Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor the things they affirm.
All Commentaries on 1 Timothy 1:7 Go To 1 Timothy 1
Athanasius the Apostolic
AD 373
It is encouraging to the faithful but distressing to the heretical to see these heresies overthrown. Moreover, their further question, “whether the Unoriginated be one or two,” shows how false are their views, how treacherous and full of guile. It is not for the Father’s honor that they say this but for the dishonor of the Word. Accordingly, if any one should answer, unaware of their craft, that “the Unoriginated is one,” they immediately spurt out their own venom, saying, “ ‘Therefore the Son is among things originated,’ and well have we said, ‘He was not before his generation.’ ” This in turn elicits all sorts of disturbances and confusions, separating the Son from the Father and reckoning the Framer of all among his works. Now first they may be convicted on this score, that, while blaming the Nicene bishops for their use of phrases not in Scripture, though these are not injurious but subversive of their irreligion, they themselves went off upon the same fault, that is, using words not in Scripture, and those that show contempt for the Lord, being “without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make assertions.” .
