Chapter XXV.—The Apostles Did Not Keep Back Any of the Deposit of Doctrine Which Christ Had Entrusted to Them. St. Paul Openly Committed His Whole Doctrine to Timothy.

But here is, as we have said,265    Above, in chap. xxii. [Note the Gnostic madness of such a plea. Kaye, p. 235 and Elucidation IV.] the same madness, in their allowing indeed that the apostles were ignorant of nothing, and preached not any (doctrines) which contradicted one another, but at the same time insisting that they did not reveal all to all men, for that they proclaimed some openly and to all the world, whilst they disclosed others (only) in secret and to a few, because Paul addressed even this expression to Timothy: “O Timothy, guard that which is entrusted to thee;”266    1 Tim. vi. 20. and again: “That good thing which was committed unto thee keep.”267    2 Tim. i. 14. What is this deposit? Is it so secret as to be supposed to characterize268    Ut alterius doctrinæ deputetur. a new doctrine? or is it a part of that charge of which he says, “This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy?”269    1 Tim. i. 18. and also of that precept of which he says, “I charge thee in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Jesus Christ who witnessed a good confession under Pontius Pilate, that thou keep this commandment?”270    1 Tim. vi. 13. Now, what is (this) commandment and what is (this) charge? From the preceding and the succeeding contexts, it will be manifest that there is no mysterious271    Nescis quid. hint darkly suggested in this expression about (some) far-fetched272    Remotiore. doctrine, but that a warning is rather given against receiving any other (doctrine) than that which Timothy had heard from himself, as I take it publicly: “Before many witnesses” is his phrase.273    2 Tim. ii. 2. Now, if they refuse to allow that the church is meant by these “many witnesses,” it matters nothing, since nothing could have been secret which was produced “before many witnesses.” Nor, again, must the circumstance of his having wished him to “commit these things to faithful men, who should be able to teach others also,”274    2 Tim. ii. 2. be construed into a proof of there being some occult gospel. For, when he says “these things,” he refers to the things of which he is writing at the moment. In reference, however, to occult subjects, he would have called them, as being absent, those things, not these things, to one who had a joint knowledge of them with himself.275    Apud conscientiam. [Clement of Alexandria is to be interpreted by Tertullian, with whom he does not essentially differ. For Clement’s Esoteric Doctrine (See Vol. II. pp. 302, 313, etc.) is defined as perfecting the type of the Christian by the strong meat of Truth, of which the entire deposit is presupposed as common to all Christians. We must not blame Clement for the abuse of his teaching by perverters of Truth itself.]

CAPUT XXV.

Neque vero occultum aliquod evangelium praedicasse Apostolos.

Sed ut diximus, eadem dementia est, cum confitentur quidem, nihil Apostolos ignorasse, nec diversa 0037B inter se praedicasse; non tamen omnia volunt illos omnibus revelasse: quaedam enim palam, et universis; quaedam secreto, et paucis demandasse: quia et hoc verbo usus est Paulus ad Timotheum: O Timothee, depositum custodi . Et rursum: Bonum depositum serva. Quod hoc depositum est tacitum , ut alteri doctrinae deputetur? An illius denuntiationis, de qua ait: Hanc denuntiationem commendo apud te, fili Timothee. Item illius praecepti, de quo ait: Denuntio tibi ante Deum, qui vivificat omnia, et Jesum Christum, qui testatus est sub Pontio Pilato bonam confessionem, custodias praeceptum (I Tim., VI, 13) Quod autem praeceptum, et quae denuntiatio? Ex supra et infra scriptis intelligetur non nescio quid subostendi hoc dicto de remotiore doctrina , 0037C sed potius inculcari de non admittenda alia praeter eam, quam audierat ab ipso, et, puto, palam . Coram multis, inquit, testibus (II Tim., II, 2). Quos multos testes si nolunt Ecclesiam intelligi, nihil interest, quando nihil tacitum fuerit, quod sub multis testibus proferebatur. Sed nec quia voluit illum haec fidelibus hominibus demandare, qui idonei sint et alios 0038A docere (II Tim., II, 2) id quoque ad argumentum occulti alicujus Evangelii interpretandum est. Nam cum dicit, haec, de eis dicit, de quibus in praesenti scribebat; de occultis autem, ut de absentibus apud conscientiam, non haec, sed illa dixisset.