Commentaries on St. Paul's Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon

224 Pages·2016·5.07 MB·English

by  St. Thomas Aquinas

Commentaries on
s
St. Paul Epistles to
Timothy, Titus, and
Philemon
Thomas Aquinas
Translated by Chrysostom Baer, O. Praem.
Preface by Most Rev. Joseph Perry
ST. AUGUSTINE'S PRESS
South Bend, Indiana
2007
Translation copyright © 2007 by Chrysostom Baer, 0. Praem
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
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St. Augustine's Press.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
I 2 3 4 5 12 11 10 09 08 07
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Thomas, Aquinas, Saint, 1225?-1274.
Commentaries on St. Paul's Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon /
Thomas Aquinas; translated and introduced by Chrysostom Baer;
preface by Joseph Perry.
p. cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-58731-128-4 (hardcover: alk. paper)
ISBN-I0: 1-58731-128-3 (hardcover: alk. paper)
ISBN-l3: 978-1-58731-129-1 (paperbound: alk. paper)
ISBN-IO: 1-58731-129-1 (paperbound: alk. paper)
l. Bible. N.T. Pastoral Epistles - Commentaries. 2. Bible. N.T. Philemon
Commentaries. 1. Title.
BS2735.53.T462007
227'.8307 - dc22 2007032327
00 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences - Permanence of Paper for Printed
Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
ST. AUGUSTINE'S PRESS
www.staugustine.net
Contents
Preface by Most Rev. Joseph Perry vii
Translator's Introduction ix
Commentary on the First Epistle to Timothy
Synoptical Outline of I Timothy 2
Prologue 4
Chapter One, Lectures 1--4 6
Chapter Two, Lectures 1-3 22
Chapter Three, Lectures 1-3 34
Chapter Four, Lectures 1-3 48
Chapter Five, Lectures 1-3 61
Chapter Six, Lectures 1--4 75
Commentary on the Second Epistle to Timothy
Synoptica1 Outline of II Timothy 94
Prologue 96
Chapter One, Lectures 1--4 97
Chapter Two, Lectures 1--4 109
Chapter Three, Lectures 1-3 128
Chapter Four, Lectures 1-3 138
Commentary on the Epistle to Titus
Synoptica1 Outline of Titus 152
Prologue 153
VI COMMENTARIES ON ST. PAUL'S EPISTLES TO TIMOHY, TITUS, AND PHILEMON
Chapter One, Lectures 1-4 155
Chapter Two, Lectures 1-3 172
Chapter Three, Lectures 1-2 184
Commentary on the Epistle to Philemon
Synoptical Outline of Philemon 196
Prologue 197
Lecture 1 198
Lecture 2 202
Parallel Places Where St. Thomas Discussed the Same Topic in a
Different Context 207
Endnotes 211
Indicies
Index of Authors 216
Index of Subjects 217
Preface
Without doubt, Thomas Aquinas [1225-1274] ranks among the greatest, if
not the first, of philosopher-theologians in service to holy church. A scriptural
commentator, one might say by way of hobby only, but most especially, Aquinas
laid the foundation for thought and theological discourse in the Catholic Church.
A large man with a great mind fundamentally, Thomas squeezed holiness out of
early Greek thought as a ratio for a philosophy entered in the hristian myster
ies. ot just brilliant, Thomas also possessed innate piritllal qualities that ren
dered him a vowed l:eligious in the Dominican style. As a friar he conjoilled
humility and a quiet demeanor wlcharactcristic perhaps, of those who t wer
intellectually over rank nnd file.
Under Thomas, theology became an astute science, henceforth to be known
as "Thomism." So enlightening were his offerings and enduring his legacy that
scholasticism in the Thomistic school, by decree of Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903),
was universally enjoined upon the education of clerics in the church.
We have here in these lectures on the pastoral epistles of the New Testament
samples ofTh mas's pedagogy. The unfinished five-volumed Summa Theologiae
ranking first among hls puses, biblical commentaries are also among the vast
works of Aquimls. ror in the course of bis master studies a . a young friar he was
required to lectlll'e on the Bible and other works.
These letters are called pastoral, for they express the concerns of the writer
to those being addressed and because lhey dem nstrate a concern for the orderly
pastoral care of the hristian communities where these individuals are engaged,
alway arguing I Ule new 'hristian mindset incumbent upon all because of the
Christ event, while urging a new order of relationships intra-church and a new
courage in the midst of the onslaughts by tJle powers that be. The scripture schol
ar, Robert J. Wild, S.J., opines that, "although the word, philosophia, does not
appear in the pastorals, the vocabulary manner of argumentation parenetic thrust
X COMMENTARIES ON ST. PAUL'S EPISTLES TO TIMOTHY, TITUS, AND PHILEMON
ond office of a bishop, namely offering up one's life for the flock, is the topic of
the second epistle to Timothy: what the dangers to the flock are, why Timothy is
ready to resist them, and how he is, in fact, to do so. The necessity of protecting
the Church from heretics constitutes the third of the pastoral epistles, this time to
Titus: why it is necessary and how to resist evil teachers efficaciously.
This volume seemed incomplete, however, without including the commen
tary on the small epistle to Philemon, which certainly would not merit publication
on its own othelwise. And although the treatment is directly about masters and
slaves, which might seem not to have much practical application nowadays, yet is
it an undeniable facet of human nature that some are in authority while others are
subject. If there is to be peaceable concord between these two so often opposed
parties, we must draw our paradigm of behavior from this epistle-a pattern of
love, mutual respect, and subordination in all things to the mission of the Gospel.
Torrell hypothesizes that st. Thomas commented on the Pauline epistles in
Rome some time between 1265 and 1268.1 Its format is what is called a reporta
tio, "a more or less carefully corrected clean copy of a course of lectures heard by
a student.,,2 This accounts for the short, simple, and often choppy sentence struc
ture, which has not been eliminated in the translation.
The Marietti edition has been used for the Latin original, as the critical
Leonine is not yet available. Paragraph numbering provided by Marietti has been
maintained for easy reference, but their sometimes frequent errors in Scriptural
citations have been corrected without notice.
The more interested student will find in the endnotes references to parallel
places (Loc. Parall.) where St. Thomas discusses the same topic in a different con
text. For Scriptural quotations, the Douay-Rheims version seemed best, as it is
closcr to thc Latin 8t. Thomas used than other modern translations are. Personal
pronouns referring to God have been freely capitalized the for the sake of clarity,
but where St. Thomas' version differs from the Douay-Rheims, this has been so
marked in an endnote. As an appendix there is also a list of the names of the books
of the Bible in their modern version as well as that of the Douay.
In times past, such a translation as this would have been neither necessary nor
desired; those who wanted to study St. Thomas would simply have read him in the
original Latin. But now knowledge of Latin is unfortunately scarce, almost as
much as the desire to read the works of the Common Doctor of the Church.
The hope on the horizon is the growth in the number of young men aspiring
to serve as priests. Many of these look to the Church's traditional theology of the
priesthood as the key to a renewal of the entire sacerdotal body. As a model they
take the paragon of pastoral virtue found in Chaucer's Pastor:
This noble example to his sheep he gave.
First following the word before he taught it,
And it was from the gospel he had caught it.
Introduction xi
This little proverb he would add thereto
That if gold rust, what then would iron do?
For if a priest be foul in whom we trust
No wonder that a common man should rust;
And shame it is to see - let priests take stock -
A soiled shepherd and a snowy flock.
The true example that a priest should give
Is one of cleanness, how the sheep should live.
- Canterbury Tales, The Prologue, 506-16
To such young and aspiring clerics this volume is dedicated in the hope that
with God's grace there may be fulfilled in them the words of David: "Let Thy
priests be clothed with justice: and let Thy saints rejoice" (Ps. 131 :9).

The Commentary of st. Thomas Aquinas on
The First Epistle of St. Paul to Timothy
2 COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO TIMOTHY
The Pastoral Epistles
There are three epistles, according to the three things which befit a prelate:
to rule the people, to suffer for his subjects, and to check evil men. The first is
found in the first epistle to Timothy; the second, in the second, where he treats of
martyrdom; and the third in the epistle to Titus, where he teaches how to avoid
heretics.
Synoptical Outline of I Timothy
I. Greeting [n.3]
II Epistolary Narrative [n.7]: as it were a pastoral rule which the Apostle hand
ed on to Timothy, instructing him about all the things which pertain to the
government of prelates and the disposition he ought to have.
A. Administration of spiritual matters [no 7]
1. About the faith [no 7]
a. rejection of errors by showing the condition of the Law [n. 7]
i. what from the Law is to be repudiated [no 7]
ii. what in it is to be accepted [n. 11]
iii. a conclusion about the condition of the Law [no 20]
b. rejection of errors through his own experience [no 31]
i. what happened to him before and after the Law [n. 31]
ii. how Timothy should imitate him [no 48]
2. The worship of God [no 55]
a. doctrint: of prayt:f [no 55]
i. diverse modes of prayer [no 55]
ii. for whom one ought to pray when he says [no 57]
b. particular conditions of men [no 70]
i. admonition to men [no 70]
ii. admonition to women [no 74]
3. The institution of offices [no 86]
a. instruction about ecclesiastical duties [n. 86]
i. those things which pertain to a bishop [n. 86]
ii. those which pertain to a deacon [n. 109]
b. the necessity of this admonition [n. 123]
i. a supposed cause excluded [no 123]
ii. the true cause provided [no 125]
iii. the reason [no 126]
B. Administration of temporal matters [no 136]
1. Food [no 136]
a. the use of foods [n. 136]