1 Timothy 3

They are called morning stars (Job 38:7), but falling stars; they were holy but mutable. As the vessel is overturned with the sail, so their sails being swelled with pride, were overturned (1 Timothy 3:6). By unsettledness, who do you imitate but lapsed angels?

Thus Christ's person in two natures. 2. Consider Christ's two natures in one person: [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉], God-Man; (1 Timothy 3:16): God manifest in the flesh. Christ had a twofold substance, divine and human, yet not a twofold subsistence, both natures make but one Chri…

1 Timothy 3:16. Great is the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh. Question 17. Wherein did Christ's humiliation consist?

Greg. Nazianzen blessed God he had any thing to lose for Christ's sake. 2. Faith is a refining grace (1 Timothy 3:9). Mystery of faith in a pure conscience.

Majora sunt lingua vulnera quam gladii, Aug. — the sword does not make so deep a wound as the tongue. The Greek word for slanderer signifies devil (1 Timothy 3:11). Some think it is no great matter to belie and defame another; but know, this is to act the part of a devil.

We read of God's dividing the waters, making a causeway in the sea for his people to go over, the iron swimming, the oil increasing by pouring out, Christ's making wine of water, his curing the blind, and raising the dead: thus God has set his seal to the truth and divinity of S…

O the depth of the riches of the wisdom of God, thus to make justice and mercy to kiss each other! Great is this mystery, God manifest in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16). What wisdom was this, that Christ should be made sin, yet know no sin; that God should condemn the sin, yet save…

The seed in the parable which sprung up suddenly withered (Mark 4:5): Solent praecocia subito flaccescere. 4. True faith is joined with sanctity; as a little bezoar is strong in operation, and a little musk sweetens, so a little faith purifies (1 Timothy 3:9): Holding the myster…

Paul was slandered as a mover of sedition, and the head of a faction (Acts 24:5). The same word signifies both a slanderer and a devil (1 Timothy 3:11): Not slanderers. In the Greek, [in non-Latin alphabet], Not devils.

Faith is a virgin-grace, it is joined with sanctity. 1 Timothy 3:9. Holding the mystery of faith in a pure conscience. The jewel of faith is always put in the cabinet of a pure conscience.

In whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. It is said, not only Christ was with God before the beginning, but he was God (John 1:1), and (1 Timothy 3:16), God manifest in the flesh. The title of Lord so often given to Christ in the New Testament does answer to the ti…

Now follows Christ's incarnation, in these words, Conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary. And they contain in them one of the most principal points of the doctrine of godliness, as Paul says, Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness, which is, God is m…

To the father, who is described by two titles: the first, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that by nature as he is God, and as he is man by personal union. The other title: Of whom the whole family, which is in heaven and earth, is named: In which words is set down a des…

And that we have such a Redeemer makes God, to say so, trustworthy, and grace to have access (1 Timothy 2:5): there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, and this gives man access to step in to God. Fourth, this makes the mystery of godliness to…

3. Consider our Lord's submission to his being brought to judgment, not only nor chiefly before men, but before God, therefore says he (John 12:48), Father save me from this hour, but for this cause came I to this hour; come then Father and let us reckon; he looks not only to th…

1. That in his lowest state and step of humiliation he was sustained and carried through, so that all the assaults which he was put to endure and encounter with from all his enemies, wicked men and devils, did not overcome him. 2. That as he in himself was borne through and sust…

And that other word which He has on the cross, is remarkable to this purpose: It's finished; now the task and work is ended, and I have no more to do, but presently to pass to the victory, and to the dividing of the spoil. And a third testimony is our Lord Jesus His ascension to…

Or if you shall read them and not make conscience to improve them to your souls' edification and advantage; which contain more genuine, pure, sincere, solid, and substantial Gospel than many thousands have heard it may be in an age, though hearing preachings much of the while. E…

Christ never needed pardon, he was able to pay all he was owing; he needed never the grace of forgiveness, nor grace to be spared; God spared him not. God could exact no less blood of him, than he shed; but he received an acquittance of justification, never a pardon of grace (1…

Hence thirdly, we read, as that Christ was condemned, so that he was justified. Thus (1 Timothy 3:16), God is said to be manifest in the flesh, and then that this God-man was justified in the spirit: that is, whereas God was manifest or appeared in flesh to condemn sin in the fl…

Hebrews 13:20: The God of peace brought again the Lord Jesus from the dead, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. As pacified in Christ, received into glory (1 Timothy 3:16): Certainly God is well pleased since he has given not only a discharge, but a reward. The gift o…

Elisha is called of Joash, The chariots and horsemen of Israel (2 Kings 13:4). And the Church of God upon earth, is called the Pillar and ground of truth, in respect of the Ministry of the word (1 Timothy 3:15). Again, in that all ministers in their places (according to the meas…

Answer. There is a twofold labor, one of the body, another of the mind: now although the ministers do not weary themselves in bodily labor, yet they are not therefore idle: for the labors of the mind do far exceed the labors of the body: they are more painful, they spend the spi…

The holy Scriptures (Right Honorable) given by divine inspiration, and penned by the holy men of God, Prophets, Apostles, and Apostolic writers, not by private motion, but as they were guided by the Holy Ghost, are not only commended by God, and left to the Church as a precious…

In the meantime this title wherewith God adorns his Church is well to be observed, to the end she may be known by some sure and infallible mark. For that assembly is not to be held for the Church where the heavenly doctrine of glad tidings is not sounded forth and preached: and…

For having had so many good lessons taught them from time to time, they could not without gross disloyalty either doubt or call into question the power and goodness of God. Thus then he shows that the Church is picked out to bear witness to the truth of God: in which sense Saint…

Afterwards, the Lord gives this title to the Church, which is the spouse of Christ, as the wife is dignified with the name and title of her husband. Now he calls Israel his servant: that is to say, his handmaid the Church; for she is the pillar and ground of truth, because he ha…

For he has been wont so to chastise his people, that he has still continued a Church, in which his truth and pure religion might be kept. For which cause also Saint Paul calls her the pillar and ground of truth (1 Timothy 3:15). We are not to judge of the Church then, by the est…

It appears sufficiently then that he speaks of a virgin which should conceive by the power of the Holy Spirit, and not according to the common order of nature. And this is that mystery which Saint Paul so highly magnifies, namely, that God was manifested in the flesh (1 Timothy…

He argues that Christ was not the Son of God before he appeared in the world clothed with flesh; because the angel says, He shall be called On the contrary, I maintain, the words of the angel mean nothing more than that he, who had been the Son of God from eternity, would be man…

For we must bear in mind, that she does not speak like an ordinary woman at her own suggestion, but merely utters what was dictated by the Holy Spirit. This name Lord strictly belongs to the Son of God "manifested in the flesh," (1 Timothy 3:16,) who has received from the Father…

It is true, indeed, that a catalogue, divided into three equal numbers, is more easily remembered. But it is also evident that this division is intended to point out a threefold condition of the nation, from the time when Christ was promised to Abraham, to "the fullness of the t…

Hence they infer, that the promised birth of the child would be delayed for a very short time; otherwise, it would not agree with the rapidly approaching change of the kingdoms, which, the prophet announced, would take place before that child should have passed half the period o…

Let the reader always consider the purpose for which passages of Scripture are brought forward by the Evangelists, so as not to stick too closely to the particular words, but to be satisfied with this, that the Evangelists never torture Scripture into a different meaning, but ap…

When John beholds the Holy Spirit descending upon Christ, it is to remind him, that nothing carnal or earthly must be expected in Christ, but that he comes as a godlike man, "Un homme rempli de Dieu;" — "a man filled with God." descended from heaven, in whom the power of the Hol…

Again, though he chose unlearned and ignorant persons, he did not leave them in that condition; and, therefore, what he did ought not to be held by us to be an example, as if we were now to ordain pastors, who were afterwards to be trained to the discharge of their office. We kn…

We must also consider what God enjoins on his prophets and the ministers of his word: for in this way their faithfulness may be easily ascertained. If, for example, we place before our minds what Paul requires in bishops, (1 Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:6-9,) that description will be…

Something, too, he had undoubtedly heard about the promised Redeemer. Though he does not distinctly understand that Christ is God manifested in the flesh, (1 Timothy 3:16,) yet he is convinced that the power of God is manifested in him, and that he has received a commission to d…

They remain silent, but think in their hearts, that they may slander him when absent among people of their own class. It is no doubt true, that God alone has power and authority to forgive sins: but they are wrong in concluding that it does not belong to Christ, for he is God ma…

Righteousness, and salvation, and perfect happiness, are founded on his resurrection. The Gospel, therefore, is a public exhibition of the Son of God manifested in the flesh, (1 Timothy 3:16) to deliver a ruined world, and to restore men from death to life. It is justly called a…

So then those who had not yet declared that he was their Master, instantly acknowledge that he is the Son of God, and by this term render to him the honor of the Messiah. Though at that time this lofty mystery was not generally known, how God was to be manifested in the flesh, (…

Paul employs the same argument, when he wishes to exhort pastors to be diligent in the discharge of their duty, that they are stewards, chosen to govern the house of God, which is the pillar and ground of truth, (1 Timothy 3:16). And properly; for the more honorable and illustri…

And though Paul had never said this, yet such is the fact, that Christ is above David and other holy kings, because he also ranks higher than angels; which would not apply to a created man, unless he were also God manifested in the flesh, (1 Timothy 3:16.) I do acknowledge that…

But this is the crowning point of desperate and final depravity, when men obstinately reject the goodness of God, and refuse to come under his wings. I said formerly that Christ speaks here in the person of God, and my meaning is, that this discourse belongs properly to his eter…

To make it still more evident that Christ is the God of armies, towards whom the people had been from the beginning malicious and ungrateful, when he was manifested in the flesh, (1 Timothy 3:16,) it became necessary that what had formerly been spoken figuratively should now be…

So Christ our second surety, (in whose justification all who believe in him, and whose surety he is, are virtually justified,) was not justified until he had done the work the Father had appointed him, and kept the Father's commandments, through all trials, and then in his resur…

Wherein you do merely delude the reader; you find indeed the elders of the people so called, but the elders of the Church never; to make good your own construction therefore, you must maintain that laymen did and must lay on hands in Ordination, which Calvin himself utterly abom…

Whereupon Jerome in the same place; he would says he, have them to yield carnal things to those of whom they receive spiritual things, because they being taken up in teaching, cannot provide necessary things for themselves. Indeed, I say yet more, if Saint Paul had, by those tha…

These are the things which will give them a good report among those which are without, and will recommend the doctrines and truths which they teach, to the acceptance and love of their very enemies, and the enemies of their holy profession. They must likewise be exemplary in the…

As it is with a stick; a stick when it is in the water, it looks as if it were broken, pull it out of the water, and it is straight: So it is with the names of Gods people; when their names are under reports that go abroad in the world, they look as broken; but when their names…