提摩太前書講道集 第 12 章

'Now the Spirit saith expressly, that in later times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons; through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies, seared in their own conscience; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by them that believe and know the truth.'

'For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it be received with thanksgiving;'

'for it is sanctified through the word of God and prayer.'

Just as those who hold fast to the faith are steadied upon a secure anchor, so those who have fallen away from it can nowhere stand firm, but wandering about into many errors, up and down, are at last carried into the very pits of destruction.

This he had already made clear when he said that some had already made shipwreck concerning the faith.

'Now the Spirit saith expressly, that in later times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits.'

It is concerning the Manichaeans, and the Encratites, and the Marcionists, and their whole workshop, that he says such things: that in later times some shall depart from the faith.

Dost thou see that the cause of all the evils that follow is the departing from the faith? And what is the meaning of 'expressly'? Openly, plainly, avowedly, so as to leave no room for doubt.

'Marvel not,' he says, 'if now certain persons, having departed from the faith, still Judaize;'

there shall be a time when those very persons who have partaken of the faith shall do this in a yet more grievous manner—not stopping at meats, but reaching even to marriages and all such things, introducing their destructive counsel.

It is not concerning the Jews that he says these things;

for how could 'in later times' and 'some shall depart from the faith' have any application to them? But it is concerning the Manichaeans and the founders of these sects.

And he called them 'spirits of error' with good reason;

for being energized by those spirits, they uttered these things.

What is the meaning of 'through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies'? The very things they lie about, they lie not out of ignorance nor because they do not know, but they lie in hypocrisy, knowing the truth, yet with their conscience seared—that is, being of a wicked life.

But why does he speak of these heretics only? Christ foretold others also, saying, 'It must needs be that offences come.'

Moreover, by means of the sowing of the wheat and the springing up of the tares, He foreshowed these very persons.

But do thou marvel with me at the prophecy of Paul;

for before the times in which these things were to come to pass, he made clear the very time itself.

Marvel not, then, if now, when the affairs of the faith are but at their beginning, certain persons attempt to bring in secretly these destructive doctrines; for he says that, when it has been firmly established after a long time, some shall depart from the faith.

'Forbidding,' he says, 'to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats.'

But why did he not mention the other heresies also? He hinted at them too when he said, 'seducing spirits and doctrines of demons.'

For he did not wish to sow these things at once into the souls of men;

but that which had already taken its beginning, this he now pointed out—the matter of meats.

'Which God,' he says, 'created to be received by them that believe and know the truth.'

Why does he not say, 'and by the unbelievers also'? How could it be received by the unbelievers, since they fence themselves off from these things by their laws? What then? Is luxury not forbidden? Yes, exceedingly so.

Why, if it was created to be received? Because He created bread also, yet excess is forbidden; and He created wine also, yet excess is forbidden.

He does not now bid us decline luxury as though it were unclean, but as enervating the soul through its excess.

'For every creature of God,' he says, 'is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it be received with thanksgiving.'

By saying 'creature of God,' he hinted at all edible things;

and he already draws down beforehand the heresy of those who introduce matter as unbegotten and say that these things belong to it.

If then it is good, what is the meaning of that which he says, 'it is sanctified through the word and prayer'? For it is clear that being unclean, it is sanctified.

Not so; but here he speaks against those who reckon that certain things among them are common.

He therefore lays down two heads: one, that no creature is common;

and secondly, that even if it should become common, yet thou hast the remedy;

seal it, give thanks, glorify God, and all uncleanness flies away.

'Are we able then,' he says, 'to cleanse even meat offered to idols in this way?' Only if thou didst not know that it was offered to idols;

But if, knowing henceforth, you nonetheless partake, you shall be unclean—not because it is a thing offered to idols, but because, though commanded not to have fellowship with demons, you had fellowship with them through that act.

So then, that thing is not by nature of such a kind; rather it becomes so from your own choice and from your disobedience.

What then? Is not swine's flesh unclean? By no means, when it is received with thanksgiving, when it is received with the seal; nor is anything else unclean.

Unclean is the will that does not give thanks to God.

If you put these things before the brethren, you shall be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have followed.

These things—which? The very things he said: that the mystery is great; that to abstain from these is of demons; that by the word and intercession of God the meats are cleansed.

Nourished up, he says, in the words of faith and of the doctrine which you have followed.

But refuse profane and old-wives' fables;

and exercise yourself unto godliness.

If you put these things before them, he says.

Do you see how nowhere here is there any imperiousness, but rather condescension? Putting them before them, he says.

He did not say, 'commanding,' he did not say, 'charging,' but, 'putting before them';

that is, as one counseling, put these things before them, and keep stirring up the words concerning faith.

Nourished up, he says, showing the continual character of the attention given to such things.

For just as we take this food day by day, so also, he says, let us always receive the words concerning faith, and always be nourished by them.

What is meant by 'nourished up'? Ruminating, continually turning over the same things, always meditating upon the same;

for he has food that is not of the common sort.

But refuse profane and old-wives' fables.

Which does he mean here? The observances of the Jews.

And does he call these too 'fables'? Yes, quite so—either on account of their falsifications, or on account of their unseasonableness.

For what is done in its due season is profitable;

but apart from the right season, it is not only useless but even harmful.

For consider with me a man who, after twenty years, brings himself again to the breast of his nurse—how ridiculous he is, because of the unseasonableness.

Do you see how he called them both unclean and old-wives'? The one because of their antiquity, the other because they hinder the faith.

For to bring under fear a soul that has risen above these things belongs to unclean injunctions.

But exercise yourself unto godliness—that is, unto a pure faith and an upright life;

For bodily exercise, he says, profits but little.

Some say that this was spoken concerning fasting;

but away with that! It is not bodily exercise, but spiritual.

For if it were bodily, it would nourish the body;

but if it wastes it, and makes it lean, and reduces it, then it is not bodily.

Therefore he is not speaking about the discipline of the body.

So then, we have need of the exercise that is according to the soul;

for that other kind has no gain, but has profited the body only a little;

but the discipline of godliness renders its fruit even in the age to come, and here it restores us, and there also.

That is, it is true, because it holds both here and there.

See how everywhere he adds this;

it needs no proof, but he simply declares it;

for his discourse was addressed to Timothy.

So then, even here we are in good hopes.

For he who is conscious of no evil in himself, he who accomplishes countless good deeds, rejoices even here;

just as, on the other hand, the wicked man is punished not only there but even here, living continually in fear, not daring to look anyone in the face with confidence, trembling, growing pale, in agony.

Or are not the covetous and the thieves such—having no confidence about what they possess? Do not the adulterers, the murderers, live a most grievous life, looking upon the very sun with suspicion? Is this then life? By no means, but a grievous death.

For to this end, he says, we labour and suffer reproach, because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, especially of those that believe.

For to what end do we wear ourselves out, if we were not looking for the things to come? To what end do all men reproach us? Have we not suffered so many dreadful things—insults and revilings and countless evils? Have we then endured these in vain? If we had not hoped on the living God, to what end should we have endured these things? And if He saves the unbelievers here, much more the faithful there.

What salvation does he mean? The one there.

Who is, he says, the Saviour of all, especially of the faithful.

That is, He shows greater care toward the faithful.

And how is He the Saviour of the faithful, he says? For if He were not the Saviour, nothing would

have hindered them, warred upon by all, from having long since perished.

Here too he urges him on toward the dangers, so that he may not grow faint, having such a God, nor need the alliance of others, but willingly bear all things nobly;

since even those who gape after the things of this life, looking to the hope of gain, set their hands to their enterprises.

So then, henceforth it is the last time.

For in the latter times, he says, some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and to doctrines of demons, in the hypocrisy of liars, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry.

What then? Do we not forbid to marry, he says? We do not forbid—God forbid!—those who so wish; but those who do not wish to marry, we exhort toward virginity.

It is one thing to forbid, and another to leave one master of his own choice;

for he who forbids does this once for all;

but he who leads on to virginity as to a greater thing does this not by forbidding marriage, but by exhorting to keep virginity.

Forbidding, he says, to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God has created to be received with thanksgiving by them that believe and know the truth.

Well did he say, 'that know the truth.'

For nothing is by nature unclean, but it becomes so according to the conscience of him who partakes.

And for what reason then did he lead them away from many kinds of meats?

To cut off their great luxury.

But if he had said, 'On account of luxury do not eat,' they would not have borne it;

but as it is, he shut it up under the necessity of a law, that by the greater fear they might rather abstain.

Since that the fish is more unclean than the swine is surely evident to everyone;

yet nevertheless he did not lead them away from those.

And how grievous luxury was to them, hear also Moses saying:

He ate, and grew fat, and waxed thick, and the beloved kicked.

For in order that, being at length brought into straits, they might come to oxen and slay sheep, he with good reason restrained them from the rest on account of Apis and the calf;

For that man is unclean, thankless, defiled, and profane.

These things lay as thy foundation, upon these things meditate;

for the words, 'being nourished by the words of the faith,' mean precisely this.

Not only exhort others, he says, but hold fast the practice of these things in thyself also.

'For being nourished,' he says, 'by the words of the faith and of the good doctrine which thou hast followed.'

'But the profane and old-wives' fables refuse.'

Why did he not say, 'Bear with such things,' but 'Refuse them'? By this he hints at a total avoidance of them.

And what he means is something like this:

Never even seat thyself for an exercise of disputation with those men, but exhort thine own people in these things.

For it is not possible to gain anything by contending with the perverse—except perhaps when we suppose that some harm may arise, as though it were out of weakness that we decline discussion with them.

'But exercise thyself unto godliness;'

that is, unto a pure life, unto the noblest manner of living.

And he that trains himself, even when there is no occasion for contests, does everything as though he were contending, abstains from all things, is in the struggle, and has abundant sweats.

'Exercise thyself,' he says, 'unto godliness.'

'For bodily exercise is profitable for a little;'

'but godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.'

And why, one asks, did he make mention of this bodily exercise? By way of comparison, to make clear the surpassing worth of the other: that the former, though attended with many toils, has no gain, nor anything worth speaking of, whereas this one is perpetual and unstinting.

Just as when he says, 'that they adorn themselves not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array, but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.'

'Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptation.'

'For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach.'

Paul was reproached, and dost thou fret? Paul toiled, and wouldest thou live in luxury? But that man, had he lived in luxury, would never have attained to so many things.

For if the affairs of this life, perishable and corruptible as they are, never come to men without toils and sweats, much more do spiritual things.

'Yes,' one says, 'but through inheritance they have often come to many.'

But even if they do come, the keeping and the safeguarding of them is not without toils; rather, those who possess them must labor and be harassed no less;

and I do not yet mention that many, after laboring much, or even after being sorely harassed, have been cheated of their goods at the very mouths of the harbor, when a squall fell upon them from somewhere and wrought shipwreck in the very hopes of their blessings.

But with us there is nothing of the sort;

for it is God who promises, and 'Hope maketh not ashamed.'

Or do ye not yourselves know—engaged as ye are in the affairs of this life—how many, after countless toils, have not enjoyed the fruits, either because death carried them off beforehand, or a reversal of fortune befell them, or a sickness came upon them, or slanderers set upon them, or some other cause (and human affairs are many) led them away with empty hands? But what, one asks, dost thou not see those who succeed, who through few toils have gained great goods? What goods? Money, and houses, and so many acres of land, and droves of slaves, and a weight of silver and gold? Dost thou call these goods, and art thou not ashamed nor sunk in confusion—thou, a man appointed to philosophize concerning heaven, yet gaping after the things of earth, and calling goods what are worth no account at all? If these are goods, then surely those who possess them must also be called good;

for he who has something good, how is he not good? What then, tell me? When those who possess these things are covetous and rob others, shall we call them good? For if wealth is a good, and is gathered from covetousness, then the more it increases, the more it will make its possessor be reckoned good.

So then, is the covetous man good? And if wealth is good, and is increased by covetousness, then the more one is covetous, the better he will be.

Seest thou the contradiction? But, one says, provided he be not covetous.

And how is that possible to happen? For the passion is a deadly one, and it is not, it is not possible to grow rich without doing wrong.

This too Christ declared when He said, 'Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness.'

What then, one asks, if he received the inheritance from his father? He received what had been gathered from unrighteousness.

For surely his ancestor was not rich from the time of Adam; rather it is likely that many others existed before him, and then among the many some one was found who had unjustly taken and was enjoying the goods of others.

What then? Had Abraham, one asks, unjust wealth? Or what of Job, the blameless, the righteous, the true, the God-fearing, who abstained from every evil thing? Their wealth lay not in gold, nor in silver, nor in buildings, but in flocks;

and besides, this man was rich in God.

That his wealth lay in flocks is plain from this:

for he who wrote the book, recounting what befell that blessed man and saying that his camels died, and his she-asses and his mares, did not say that men came and carried off treasures of gold as well.

And in another way too, Abraham was rich;

What then? Did he not buy these servants? By no means;

for this reason the Scripture said that the three hundred and eighteen were born in his house.

'And he had sheep and oxen.'

Whence then did he send gold to Rebekah? Having received gifts from Egypt, not by force, nor by any wrongdoing.

For tell me, whence art thou rich? From whom didst thou receive it? And that other man, whence? 'From my grandfather,' he says, 'from my father.'

Wilt thou then be able, going up through many generations, thus to show that the possession is a just one? But thou couldest not; rather it must needs be that its beginning and its root spring from some wrongdoing.

Whence? Because God from the beginning did not make one man rich and another poor; nor, when He brought them into being, did He show to this one many treasures of gold and deprive that one of the search for them; but He left the same earth to all.

Since then it is common, how is it that thou hast so many acres, and thy neighbor not even a cupful of earth? 'My father,' he says, 'handed it down to me.'

And from whom did he receive it? From his forefathers.

But of necessity, going ever upward, one must come at last upon the beginning.

Jacob became rich, but he received the wages of his toils.

Nevertheless, I do not press the point too strictly even concerning these;

let the wealth be just, and let it be freed from all rapine;

for surely thou art not accountable for the things in which thy father was covetous;

for thou hast indeed the fruits of the rapine, but it was not thou that didst the plundering.

Nay, let it even be granted that neither did he plunder, but that he had the gold as though it had gushed up from the earth somewhere;

what then? Is wealth on that account a good? By no means.

If it be not covetous, it is not evil, provided one imparts to those in need;

but if one imparts not, then it is evil and treacherous.

'So long as he does no ill,' one says, 'he is not evil, even though he works no good.'

But is not this an evil—to have the Master's goods alone to thyself, to enjoy alone what is common? Or is not the earth God's, and the fullness thereof? If then our possessions belong to the common Master, they belong also to our fellow-servants;

for all that belongs to the Master is common.

Or do we not see that even in great households these things are thus ordered? For instance, the measure of corn is given out to all equally;

for it comes forth from the master's stores;

the master's house is opened to all.

Common too are all the royal possessions—the cities, the market-places, the public walks are common to all; we all partake of them equally.

For consider with me the economy of God;

He made certain things to be common, so that at least by these He might put the human race to shame—such as the air, the sun, the water, the earth, the heaven, the sea, the light, the stars—which He distributes equally to all, as to brethren.

He fashioned the same eyes for all, the same body, the same soul, a like structure in all, all things from earth, and all men from one man, and all in the same dwelling.

But none of these things has turned us to shame.

He made other things common as well, such as baths, cities, marketplaces, and colonnades for walking.

And observe how in the things held in common there is no strife, but all is peaceful.

But whenever someone attempts to appropriate something and make it his own, then contention enters in, as though nature herself were indignant that, while God gathers us together from every side, we contend to divide ourselves and to tear ourselves apart by claiming things as our own, and by saying 'Yours' and 'Mine'—that chilling word.

For then comes fighting, then comes unpleasantness.

But where this is not present, neither fighting nor contention is brought to birth.

So that this condition rather than the other has been allotted to us, and is according to nature.

Why does no one ever go to law over the marketplace? Is it not because it is common to all? But over a house we see all men going to law, and over money.

The necessities of life lie open before us in common;

yet we do not preserve what is common even in the least of things.

And indeed for this very reason those things were left common to us, that we might be taught from them to hold these things also in common;

yet not even so are we taught.

But, as I said, how can the man who possesses wealth be good? It is not possible—unless he shares it with others;

when he does not have it, then he is good;

when he gives it to others, then he is good;

but so long as he holds it, he cannot be good.

Is this then a good thing, which, when held fast, shows men to be wicked, but the giving up of which makes them good? It is not, therefore, the possessing of money that is good, but the not possessing of it that makes a man appear good.

And if, when it is in your power to take, you do not take, again you are good.

If then, even while possessing wealth, we are good when we share it with others, or when we do not take what is offered, but if by taking or acquiring we are not good, how could wealth ever be a good thing? Do not, therefore, call it good.

For this reason you do not really possess it—because you think it good, because you are all in a flutter over it.

Cleanse your understanding, keep your judgement exact, and then you will be good;

learn what things are truly good.

And what are these? Virtue and love of mankind;

for take this as the rule: if you are merciful, the more merciful you are, the more you both are and are reckoned good;

but if you are rich, no longer so.

Let us then become good in this way, that we may both be good and attain to the good things to come, in Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father together with the Holy Spirit be glory, might, and honour, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.