This charge I commit unto you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which were made concerning you, that you by them might war a good warfare;
All Commentaries on 1 Timothy 1:18 Go To 1 Timothy 1
John Chrysostom
AD 407
The office of a Teacher and that of a Priest is of great dignity, and to bring forward one that is worthy requires a divine election. So it was of old, and so it is now, when we make a choice without human passion, not looking to any temporal consideration, swayed neither by friendship, nor enmity. For though we be not partakers of so great a measure of the Spirit as they, yet a good purpose is sufficient to draw unto us the election of God. For the Apostles, when they elected Matthias, had not yet received the Holy Spirit, but having committed the matter to prayer, they chose him into the number of the Apostles. For they looked not to human friendships. And so now too it ought to be with us. But we have advanced to the extreme of negligence; and even what is clearly evident, we let pass. Now when we overlook what is manifest, how will God reveal to us what is unseen? As it is said, If you have not been faithful in that which is little, who will commit to you that which is great and true? Luke 16:11 But then, when nothing human was done, the appointment of Priests too was by prophecy. What is by prophecy? By the Holy Spirit. For prophecy is not only the telling of things future, but also of the present. It was by prophecy that Saul was discovered hidden among the stuff. 1 Samuel 10:22 For God reveals things to the righteous. So it was said by prophecy, Separate me Barnabas and Saul. Acts 13:2 In this way Timothy also was chosen, concerning whom he speaks of prophecies in the plural; that, perhaps, upon which he took and circumcised him, and when he ordained him, as he himself says in his Epistle to him, Neglect not the gift that is in you. 1 Timothy 4:14 Therefore to elevate him, and prepare him to be sober and watchful, he reminds him by whom he was chosen and ordained, as if he had said, God has chosen you. He gave you your commission, you were not made by human vote. Do not therefore abuse or bring into disgrace the appointment of God. When again he speaks of a charge, which implies something burdensome, he adds, This charge I commit to you, son Timothy. He charges him as his son, his own son, not so much with arbitrary or despotic authority as like a father, he says, my son Timothy. The committing, however, implies that it is to be diligently kept, and that it is not our own. For we did not obtain it for ourselves, but God conferred it upon us; and not it only, but also faith and a good conscience. What He has given us then, let us keep. For if He had not come, the faith had not been to be found, nor that pure life which we learn by education. As if he had said, It is not I that charge you, but He who chose you, and this is meant by the prophecies that went before on you. Listen to them, obey them.
And say; what do you charge? That by them you should war a good warfare. They chose you, that then for which they chose you do thou, war a good warfare. He named a good warfare, since there is a bad warfare, of which he says, As you have yielded your members instruments to uncleanness and to iniquity. Romans 6:19 Those men serve under a tyrant, but you serve under a King. And why calls he it a warfare? To show how mighty a contest is to be maintained by all, but especially by a Teacher; that we require strong arms, and sobriety, and awakenedness, and continual vigilance: that we must prepare ourselves for blood and conflicts, must be in battle array, and have nothing relaxed. That you should war in them, he says. For as in an army all do not serve in the same capacity, but in their different stations; so also in the Church one has the office of a Teacher, another that of a disciple, another that of a private man. But you are in this. And, because this is not sufficient he adds,
