1 Timothy 1:7Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Do you see that there is another cause, the love of power? Therefore Christ says, “Do not be called teachers” (Mt 23:8).

And again the Apostle says, “They do not keep the Law, but they want you to be circumcised, that they may boast in your flesh” (Gal 6:13).

They pursue honors, he says, and therefore pay no attention to the truth.

“They do not understand,” he says, “either what they say or the things they affirm.” Here he accuses them of knowing neither the aim of the Law nor how long its dominion was to continue.

But if this came from ignorance, why do you call it sin? Because they did it not merely from wishing to be teachers of the Law, but also because they lacked love.

“Desiring to be teachers of the Law.” That is, suffering from love of power and passion for glory. They would not be like this if they had love and faith.

“Understanding neither what they say nor the things they affirm.” Here he accuses them of knowing neither the aim of the Law nor the time until which it was appointed to rule.

But perhaps they sinned through ignorance and therefore do not deserve condemnation? No. Their ignorance came from love of power and from their lack of love.

For he says that, desiring to be legislators and teachers of the Law, they do not attend to the truth. Thus they themselves are guilty of their ignorance.

What do they affirm? Perhaps they affirm purifications and various other bodily acts observed according to the Law.

Such is the straight and most unerring faith of the holy fathers, or the confession of faith.

Yet, as Paul said, “the god of this age has blinded their minds, lest the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ should shine for them” (2 Cor 4:4).

Therefore some, ceasing to walk the straight path of truth, hurled themselves against the rocks, “understanding neither what they say nor the things they affirm.”

For after attributing the glory of sonship to the Word alone, begotten of God the Father, they say that another son from the seed of David and Jesse was united to Him.

They say that this other son shares in sonship and in the honor befitting God, because of the indwelling of the Word Himself, and practically received everything from Him.

Yet, according to them, he had absolutely nothing of his own.

When we consider these two walls, the Jews and the Gentiles, which must be joined to Christ the cornerstone, preserving the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph 4:3), let us not be struck by what happened to the unworthy Jews. Among them were the “builders,” that is, those who desired to be teachers of the law, but, as the apostle says, understood neither what they said nor what they affirmed. Because of this blindness of mind, they rejected the stone which became the head of the corner (Mt 21:42; cf. Ps 117:22; Mk 12:10; Lk 20:17; Acts 4:11).

Yet He would not have become the head of the corner unless He had granted two peoples of different origin to be peacefully united through the grace that binds them together.

As this gladdens the faithful, so it grieves the heretics, who see their heresy collapsing.

Again, this question of theirs, expressed thus, “Is there one Uncreated or two?” reveals in them a mind that is not right, but dangerous and full of devices.

They propose this question not to honor the Father, but to dishonor the Word.

If someone, unaware of their treachery, answers, “The Uncreated is one,” they immediately vomit out their poison and say: Therefore the Son is among created things.

And we were right to say that He did not exist before He was begotten.

They mix everything together and throw it into disorder only to estrange the Word from the Father and to number the Creator of all things with created beings.

They, the Jews, desire to be and to be considered teachers of the law and lawgivers. Yet they do not know the force, that is, the meaning, of the law. They do not understand what they say, since they speak against themselves. They do not know what they affirm, but imagine that they know the truth.

The Apostle made clear that he says this not about open adversaries, but about those who claim to have believed in the Lord while distorting the gospel teaching. They supposed their foolish reasonings to be wiser than the words of God. That they were Jews is clearly shown by the words, "desiring to be teachers of the law." Since the Apostle used strong expressions against them, he necessarily added this, lest anyone think he was accusing the law: "But we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully" (v. 8).

"Desiring to be teachers of the law." Lovers of authority appointed themselves teachers of the law. Having the law as their support, they occupied themselves with fables in order to appear very learned. They occupied themselves with genealogy in order to set themselves above the Apostle. "Understanding neither what they say nor the things about which they make confident assertions." "Not understanding" is rightly said. He condemns them as not understanding either the goal of the law or the time until which it had to remain in force. Not understanding this, whatever they say, they say unjustly. By their ignorance they stray from the straight path and wander to the sides.

Those who do not consider themselves debtors to every commandment of Christ read the law of God only bodily. They understand neither what they say nor what they affirm. Therefore they think they fulfill it by works.

Whoever wishes to reason about the truth without illumination from above will only fall into empty conversations and disputes. He will turn aside from the path that leads to love. From untimely, knowledge-surpassing, vainglorious reasoning about the truth came heresies, errors, and blasphemy. Steadfastness in the Orthodox confession of the dogmas of faith is nourished and preserved by the works of faith and by purity of conscience.

"Desiring to be teachers of the law." The Apostle undoubtedly had the Jews in mind. They set the Law in the place of the Gospel, or joined the two together, and boasted in genealogies of their own invention. They falsely claimed to base these on testimonies of the Old Testament.

Here is the difference between true teachers of the faith, such as Timothy was, and false teachers who turned aside into empty talk. Timothy was a teacher and guardian of the faith in Ephesus by the Apostle's choice and will (cf. Tit 1:5). Those false teachers first of all wanted on their own to be teachers of the law. They did not know what they were saying or affirming, yet they spoke and affirmed so as not to lose the teaching office that flattered them. Even now true guardians of the faith receive their calling by succession from the Apostles, while the false appoint themselves to it.

The many instructions of the holy Apostle Paul to Timothy, as archpastor of Christ’s Church, are naturally arranged in the epistle under the following divisions.

First are instructions to Timothy as guardian of the faith of Christ’s Church (1 Tim 1).

Second are instructions to him specifically as president of the Church. These concern Church assemblies and, as bishop and ordainer, the persons deemed worthy of the sacred rank (1 Tim 2:1-3:13).

Then come general instructions on how the archpastor himself must fulfill his high ministry. The Apostle first teaches who must guide the archpastor himself to the truth and what the fundamental truth of Christian doctrine is.

Afterward he sets forth rules for archpastoral teaching by word and by life (1 Tim 3:14-4:16).

Having said that they turned aside from the straight path, he now explains wherein this deviation lies (see blessed Theophylact).

It lies precisely in this, that they wanted, or imagined, to teach the Law when the time of the Law had already passed.

There was a time for the Law, and then whoever taught the Law did not speak emptily. But now, when the force of the Law has ceased, to come forward as its teacher means to labor in vain and speak emptily.

Acting thus, the Apostle continues, they “do not understand what they say.” They do not know what they are saying.

They convict themselves of this: “They know neither the aim of the Law nor the time until which it was appointed to rule” (blessed Theophylact).