Commentary on 2 Timothy

Theodore of Mopsuestia (350–428)

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

The "deposit" is the pledge of the Spirit given to Paul that he may be preserved.

Some were teaching that it was merely the "assumed body" which came from the seed of David. Paul taught this to combat Simon's Docetic heresy, by which the resurrection is emptied of meaning.

Paul's intent here is to urge Timothy to teach with a correct purpose, so that the word is not undermined.

The heretical teaching about the resurrection is that it happens in the process of natural procreation, by which our children succeed us.

Here the house is the church, where different persons are not at all equal, yet each serves his or her use.

A great deal of foolishness has been written about how Paul could have known the names of these two men who resisted Moses. Particularly absurd is the notion that he had access to some information or writing now lost to us.

The growth that the heretics enjoy will only be in numbers, not in depth or substance.

See also

• More works by Theodore of Mopsuestia

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