_In the last times. Literally, last days; i.e. hereafter, or in days to come. --- To spirits of error and doctrines of devils; or, to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, as in the Protestant translation. The sense must be, that men shall teach false doctrine by the suggestion of the devil. (Wi... [ Continue Reading ]
_Their conscience seared; hardened: a metaphor from the custom of burning malefactors with a hot iron. (Witham)_... [ Continue Reading ]
Forbidding to marry, to abstain from meats, &c. Here says St. John Chrysostom[1] are foretold and denoted the heretics called Encratites, the Marcionites, Manicheans, &c. who condemned all marriages as evil, as may be seen in St. Irenæus, Epiphanius, St. Augustine, Theodoret, &c. These heretics held... [ Continue Reading ]
_It is sanctified by the word of God, and prayer. That is, praying that they may not, by the abuse we make of them, be an occasion to us of sinning and offending God. (Witham) --- The use of all kinds of meat is in itself good; but if it were not, it would become sanctified by the prayer which we us... [ Continue Reading ]
_Old wives' fables. [2] Some understand the groundless traditions of the Jews; others the ridiculous fictions of Simon Magus and his followers. In the Greek they are called profane fables. (Witham)_ [BIBLIOGRAPHY] _ Greek: Bebelous._... [ Continue Reading ]
Some think St. Paul alludes in this verse to the corporal exercises of wrestlers, which procured them but a little short renown, whereas the works of piety have a more lasting reward. (Menochius, Tirinus) --- Corporal exercises of temperance, mortification, &c. are good, but not to be compared with... [ Continue Reading ]
_Of all men, and especially of the faithful, who have received the grace of faith. (Witham)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let no man despise thy youth. That is, let thy behaviour be such that no one can have occasion to despise thee. He seems then about the age of forty. (Witham)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Attend to reading, &c. He recommends to him the reading of the Holy Scriptures; which says St. Ambrose, (lib. 3. de fid. chap. vii.) is the book of priests. (Witham)_... [ Continue Reading ]
Neglect not the grace. The Greek seems to imply the gifts of the Holy Ghost, given by the sacraments,[3] by prophecy; which may signify, when the gift of preaching or of expounding prophets was bestowed upon thee. --- With the imposition of the hands of the [4] priesthood. Some expound it, when thou... [ Continue Reading ]