1 Timóteo 3
Augustine of Hippo · Comentário Patrístico (catena)
1 Timóteo 3:1
Consider these three temperaments: the contemplative, the active, the contemplative-active. A man can live the life of faith in any of these three and get to heaven. What is not indifferent is that he love truth and do what charity demands. No man must be so committed to contemplation as, in his contemplation, to give no thought to his neighbor's needs, nor so absorbed in action as to dispense with the contemplation of God. The attraction of leisure ought not to be empty-headed inactivity but in the quest or discovery of truth, both for his own progress and for the purpose of sharing ungrudgingly with others. Nor should the man of action love worldly position or power, for all is vanity under the sun, but only what can be properly and usefully accomplished by means of such position and power … of contributing to the eternal salvation of those committed to one's care. Thus, as St. Paul wrote, "If any one aspires to the office of bishop, he desires good work." He wanted to make clear that the office of bishop, episcopatus, implies work rather than dignity. — City of God 19.19
1 Timóteo 3:1
"I want to be a bishop; oh, if only I were a bishop!" Would that you were! Are you seeking the name or the real thing? If it's the real thing you're seeking, you are setting your heart on a good work. If it's the name you're seeking, you can have it even with a bad work but with a worse punishment. So what shall we say? Are there bad bishops? Perish the thought, there aren't any; yes, I have the nerve, the gall to say there are no bad bishops; because if they are bad, they aren't bishops. You are calling me back again to the name and saying, "He is a bishop, because he is seated on the bishop's throne." And a straw scarecrow is guarding the vineyard. — SERMONS 340A.6
1 Timóteo 3:1
But you think that this should not have happened to you because you believe that no one should be forced to do good. See what the apostle said, "If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desires a good work," yet how many are forced against their will to undertake the episcopacy. Some are dragged in, locked up and kept under guard, suffering all this unwillingly until there arises in them a will to undertake this good work. — LETTERS 173.1.2
1 Timóteo 3:6
What does Paul mean by saying "or he may be puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil"? It doesn't mean he is to be judged by the devil but that he is to be condemned with the devil. The devil, after all, won't be our judge. He himself fell through pride. Like him, one who has become godless on account of pride will be condemned to everlasting fire. We are to consider carefully, Paul is saying, to whom a position of eminence is given in the church, lest the person being lifted up should through pride fall into the very judgment into which the devil fell. — SERMONS 340A.2
1 Timóteo 3:7
This is not the praise given a man by a few wise and just people but popular report. Indeed, popular report bestows greatness and renown on a man, which is not desirable for its own sake but is essential to the success of good men in their endeavors to benefit their fellow men. So the apostle says that it is proper to have a good report of those that are without. For though they are not infallible, the luster of their praise and the odor of their good opinion are a great help to the efforts of those who seek to benefit them. This popular renown is not obtained by those who are highest in the church, unless they expose themselves to the toils and hazards of an active life. — REPLY TO FAUSTUS THE MANICHAEAN 22.56
1 Timóteo 3:10
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"; or if he had said, "Having no sin," where he says, "Having no crime." Because many baptized believers are without crime, but I should say that no one in this life is without sin—however much the Pelagians are inflated, and burst asunder in madness against me because I say this: not because there remains anything of sin which is not remitted in baptism; but because by us who remain in the weakness of this life such sins do not cease daily to be committed, as are daily remitted to those who pray in faith and work in mercy. — AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS 1.14.28
1 Timóteo 3:15
Therefore, beloved, with assured mind and steadfast heart, let us continue to live under so lofty a Head in so glorious a body, in which we are mutually members. Thus, even if my absence were as far as the most distant lands, we should be together in him, and we should never withdraw from the unity of his body. If we lived in one house, we should certainly be said to be together; how much more are we together when we are together in one body! — LETTERS 142.1.1
1 Timóteo 3:15
Honor the holy church as your mother. Love her, proclaim her the Jerusalem which is above, the holy city of God. She it is who, in this faith which you have heard, bears fruit and grows in the whole world, the church of the living God, the pillar and buttress of the truth. She tolerates the wicked in the communion of the sacraments, knowing that they are due to be separated from her at the end and withdrawing from them meanwhile in the dissimilarity of their morals. — SERMONS 214.11
1 Timóteo 3:16
But when the fullness of time came, Wisdom was sent in the flesh, not to fill angels nor to be an angel, except insofar as she announced the Father's plan which was also her own. She was sent not to be with men and in men, for this too had been done before, both in the Fathers and in the prophets, but that the Word itself might become flesh, that is, that it might become a man. This future mystery, when revealed, would likewise be the salvation of those wise and saintly men, who had been born of women before he himself was born of a virgin, and ever since it has been accomplished and preached, it is the salvation of all who believe, hope and love. — ON THE TRINITY 4.20.27