{"author":null,"canonical_references":[],"database_sha256":"8cfbe7284c6936871d57c02dc6aa63ebbdfd4722422d539dd9f716e46e91112e","date_end":null,"date_start":null,"edition_year":null,"id":"sermonindex-ecf-2347","native_reference":{"book_number":620,"chapter_from":1,"chapter_to":1,"system":"MyBible module coordinates (mapping unverified)","verse_from":7,"verse_to":7},"public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"verse-keyed-module-record","review_required":["English edition and exact text","author/work attribution","dating","verse mapping and citation kind","reuse and attribution","split author quotations and deduplicate"],"review_status":"unreviewed","source_html":"<p><b>Augustine of Hippo</b>: Just as a man would not have wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of God unless, according to the prophet's words, he had received \"the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, of counsel and of fortitude, of knowledge and of godliness, and of fear of God,\" and just as he would not have power and love and sobriety, except by receiving the Spirit of whom the apostle speaks, \"We have not received the spirit of fear but of power and love and sobriety,\" so also he would not have faith unless he received the spirit of faith.<br/><i>— LETTERS 194.4.17</i></p><p><b>Clement of Alexandria</b>: \"For God hath not given us the spirit of bondage again to fear; but of power, and love, and of a sound mind. Be not therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me his prisoner,\" he writes to Timothy. Such shall he be \"who cleaves to that which is good,\" according to the apostle, \"who hates evil, having love unfeigned; for he that loveth another fulfilleth the law.\" If, then, this God, to whom we bear witness, be as He is, the God of hope, we acknowledge our hope, speeding on to hope, \"saturated with goodness, filled with all knowledge.\"<br/><i>— The Stromata Book 4</i></p><p><b>Desert Fathers</b>: They said that Dioscorus of Namisias made his bread out of barley, and his soup out of lentils. Every year he made one particular resolution: either not to meet anyone for a year, or not to speak, or not to taste cooked food, or not to eat any fruit, or not to eat vegetables. This was his system in everything. He made himself master of one thing, and then started on another, and so on each year...</p><p>They said of Helladius that he lived twenty years in his cell, and did not once raise his eyes to look at the roof.<br/><i>— The Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks</i></p><p><b>John Cassian</b>: Therefore there are two degrees of fear. The one is for beginners—that is, for those who are still under the yoke and under servile dread. In regard to this it is said, \"The slave shall fear his master.\" And in the Gospel, \"I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know what his master is doing.\" And consequently he says, \"The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.\" For he is instructing us to pass from the fear of punishment to the fullest freedom of love and to the confidence of the friends and sons of God. And the blessed apostle, who had long since passed beyond the degree of servile fear, thanks to the power of the Lord's love, disdains lower things and professes that he has been endowed with greater goods.<br/><i>— CONFERENCES 11.13.3-5</i></p><p><b>John Chrysostom</b>: \"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.\" That is, we did not receive the Spirit, that we should shrink from exertion, but that we may speak with boldness. For to many He gives a spirit of fear, as we read in the wars of the Kings. \"A spirit of fear fell upon them.\" (Ex. xv. 16?) That is, he infused terror into them. But to thee He has given, on the contrary, a spirit of power, and of love toward Himself. This, then, is of grace, and yet not merely of grace, but when we have first performed our own parts. For the Spirit that maketh us cry, \"Abba, Father,\" inspires us with love both towards Him, and towards our neighbor, that we may love one another. For love arises from power, and from not fearing. For nothing is so apt to dissolve love as fear, and a suspicion of treachery. \"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind\": he calls a healthy state of the soul a sound mind, or it may mean sobriety of mind, or else a sobering of the mind, that we may be sober-minded, and that if any evil befall us, it may sober us, and cut off superfluities.<br/><i>— Homily on 2 Timothy 1</i></p><p><b>Oecumenius</b>: For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of discipline.</p><p>How then shall I rekindle the gift of God? If I stand honorable against temptations.</p><p>For God has not given us a spirit of fear. For there is a spirit or gift of fear, as it is said in the books of the Kings: And the spirit of fear fell upon them, where it was altogether necessary to fear. (2 Chron. 17:10) But to us, Paul says, a gift of power has been given.</p><p>but of power. Which is against temptations.</p><p>and of love. Which is towards the brethren.</p><p>and of discipline. Concerning a proper life. And in all these things, we must also include our own eagerness.<br/><i>— COMMENTARY ON 2 TIMOTHY</i></p><p><b>Tertullian</b>: \"Be not thou, therefore, ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner; \" for he had said before: \"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.\" For we suffer with power from love toward God, and with a sound mind, when we suffer for our blamelessness.<br/><i>— Scorpiace</i></p><p><b>Theodoret of Cyrus</b>: Grace was given to us so that we might not be afraid but love all the more steadily.<br/><i>— INTERPRETATION OF THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY</i></p>","source_html_sha256":"8896423cf43d4d18d91e3a1693b8b4e19dea59a73f46f63a3783932550b4fab5","source_module":"ECF","source_row_id":2347,"source_url":"https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/ecf/","text_sha256":"dfae5253456b695e43283bcc54dd0a403db051058098e095f2c5884be3a9b884","translator":null,"work":null}