Commentary on 1 Timothy (complete)

"But a bishop must be blameless." It is clear that in saying "blameless" he did not speak with an eye to the aim of slanderers, but looking to the man's life; for not even Paul himself could escape the accusation of slanderers.

"The husband of one wife." Some have understood this in different ways. But that which is supposedly observed by most people is ridiculous. For if someone living chastely has taken a second wife, they do not receive such a man into the clergy; but if someone living licentiously has lawfully taken one wife, he is both received into the clergy and promoted, and that although blessed Paul has plainly allowed that second marriages may take place, while every intercourse had outside lawful marriage is plainly sexual immorality.

And for the moment I pass over the fact that they baptize men who have openly taken two lawful wives and promote them into the clergy without distinction, and that although they are thought to observe this rule in other cases; as though baptism made a man not to have had two wives. And they often do the same with men of depraved will, thinking they do excellently if, having baptized a man who has lived a licentious life, they promote him to the service of the clergy, though he appears never to have been endowed with any diligence in virtue or piety.

To pass over in silence the purpose for which baptism is given, a consideration into which most people do not even wish to look, they ought at least to have known this: that blessed Paul is discussing the life according to which (as he also holds) a bishop must have lived, not the forgiveness of sins that comes by grace to those who have received baptism. If they think it best that this be done so, all Paul's legislation is superfluous, since the matter would admit a man who has lived in any way whatever to be baptized and at once promoted into the clergy; and this Paul has indeed rejected. For he wants the man who is brought into the episcopate to be seen to have a testimony of his goodness from his past life: one who has either clung to the pursuit of virtue through the whole time of his life, or at least has shown, through repentance, that he has passed from a worse life to a better state. This we shall be able to understand still better from what follows.

This is also done at present by very many, who do it as though they were doing some great good. So then, as to his saying "the husband of one wife," some have understood it in this way, which I too accept as the truer view: that at that time there were many who had two lawful wives at the same time, which it was also their lot to do freely under the law of Moses. And many, though they had one lawful wife, were not content with her, but had intercourse with others as well, whether their own slave women or other women, giving themselves wholly to lust; which is done even to the present by those who will apply no care to chastity.

So they say that Paul said this, so that the man promoted to the episcopate should be one of this kind: one who, having taken a wife, lived chastely with her, content with her alone, and restraining the impulse of nature at her. If a man living so has lawfully taken a second wife after the loss of the first, and has persisted in living with her in the same way, he ought not, according to Paul's definition, to be prevented from passing to the episcopate. Some have said that this was both defined and laid down by blessed Paul; their statement I strongly reject, nor am I persuaded by them that he who likewise commands second marriages would forbid the man who, after the loss of the first, takes a second wife in due order to be promoted to the episcopate.

For he who said, "But I say to the unmarried and to widows," and, joining both together, was seen to bring out one law for both, clearly thought that the two were one. For what difference does it make, as regards the impulse of nature, never to have had a wife at all, or to have had one and lost her and not have her? For a consideration of this kind rests on what happens rather than looking to the intention. The man who has had a wife living with him for a long time has certainly enjoyed her as much as he wished; but he who lost her after a short time necessarily comes to a second marriage. These things happen by chance rather than by the direction of the will; and blessed Paul, examining these things fully, declared that the man promoted to the episcopate above all must be known from such a life.

For it is also ridiculous that blessed Paul should lay down a law that does not test the will or the intention, but makes the distinction from what happens and from chance. But if someone says that the apostle, caring little about what happens and about chance, wished with great care and exactness to lay down concerning bishops that they must have been joined to one wife only, let them hear that by this reasoning he would not rightly allow such a man to be promoted even after baptism. For baptism does not make him not to have been joined to two wives, nor does it make him be thought by all to be a man who has had one wife; and much more, by that reasoning, the man who has one lawful wife but has lived licentiously and had intercourse with many others, and has been shown to have been of such a life, ought not to be promoted to the episcopate, even though, as they say, he has received baptism.

For if a man who has been lawfully joined to two wives, and by the intention of his will has lived chastely with them, ought not to be received into the episcopate on account of strictness of life, much more is it unfitting that a man who has lived licentiously should be promoted to it on the ground that he has received baptism. This is enough said about his saying "the husband of one wife," whose interpretation we have been compelled by necessity itself to state more plainly, disregarding that custom which seems to be held among most people. For we shall show the apostle's meaning fully in what follows from his own words, above all by testing what is said; for the principle of virtue and fairness demands that whoever speaks on such a matter should not put custom before fairness, but should examine Paul's laws, and should ascribe to God what is fitting to ascribe to him, who always judges all things with justice and not by chance or accident, but knows how to judge each one according to the intention and will of men.

For the things that belong to baptism also often happen by chance. One man has received the grace of baptism in infancy, because of illness or on some other occasion; another after a long old age, who lived licentiously through the whole time of his life and received the grace of baptism at the time of death. The one who received baptism from infancy applied very great diligence to the virtues, but also, being human, did some wrong, and, as tends to happen, even fell into grave sin, slipping through weakness rather than through the disposition of the soul. It will be worth laughing at if this man is harmed by chance, gaining no benefit from his diligence in good things because he received the grace of baptism in infancy, while the other, although he has suffered nothing for the things in which he sinned, is still to appear glorious in the life to come, and that though he had no diligence in goodness, because it so happened that he received baptism at the end of his life.

But these things are understood in this way by those who do not know the reason for which baptism is given. Nor did they wish to examine the divine Scriptures, from which they could have learned that the gift of baptism did not help Simon at all because of the depravity of his intention, since the Holy Spirit did not rest on him; while to the thief it was no hindrance to passing into the dwelling of paradise, because of the virtue of his intention, although he had not received baptism. I say these things not to destroy baptism, but because of those who, under the pretext of baptism, try to bring great carelessness about the judgment of the just God. For baptism is great, because it contains the bounty of such great goods; and the intention of each one is necessarily judged by the Lord God, from whom above all the gift of baptism can bring great benefit to those who receive it. Not the nature of the water, but the faith of those who receive it, draws the perfect liberality of God into baptism.