1 Timothy 1:19Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Then, so that no one may think this is sufficient, what does he say? "Having faith and a good conscience." A teacher must first teach himself. Just as a commander, if he had not first been an excellent soldier, would never be a commander, so also is the one who teaches.

The Apostle says this elsewhere also: "Lest, after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified" (1 Cor 9:27). "Having," he says, "faith and a good conscience," so that you may govern others in this way.

Hearing this, let us not despise the instructions of those who are greater than we are, although we are teachers. If Timothy, with whom none of us should compare ourselves, receives instruction and learns, and that when he himself was already in the rank of teacher, how much more should we.

"Having faith and a good conscience." Do not think, he says, that it is enough that you were appointed to the priesthood according to prophecies. You must have faith, so as rightly to proclaim the word of truth, and a good conscience, or a blameless life, from which a good conscience comes. Then you will be able to preside beneficially over others.

Just as a commander must first be a good soldier, so a teacher himself must possess what he requires from his disciples. Therefore, although we are teachers, let us learn not to despise the counsels and instructions of those who are greater than we are.

Is this storming of the churches not fiercer than every disturbance of the sea? By it all the boundaries of the fathers have been moved from their place. All the foundations and strongholds of the doctrines have been shaken.

Everything set upon a rotten support is swaying and being shaken. Attacking one another, we are cast down by one another. The one whom the adversary did not overthrow is wounded by his defender.

If the enemy has been overthrown and has fallen, your former champion tramples upon you. Our mutual communion lasts only as long as we hate the adversaries together. As soon as the enemies have passed by, we already see enemies in one another.

Some heretics, having fallen away from ecclesiastical teaching and suffered shipwreck in the faith, in their madness ascribe independent existence also to evil. Besides the true Father of Christ, they imagine another god. They acknowledge this unbegotten creator of evil and cause of malice as also the maker of creation. Yet it is not difficult to refute them by divine Scripture and by the very human reason through which, after inventing this, they are driven to frenzy.

This is because some deny these good works, do not have a pure mind toward God, and are deprived of faith itself.

The one whom His truth surrounds will not fear "the terror by night" or "the thing that comes in darkness" (Ps 90:5-6). For the forefather Jacob says, "Zebulun shall dwell by the sea" (Gen 49:13). Thus he may see the shipwreck of others while himself remaining safe. He may behold others in the storm of this world, surrounded by every wind of doctrine, while he himself remains unmoved by the root of faith. Such is the Holy Church, rooted and established in faith.

"Having faith and a good conscience." For one must join a praiseworthy life to faith. By "good conscience" the Apostle means a life adorned with chastity and righteousness. He shows the weakness of faith deprived of this in the words that follow: "which some have rejected," that is, a good conscience, "and concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck." For a corrupt life often becomes the foundation of impiety. Some, unable to endure the accusations of conscience, rejected along with them the providence of God that extends over all, and attributed what happens to fate and destiny. The Apostle also names those who then suffered this shipwreck.

"Having faith," that is, faith in God, a pure and unchanging faith. "And a good conscience," which is closely joined to a pure life and blameless conduct. "Faith" concerns doctrine, and "conscience" concerns life. "Which some have rejected, and concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck." "Which" means this good conscience. Where life is impure and reproachable, there often arises teaching of an evil kind, destructive to sound faith and opening the doors for the sowing of tares. Then he also gives examples.

Examples of this kind, which we omit out of concern for brevity, are countless. Yet all of them clearly and plainly show that it has almost become customary and lawful for all heresies always to delight in impious novelties, to abhor ancient ordinances, and, through contradictions of falsely named knowledge (1 Tim 6:20), to suffer shipwreck concerning the faith.

By contrast, it is truly proper to Catholics to preserve the traditions and covenants of the holy fathers, to condemn impious novelties, and, according to the Apostle's word twice spoken by him, to anathematize anyone who preaches a gospel other than what has been received (cf. Gal 1:8-9).

The Latin is profanes novitatibus. In the Vulgate it reads profanes vocum novitates, literally, "profane novelties of words."

Steadfastness in the Orthodox confession of the dogmas of faith is nourished and preserved by the works of faith and by purity of conscience. Those who are not guided by faith in their actions, and who violate purity of conscience by voluntarily turning aside into sins, will not be able to preserve their knowledge of the dogmas in due purity and correctness. This knowledge, as knowledge of God, necessarily requires purity of mind, which belongs only to the well-disposed and chaste.

"Which," that is, conscience, "some have rejected, and concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck," έναυάγησαν. The image is taken from a ship laden with treasure, but deprived of the most necessary means of safety, the rudder and anchor. Here the treasure is salvation, or, as with the Apostle, faith, since those who suffered shipwreck lost it. The anchor is faith. The rudder is a good conscience, which governs in the voyage.

The guardian of the faith must not sleep or be indifferent in matters of faith. On the contrary, he must be zealous and wage war like a good soldier against the enemies of the faith. He must be inspired by the sincerity of his own faith and rely on the purity of his conscience. Hymenaeus and Alexander can serve as the opposite and fearful example of betrayal of the faith and punishment for it. St. Paul delivered them to Satan, so that they might learn not to blaspheme (1 Tim 1:18-20).

Turning personally to Timothy, the Apostle exhorts him to struggle against the enemies of salvation, firmly preserving faith in purity of conscience. Without this one cannot remain preserved, as was shown by the heretics Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom Paul excommunicated from Church communion for their blasphemy.

The Apostle reminds Timothy that it had been foretold of him that he would be a good soldier of Christ. These were probably "certain utterances about Saint Timothy by prophets then present in the churches, or indications from above given to Paul himself and known to Timothy. One of these may have been repeated at the very appointment of Timothy to replace the Apostle in Ephesus" (Theodoret).

Returning again to Timothy, the Apostle exhorts him to fulfill the prophecies that had been spoken about him by inspired Christian prophets even before his entrance into the Church, προαγούσας [...]. In accordance with them, he was to struggle courageously against the false teachers.

For this, Timothy himself must first preserve faith and a pure conscience. Why does he require from one who struggles against false teaching not only faith, but also a pure conscience, or morality? The answer is given here.

Some, namely the heretics, forgot the demands of conscience and also lost the faith. Therefore faith and a pure conscience are closely bound to one another.

What he indicated at the beginning as the norm for teaching and guiding the flock, he now lays as a moral duty upon the teacher himself. There he said, "the end of the commandment is love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and unfeigned faith" (cf. 1 Tim 1:5). Here he exhorts: wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience.

The chief thing in both the flock and the shepherd is faith and a good conscience. Faith embraces all that is believed: God worshiped in Trinity, the Creator, Almighty, Provider, Redeemer, Sanctifier, and Judge.

Above all, it embraces this: that He, who desires the salvation of every sinner and has arranged a wondrous manner of salvation for all, will receive me also when I approach Him with faith for salvation. He will save me as He Himself knows.