rom. I, 30: parentibus non obedientes. I Reg. XV, 23: peccatum inobedientiae, sicut idololatria dicitur esse. Tertio ex vaniloquio, cum dicit vaniloqui, scilicet quo ad se. Ps. XCIII, 11: dominus scit cogitationes hominum, quoniam vanae sunt. Sap. XIII, 1: vani sunt homines, in quibus non subest scientia Dei; et praecipue vani sunt haeretici; ideo subiungit dicens seductores, scilicet quo ad inferiores. II Tim. III, v. 13: mali homines et seductores, et cetera. Quarto ex loco, cum dicit maxime qui de circumcisione, qui cogebant homines iudaizare. Phil. III, 2: videte canes, videte malos operarios, videte concisionem. Contra quos ponit remedium. Non enim sunt tolerandi, quia corrumperetur populus et imputaretur pastori. Ez. XIII, 5: non ascendistis ex adverso, neque opposuistis murum pro domo Israel, et cetera. II Tim. IV, v. 2: argue, obsecra, increpa in omni patientia et doctrina.
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Et ideo dicit quos oportet redargui. Deinde cum dicit qui universas, etc., describit horum studium; et primo describit ex damno quod inferunt; secundo ex falso quod docent; tertio ex lucro quod concupiscunt. Damnum est, quia universas domos subvertunt. Doctrina enim Catholica publice proponitur in Ecclesia, sed haeretici latenter; et ideo quaerunt latibula. Prov. IX, 17: aquae furtivae dulciores sunt, et panis absconditus suavior. Et ideo circumeunt per domos, ut seducant praecipue mulieres. II Tim. III, 6: ex his sunt, qui penetrant domos, et captivas ducunt mulierculas oneratas peccatis. Docentes quae non oportet, id est vana et inutilia. Nec quaerunt lucrum spirituale, sed temporale; et ideo addit turpis lucri gratia, scilicet temporalis, vel propriae gloriae. Sap. c. XV, 12: sed aestimaverunt lusum esse vitam nostram, et conversationem vitae compositam ad lucrum, et oportere undecumque etiam ex malo acquirere. Deinde cum dicit dixit quidam, describit auditores, quia isti erant Cretenses, et ad hos refert hoc opus. Et primo ostendit conditionem; secundo dat remedium, ibi quam ob causam. Circa primum, primo describit conditionem per testimonium; secundo confirmat. Dicit ergo: tales sunt doctores, sed et auditores sunt similiter seducibiles iuxta testimonium cuiusdam poetae eorum, scilicet Epimenidis, quem hic Paulus dicit eorum prophetam. Ubi nota quod propheta aliquis dicitur, qui a Deo illuminatur secundum intellectum, ad cognoscendum aliqua supra communem cognitionem. Num. XII, 6: si quis fuerit inter vos propheta domini, in visione apparebo ei, vel per somnium loquar ad illum. Item qui exponit prophetias eodem spiritu, et eodem modo quo sunt traditae. Item qui profert aliquid propheticum. Unde potest proferri aliquid propheticum ex quodam interiori instinctu, etiam praeter suum intellectum. Io. XI, 51: Caiphas, cum esset pontifex, prophetavit. Non enim prophetavit secundum suam intentionem, qui dicebat expedire eum mori, intelligens sic, ne seduceret populum. Nihilominus tamen fuit motus ad id dicendum per spiritum. Et hic modus prophetandi est apud illos, qui accipiunt primum verbum aliquorum pro omine quod etiam fit a Daemonibus. Et dicit proprius, quia proprie descripsit eorum conditiones.
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Deinde cum dicit Cretenses, proponit testimonium, et notat eos de tribus, scilicet de corruptione rationalis, cum dicit semper mendaces. Ps. LIV: perdes omnes qui loquuntur mendacium. Item de corruptione irascibilis, cum dicit malae bestiae, id est, crudeles; bestiae dicuntur, quasi vastiae, quia crudeles sunt. Prov. c. XXVIII, 15: leo rugiens, et ursus esuriens, princeps impius super populum pauperem. Et dicit malae, quia, secundum philosophum in politicis homo quando secundum rationem operatur, est optimum animalium; sed quando declinat ad malitiam, est pessimum; quia si declinat propter crudelitatem, nulla bestia ita est crudelis. Unde dicit quod decies millies est peior malus homo quam mala bestia. Item de corruptione concupiscibilis, cum dicit ventres pigri, id est, pigritiam habentes ex ventre: erant enim gulosi, et tales quaerunt quietem. Lc. XII, 19: anima, habes multa bona reposita in annos plurimos, requiesce, comede, bibe, epulare. Confirmat autem testimonium, cum dicit testimonium, et cetera. Glossa: per hoc intelligimus quod doctor sacrae Scripturae accipit testimonium veritatis, ubicumque invenerit. Unde apostolus in pluribus locis recitat dicta gentilium, sicut in I Cor. XV, 33: corrumpunt bonos mores colloquia mala. Item Act. XVII, 28: in ipso vivimus, movemur et sumus. Nec propter hoc approbatur tota eorum doctrina; sed eligitur bonum, quia verum a quocumque dicatur, est a spiritu sancto, et respuitur malum. Unde dicitur Deut. XXI, 11 in figura huius, quod si quis viderit puellam in numero captivorum, debet praecidere ungues et capillos, id est, superfluitates.
Posita conditione Cretensis populi, hic ponit remedium; et primo ponit remedium reprehensionis; secundo assignat dictorum rationem, ibi omnia munda. Circa primum tria facit, quia primo hortatur Titum ad reprehendendum eos; secundo reprehensionis finem ostendit, ibi ut sani; tertio docet debitum modum perveniendi ad finem, ibi non intendentes. Dicit ergo: Cretenses sunt malae bestiae, quibus scilicet debetur flagellum et castigatio. Et ideo increpa illos dure. Prov. c. VI, 23: via vitae, increpatio. Ps. LXVII, 31: increpa feras arundinis. Sed contra II Tim. IV, 2: in omni patientia. Respondeo. Duplex est ratio exhortationis huius. Una ex parte eorum qui reprehenduntur. Cretenses enim duri et pertinaces erant, et ideo dure eos reprehendi iubet; non autem Ephesii, quorum archiepiscopus erat Timotheus. Alia ex parte reprehendentium, quia et Titus fuit lenis et mansuetus, et ideo inducitur quasi ad contrarium; sed Timotheus erat rigidus, et ideo inducitur ad patientiam.
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Deinde cum dicit ut sani sint in fide, tangit finem reprehensionis. Nam homo est sanus, in quo non est corruptio. Et sic sanus est in fide, qui in nullo habet eam corruptam. Horum autem fides vitiabatur per haereticos. II Cor. XI, 3: timeo ne sicut serpens Evam seduxit astutia sua, ita corrumpantur sensus vestri, et excidant a simplicitate, quae est in Christo Iesu. I Tim. VI, 3: si quis autem aliter docet, et non acquiescit sanis sermonibus domini nostri Iesu Christi, et cetera. Modus perveniendi ad sanitatem est si vitent errores Iudaeorum.
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Unde dicit non intendentes Iudaicis fabulis. In lege enim erant duplicia documenta fidei, scilicet quaedam circa credenda. Item quaedam mandata religionis, quae erant servanda circa cultum Dei. Et prima vocat fabulas; secunda, mandata hominum, et non Dei. Ex quo videtur quod condemnet vetus testamentum, ut dicunt Manichaei. Sed quod dicit fabulis, potest referri ad eorum narrationes, praeter doctrinam legis, quae sunt fabulosa, ut Thalmuth. I Tim. I, 4: ne intenderent fabulis et genealogiis interminatis. Vel ipsa doctrina, quae fuit olim veritas, nunc secundum quod ipsi intelligunt, sunt fabulae; sicut illud Is. VII, 14: virgo concipiet, etc., fuit veritas; sed nunc quia ipsi dicunt adhuc hoc esse implendum, est fabulosum. Item mandata hominum possunt intelligi non quae sunt in lege Moysi, sed traditiones seniorum, Matth. XV, 2. Sed numquid mandatis hominum non est obediendum? Respondeo quod sic quamdiu non avertunt a veritate Dei. Et ideo subdit aversantium se a veritate. II Tim. IV, 4: a veritate quidem auditum avertent, et cetera. Simile habetur Matth. XV, 9: sine causa colunt me, docentes doctrinas et mandata hominum. Simile dicitur Mc. VII, 7. Vel dicendum est quod mandata, quae sunt in lege Dei, sunt facta mandata hominum. Quando enim servantur in signum futurae veritatis, sunt mandata Dei; sed quando volunt ea servare postquam corpus nostrum mortuum est legi, sunt mandata hominum. Deinde cum dicit omnia munda, in speciali ostendit dictorum rationem, scilicet quomodo avertunt se a veritate, et quomodo dicunt fabulas, et mandata hominum; quod est praecipue de discretione ciborum secundum legem, quam pseudo quidam dicebant esse servandam. Et ideo primo ostendit quomodo hi cibi habent se ad bonos; secundo quomodo ad malos, ibi coinquinatis autem. Dicit ergo: non intendentes Iudaicis fabulis de cibis: quia omnia, scilicet cibaria, sunt munda mundis. Sed infert: ergo adulterium est mundum mundis. Respondeo. Dicendum est quod non: quia ex hoc ipso quod adulterium est, immundat.
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Sed sunt munda mundis illa, quae de se non immundant. Ad haec, Matth. XV, 11: ea quae intrant in os, non coinquinant hominem. Ergo omne quod intrat in os, mundum est. Sed duplex est obiectio. Una quod Lev. XI, 7 dicitur, quod quando aliquod animal non ruminat, vel non scindit ungulam, est immundum. Respondeo, secundum Augustinum contra Faustum. Aliquod est immundum, vel secundum rei naturam, vel secundum significationem: puta si hoc nomen stultus, secundum se sumatur, inquantum est vox quaedam, sic non est immundum, sed bonum. Si vero secundum significationem, quia significat defectum sapientiae, et sic habet immunditiam. Actus autem illius populi erant actus prophetici. Unde porcus secundum quod res quaedam, non est immundus; sed secundum quod significat hominem voluptatibus se involventem. Sed nunc veritate veniente cessant, et utuntur cibis homines secundum suam naturam. Alia quaestio est quod Act. XV, 28 mandaverunt apostoli, quod abstinerent se a sanguine et suffocato; ergo videtur quod non sit licitum hoc comedere; non ergo omnia munda mundis. Respondeo. Aliqui credunt quod illud mandatum intelligatur ad litteram, et quod obligat usque modo, ut apud Graecos, et etiam aliquando apud Latinos. Aliqui autem dicunt, quod non intelligitur secundum litteram, sed secundum mysterium, ut per sanguinem intelligatur homicidium, et a suffocato, id est, oppressione pauperum. Et hoc bonum est, sed non est tota ratio praecepti; et ideo dico, quod ad litteram est praeceptum, et tamen non obligamur. Quaedam enim prohibentur quia mala sunt, et haec simpliciter sunt vitanda. Aliqua vero, quae non sunt mala simpliciter, sed pro tempore, et haec sunt servanda existente causa. Et haec apostoli prohibuerunt, non quia mala secundum se, quia Matth. XV, 11 dicit dominus contrarium. Sed ratio erat, quia conversi erant quidam ex Iudaeis, quidam ex gentibus: et ideo oportebat ad hoc quod unus populus ex eis fieret, quod uni condescenderet alius, ut Iudaeis, quibus abominabile erat comedere sanguinem et suffocatum, condescenderetur. Et ideo ad servandam pacem, instituerunt apostoli hoc esse servandum pro tempore illo. Deinde cum dicit coinquinatis, ostendit quomodo se habent ad malos; et circa hoc tria facit, quia primo ostendit hoc; secundo assignat causam, ibi sed inquinatae; tertio manifestat per signum, ibi confitentur se nosse Deum. Dicit ergo: cibi isti mundi sunt mundis, sed immundi coinquinatis, id est his qui habent conscientiam coinquinatam. Eccli. c. XIII, 1: qui tetigerit picem, inquinabitur ab ea; et infidelibus, id est, qui habent malam fidem. Is. XXI, 2: qui incredulus est, infideliter agit. Sed numquid facit peccator et infidelis immundam eleemosynam? Dicendum est quod apostolus non ponit affirmativam, sed negativam. Unde non dicit, omnia, sed nihil mundum eis, quod est verum: quia nihil eis perfecte mundum est, quia nihil est mundum in actibus, nisi in finem debitum ordinatum sit. Isti autem sunt extra finem. Sed numquid aliquid est eis mundum? Sic. Sed contra: quia omne quod non est ex fide, peccatum est. Dicendum est, quod malum numquam corrumpit totum bonum. Impossibile enim est quin in peccatore quolibet sit aliquod bonum, scilicet naturae, etiam in Daemonibus: quando ergo peccator facit aliquod bonum secundum quod est peccator et infidelis, totum est peccatum ex radice. Sed si quid facit ex principio alicuius boni quod habet, ut fidei informis, vel naturae, non est immundum. Et ideo signanter dicit coinquinatis et infidelibus, id est, inquantum sunt huiusmodi. Comedebant enim contra conscientiam, et errabant in fide. Et ideo quod de natura sua est mundum, fecerunt sibi immundum. Cuius causa est, quia causa actuum eorum est immunda, scilicet voluntas et intellectus, quae sunt in eis depravata. Unde dicit sed inquinatae sunt eorum mentes, scilicet per infidelitatem, et conscientia, scilicet per peccatum. Bar. III, 10: quid est, Israel, quod in terra inimicorum es, inveterasti in terra aliena, coinquinatus es cum mortuis, et cetera. Deinde cum dicit confitentur, etc., ostendit fidem per signum. Si enim aliquis dicat quod eorum dicta sunt vera, immo quod habent fidem unius Dei et confitentur eum, hoc excludit. Et primo ostendit bonum quod erat in eis, scilicet quod confitentur, scilicet labiis exterioribus, se nosse Deum. Is. XXIX, 13: populus hic labiis me honorat, cor autem eorum longe est a me. Ier. XII, 2: prope es tu ori eorum. Secundo ostendit defectum interiorem; et primo quantum ad praesentia; secundo quantum ad futura, ibi incredibiles. Quo ad praesentia, quia negant eum factis. Qui enim peccat, inquantum est de se, negat eum factis: quia qui confitetur Deum, confitetur et eius potestatem, scilicet quod est ei obediendum. Et ideo si non obedit peccando, negat factis, confitetur ore. Sed dicis: quicumque negat Deum, est infidelis; peccatores negant Deum factis, ergo peccatores sunt infideles. Respondeo. Sicut habens scientiam in universali, potest errare in particulari; ita habens fidem in universali, in particulari tamen agibili corrumpitur, propter corruptionem affectus. I Tim. V, 8: fidem negavit, et est infideli deterior. Quomodo autem quo ad futura deficiunt? Certe, quia non solum negant, sed sunt indispositi ad redeundum ad Deum. Sunt enim tria per quae homo redit ad Deum, scilicet Dei gratia, Rom. V, 9: iustificati gratia ipsius, secundum est fides, Act. c. XV, 9: purificans fide corda eorum, tertium, exercitium boni operis, Rom. II, 13: factores legis iustificabuntur. Haec tria excludit ab ipsis: primo gratiam, ibi cum sint abominati, id est, non accepti ad gratiam. Secundo fidem, cum dicit incredibiles, id est, non apti ad credendum. Ez. c. II, 6: increduli et subversores sunt tecum.
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Tertio tertium, quia ad omne opus bonum reprobi, id est, reprobandi. Ier. VI, 30: argentum reprobum vocate eos.
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Secundum fidem electorum Dei. Chrysostomus et ejus sequaces sic exponunt: Christi Apostoli, cui concrediti sunt electi Dei. Juxta quem sensum fides ad Paulum refertur, et eam significat virtutem, quae ab iis exigitur, quibus magnam aliquid committitur. Alii, Hieronymum secuti, phrasim Hebraeam hic agnoscunr, ut sensus sit: Servus Dei et Apostolus, seu legatus Christi in hoc missus, ut iis, qui sunt a Deo electi, fidem, qua salventur, annuntiem. Quae expositio simplicior est et Apostolico sensui congruentior, quam et Theodoretus innuit. Nec ab ea dissentiunt Theophylactus et Oecumenius, dum alterum hunc sensum adjiciunt: Apostolus sum, ut electi per me credant. Specialiter autem electorum meminit, non quod ii soli credant in Christum, ut perverse ex hoc loco colligunt sectarii, sed quia salus, ad quam dirigitur fides annuntiata, totumque munus Apostolicum, solis ex Dei voluntate contingit electis. Unde et ait in 2 Tim. 2. Omnia sustineo propter electos, ut et ipsi salutem consequantur. Et agnitionem veritatis. Expositio est ejus, quod praecedit. In hoc, inquit, missus sum Apo6tolus, ut electi per me credant et cognoscant veritatem. Nam credere est cognoscere et recipere veritatem divinitus revelatam de rebus ad pietatem atque aeternam salutem pertinentibus. Unde addit:
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2. Quae secundum pietatem est in spem vitae aeternae. Relativum quae, veritatem respicit, ut patet ex Graeco. Nec Graece est in spem, sed in spe, quemadmodum et Hieronymus legit. Itaque sensus est: Quae veritas circa picta tem, verumque Dei cultum versatur, ex quo speranda nobis offertur vita aeterna, idque juxta Dei promissionem, prout sequitur: quam promisit, qui non mentitur Deus, ante tempora saecularia. Qui non mentitur, Graece a<\>£odr}~, quasi dicas: immendax, id est expers mendacii. Hieronymii8 in comment. et Augustinus de civit. Dei lib. 12. cap. 16. legunt: non mendax. Ambrosianus ac Syrus interpres: verax. Recte alii vertunt: Qui mentiri nescit, non potest, juxta quod dicit 2 Tim. 2. Negare seipsum non potest. Statuit enim Apostolus immobilem promissionis firmitatem ex eo, quod ille promiserit, qui fallere non potest. Quid sit: ante tempora saecularia, pro quo Hieronymus et Augustinus legunt aeterna, Graece ocicovia, diximus ad 1. cap. epist. 2. ad Tim. Significatur autem universum tempus, quod ab initio fluxit, quodque saeculorum nomine solet in Scriptura designari. Usitatius diceretur: ante omnia saecula, ante mundum conditum. Nam saecula simul cum mundo ceperunt initium, dicente Apostolo Hebr. 11. Fide intelligimus, aptata esse saecula verbo Dei, ut ex invisibilibus visibilia fierent. Leguntur quidem apud Hieronymum in comm. haec verba: Sex millia necdum nostri orbis implentur annorum, et quantas prius aeternitates, quanta tempora, quantas saeculorum origines fuisse arbitrandum est, in quibus angeli, throni, Dominationes caetoraeque virtutes servierint Deo, et absque temporum vicibus atque mensuris Deo jubente substiterint? Ante haec itaque tempora, quae nec sermo eloqui, nec mens comprehendere, nec cogitatio tacita audet attingere, promisit Deus etc. Sed sive ex propria sententia scribat haec Hieronymus, sive, quod interdum facit in commentariis, ex aliena, fuit enim illa Graecorum Patrum communis opinio angelos ante mundum corporeum exstitisse, nihil ei patrocinatur Apostolus hoc loco. Tantum enim dicit Deum promisisse vitam aeternam ante omnia tempora, fuisse autem aliqua tempora ante mundum corporeum non affirmat. Nam ita dictum est ante tempora saecularia, sicut ad Eph. 1. ante mundi constitutionem, et sicut Dominus ait Joan. 17. Priusquam mundus esset. Quae omnia tantum valent, ac si dicatur ab aeterno, propterea quod ante mundum creatum sola fuerit aeteraitas. Verumtamen in verbo promittendi, notanda est catachresis: nam ab aeterno proprie promitti nihil potuit, quando nullus erat, cui promitteretur. Sed quia promittentes constituunt dare, quod promittunt; hinc Apostolus abusus est. vocabulo promissionis pro decreto seu praedestinatione, ut sit sensus: Deum ab aeterno praeordinasse et constituisse dare electis vitam aeternam. Atque ea est expositio B. Augustini loco memorato. Quidam auctor promissionem accipit proprie, et hunc reddit sensum: Quam promisit ab antiquis temporibus, scilicet per Prophetas. Quomodo Zacharias dicit in cantico: Sicut locutus est per os Sanctorum, qui a saeculo sunt Prophetarum ejus. Vel, quam promisit ab initio saeculorum, scilicet in Paradiso, dicens ad serpentem: Semen mulieris conteret caput tuum. Verum hae expositiones coutorquent phrasim: ante tempora saecularia. Nostra vero proprie accipit atque eodem modo, quo accipitur in 2 Tim. 1.
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3. Manifestavit autem temporibus suis verbum suum. Temporibus suis, Graece propriis, id est huic negotio praescriptis, quam alibi vocat plenitudinem temporis, Gal. 4. et Eph. 1. Sunt autem hic et superius in Graeco diversa -vocabula, pro quibus nos tempora legimus: ypovoi et xaipol, quorum posterius proprie significat tempora rebus agendis opportuna seu deputata, quae nonnulli appellant momenta, ut interpres vulgatus 1 Thess. 5. et Act. 1. Verbum suum sive sermonem suum Hieronymus interpretatur Filium, qui est Verbum Patris. Hunc enim Pater manifestavit mundo per Apostolorum praedicationem. Graeci verbum Evangelii intelligunt. At contextus magis exigit, ut intelligatur verbum promittentis; ita tamen, ut metonymice significetur res promissa seu praedestinata, quasi dicat Apostolus: Quod ab aeterno Deus promisit, id nunc suo tempore manifestavit, scilicet vitam aeternam. Manifestavit autem non quidem statim exhibendo, sed palam praedicando. Unde sequitur:
In praedicatione } quae credita est mihi. Id est per praedicationem illius aeternae promissionis seu propositi divini, cujus praedicationis officium post alios Apostolos etiam mihi Paulo commissum est. Secundum praeceptum Salvatoris nostri Dei. Id est per delegationem mihi factam a Deo Salvatore nostro. De significatione Graeci vocabuli, quod modo praeceptum, modo imperium vertit interpres, diximus exponentes initium prioris ad Timotheum Epistolae. Ex quo etiam Apostoli loco, qui huic similis est, satis intelligitur de Deo Patre sermonem esse. Porro quod Apostolatum suum Paulus hoc longiori exordio tam accurate commendat, non id facit Titi causa, sed eorum, quibus ille erat praefectus. Cum enim inter eos multi essent Judaei, iidemque Judaicis fabulis ac traditionibus addicti, ipsique Paulo iniquiores: auctoritatem suam Apostolicam, qua illi reprimerentur atque in ordinem cogerentur, in primis asserendam sibi existimavit.
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4. Tito dilecto filio secundum communem fidem. Subaudi: scribit hanc Epistolam. Dilecto, Graece yvrpio), id est germano, \\t legit Ambrosianus; tametsi Hieronymus, in cujus textu legitur carissimo } putat vim Graeci vocabuli Latino sermone non posse explicari. Sed tamen eam prope explicant haec vocabula: vero, ingenuo, germano. Sentit Apostolus, Titum sibi in evangelico ministerio subsidiariam operam navasse, non serviliter, sed liberaliter atque ingenue, perinde ut filium patri. Addens autem: secundum communem fidem, significat eum in fide Christi, ejusque sincera praedicatione, nusquam discedere ab ipsius Pauli vestigiis: cujus rei testimonia sunt in 2. epist. ad Cor. Communem ergo fidem dicit suam et Titi, ut bene exponit Hieronymus, non autem communem omnibus fidelibus, quae commendatio nimium esset generalis. Conferenda est haec salutatio cum ea, quae pene eadem est ad Timotheum in prima Epistola, ubi dicit: Timotheo dilecto 3 sive germano filio in fide.
Gratia et pax a Deo Patre. Graece Gratia, misericordia, pax a Deo Patre. Et quidem Graecos interpretes Theophylactum et Oecumenium medio loco misericordiam legisse, probant eorum commentarii: verum Chrysostomus inter enarrandum miseiicordiae non meminit, sed tantum gratiae et pacis. Hieronymus et Ambrosianus, caeterique Latini misericordiam nec legunt, nec explicant. Constat, Origenem non legisse scribentem in epist. ad Rom. cap. 1. initio salutationis. Denique Syrus interpres non agnoscit. Quare verisimile est, ex duabus ad Timotheum epistolis, in quibus legitur, huc quoque translattim esse. Quid autem nomine gratiae et pacis in hujusmodi salutaticnibus significetur, satis in praecedentibus epistolis dictum est.
Et Christo Jesu Salvatore nostro. Graece atque Syriace: Et Domino Jesu Christo Salvatore nostro. Sic et Ambrosianus. Epithetum Salvatoris Christo addendum putavit Apostolus, quia Deo id paulo ante tribuerat, ut ex communicatione nominis Filius intelligereturnon inferior Patre. Quamquam aliter Christus Salvator ut Deus; aliter ut homo. Salutem enim, quam ut Deus principaliter operatur, ut homo jpromeritus est nobis sua passione. Unde et illi, nt homini, nomen Jesus, id est Salvator.
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5. Hujus rei gratia reliqui te Cretae. Orditur a narratione, qua Titum reddit memorem mandati, quod discedens ei dederat. Nonnulli propter id quod legunt, reliqui te Cretae, et non in Creta; dubitant, Creta civitatis nomen sit, an regionis. Verum absque dubio regionis, sive insulae nomen est, ac Graece legitur, in Creta, quemadmodum et Latinius vertunt neoterici.
Ut ea, quae desunt, corrigas. Vel, quemadmodum Hieronymus legit: ut ea, quae deerant, corrigeres. Quamquam idem admonet in Graeco verbum esse, quod significat supercorrigere. Cujus emphasim tam Graeci, quam ipse Hieronymus, accurate expendunt. Significat enim Apostolus, se multa correxisse, non omnia; sed et ea, quae correxit, exactiori lima opus habuisse: hujus autem negotii curam sese Tito demandasse. Sensum hunc clarius expressit Erasmi versio, quae sic habet: Ut ea quae desunt pergas corrigere. Quaeres cur non dicat Apostolus, ut ea, quae desunt, suppleas. Nam proprie quod deest, suppletur, non corrigitur. Respondeo cum Cajetano, Paulum, ea quae desunt intelligere, quae subterfugerant ipsius correctionem, id est quae corrigenda restabant. Non enim est Graece uaxspo jvxa, sicut alibi; neque uaxspTJuaia ut 1 Thess. 3., sed Xsircovxa. Quod propius expressit vetus illa versio, quae habebat, ut quae reliqua sunt corrigas; citante Hieronymo lib. 1. dial. contra Pelag. cap. 8. Rursum quaeres, cur non ipse Paulus opus suum absolverit, ne quid corrigendum Tito relinqueret. Primum respondeo, nullam ecclesiam ita constitui posse, quin semper aliquid restet corrigendum. Deinde, sicut ait Hieronymus, Apostolicae dignitatis erat, ecclesiarum jacere fr.ndamenta; moxque substitntis idoneis, qui superaedificarent, ad alias orbis partes evangelio Christi imbuendas properare. Sic 1 Cor. 3.: Secundum gratiam Dei, inquit, quae data est mihi, ut sapiens architectus fundamentum posui; alius autem superaedificat. Ubi gratiam intelligit Apostolici muneris.
Et constituas per civitates presbyteros. Graece xaxa rcoXiv, id est per singulas civitates. Erasmus vertit, oppidatim; sed minus recte. Primum, quia non omnino idem est oppidum et civitas, Graece tcomc: Concilia coetusque hominum jure sociati, quae civitates appellantur; ait Tullius in Somn. Scip. Deinde, quia oppidatim fieri dicitur, quod fit per varia oppida, etsi non per omnia, aut singula; sicut ostiatim, vicatim. Quare melius vertit Hentenius: Et constituas singulis civitatibus presbyteros. Presbyteros autem, Latine Seniores, intellige non aetate, sed ordinatione sacra. Tametsi Graecum vocabulum, ecclesiae consuetudine receptissimum, nobis retinendum est; maxime propter haereticos, qui libenter sub novis vocabulis confusionem introducunt. Quaeritur, quos dicat presbyteros: Num episcopos, an episcopis inferiores? Hanc quaestionem ipse Apostolus dissolvere videtur, quum seipsum interpretans paulo post subjicit: Oportet enim episcopum sine crimine esse. Nam ex conjunctione causali manifestum est, quod de eodem loquatur. Verumtamen adhuc quaeri potest, utrum episcopi et presbyteri nominibus significare velit eum, quem nunc presbyterum vocamus, uti nonnullis Catholicis visum est; an eum, quem episcopum. Respondeo, episcopi nomine tam hic quam in epist. 1 Tim. 3. (de utroque enim loco prorsus idem judicium est) ex omnium interpretum et Patrum sententia, significari eum, quem ecclesiae consuetudo episcopum vocat; hoc est, qui tam ordine quam jurisdictione caeteris, qui tantum presbyteri sunt, superior est: nec tamen inde consequens esse, ut nomen presbyteri, prout hic accipitur, idem omnino significet, quod episcopus: sed, ut etiam episcopo sit commune. Praecipit enim Apostolus, constitui per civitates presbyteros, qui iidem sint episcopi. Non ergo nomina idem significant, sed in eosdem cadunt, etsi non in omnes eosdem. Nam omnis episcopus presbyter est, non contra. Perpendatur caput 5. eccl. hier. apud R. Dionys. Quae consideratio servit etiam aliis scripturae locis intelligendis, in quibus presbyterorum, aut seniorum, aut majorum natu (quod in Graeco idem est) fit mentio. Loquitur enim interdum scriptura de presbyteris episcopis, interdum de presbyteris non episcopis. Monet ergo Titum Apostolus, ut per civitates constituat presbyteros episcopos, scilicet singulos persingulas; nondum de presbyteris qui non sintepiscopi solicitus: eo quod tunc plures haberi facile non possent, et unus, qui episcopus esset, cum adjuncto sibi diacono ad omne ecclesiasticum ministerium in illa adhuc fidelium paucitate sufficeret; quemadmodum exEpipbanio annotavimus ad illud 1 Tim. 3. Diaconos sitniliter pudicos. At dices: Creta centum habebat civitates, ut testantur veteres scriptores •, unde et ixaTO/x7roXic dicta fuit. Neque tamen ullo modo verisimile est, Titum uni Cretae insulae centum dedisse episcopos, praesertim iu tanta raritate ministrorum ecclesiae. Sed scieudnmimprimis, Paulum ecclesiastice loqui. Nunquam autem in ecclesia consuetudo fuit, ut omnia oppida, quantulacunque, proprios episcopos haberent; sed majora tantum et insigniora, quae et ecclesiastico more civitates vocabantur. Praeterea, de solis iis loquitur civitatibus, in quibus erant justo numero fideles, quibus opiscopus attribueretur. Cujusmodi civitates tunc adhuc paucas in ea insula fuisse existimandum est. Verum adversus ea, quae de presbyteri et episcopi discrimine diximus, objici solent, quae Hieronymus scribit tum in hujus loci comm, tum in epist. 85., quae est ad Evagrium, plane contendens, primis ecclesiae temporibus episcopum et presbyterum unum et eundem fuisse, idque ex hoc Apostoli loco et aliis, quae ibidem citat, manifesto constare. Postea vero, ad tollendas schismatum occasiones, in toto orbe decretum fuisse, ut unus de presbyteris electus, superponeretur caeteris, ad quem omnis ecclesiae cura pertineret. Ex quo subinfert, episcopos magis ex ecclesiae consuetudine, quam dispositionis dominicae veritate presbyteris esse majores. Similia transscripsit ex Hieronymo suis in commentariis Anselmus, vel quisquis auctor. Ad hanc objectionem quid respondendum nobis videatur, diximus in 4. Sent. dist. 24. etnunc breviter repetimus: Hieronymi sententiam esse, quod inter episcopum et presbyterum initio nascentis ecclesiae discrimen non apparuerit propterea, quod tam nomen episcopi (ut ipse quidem existimat propter verba Philip. 1.), quam ecclesiae regimen utrique quodammodo commune esset; communi enim, inquit, presbyterorum consilio ecclesiae gubernabantur: sed ad excludenda schismata factum, ut unus, caeteris praeponeretur; hoc est, praepositus esse agnosceretur. Non enim dicit, communi potestate, sed consilio presbyteros ecclesiam gubernasse. Erat ergo revera potestas penes unum, qui episcopus vocabatur, caeteris presbyteris usque adeo superior, ut eorum judicem fuisse declarent haec Apostoli verba 1 Tim. 5. Ad^ersus presbyterum accusationem noli recipere, nisi sub duobus aut tribus testibus et quae sequuntur. Hinc etiam praepositus vocabatur, ut Hebr. 13.: Mementote praepositorum vestrorum. Obedite praepositis vestris etc. Quod nomen permansit episcopis usque ad tempora Cypriani; imo et Hieronymus in hujus loci comm. utitur. Sed et Joannes singulis ecclesiis, ad quas scribit, singulus attribuit angeloe, id est eniscopos. Singulariter enim ei dicitur: Angelo Ephesi ecclesiae scribe, non angelis, et ita in aliis Igitur unus, quem angelum vocat et ad quem Joannes scrilere jubetur, caeteris ejusdem civitatis presbyteris cum potestate praeerat; idque tempore Apostolorum. Quare quod Hieronymus scribit, primis ecclesiae temporibus episcopum et presbyterum unum et eundem fuisse, ac postea in toto orbe fuisse decretum, ut unus de presbyteris electus praeponeretur caeteris; mihi videtur, ut pace tanti viri dixerim, nec scripturae sacrae, nec antiquitatis historiae consentaneum. Nam et scriptura Apostolica, ut ostensum est, agnoscit episcopum presbyteris majorem, et nulla exstat historia, sed nec ullus alius scriptor ecclesiasticus, qui mentionem faciat illius decreti, de quo loquitur Hieronyrous. Quod si hac in parte placet Hieronymo deferre: poterimus dicere, fuisse quidem, quamvis non ita conspicue, propter communem gubernationem. Illud quoque notandum in verbis Hieronymi, non eum negare, episcopos dispositione Dominica presbyteris esse majores: sed id esse dicit ex ecclesiae consuetudine magis, nuam dispositionis Dominicae veritate, quia nimirum ecclesiastica consuetudo, seu constitutio, ad eminentiam episcoporum multa adjecit; velut locum in ecclesia excelsiorem, quem Graeci ftpovov vocant et ornamenta peculiaria; item variarum rerum consecrationes; excepta tamen ordinatione et consignatione, quas ipsemet Hieronymus excipit; alteram in epistola ad Evagrium, alteram in dialogo contra Lucif. Additio. B. P. Non potuit B. Hieronymus ignorare, episcopum esse majorem aliis presbyteris tam jurisdictione quam ordine, jure etiam divino: sed oratorio more per quandam hyperbolen, ex certis causis, extollit presbyterorum dignitatem. Tn epist. quidem ad Evagrium, ut quorundam diaconorum arrogantiam comprimeret, qui sese presbyteris anteferebant vel anteferri patiebantur. Id Hieronymus perinde esse ait, ac si anteferantur episcopis, quid enim magnum habet episcopus prae presbyteris aliis; qui in re omnium maxima illi pares sunt, in potestate consecrandi corpus Domini? In Comment. autem hujus loci videtur hoc agere Hieronymus, ut quorundam episcoporum fastum deprimat, qui insolenter presbyteris dominabantur et injuste vinculum excommunicationis injiciebant. Credibile est, illum prae oculis habuisse Joannem Hierosolymae episcopum; de quo sciunt eruditi quantopere afflixerit Hieronymum et fratrem ejus Paulinianum, omnesque fautores eorum. Legantur apud Hieronymum epist. 60. 61. 62. Supra exEpiph. dictum est et res ipsa loquitur, quod tempore Apostolorum multae ecclesiae unicum haberent presbyterum, qui idem esset episcopus. Eae certe non regebantur communi presbyterorum consilio, quod ait Hieronymus. Obiter hoc loco notandum adversus nostrae aetatis sectarios, ex eo quod Tito praecipitur, ut presbyteros, sive episcopos per civitates constituat, satis ostendi, non ad saecularem magistratum aut principem pertinere, ut aut ordinet aut constituat ecclesiae ministros, sed ad ipsius ecclesiae praefectos, quales utique erant Titus et Timotheu?.
Sicut et ego disposui tibi. Graece et Syriace: Sicut ego tibi ordinaveram, sive praeceperam. Significat se ea per literas repetere de constituendis episcopis, quae coram praeceperat. Res enim tanti momenti diligenter erat inculcanda. Videtur autem adverbium sicut ad qualitatem pertinere, quasi dicat: Tales constitue episcopos quales praecepi. Id enim explicat sequentibus verbis.
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6. Si quis sine crimine est. Sicut in epist. 1. ad Tim. 3. recensuit notas episcopi constituendi, ita et hoc loco. Inter eas prima est, ut sit sine crimine, vel ut alii vertunt, inculpatus; tametsi Graeca vox non significat eum, in quo nihil omnino culpae resideat (sunt~enim multae leves culpae, sine quibus haec vitanon ducitur), sed qui sic vixerit, ut nullus eum merito possit in crimen vocare, qui-.que sit, ut vulgo dicitur, boni nominis et famae. Nam qui infamia notatus est, auctoritatem amisit; sine qua cum fructu praeesse non potest. Haec episcopi nota seu proprietas etiam in epist. ad Tim. primo loco posita est, quamvis 6ub alio vocabulo, quando dixit, oporlere Episcopum esse irreprehensibilem. Idem enim utrobique significatum est. Vide quae ibi dicta sunt ad vers. 2. et 10.
Unius uxoris vir. Quem dicat unius uxoris virum, late prosecuti sumus in comment. prioris epist. ad Tim., ubi refutatis aliis, partim haereticorum partim etiam Catholicorum quorundam expositionibus, ostendimus. hunc esse germanum Apostoli sensum, ut is intelligatur unius uxoris vir, qui, si uxorem habeat, aut habuerit, non tamen acceperit secundam, sed una contentus vixerit. Quem sensum non modo Hieronymus caeterique Latini tradiderunt; verum etiam probant, ac solum agnoscunt, in hunc locum scribentes auctores Graeci Chrysostomus, Theophylactus et Oecumenius. Quamquam ad probationem sufiicere poterat Ecclesiae Catholicae praxis perpetua; qua, propter hanc Apostoli legem, digamos, id est eos qui priore defuncta aliam duxissent uxorem, ab episcopatu repellit. Quae vero sit hujus praecepti ratio, moralis, anmystica, similiter a nobis explicatum est loco meniorato, ut non sit opus hic, eadem dicere.
Filios habens fideles. Non solum exigit, u t ipse episcopus expers sit criminis; verum etiam, ut filios habeat integritati paternae respondentes. Cujus praecepti rationem assignat in prima ad Timotheum dicens: Si quis domui suae praeesse nescit, quomodo Ecclesiae Dei diligentiam habebit? Primum autem est, ut ejus filii, si quos habet, fideles sint, id est Christi fidem professi. Nam quomodo externos ad fidem sua praedicatione adducet, qui ne domesticis quidem suis ac liberis potuerit fidem persuadere? Qua de re exstat canon Concilii Carthaginensis tertii, prohibens, ne quis episcopus, presbyter, aut diaconus ordinetur, priusquam omnes suos domesticos Christianos Catholicos fecerit.
Non in accusatione luxuriae. Ita ad verbum reddidit interpres, quod alii sic vertunt: Non obnoxios crimini luxus, id est qui de luxu non possint accussari. Luxus, seu luxuria, Graece docoxta, non in sola libidine carnis intelligitur, sed toti generi temperantiae opponitur; comprehendens ebrietates, comessationes, fornicationes, ac caeteras impudicitias; denique omnem immoderatum et inhonestum rerum usum.
Aut non subditos. Negatio repetenda est ex parte praecedenti. Quod ut commodius fiat, alii vertunt, aut intractabiles, sive immorigeros; sive quod legit Ambrosianus, inobsequentes. Graeca dictio significat eos, qui subjici nolunt, qui in ©rdinem cogi non possunt. Hanc quoque notam cum superiore posuit in Epistola ad Tim. ita scribens: Filios habentem subditos, cum omni castitate.
1:7
7. Oportet enim episcopum sine crimine esse. Ad qualitates ipsi Episcopo inhaerentes redit, ac repetit, quod primo loco dixerat, ut alia addat ejusdem generis. Simul declarat, se non de quibuscunque presbyteris, tametsi hoc nomine fuerat usus vers. 5., agere, sed de iis, qui sunt episcopi.
Sicut Dei dispensatorem. Hoc est, tanquam Dei vicarium ac ministrum in dispensationeEvangeliietsacramentorum. Sic nos, inquit, existimet homo, ut ministros Christi, et dispensatores mysteriorum Dei, 1 Cor. 4. Redundat autem infamia dispensatoris in Dominum ipsiusque dispensationis ministerium. Unde rursus ait 2 Cor. 6. Nemini dantes ullam offensionem; ut non vituperetur ministerium nostrum: sed in omnibus exhibeamus nosmetipsos sicut Dei ministros etc.
Non superbum. Hieronymus et Ambrosiauus legunt, nonprotervum. Erasmus et Hentenius vertunt, non praefractum, id est sui sensus ac judicii tenacem, qui ratione non dimoveatur ab eo, quod semel animo concepit. Quod vitium est hominis superbi sibique placentis: in Episcopo autem, qui omnibus omnia fieri debet, intolerabile. Non iracundum. Hoc quoque vitium vehementer Episcopum dedecet; quem oportet esse mansuetum ad omnes, et cum modestia\corripere eos, qui resistunt 2 Tim. 2. Non vinolentum, non percussorem. Haec duo eadem, eodemque ordine conjuncta habentur in priore ad Tim., de quibus satis eo loco dictum est.
Non turpis lucri cupidum. Hujus loco ad Timotheum dixit: non cupidum, sive non avarum: unde apparet, Apostolo eundem esse avarum, et turpis lucri cupidum. Quod quidem verissimum esse probat experientia. Nam homo avarus nihil pensi habet, unde et qua ex causa accipiat, tantum intentus, ut rem augeat. Hinc illud Satyricum: Unde habeas, quaerit nemo, sed oportet habere. Item: Lucri bonus est odor ex re qualibet. Erasmus vertendum putavit: Non turpiter lucro deditum. Sed cur ea versio nobis non probetur, rationem dedimus, exponentes illud de diaconis in prima ad Tim. cap. 3. Non turpe lucrum sectantes. Est enim idem in Graeco vocabulum. Eum ergo turpis lucri cupidum interpretamur, qui lucium captat undecunque, etiam repugnante honesti ratione. Hanc notam expendant parochi et episcoporum officiarii, quijurasua, quae vocant, ita severe exigunt, etiam a tenuioribus, ut remissioni nullus sit locus. Id autem si turpe judicatur in minoribus, quanto magis in Episcopo?
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8. Sed ho&pitalem, benignum. Hucusque vitia recensuit, quae abesse debent ab Episcopo; nunc adjicit virtutes ei necessarias, quae quidem bona ex parte vitiis illis opponuntur. De hospitalitate, quam in Episcopo commendat, in quo praecipue sita sit, diximus in prima ad Tim. Et eodem pertinet, quod nunc addit, benignum, Graece <piXaya$ov, id est amantem bonorum, scilicet hominum; ut intelligat Episcopus, non hoc a se exigi, ut malis et improbis hominibus, aut assentatoribus, mensam habeat expositam, sed ut consuetudine bonorum delectetur, eosque mensae suae adhibeat; idque juxta praeceptum Eccles. 12. Da bono, et non receperis peccatorem. Unde et laudatur a Possidio B. Augustini factum, qui disticho palam affixo profitebatur alienae famae detractores sua mensa esse indignos. Erasmus bonum ad res ipsas referre maluit; vertit enim, bonarum rerum studiosum. Idem sentire videtur Augustinus lib. 14. de civit. Dei cap. 7. ubi legit, amatorem boni. Sed multo probabilius est, ut ad personas referatur: sic enim melius cohaeret cum parte praecedenti, ut jam ostensum est; praesertim cum ita venustius in Graeco conjungantur <piX6£svov, cpiXaYaOov: quasi dicere velit Apostolus, amatorem hospitum, sed bonorum. Certe Graecum ayafroc usitatius de personis dicitur, quam de rebus. Porro idem est judicium de privativo vocabulo acptAayafroc, quo usus est Apostolus in 2 Tim. 3., ubi nos habemus, sine benignitate.
Sobrium. Multi vulgatae editionis codices legunt, prudentem, sobrium: sed plures, iique antiquiores et meliores, prudentem omittunt; adstipulante etiam Clementina editione. In Graeco tantum est ao)9pova_, quod dum alius prudentem, alius sobrium vertit, factum est improba quorundam diligentia, ut ambae versiones conjungerentur. Quod et accidit 1 Tim. 3. in vocabulis prudentem et pudicum, ex hac eadem Graeca dictione redditis; sicut eo loco monuimus. Caeterum Ambrosianus hic legit prudentem. Id vero Hieronymus reprehendit, substituens castum, seu pudicum. At Syrus interpres nostro consentiens eam dedit vocem, quae sobrium significat. Atque hoc nobis prae caeteris probatur, modo sobrium intelligas eum, qui rebus moderate utitur, atque in omni actione temperate se gerit. Quae virtus est Episcopo summopere necessaria. Vide quae de eadem voce diximus 1 Tim. 3.
Justum, sanctum. Justum, qui innocenter inter homines versetur. Sanctum, qui pure et incontaminate Deum colat. Has duas virtutes conjunxit in suo Cantico Zacharias. Graece est oaiov, non ayiov. Quae duo, teste Hieronymo, ita differunt, ut hoc significet purum a vitiis, illud insuper addat pietatem in Deum. Continentem, Graece syxpaTTj, quod alii vertunt temperantem. Hieronymus abstinentem legit; ut is significetur, qui cupiditates refraenat, eas potissimum, quae sunt a libidine et gula. Haec virtus in numero fructuum spiritus, quos ad Galatas S. Paulus enumerat, extrema est.
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9. Amplectentem eum, qui secundum doctrinam est, fidelem sermonem. Non satis est Episcopo, si inculpate vivat, nisi etiam doctus sit, et, quod praecipuum est Episcopi munus, alios docere possit. Id quidem ad Timotheum dixit uno verbo, doctorem; sed hic pluribus explicat. Ac sicut ibi doctorem intellexit, non cujuscunque scientiae, sed ejus, quae secundum pietatem sit; ita et hic doctrinam vult intelligi pietatis Christianae. Sic ad Rom 12. Qui docet, in doctrina. Graecum participium avIS^ojjisvov, quod noster interpres vertit amplectentem, proprie significat eum, qui adhaeret alicui rei, velut unguibus affixus, nec avelli se patitur. Unde textus Ambrosianus ita legit: Tenacem ejus sermonis, qui etc. Proinde sensus est: Oportere Episcopum esse talem, qui tenaciter ac mordicus adhaereat fideli sermoni, quo salutiferam doctrinam aliis tradat. Fidelem sermonem suo more vocat eum, qui est certae et exploratae veritatis; ut in utraque Epistola ad Tim.
Ut potens sit exhortari in doctrina sana. Graeca et Syra, suffragantibus Latinis quibusdam, conjunctionem interponunt: Lt potens sit et exhortari. Sensus est: Ad hoc volo Episcopum esse instructum verbo veritatis, ut non solum docere alios possit, verum etiam potens, hoc est, sufficiens et idoneus sit, qui exhortetur ad pietatem, et ad omne genus virtutis; idque per sanam, integram et incorruptam Evangelii doctrinam. Et eos, qui contradicunt, arguere. Id est, qui sanae doctrinae resistunt et obloquuntur, tum Scripturae testimoniis, tum firmis rationibus revincere. Hujusmodi contradictores maxime sunt haeretici, quales illo tempore erant Judaizantes. Hos enim notat in sequentibus. Jam ut in summam colligamus, quae praeter integritatem vitae Paulus in Episcopo requirit, ea sunt: Primum, ut sit doctus: secundum, ut doctrinam veritatis constanter teneat: tertium, ut doceat alios: quartum, ut idoneus sit ad exhortandum: quintum, ut etiam potens sit ad redarguendum contradicentes. Porro cum nemo dixerit, universa haec officia a quibuslibet exigi presbyteris; agnoscit enim Apostolus 1 T. 5. presbyteros bonos, nec tamen laborantes in verbo et doctrina: manifeste consequens fit, Episcopi nomine non posse hoc lcco quemvis presbyterum intelligi. Verumtamen, ne per hoc presbyterorum inscitiae patrocinari videamur: Hieronymi verbis admonemus, hunc locum adversus eos facere, qui inertiae se et otio et somno dantes, putant peccatum esse, si Scripturas legerint, et eos, qui in lege Domini meditantur die ac nocte, quasi garrulos iuutilesque contemnunt.
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10. Sunt enim multi inobedientes, vaniloqui, et seductores. Causam reddit, cur Episcopum velit esse potentem ad exhortandum et redarguendum, nominatim apud Cretenses. Ad eos enim peculiariter respicit, ut ex sequentibus patet. Est autem tacitus hic transitus ad haereticorum increpationem; adversum quos agit usque ad finem capitis. Sunt enim, inquit, inter illos multi inobedientes, hoc est, intractabiles, refractarii, quique Christianam disciplinam non ferant. Est enim idem in Graeco vocabulum, quod supra vertit: Non subditos; quomodo et hic legit Hieronymus. Item vaniloqui, Graece jJiaTatOAoyot, qui inania frivolaque loquuntur ac docent; qui fabnlosis narrationibus et doctrinis auditorem detinent. Denique seductores, Graece cppsvaTcaxat, hoc est, mentium deceptores, ut habet Hieronymi textus; id est, qui pravis opinionibus mentes hominum inficiunt, qui errores seminant inter fideles. Rem postea specialius explicat. Maxime, qui de circumcisione sunt. Id est Judaei. Nam et Creta multos habebat ex dispersione Judaeos. Unde Act. 2. inter caeteros, qui Hierosolymae erant die Pentecostes, Judaeos, etiam Cretes recensentur.
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11. Quos oportet redargui. Graeca sic sonant: Quibus oportet ora occludere aut obstruere. Atque ita Syrus interpretatur. Hieronymus sic legit: Quibus oportet silentium indici. Sed aliud est silentium indicere, quod est imperantis; aliud, redarguendo cuipiam os obstruere, quod officium hic ab Episcopo exigitur; juxta id quod supra dictum est, oportere episcopum esse talem, qui potens sit, eos, qui contradicunt, arguere, id est erroris convincere. Itaque sensum reddidit noster interpres. Quamvis enim haereticus etiam manifeste convictus obstrepere nunquam cesset, censetur tamen os ei obturatum, quando redargutus est, ut cum ratione non habeat amplius quod dicat.
Qui universas domos subvertunt. Graece totas. Rationem indicat, cur oporteat Episcopum adversus ejusmodi vel maxime vigilare, et intentum esse officio: quia non leve est, inquit, detrimentum, quod adferunt Ecclesiae. Non enim paucos aliquot fideles sua doctrina pervertunt, sed totas familias subvertunt, subtrahentes spiritualis aedificii fundamentum, quod est fides. Metaphora sumpta a domo materiali, quae subvertitur evulso fundamento. Docentes, quae non oportet. Plus intelligi vult quam dicit: nam sensus est, docentes falsa et noxia, quae faciunt ad subversionem fidei. Turpis lucri gratia. Significat, eos avaritia excaecatos falsa docere; dum quaestum existimant pietatem, ut ait 1 Tim. 6. Nam doctores, qui se ad quaestum componunt, facile persuadent, ea vera esse, et pietati consentanea, quae grata vident auditoribus, in quorum manus respiciunt.
1:12
12. Dixit quidam ex illis proprius ipsorum propheta. Pronomen illis, non Judaeos refert, sed Cretenses in genere; quanquam eorum multi erant Judaei, quo tempore Paulus haec scripsit: ut supra dictum est. Cretenses semper mendaces, malae bestiae, ventres pigri. Versus est hexameter in Graeco; quem simili versu Latino sic reddas, solo mutato numero: Res semper mendax, mala bestia, venter iners est. Falluntur autem, qui hunc versum Cal liraacho poetae tribuunt: nam is patria Cyrenensis fuit, non Cretensis: nec apud eum integer habetur hic versus, ut et B. Hier. notat Epist. 84., sed ex eo dumtaxat hemistichium illud: KpYJxs<; de! ^suoxal, inseruit hymno suo, quem scripsit in Jovem; coarguere volens Cretensium vanitatem, quod apud se esse dicerent Jovis sepulchrum; qui, ut ait, nunq uam molitur, sed semper vivit. Caeterum versus integer est apud Epimenidem Cretensem, Callimacho vetustiorem, in libro icepi xpijojJUOVj id est de oraculis. Unde etiam ratio colligi potest, cur eum Paulus prophetam vocet. Non enim, ut quidam volunt, propheta Paulo hic idem est, quod poeta, quasi loquatur ethnicorum more, qui poetas suos solent vates appellare, quod eos numine quodam agi censerent: nam alibi suo nomine poetas appellat, ut Act. 17. Sicut et quidam, inquit, vestrorum poetarum dixerunt: Ipsius enim et genus sumus. Sed prophetam vocat Epimenidem, quod de oraculis scripsisset et rerum arcanarum notitiam profiteretur. Unde Apulejus inclytum fatiloquum eum fuisse scribit, lib. 2. Floridorum. Neque tamen absolute eum prophetam dicit Apostolus, quem noverat a cultu veri Dei alienum; sed proprium ipsorum, id est Cretensium, prophetam. Quod ita videtur intelligendum: Vatem seu prophetam domesticum, et ab ipsismet Cretensibus pro tali habitum: cujus proinde testimonium adversus eos merito proferatur. Porro Cretenses adeo mendaces passim audierunt, ut locum dederint proverbio apud ethnicos ipsos: Cum Cretensibus cretizandum esse; quo significabant, adversus mendaces utendum mendacio. Malae bestiae vocantur, quod essent ad nocendum prompti,more hostiarum earum, quae ictu, morsuve venenum relinquunt. Hoc enim genus animalium Graeco nomine frvjpia proprie significatur; maxime si addatur epitheton xaxd, mala, tametsi non ignorem &7jpiov aliquando de jumento dici, ut Heb. 12. Et si bestia tetigerit montem, lapidabitur. Ob hujusmodi causas arbitror Cretenses vulgari dicterio fuisse inter tria cappa pessima recensitos hoc versu: KpTJxsc;, Konzizddox£<:, KiXtxsq^ zpia xaiiTtd xaxtoxa. Hoc est:
Cretes, Cappadoces, Cilices, tria pessima cappa. Denique ventres pigri sunt appellati, quod gulae et inerti otio essent dediti. Sunt, qui distinguant haec duo vocabula, sic ut tertio loco ventres; quarto, pigri vocentur: ventres a studio gulae et voluptatum corporis, pigri, ab ineitia. Nobis magis placet, ut conjungantur.
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13. Testimonium hoc verum est. Satis indicat, se non omnia illius poetae probare: non enim divina scribebat oracula, sed vel daemonum responsa, vel humana commenta. Hoc tamen, inquit, testimonium, quo suos insulares notat vanitatis, maleficentiae et inertis gulae, adeo verum est, ut oraculum videri possit. Noverat hoc Paulus experientia doctus, et fama publica: neque tamen desperabat apud eos Evangelii fructum, utpote confisus virtuti gratiae Dei per Christum, quem illis praedicabat. At neque ista scribens, maledicus est, aut contumeliosus in Cretenses; sed gentis ulcera commemorat medico, quem eis reliquerat, videlicet Tito, cui dixit: Hujus rei gratia reliqui te Cretae, ut ea quae desunt corrigas. Hoc enim e3t, quod jam sequitur.
Quam ob causam increpa illos dure. Graece, argue, redargue illos severiter, vel, ut Hieronymus legit, acriter, quasi dicat: Ne eis parcas, ne dissimules. Adverbium aTCOTOjiojc;, quo utitur etiam 2 Cor. ult, ubi nos habemus: ut non praesens durius agam, sumptum videtur a medicis, aut chirurgis, qui carnem emortuam, aut putrescentem ad vivum resecant. Hinc est, quod quidam neotericus opinatur hic praecipi Tito, ut excommunicationis gladio eos, de quibus loquitur, abscindat a reliquo corpore. Quo sensu dictum ostendimus illud ad Gal. 5. Utinam et abscindantur, qui vos conturbant. Verum hoc, etsi de loco memorato ad Cor. probabiliter dici queat, huic tamen loco non convenit, ubi generatim agitur de vitiis gentis increpatione corrigendis. Itaque sensus est: Quum tales sint, tu eos ita redargue rationibus e verbo Dei petitis, ut ulcera eorum ferro increpationis tangas, et quod vitiosum est, ad vivum reseces. Hanc enim vim habet adverbium Graecum, etiam apud profanos auctores. Loquitur autem Apostolus de fidelibus, in quibus adhuc haerebant prioris conversationis vitia. Sed hic duplex occurrit dubitatio: Una, quomodo mandet Tito, ut dure Cretenses increpet, cum in 2. ad Tim. 3. velit, servum Domini mansuetum esse ad omnes, et cum modestia corripere etiam eos, qui resistunt? Altera: Quomodo praecipit eos hic dure increpari, qui cibos aliquos velut ex lege immundos rejiciebant; nam et de iis Apostolum loqui sequentia probant: cum Rom. 14. tales jubeat velut infirmos tolerari. Ad priorem dubitationem respondeo, debere quidem episcopum esse mansuetum ad omnes, quoad animi praeparationem; non semper tamen utendum mansuetudine, sed interdum severitate, quemadmodum suo loco explicatum est. Unde ipse Apostolus 1 Cor. 4. Quid vultis? inquit, in virga veniam ad vos, an in charitate et spiritu mansuetudinis? Neque vero cum dicit: Jncrepa illos dure, lenitatem correptionis excludit, sicubi magis profutura videatur. Ad alteram respondetur, Apostolum ad Romanos scribentem agere de infirmis in fide, quia a paterna consuetudine non ita statim avocari poterant, quos proinde vult ad tempus tolerari, donec perfectius instituantur: hic autem agit adversus obstinatos quosdam et indociles, qui non contenti privata observatione discriminis ciborum aliarumque legis ceremoniarum, etiam gentilibus, ad quos lex Mosaica nihil pertinebat, easdem observantias imponere et persuadere nitebantur; idque adeo cum opinione, quod cibi lege quondam vetiti per se essent immundi. Quae doctrina plane erat perniciosa. Unde et hic ab Apostolo vocati sunt seductores seu mentium deceptores. Quanquam et illos taxat Apostolus, qui talibus magistris temere credebant. Sed de hac re plura diximus in comm. epist. ad Rom. ad illud cap. 14. Unusquisque in suo sensu abundet.
Ut sani sint in fide. Id est, ut integritatem doctrinae Christianae conservent, ac quidquid ei contrarium suggeritur, respuant. Sanitatem Apostolus modo ad doctrinam, modo ad animum refert translatione quadam, qua sanum id dicitur, quod sincerum et incorruptum est, ac vitii expers.
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14. Non intendentes Judaicis fabulis. Graece non attendentes, uti legunt Hieronymus et Ambrosianus. Sensus enim est: Ne seductoribus illis Judaeis, de quibus supra, fabulas suas Judaicas venditantibus aurem praebeant. Quas autem vocet fabulas Judaicas hoc loco non omnino certum est. Chrysostomus ceremonialia legis Mosaicae significari putat, quatenus post Christum observanda proponuntur tanquam ad salutem necessaria, sicut isti Judaizantium magistri faciebant. Sed durum videtur, ut legem divinam, quatenus ceremonialia complectitur, Apostolus contemptibili nomine fabulas vocet. Alii de traditionibus seu praeceptis Pharisaicis interpretantur. Sed de his agitur in parte sequenti. Quare verisimilius est, hic intelligi fabulosas narrationes a Rabbinis Judaeorum excogitatas et auditoribus tradi solitas pro vera historia, quasi ad intelligentiam Scripturarum necessaria. De quibus etiam interpretati sumus illum locum 1 Tim. 1. Neque intenderent fabulis. Ab his avocandi erant fideles \ primum, ne assuescerent fabulis aures accommodare, praesertim in rebus sacris, deinde quia sub cortice fabularum non raro latebat impietas.
Et mandatis hominum aversantium se a veritate. Graece et Syriace: aversantium veritatem, quod et Latinius dicitur et significantius. Alioqui dicendum erat: avertentium se a veritate. Scriptura quoties de mandatis et traditionibus hominum in malam partem loquitur, ea semper intelligit, quae sic ab hominibus instituta sunt aut praecepta, ut aut omnino nihil ad pietatem conducant aut etiam pietati ac legi Dei repugnent. Utriusque generis exempla referuntur Matth. 15. et 23. et Marc. 7. Prioris quidem generis, lotiones multae supervacaneae: posterioris vero, Corban et juramenta per templum et altare. Vocantur autem hominum mandata, quod ab humano sensu ac spiritu profecta sint; quatenus scilicet homo a se ipso movetur, et non a Deo. Qua ratione etiam illud ab Apostolo dictum est 1 Cor. 3. Nonne homines estis? Huc ergo pertinent Deuteroses, quas vocant, et Thalmudicae traditiones a Rabbinis Hebraeorum etiam post Apostolorum tempora excogitatae, ineptiarum et impietatis plenae. At vero nimis impudenter hunc locum detorquent haeretici contra constitutiones ecclesiasticas et pontificias, quasi sint, juxta lucutionem Scripturae, hominum mandata ac non potius Dei, qui dedit potestatem talem hominibus, Christo ad eos dicente: Qui vos audit, me audit Luc. 10., quemadmodum plenius a nobis declaratum est ad illud Col. 2. Secundum praecepta et doctrinas hominum. Quanquam hoc loco Paulus manifeste seipsum explicat. Non enim simpliciter dicit: Mandatis hominum, sed addit aversantium veritatem, scilicet evangelicam, quae (inter caetera) docet id, quod sequitur:
1:15
15. Omnia munda mundis. Innuit hac parte, quonam potissimum respexerit, loquens de mandatis hominum, videlicet ad ea, quibas multarum rerum, tanquam immundarum, vel esus, vel contactus prohibebatur. Cujusmodi praecepta notat Col. 2. Ne tetigeritis, neque gustaveritis, neque contrectaveritis. Qui locus cum isto conferendus est. Sciendum est enim, eos, contra quos tam hoc loco, quam ad Col. agit Apostolus, non solum voluisse legalia, quae a Mose tradita erant, imponere gentilibus ad Christum conversis; verum etiam multa alia adjecisse observanda, quae ex majorum traditione acceperant, maxime circa cibos usumquo rerum. Insuper autem docuisse, quidquid seu lege seu traditione vitandum praecipitur velut immundum, id sua natura tale esse, ut immundum reddat hominem edentem, tangentem, utentem. Itaque duplici nomine tradebant hominum mandata. Primum, quod legi divinae praeceptiones adjungerent a so adinventas atque a spiritu Dei alienas. Deinde quod immunditiam legalem in Dei injuriam prave interpretarentur, quasi per seipsum, ut loquitur Apostolus Rom. 14., aliquid esset commune et immundum. Igitur adversus hujusmodi mandata hominum dicit: Omnia munda mundis, ac si dicat: In creaturis Dei nihil est ex se immundum, sed omnia munda sunt mundis, hoc est, bene et sancte utentibus. Jam autem, ut bene rebus utantur homines, imprimis opus est fide, qua credant omnia esse munda. Nam in lege quidem veteri multa prohibebantur velut immunda, sed significatione, non natura; quemadmodum hunc locum tractans explicat Augustinus lib. 31. contra Faustum cap. 4. Propter quam causam Israelitis, tanquam figurativo populo, talium rerum esus aut contactus erat illicitus, non autem gentilibus. Unde in Levitico non simpliciter immunda vocantur, sed passim dicitur: Hoc aut illud immundum erit vobis, id est, propter immunditiae significationem vobis prohibitum. Ex his igitur facile est, hodiernis sectariis respondere, dum ex hoc loco calumniam faciunt Ecclesiae Christi, propterea quod ciborum quorumdam abstinentiam fidelibus interdum indicat. Non enim id facit errore Judaizantium aut haereticorum, qui cibos aliquos dixerunt immundos, sed ut per hujusmodi abstinentiam fideles Deo pro peccatis satisfaciant, carnis lasciviam doment, mentemque promptius in Deum elevent. Sed replicat Calvinus, Aposlolum non alio sensu cibos omnes puros vocare, nisi quia liber omnium usus est, quoad conscientiam, quod non erat tempore veteris legis propter prohibitionem divinam. Resp. Si vera sunt, quae dicit Calvinus: graviter ergo libertatem Christianam laeserunt Apostoli, quando Act. 15. gentilibus injunxerunt abstinentiam a suffocatis et sanguine. Rursum, si vera dicit, igitur tempore veteris testamenti dici non poterat: Omnia munda mundis, ac ne quidem post adventum Christi, usque ad ejus passionem. Quod quam falso et impie dicatur, ipse Christus ostendit, qui urgente adhuc lege dixit: Non quod intrat in os, coinquinat hominem, sed quae de corde procedunt. Matth. 15. Hoc autem, quid aliud est dicere, quam: Omnia munda mundis, et quod sequitur. Manet ergo ratio, quam diximus, et quam ipse etiam Apostolus alibi manifestius asserit, dicens: Omnem creaturam Dei bonam esse, 1 Tim. 4. Et cum ait Rom. 14. se scire ac certo persuasura esse, quod nihil per seipsum commune sit; nisi ei, qui existimat, quid commune esse, illi commune est. Unde et hic consequenter dicit:
Coinquinatis autem et infidelibus nihil est mundum. Hanc sententiam nonnulli ita generaliter acceperunt, ut ex ea colligerent, nec eleemosynam, nec ullum aliud opus hominis infidelis mundum esse, sed peccatum quidquid ab eo fieret. Verum hoc pacto etiam contra sequeretur, omnia fidelium et justorum opera munda esse, quoniam hoc praecessit: Omnia munda mundis, eritque falsum: Non est justus in terra, qui non peccet, Eccles. 7. Igitur Cajetanus et alii haec absurda fugere volentes, dixerunt, Apostoli sermonem esse formalem, de coinquinatis scilicet et infidelibus quatenus tales sunt. Nam ex infidelitate et mente inquinata nulla potest actio munda procedere, sed quaecunque procedit, immunda est impuritate peccati. Hic sensus etsi verus est, non tamen hic ab Apostolo spectatus. Non enim de actionibus loquitur, sed de rebus. Quare dicendum est, Apostolum, sicuti dixit: Omnia esse munda mundis, id est, fideliter ac bene utentibus, sic et e diverso pronuntiare, quod coinquinatis et infidelibus, id est iis, qui per immunditiam cordis aut per infidelitatem Dei creaturis vel abutuntur, vel quasi essent impurae, non utuntur; nihil esse mundum, sed omnia immunda. Non quod creatura Dei veram contrahat immunditiam per malum usum aut falsam opinionem hominum, sed partim quia conscientia hominis existimantis aliquid immundum esse facit, ut quamdiu ea conscientia ipse laborat, ea re sine peccato uti nequeat; non secus ac si res vere immunda esset; quomodo Rom. 14. ab eodem Apostolo dictum est, ei, qui existimat aliquid commune esse, 111 i esse commune, unde et ibidem generaliter concludit: Omne, quod non est ex fide, peccatum est: partim vero, quia sicut res simpliciter bona fit mala male utenti; ita res simpliciter munda fieri dicitur immunda abutenti per cordis immunditiam. In hunc fere sensum Apostoli verba tractat Augustinus loco memor. contra Faustum, ubi etiam ostendit, ea praecipue quadrare in Manichaeos, quibus, inquit, omnino nihil est mundum, quia scilicet docebant, omnes cibos propter mali principii commixtionem esse immundos. Confirmat eundem sensum id, quod sequitur:
Sed inquinatae sunt eorum et mens et conscientia. Haec adversativa continet in se causam partis superioris; estque sententia sic explicanda: Coinquinatis et infidelibus nihil est purum, sed omnia impura, quia nimirum inquinata est eorum mens et conscientia; mens, quia per errorem res per se mundas judicant esse immundas; conscientia vero, qua errante seipsos ad opus applicant in utramvis partem. Nam qui persuasus est verbi gratia, suillam esse immundam, sive comedat sive abstineat, peccat. Comedit enim, contra conscientiam mentisque suae dictamen; abstinet autem, contra fidei veritatem. Ita conscientiam hic interpretatur Cajetanus. Alii conscientiam accipiunt pro animo sibi conscio. Sic enim accipitur aliquoties in utraque ad Timoth. epist. Ita sensus erit, inquinatam esse eorum conscientiam, quia sibi multorum scelerum conscii sunt. Huic intellectui congruunt sequentia:
1:16
16. Confitentur se nosse Deum, factis autem negant. Id est, profitentur unius veri Dei notitiam et cultum; sed quem ore confitentur, factis negant, quia facta professioni nequaquam respondent, utpote praeceptis Dei, cujus notitiam jactant, omnino contraria. Manifeste notatur Judaeorum hypocrisis, qui cum veri Dei notitiam sibi peculiariter prae omnibus gentibus vendiearent, et sanctitatem Deo dignam promitterent; rebus tamen ipsis nihil minus exhiberent. Loca similia sunt Rom. 2. et Jac. 2.
Cum sint abominati et incredibiles. Graece: Cum sint abominabiles et impersuasibiles. Hieronymus et Arabrosianus legunt, execrabiles et inobedientes. Vocat eos Paulus abominabiles, propter vitae morumque impuritatem; impersuasibiles autem, hoc est pervicaces, nec ullam admittentes rationem, qua possit eis veritas persuaderi. Non solum ergo Deum negabant moribus legi divinae contrariis, verum etiam pervicacia non credendi verbo ejus, quem nosse se gloriabantur.
Et ad omne opus bonum reprobi. Hanc quoque partem ita generaliter interpretati sunt quidam, ut ex ea consequens sit, infideles nihil vel moraliter bonum agere posse. Verum multo rectius alii bonum opus intelligunt, quomodo Scriptura de bonis operibus loquitur, id est, opus verae pietatis, cujus fnndamentura est fides. Ad omne enim hujusmodi bonum opus hi, contra quos agit Apostolus, erant reprobi, propterea quod doctrinae sanae pertinaciter resisterent; in eo maxime, quod ex lege Mosaica justitiam quaerentes, gratiam Christi respuerent, ejus nimirum, qui dixit: Sine me nihil potestis facere, Joan. 15. Est quidem omnibus infidelibuset Christi gratiam ignorantibus commune, quod juxta hunc sensum sint ad omne bonum opus inepti; quemadmodum aperte testatur Apostolus Rom. 3. adscribens eis illud Davidicum: Omnes declinaverunt, simul inutiles facti sunt. Non est, qui faciat bonum, non est usque ad unum. Sed istis Judaizantium magistris hoc attribuit peculiare, quod ad omne opus bonum reprobi sint ac rejectitii, id est, merito suae obstinationis, qua nullam admittunt fidei persuasionem, ita derelicti a Deo, ut quasi desperata sit eorum conversio, qua ad opera verae pietatis proficiant. Quanquam id ipsum et de aliis haereticis obstinatioribus vere dici potest. Quod si generatim de opere moraliter bono quis malit Apostolum intelJigere; sensus erit: Illos sanae doctrinae adversarios adeo mente corruptos esse, ut vix quicquam boni operis ab eis, dum tales sunt, exspectari possit. Sed et hoc de plerisque haereticis veritatem habet.
1:1
Servant of the Servants of God (Iulius of the Iulii of God)
The use of the formula of devotion or humility Servus Dei or Jesu, Jesu Christi, Ἰούλιος Θεοῦ ὁ Χριστοῦ, Ἰεσοῦ Χριστοῦ in the "intitulatio" of letters goes back to the Apostles: Paul (Rom. 1, 1; Tit. 1, 1), Peter (II Pt. 1, 1), James (1, 1) and Jude (1, 1) used it, and their example was then followed by others, as, to recall only a few examples, by the Christians of Vienne and Lyons, …
1:4
… He appears for the first time with Paul and Barnabas on their way to Jerusalem for the Council of the Apostles (around 49-59): the presence of an exemplary Christian, converted from paganism (perhaps by Paul himself, who calls him "son": Tit. 1:4) and uncircumcised, was the living expression of the Gospel free from the Law (Gal. 2:1, 3). He was again with Paul at Ephesus (54-58), together with Timothy and others, though it …
1:5
"unius uxoris vir" (Tit. 1:5-6), an expression that must be understood in the sense of a prohibition placed upon those who have entered into marriage two or more times before acceding to the sacred Orders, and …
… St. Paul himself states generically: et constitutus per civitates presbyteros (Tit. 1:5). The reasons subsequently adduced for inamovibility were the indissoluble bond of spiritual marriage that was contracted between the Church and the holder (cf. Gregory of Nyssa, Oratio …
5) The Apostles, moreover, appear fully aware of their infallibility (Acts 5:32; 15:28) and transmit their powers to their successors (I Tim. 4:11-16; II Tim. 2:2; Tit. 1:5) according to a law of succession clearly attested by St. Clement of Rome (Cor., 44, 1) and already contemplated in the promises of Jesus.
… widowhood as a more perfect state of life, he does not impose it (1 Cor. 7:8); indeed, to young widows he advises marriage again (1 Tim. 5:14). And only in the candidate for the episcopate does he require, for various reasons, that he be "unius uxoris vir" (Tit. 1:5-7; 1 Tim. 3:3).
… (ibid. 6:1-7), commonly regarded as deacons (cf. S. Bihel, De septem diaconis, in Antonianum, 3 [1928], pp. 129-50). In the Churches founded by St. Paul, deacons are mentioned (Phil. 1:1; I Tim. 3:8), and presbyters (Acts 14:22; 20:17; I Tim. 5:17, 19; Tit. 1:5), to whom the title of bishops is indiscriminately given (Acts 20:28; Tit. 1:7). Even taking into account the heated controversy over whether or not true bishops existed in the Pauline …
… (Acts 11:30; 15:2, 4, 6, 22, 23; 16:4; 21:18). In the Churches founded by St. Paul a college of presbyters is regularly established by the Apostle himself for the spiritual government of the Christian community (Acts 14:22; 20:17; 1 Tim. 5:17; Tit. 1:5). Since St. Paul also gives them the name of ἐπίσκοποι (Acts 20:28; Tit. 1:7), from the earliest centuries there has been lively discussion about the distinction, in the apostolic …
(Rom. 1, 1; Gal. 1, 15), like the p. of Israel; they were established in every city (Tit. 1, 5); they are probably identified with
1:6
… the Fathers and other authors practical solutions which necessarily presuppose the implicit use of such principles (cf. Lactantius, De divin. ist., 3, 27; St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Oratio 37, In sancta lumina, 18 ff.; St. Jerome, Tim., 3, 2; Tit. 1, 6; Apol. adv. Rufin. 1, 32; St. Augustine, Contra Faustum, 22, 75; De fide et operibus, 10, 35). As for the theologians of the Middle Ages, it should be observed that their t., …
1:7
… ambassadors (II Mach. 1, 46), and God himself (Iob. 20, 20; Sap. 1, 6). In the New Testament the word ἐπίσκοπος is used only five times, four of which designate the superiors of the Christian community (Act. 20, 28; Phil. 1, 1; I Tim. 3, 4; Tit. 1, 7), and one signifies Jesus Christ (I Pt. 2, 25: «episcopus animarum nostrarum»). …
… Antonianum, 3 [1928], pp. 129-50). In the Churches founded by St. Paul, deacons are mentioned (Phil. 1:1; I Tim. 3:8), and presbyters (Acts 14:22; 20:17; I Tim. 5:17, 19; Tit. 1:5), to whom the title of bishops is indiscriminately given (Acts 20:28; Tit. 1:7). Even taking into account the heated controversy over whether or not true bishops existed in the Pauline Churches while the Apostle was still alive (cf. A. M. Vellico, De Ecclesia …
… Paul a college of presbyters is regularly established by the Apostle himself for the spiritual government of the Christian community (Acts 14:22; 20:17; 1 Tim. 5:17; Tit. 1:5). Since St. Paul also gives them the name of ἐπίσκοποι (Acts 20:28; Tit. 1:7), from the earliest centuries there has been lively discussion about the distinction, in the apostolic age, of the two grades (cf. L. Marchal, Evêque, in DBs, II, coll. 1298-1318). …
1:8
… praised the Christian Gaius for the hospitality he gave to pilgrims and concluded: "We therefore ought to welcome such men, to cooperate with the truth" (III Io. 5-8). Bishops, deacons and widows were to attend to this work (cf. I Tim. 3, 2; 5, 10; Tit. 1, 8); indeed this office was later to be particularly reserved to deacons, entrusted as they were with the administration of the Church's goods and of the faithful's offerings. …
1:9
… Likewise the Didaché or "Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles" (which is not to be identified with the "doctrine of the Apostles," Acts 2:42; cf. Tit. 1:9), a precious document of the sub-apostolic age, is a vestige of the moral catechesis of the Apostles, especially in its first part (chaps. 1-6), which under the form of the "two ways" …
1:12
St. Paul, speaking of the Cretans, seems to quote a verse of E. in these terms: "One of them, a prophet of their own, said: Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies" (Tit. 1:12). St. John Chrysostom declares that the verse is by E. (In Tit., 1, 12: PG 62, 575); St. Jerome adds the title of the work of E. cited: Liber oraecularum (PL 26, 571 ff.). …
… approved when a small part of it is found to be approved (In Tit., 1, 12: PL 26, 571). Other solutions are given to the question: it is pointed out that the term "prophet" can be used in an improper sense: thus Epimenides (v.) is called such by St. Paul in Tit. 1, 12; the verb "to prophesy" among the Jewish apocalyptic writers known to J. and to his Jewish readers often meant "to compose fictitious visions, attributed to famous ancient personages." …
… In the Pastorals St. Paul displays a literary culture more [developed] than in the other epistles, and in this one too the citation of various sources is noticeable. Tit. 1, 12 ff. cites, with approval, a verse of the Cretan poet Epimenides (6th century B.C.), whom it calls a "prophet" perhaps because his countrymen regarded him as such (Cicero, Divin., I, …
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Rheims 1582), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.