Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made it shipwreck:
All Commentaries on 1 Timothy 1:19 Go To 1 Timothy 1
John Chrysostom
AD 407
For he that would be a Teacher must first teach himself. For as he who has not first been a good soldier, will never be a general, so it is with the Teacher; wherefore he says elsewhere, Lest when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-away. 1 Corinthians 9:27 Holding faith, he says, and a good conscience, that so you may preside over others. When we hear this, let us not disdain the exhortations of our superiors, though we be Teachers. For if Timothy, to whom all of us together are not worthy to be compared, receives commands and is instructed, and that being himself in the Teacher's office, much more should we. Which some having put away, have made shipwreck concerning the faith. And this follows naturally. For when the life is corrupt, it engenders a doctrine congenial to it, and from this circumstance many are seen to fall into a gulf of evil, and to turn aside into Heathenism. For that they may not be tormented with the fear of futurity, they endeavor to persuade their souls, that what we preach is false. And some turn aside from the faith, who seek out everything by reasoning; for reasoning produces shipwreck, while faith is as a safe ship.
They then who turn aside from the faith must suffer shipwreck; and this he shows by an example.
