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The Prescription Against Heretics
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, 1 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;" 2 and again: "That good thing which was committed unto thee keep." 3 What is this deposit? Is it so secret as to be supposed to characterize 4 a new doctrine? or is it a part of that charge of which he says, "This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy?" 5 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?" 6 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 mysterious 7 hint darkly suggested in this expression about (some) far-fetched 8 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. 9 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," 10 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. 11
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Above, in chap. xxii. [Note the Gnostic madness of such a plea. Kaye, p. 235 and Elucidation IV.] ↩
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1 Tim. vi. 20. ↩
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2 Tim. i. 14. ↩
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Ut alterius doctrinae deputetur. ↩
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1 Tim. i. 18. ↩
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1 Tim. vi. 13. ↩
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Nescis quid. ↩
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Remotiore. ↩
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2 Tim. ii. 2. ↩
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2 Tim. ii. 2. ↩
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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.] ↩
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Les prescriptions contre les Hérétiques
XXV.
Mais, comme nous l'avons dit, c'est une égale folie, en avouant que les Apôtres n'ont rien ignoré, et qu'ils n'ont pas prêché de doctrines opposées, de prétendre cependant qu'ils n'ont pas communiqué à tous tout ce qu'ils savaient; mais qu'ils ont enseigné publiquement certaines choses, et à tout le monde; et d'autres en secret, et à un petit nombre de personnes seulement. On se fonde sur ce que Paul dit à Timothée: « Gardez le dépôt; » et ailleurs: « Gardez le précieux dépôt. » Mais quel est ce dépôt secret qu'on prétend renfermer une doctrine nouvelle? Est-ce le précepte dont il dit: « Je vous recommande ce précepte, mon fils Timothée; » ou cet autre dont il parle en ces termes: « Je vous recommande devant Dieu, qui donne la vie à tous, et devant Jésus-Christ, qui a rendu sous Ponce-Pilate un témoignage éclatant à la vérité, de garder ce précepte? » Mais quel est donc ce précepte? quelle est cette recommandation? Il est aisé de voir, par ce qui précède et ce qui suit, qu'il ne s'agit nullement de je ne sais quelle doctrine cachée; que l'Apôtre insiste au contraire sur l'obligation de n'en pas recevoir d'autre que celle qu'il avait apprise à son disciple, et sans doute en public, en présence d'un grand nombre de témoins, dit-il. Peu nous importe que, selon nos adversaires, il n'entende point l'Eglise par ce grand nombre de témoins: il nous suffit que ce qui se dit devant un grand nombre de témoins n'est rien moins que secret. Et quand Paul recommande à Timothée de confier ce qu'il a entendu de lui à des hommes fidèles, et capables d'en enseigner les autres, il ne saurait non plus désigner par là un Evangile secret; car, lorsqu'il dit ceux-ci, il parle des enseignements qu'il donne dans le moment: s'il avait parlé d'enseignements secrets, dont il ne parlait pas, et comme étant confiés à leur conscience, il n'aurait pas dit ceux-ci, mais ceux-là.