HOMILIES OF ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE, SECOND EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE TIMOTHY. HOMILY I 2 TIMOTHY i. i, 2. " Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Jesus Christ, to Timothy, my dearly beloved son : Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord." WHAT is the reason of his writing this second Epistle to Timothy? He had said, "I hope to come unto thee shortly" (i Tim. iii. 14), and as this had not taken place, instead of coming to him, he consoles him by a letter, when he was grieving perhaps for his absence, and op pressed by the cares of the government, which he had now taken in hand. For even great men, when they are placed at the helm, and are charged with the direction of the Church, feel the strangeness of their position, and are over whelmed, as it were, by the waves of business. This was particularly the case when the Gospel was first preached, when the ground was every where unturned, and all was opposition and hos tility. There were, besides, heresies commenc ing from the Jewish teachers, as he has shown in his former Epistle. Nor does he only com fort him by letters, he invites him to come to him : " Do thy diligence," he says, " to come shortly unto me," and, "when thou comest, bring with thee the books, but especially the parchments." (2 Tim. iv. 9 and 13.) And he seems to have written this Epistle when his end was approaching. For he says, " I am now ready to be offered up"; and again, "At my first answer no man stood with me." (2 Tim. iv. 6 and 16.) To set all this right, he both offers consolation from his own trials, and also says, " Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus." Thus at the verycommencement he raises up his mind. Tell me not, he says, of the dangers here. These obtain for us eternal life, where there is no peril, where grief and mourning flee away. For He hath not made us Apostles only that we might encounter dangers, but that we might even suffer and die. 1 And as it would not be a consolation to recount to him his own troubles, but rather an increase of his grief, he begins immediately with offering comfort, say ing, " According to the promise of life which is in Jesus Christ." But if it is a " promise," seek it not here. For, " hope that is seen is not hope." (Rom. viii. 24.) Ver. 2. "To Timothy, my dearly beloved son." Not merely his " son," but, " dearly beloved " ; since it is possible for sons not to be beloved. 1 If the reading is correct, Traa-xia^fv must be emphatic, meaning " actually " suffer, for it is harsh to render it of the good things to come.