Commentarii in Epistolas D. Pauli ad Timoth. ad Titum, et ad Philem. facili et perspicua methodo conscripti. A D. Benedicto Aretio bernensi theologo. Cum indice rerum memorabilium quae in hisce conti

of this epistle, partly from Acts 20. For the Apostle, being about to depart for Macedonia, had left Timothy at Ephesus: the reason for the matter was so that, staying there, he might resist the νομοδιδασκάλοις teachers of the Law and other corruptions of sound doctrine. For the Apostle had seen Satan everywhere lying in wait for sincere doctrine, so that he might contaminate it either with Mosaic ceremonies or with philosophical delusions. Thus, the Galatians had been made semi-Jews by the admission of circumcision: but among the Corinthians, in a heathen manner, they tolerated fornicators, the incestuous, the drunk at the Lord’s Supper, and those who, with the philosophers, denied the resurrection of the flesh. He feared all these corruptions, or at least some of them, in the Ephesian Church, and therefore, so that he might place a barrier against these evils, he left him among them. 2. Furthermore, in that Church, the number of ministers necessary for the cause of the Gospel had not yet been established: and no one could more correctly establish these ministers than he who had received the authority to choose them divinely, such as the Apostles were at that time. But because Paul is called away to Macedonia, he entrusts this care to Timothy. Therefore, he admonishes him primarily concerning the election, that he should not lay hands on anyone quickly: and if he wishes to lay hands on someone, he shows what sort of person he ought to be, chapter 3.

3. It is added that it is very expedient that all posterity should have an idea of the ministry and of ecclesiastical government, which all might henceforth follow as a rule.