Christology in the early church

1 Clement 7.4Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · Christ's precious blood won the grace of repentance for the world.
1 Clement 12.7Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · Rahab's scarlet cord foreshadowed redemption through Christ's blood.
1 Clement 16.1Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · Christ belongs to the humble, not to those who lord it over his flock.
1 Clement 16.2Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · Christ came in humility, as the Spirit foretold.
1 Clement 16.3Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · Isaiah's Suffering Servant: despised and rejected.
1 Clement 16.4Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · The Servant bears our sins.
1 Clement 16.5Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · By his wounds we are healed.
1 Clement 16.6Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · All have gone astray like sheep.
1 Clement 16.7Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · Like a lamb to the slaughter, he was silent.
1 Clement 16.8Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · His life was taken from the earth.
1 Clement 16.9Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · He died for his people's sins.
1 Clement 16.10Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · The innocent Servant.
1 Clement 16.11Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · An offering for sin.
1 Clement 16.12Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · The righteous Servant will justify many.
1 Clement 16.13Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · He was numbered with the transgressors.
1 Clement 16.14Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · He bore the sins of many.
1 Clement 16.15Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · “I am a worm and not a man.”
1 Clement 16.16Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · The sufferer is mocked.
1 Clement 16.17Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · If the Lord was so humble, how much more should we be.
1 Clement 22.1Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · Christ calls us through the Spirit in Psalm 34.
1 Clement 24.1Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · Christ's resurrection is the firstfruit of ours.
1 Clement 32.2Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · From Jacob came priests, Christ in the flesh, and kings.
1 Clement 36.1Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · Jesus Christ is our salvation and high priest.
1 Clement 36.2Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · Through Christ we see God and taste immortal knowledge.
1 Clement 36.3Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · The angels are God's servants.
1 Clement 36.4Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · God calls Christ his Son.
1 Clement 36.5Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · Christ sits at God's right hand.
1 Clement 48.4Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · The gate of righteousness is Christ.
1 Clement 49.6Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · Out of love Christ gave his blood, flesh, and soul for us.
1 Clement 59.3Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · The great prayer praises God, who humbles the proud and lifts the lowly.
1 Clement 61.3Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · The prayer closes with praise through Christ the high priest.
1 Clement 64.1Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · A closing blessing through Christ the high priest.
Epistle of Barnabas 5.1Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · Christ gave his flesh so that we might be cleansed by his blood.
Epistle of Barnabas 5.2Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · Isaiah's suffering servant is Christ.
Epistle of Barnabas 5.5Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · Why did the Lord of the world, addressed at creation, suffer at human hands?
Epistle of Barnabas 5.6Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · Christ endured suffering to abolish death and show the resurrection.
Epistle of Barnabas 5.7Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · He fulfilled the promise and prepared a new people.
Epistle of Barnabas 5.9Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · Christ chose sinners as apostles to show he came for sinners.
Epistle of Barnabas 5.10Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · Christ came in the flesh because no one could look on his glory directly.
Epistle of Barnabas 5.11Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · He came in the flesh to complete the sins of those who killed the prophets.
Epistle of Barnabas 5.13Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · The Psalms foretold his suffering on a tree.
Epistle of Barnabas 6.2Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · Christ is the chosen cornerstone of Zion.
Epistle of Barnabas 6.6Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · The Psalms foretold the crucifixion.
Epistle of Barnabas 6.9Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · The “good land” is Jesus in the flesh; man is suffering earth.
Epistle of Barnabas 6.12Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · Genesis's “Let us make man” is God speaking to the Son about us.
Epistle of Barnabas 6.14Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · God replaces hearts of stone with hearts of flesh; Christ dwells in us.
Epistle of Barnabas 7.2Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · The Son of God suffered only for our sake.
Epistle of Barnabas 7.3Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · The Day of Atonement fast and Isaac's sacrifice foreshadow Christ.
Epistle of Barnabas 7.9Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · At his coming, those who crucified Christ will recognize him.
Epistle of Barnabas 8.2Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · The calf is Jesus; those who offer it are those who killed him.
Epistle of Barnabas 8.5Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · The wool on the stick means Jesus reigns from the cross.
Epistle of Barnabas 9.8Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · The number 318 spells Jesus (IH) and the cross (T) in Greek numerals.
Epistle of Barnabas 11.8Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · The tree and the water in Psalm 1 are the cross and baptism.
Epistle of Barnabas 12.1Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · A prophecy of the cross: blood dripping from a tree.
Epistle of Barnabas 12.2Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · Moses' outstretched arms in battle were a type of the cross.
Epistle of Barnabas 12.7Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · Looking to the bronze serpent in faith brought life: a sign of Jesus.
Epistle of Barnabas 12.8Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · Moses gave Joshua the name Jesus as a prophecy.
Epistle of Barnabas 12.9Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · Moses foretold that the Son of God would destroy Amalek.
Epistle of Barnabas 12.10Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · David calls the Christ his Lord, not merely his son.
Epistle of Barnabas 12.11Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · Isaiah and David both call the Christ Lord.
Epistle of Barnabas 14.4Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · Moses received the covenant as a servant; the Lord gave it to us himself.
Epistle of Barnabas 14.5Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · Christ appeared to redeem us and establish the covenant in us.
Epistle of Barnabas 14.7Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · Isaiah: the Servant is a covenant and a light for the nations.
Epistle of Barnabas 14.9Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · Isaiah: the Spirit of the Lord is upon me.
Epistle of Barnabas 15.5Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · God's rest on the seventh day is Christ's coming and judgment.
Epistle of Barnabas 15.9Anonymous · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · Christians celebrate the eighth day, the day of the resurrection.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 5.5.2 (58.2)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · The field is the world, the master is God, the slave is the Son of God, the vines are the people.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 5.5.5 (58.5)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · Why is the Son of God shown as a slave?
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 5.6.1 (59.1)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · The Son of God is not a slave but has great authority.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 5.6.2 (59.2)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · The Son cleansed the people's sins through great labor.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 5.6.3 (59.3)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · The Son gave the people the law received from the Father.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 5.6.5 (59.5)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · God made the pre-existent Holy Spirit dwell in chosen flesh, which served the Spirit purely.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 5.6.6 (59.6)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · Because this flesh stayed pure, God made it a partner of the Holy Spirit.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 5.6.7 (59.7)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · All flesh that keeps the Spirit pure will receive a reward.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 8.3.2 (69.2)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · The tree is God's law, which is the Son of God preached to all the earth.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.1.1 (78.1)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · The Spirit who spoke as the church is the Son of God.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.6.1 (83.1)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · A man taller than the tower comes with a great company.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.12.1 (89.1)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · The rock and the gate are the Son of God.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.12.2 (89.2)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · The rock is old because the Son is older than all creation and was the Father's counselor in creating.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.12.3 (89.3)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · The gate is new because the Son was revealed in the last days.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.12.4 (89.4)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · No one enters God's kingdom without receiving the name of the Son.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.12.5 (89.5)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · As a walled city has one gate, so the only way into God's kingdom is the name of his beloved Son.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.12.6 (89.6)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · The Son of God is the one entrance to the Lord.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.12.8 (89.8)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · The great man is the Son of God; even angels come to God only through him.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.13.2 (90.2)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · The virgins are holy spirits, powers of the Son of God; the name without their garment is useless.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.14.5 (91.5)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · The Son's name sustains all creation.
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.14.6 (91.6)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · The Son is the foundation of those who bear his name wholeheartedly.
Shepherd of Hermas, Vision 2.2.8 (6.8)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · Those who deny Christ in the coming days lose life; earlier deniers find mercy.
2 Clement 1.1Anonymous · ca. 100–150 · Think of Christ as of God, the judge of all, and do not think lightly of salvation.
2 Clement 1.2Anonymous · ca. 100–150 · Thinking little of Christ is itself a sin; remember what he suffered for us.
2 Clement 2.7Anonymous · ca. 100–150 · Christ came to save the perishing, and called us.
2 Clement 3.1Anonymous · ca. 100–150 · To know the Father is not to deny Christ, through whom we know him.
2 Clement 9.5Anonymous · ca. 100–150 · Christ became flesh; so we will be rewarded in the flesh.
2 Clement 14.1Anonymous · ca. 100–150 · Doing God's will places us in the first, spiritual church, created before the sun and moon.
2 Clement 14.2Anonymous · ca. 100–150 · The church, Christ's body and bride, existed from the beginning.
2 Clement 14.4Anonymous · ca. 100–150 · To abuse the flesh is to abuse the church, and to lose the Spirit.
2 Clement 20.5Anonymous · ca. 100–150 · Closing doxology to the invisible God who sent the Savior.
Gospel of Peter (Akhmim fragment) 10Anonymous · ca. 100–200 · The Lord is crucified between two criminals, keeps silent, and his garments are divided.
Gospel of Peter (Akhmim fragment) 19Anonymous · ca. 100–200 · The Lord cries out to his power, is taken up, and the temple veil is torn.
Gospel of Peter (Akhmim fragment) 39Anonymous · ca. 100–200 · The guards see three men come out of the tomb, two supporting one, followed by a cross.
Gospel of Peter (Akhmim fragment) 40Anonymous · ca. 100–200 · The giant figures emerge, a heavenly voice asks whether he has preached to the sleeping, the cross answers 'Yes', and the guards resolve to tell Pilate.
Gospel of Thomas, Logion 28 (P.Oxy. 1)Anonymous · ca. 100–200 · Jesus came in the flesh and found humanity drunk and without thirst, blind in heart, and grieves over them.
To the Ephesians, inscriptionIgnatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Ignatius greets the church at Ephesus, chosen by God for glory.
To the Ephesians 1.1Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Ignatius praises the Ephesians, who have acted as true imitators of God.
To the Ephesians 3.2Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Christ expresses the Father's mind, and the bishops everywhere share Christ's mind.
To the Ephesians 7.2Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Christ is the one physician, both human and divine.
To the Ephesians 15.1Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Better to be a Christian in silence than to talk without being one; Christ the one Teacher spoke and acted.
To the Ephesians 17.2Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Jesus Christ is the knowledge of God; why perish by ignoring him?
To the Ephesians 18.1Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Ignatius gives himself for the cross, which is salvation to believers.
To the Ephesians 18.2Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Christ was conceived by Mary, born, and baptized to sanctify the water of baptism.
To the Ephesians 19.1Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Christ's virgin birth and death were hidden from the devil.
To the Ephesians 19.2Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · A brilliant star announced Christ's coming to the universe.
To the Ephesians 19.3Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Christ's coming broke the power of magic and evil and began the defeat of death.
To the Ephesians 20.1Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Ignatius hopes to write a second letter explaining more about Christ.
To the Ephesians 20.2Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · In the one Eucharistic bread, the “medicine of immortality,” the united church shares Christ's life.
To the Magnesians 1.2Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Ignatius prays that the churches be united with Christ in body and spirit, in faith and love.
To the Magnesians 6.1Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · The bishop presides in God's place, the presbyters as the apostles' council, and the deacons serve Christ.
To the Magnesians 7.2Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Gather as to one temple and one altar, to the one Christ who came from the one Father.
To the Magnesians 8.2Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · The prophets already lived by Christ, God's Word who came forth from silence.
To the Magnesians 9.1Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Christians keep the Lord's day, when our life rose through Christ's death, rather than the Sabbath.
To the Magnesians 9.2Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · The prophets awaited Christ as their teacher, and he raised them from the dead.
To the Magnesians 11.1Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Hold firmly to the real birth, death, and resurrection of Christ under Pontius Pilate.
To the Philadelphians 8.2Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Against those who demand proof from the old scriptures, Ignatius says Christ's cross and resurrection are his “archives.”
To the Philadelphians 9.1Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Christ the High Priest is the door through which all God's people enter.
To the Philadelphians 9.2Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · The prophets pointed to Christ; the gospel completes their message.
To Polycarp 3.2Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Ignatius points to Christ, eternal and invisible, who became visible and suffered for us.
To Polycarp 8.3Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Ignatius closes with a farewell and a greeting to Alce.
To the Romans, inscriptionIgnatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Ignatius greets the church at Rome with unusual honor.
To the Romans 3.3Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Christianity shows its greatness when the world hates it.
To the Romans 6.3Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Ignatius wants to imitate the suffering of Christ, his God.
To the Romans 7.3Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Ignatius longs for the bread of God, Christ's flesh, and the drink of his blood.
To the Romans 8.2Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Christ, the Father's truthful mouth, will confirm Ignatius's words.
To the Smyrnaeans 1.1Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Ignatius praises the Smyrnaeans' firm faith in Christ's true birth and baptism.
To the Smyrnaeans 1.2Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Christ was truly crucified; through his resurrection he gathers Jews and Gentiles into one church.
To the Smyrnaeans 2.1Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Christ truly suffered and truly rose, against those who say he only seemed to.
To the Smyrnaeans 3.1Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Christ remained in the flesh after his resurrection.
To the Smyrnaeans 3.2Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · The risen Christ invited the disciples to touch him, proving he was not a ghost.
To the Smyrnaeans 3.3Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · The risen Christ ate and drank with his disciples.
To the Smyrnaeans 4.2Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · If Christ only seemed to suffer, Ignatius's chains would be meaningless.
To the Smyrnaeans 5.2Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Denying that Christ had flesh is denying him completely.
To the Smyrnaeans 6.1Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Even heavenly powers are judged if they do not believe in Christ's blood; faith and love are everything.
To the Smyrnaeans 7.1Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · The docetists avoid the Eucharist because they deny it is Christ's flesh.
To the Trallians, inscriptionIgnatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Ignatius greets the church at Tralles.
To the Trallians 8.1Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Renew yourselves in faith and love, which are Christ's flesh and blood.
To the Trallians 9.1Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Christ was truly born, truly suffered, and truly died.
To the Trallians 9.2Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · Christ truly rose, and the Father will raise believers in the same way.
To the Trallians 10.1Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · If Christ only seemed to suffer, Ignatius's martyrdom would be pointless.
To the Trallians 11.2Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · True believers are branches of the cross and members of Christ, their head.
To the Philippians 1.2Polycarp of Smyrna · ca. 110–135 · The Philippians' long-standing faith still bears fruit in Christ, who died for our sins and was raised by God.
To the Philippians 2.1Polycarp of Smyrna · ca. 110–135 · Serve God faithfully, believing in the God who raised Christ, who now reigns and will come to judge the living and the dead.
To the Philippians 7.1Polycarp of Smyrna · ca. 110–135 · Polycarp condemns those who deny that Christ came in the flesh, who deny the witness of the cross, and who twist the Lord's words to deny resurrection and judgment.
To the Philippians 8.1Polycarp of Smyrna · ca. 110–135 · Christ, our hope, bore our sins on the cross without sin of his own and endured everything so that we might live in him.
To the Philippians 12.2Polycarp of Smyrna · ca. 110–135 · Polycarp prays that God the Father and Jesus Christ the eternal high priest build the Philippians up and give them a share among the saints.
To Diognetus 7.2Anonymous · ca. 150–200 (disputed) · God sent not an angel but the Word himself, the Creator of all things.
To Diognetus 7.3Anonymous · ca. 150–200 (disputed) · Did God send him to rule by terror?
To Diognetus 7.4Anonymous · ca. 150–200 (disputed) · God sent his Son as God and as man, in gentleness, to save.
To Diognetus 7.5Anonymous · ca. 150–200 (disputed) · He sent him to call and to love, not to judge.
To Diognetus 8.1Anonymous · ca. 150–200 (disputed) · No one knew God before Christ came.
To Diognetus 8.9Anonymous · ca. 150–200 (disputed) · God shared his great plan with his Son alone.
To Diognetus 8.11Anonymous · ca. 150–200 (disputed) · Through his Son God revealed and gave everything.
To Diognetus 9.2Anonymous · ca. 150–200 (disputed) · In love God gave his own Son as a ransom for us.
To Diognetus 9.3Anonymous · ca. 150–200 (disputed) · Only Christ's righteousness covers our sins.
To Diognetus 9.4Anonymous · ca. 150–200 (disputed) · We are justified in the Son of God alone.
To Diognetus 9.5Anonymous · ca. 150–200 (disputed) · The sweet exchange: our sin hidden in him, his righteousness justifying us.
To Diognetus 10.2Anonymous · ca. 150–200 (disputed) · God loved mankind, made the world for them, and sent his only Son.
To Diognetus 11.2Anonymous · ca. 150–200 (disputed) · The Word revealed the Father's mysteries to faithful disciples.
To Diognetus 11.3Anonymous · ca. 150–200 (disputed) · The Word was rejected by his people, preached by apostles, believed by Gentiles.
To Diognetus 11.4Anonymous · ca. 150–200 (disputed) · The eternal Word is ever new in the hearts of the saints.
To Diognetus 11.5Anonymous · ca. 150–200 (disputed) · Through the eternal Son the church is enriched with grace.
To Diognetus 12.9Anonymous · ca. 150–200 (disputed) · Closing doxology: the Word teaches the saints and the Father is glorified.
Apology 15Aristides of Athens · ca. 125–145 · The Christians descend from Christ, the Son of God born of a virgin, crucified, risen, and ascended; they know the true God and live by his commandments in purity, justice, and love.
Epistle of the Apostles 3Anonymous · ca. 140-170 · The apostles confess Jesus Christ as God, the Son of God, the Creator enthroned at the Father's right hand, who became flesh of the virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit.
Epistle of the Apostles 9Anonymous · ca. 140-170 · The apostles testify that Christ was crucified under Pilate and buried, and that three women found his tomb empty.
Epistle of the Apostles 11Anonymous · ca. 140-170 · The risen Lord comes to the doubting apostles and invites Peter, Thomas, and Andrew to test that he is no ghost.
Epistle of the Apostles 12Anonymous · ca. 140-170 · The apostles touch the risen Christ, are convinced that he rose in the flesh, and he promises to reveal to them the things of heaven and their resurrection.
Epistle of the Apostles 13Anonymous · ca. 140-170 · Christ tells how he came down from the Father through the heavens, appearing to the angels as one of them.
Epistle of the Apostles 14Anonymous · ca. 140-170 · Christ says that he himself, in Gabriel's form, announced his birth to Mary and then entered her and became flesh.
Epistle of the Apostles 17Anonymous · ca. 140-170 · Christ gives the time of the coming, and explains that he is wholly in the Father and the Father in him.
Epistle of the Apostles 19Anonymous · ca. 140-170 · Christ promises the apostles a rest without food, grief, or decay, and says he put on their flesh and rose in it, as David foretold.
Epistle of the Apostles 21Anonymous · ca. 140-170 · Christ promises that the apostles will rise in the flesh as he did, and says he has received from the Father all authority to bring the lost into light, life, and freedom.
Epistle of the Apostles 27Anonymous · ca. 140-170 · Christ tells how he went down to the patriarchs and prophets and gave them the baptism of life, and warns that faith without keeping his commandment is of no use.
Epistle of the Apostles 39Anonymous · ca. 140-170 · Christ teaches that, as Adam was free to choose the light, every man has the power to believe and live, and that the Word became flesh so that those who keep his commandments may be saved.
Epistle of the Apostles 51Anonymous · ca. 140-170 · Christ announces his departure, and amid thunder and earthquake a bright cloud carries him up while angels praise him, and his voice bids the apostles go in peace.
First Apology 5Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · The pagan gods are evil demons, exposed by Socrates among the Greeks and by the Word made man, Jesus Christ, among the barbarians.
First Apology 6Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · Christians are “atheists” only toward false gods; they worship the true God, his Son, and the prophetic Spirit.
First Apology 12Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · Christians, believing God sees all and judges all, are the best citizens; Christ foretold what is now happening.
First Apology 13Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · Christians worship the Creator with prayer and thanksgiving, and honor Christ, crucified under Pontius Pilate, in the second place and the prophetic Spirit in the third.
First Apology 21Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · The virgin birth, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ are no stranger than the myths told of Zeus's sons.
First Apology 22Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · Even by pagan standards, Jesus's divine sonship, crucifixion, virgin birth, and miracles have parallels; yet he is superior.
First Apology 23Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · Justin will prove that Christian teaching alone is true and older than the poets, and that the demons imitated it beforehand in myths.
First Apology 30Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · Justin will prove Christ is not a magician but the Son of God from prophecies fulfilled.
First Apology 31Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · The Hebrew prophets foretold Christ's birth, miracles, death, resurrection, and the mission to the Gentiles; the Scriptures were translated into Greek for Ptolemy.
First Apology 32Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · Moses' prophecy of Judah's ruler and the foal bound to the vine, and Isaiah's star and flower from Jesse, point to Christ.
First Apology 33Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · Isaiah foretold the virgin birth; the power of God, the Word, overshadowed the virgin without intercourse.
First Apology 34Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · Micah foretold his birth in Bethlehem, as the census under Quirinius shows.
First Apology 35Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · Isaiah and the Psalms foretold Christ's crucifixion; Zechariah his entry into Jerusalem.
First Apology 36Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · The divine Word speaks through the prophets in different persons: as God, as Christ, or as the people.
First Apology 38Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · Examples of prophecy spoken in the person of Christ, fulfilled in his passion and resurrection.
First Apology 40Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · Psalm 19 foretells the apostles' preaching; Psalms 1 and 2 teach how to live and foretell the conspiracy against Christ, God's Son.
First Apology 41Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · A psalm foretells that the Lord will reign from the tree of the cross.
First Apology 42Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · Prophecy speaks of certain future events as already past; only Christ, crucified and risen, fulfilled David's words.
First Apology 45Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · Psalm 110 foretells Christ's ascension and the preaching of the apostles from Jerusalem.
First Apology 46Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · All people share in the Word; those who lived by the Word before Christ, like Socrates and Abraham, were in a sense Christians.
First Apology 48Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · Isaiah foretold Christ's healings and his death along with those who hope in him.
First Apology 50Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · Isaiah's suffering Servant (Isa 52–53) foretold Christ's passion; after his resurrection the apostles understood and preached.
First Apology 51Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · Isaiah foretold that the sufferer's generation is beyond telling; Psalm 24 his ascension; Daniel his coming on the clouds.
First Apology 52Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · The prophets foretold two comings of Christ: the first in suffering, the second in glory, with the resurrection and judgment.
First Apology 53Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · Fulfilled prophecies, above all the conversion of the Gentiles, prove Christ's claims.
First Apology 54Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · The demons, hearing the prophecies of Christ without understanding them, invented Dionysus, Bellerophon, Perseus, Heracles, and Asclepius as imitations.
First Apology 55Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · The demons never imitated the cross, whose shape appears everywhere: in sails, plows, tools, the human body, and Rome's own standards.
First Apology 60Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · Plato's “world soul set crosswise” and his threefold order came from Moses' bronze serpent and Genesis; even the unlettered among Christians know these things.
First Apology 62Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · Pagan purifications and the custom of removing shoes in temples imitate baptism and Moses at the burning bush, where Christ spoke with him.
First Apology 63Justin Martyr · ca. 150–155 · The one who spoke to Moses from the bush was the Son, the Word, who is also God; the Jews wrongly think it was the Father.
Martyrdom of Andrew (first Greek martyrdom), chapter 5Anonymous · ca. 150-200 (the Acts); the Martyrdom text is later · Andrew prays to Christ and heals Lesbius, who believes with all his household.
Martyrdom of Andrew (first Greek martyrdom), chapter 12Anonymous · ca. 150-200 (the Acts); the Martyrdom text is later · Andrew tells Aegeates that the demons and idols have been overthrown by God the Word, who came in a body and sent the apostles, and calls him to believe and be saved.
Acts of John 8Anonymous · ca. 150–200 · Before Domitian John proclaims the coming of Christ, the eternal king and judge.
Acts of John 23Anonymous · ca. 150–200 · John raises Cleopatra in the name of the one whom all powers fear.
Acts of John 73Anonymous · ca. 150–200 · At the tomb a radiant young man appears and ascends, and John finds Callimachus pinned by the serpent and the steward Fortunatus dead.
Acts of John 76Anonymous · ca. 150–200 · Callimachus tells how the radiant young man stopped him and asks to become a believer; John praises Jesus for his mercy.
Acts of John 82Anonymous · ca. 150–200 · Drusiana prays to Christ for Fortunatus to be raised.
Acts of John 87Anonymous · ca. 150–200 · The brothers are perplexed that the Lord appeared to Drusiana in the form of John and of a young man.
Acts of John 88Anonymous · ca. 150–200 · John tells how the Lord appeared to him in changing forms, felt now soft and now hard, and shone on the mountain.
Acts of John 91Anonymous · ca. 150–200 · John tells of a mysterious companion seen speaking with the Lord on the mountain and at Gennesaret.
Acts of John 93Anonymous · ca. 150–200 · John tells that the Lord's body was sometimes solid and sometimes immaterial and left no footprints, and that before his arrest he led the disciples in a hymn and ring dance.
Acts of John 95Anonymous · ca. 150–200 · The hymn continues with paradoxical sayings of the Lord answered by Amen.
Acts of John 96Anonymous · ca. 150–200 · The hymn ends; at the crucifixion the Lord appears to John in a cave on the Mount of Olives and shows him the cross of light.
Acts of John 101Anonymous · ca. 150–200 · The Lord teaches John that he did not suffer what the crowd supposed; John urges the brothers to worship him as God present with them in every trial.
Acts of John 107Anonymous · ca. 150–200 · John exhorts the brothers, prays, breaks bread with them, has a grave dug outside the city, and begins his last prayer.
Acts of Paul (Coptic Heidelberg papyrus), page 45Anonymous · ca. 150-200 · The Corinthians fear for Paul because two teachers, Simon and Cleobius, are denying the resurrection of the flesh, God's creation of man and the world, and Christ's real crucifixion and birth.
Acts of Paul and Thecla 17Anonymous · ca. 150–200 · Paul states his message before the governor, who has him imprisoned until a fuller hearing.
Acts of Paul and Thecla 37Anonymous · ca. 150–200 · Thecla tells the governor that she is a servant of the living God and that Christ protected her.
Acts of Paul and Thecla 42Anonymous · ca. 150–200 · Back in Onesiphorus's house in Iconium, Thecla praises Christ as her helper in every trial.
Correspondence of Paul and the Corinthians (3 Cor.), the Corinthians' letter to PaulAnonymous · ca. 150-200 · The Corinthian elders write to Paul that two teachers, Simon and Cleobius, deny the prophets, the resurrection of the flesh, God's creation of man and the world, and Christ's coming in the flesh and birth from Mary, and they ask him to come.
Correspondence of Paul and the Corinthians (3 Cor.), Paul's replyAnonymous · ca. 150-200 · Paul replies that he handed on what he received: Christ was truly born of Mary by the Holy Spirit to save the flesh, God made man and the world, and the flesh will rise, as seeds, Jonah, the dead man laid on Elisha's bones and the widow's son show.
Evening hymn (Phos hilaron)Anonymous · second or third century · An ancient evening hymn praises Jesus Christ as the joyful light of the Father's glory and gives glory to the Trinity at lamp-lighting.
Second Apology 5Justin Martyr · ca. 150–160 · God the Father has no proper name; the Son is called Christ and Jesus, and in his name Christians cast out demons.
Second Apology 7Justin Martyr · ca. 150–160 · The demons have always stirred up hatred against those who lived by reason, and much more against Christians, who know the whole Word, Christ.
Second Apology 10Justin Martyr · ca. 150–160 · Philosophers knew parts of the truth through the Word; Christ is the whole Word, for whom even the uneducated die, as no one died for Socrates.
Second Apology 13Justin Martyr · ca. 150–160 · Justin strives to be a Christian; whatever truth any philosopher spoke belongs to Christians, since the philosophers had only seeds of the Word, while Christians have the Word himself.
Justin, Fr. 5Justin Martyr · ca. 150-165 · A fragment argues that because corruption entered human nature through the first transgression, the Word had to take a body to unite life with that nature, rather than save by a mere command.
On the Resurrection 9Justin Martyr · 2nd century (disputed) · Christ healed and raised the flesh, rose in the flesh in which he suffered, ate before his disciples and ascended in the flesh: the resurrection of the flesh is the power of God.
Sibylline Oracles 6.1ff.Anonymous · 2nd-3rd cent. · The Sibyl proclaims the immortal Son, enthroned by the Father before his birth, baptized in the Jordan, where the Spirit came upon him as a dove.
Sibylline Oracles 6.11ff.Anonymous · 2nd-3rd cent. · The Sibyl foretells Christ's miracles, his birth from the house of David, and his appearing like lightning.
Sibylline Oracles 6.21ff.Anonymous · 2nd-3rd cent. · The Sibyl pronounces woe on the land that crowned God with thorns and gave him gall, and blesses the wood of the cross, which will see heaven.
Sibylline Oracles 7.31ff.Anonymous · 2nd-3rd cent. · The Sibyl foretells that all will be fulfilled through the house of David, to whom God gave the throne and subjected the angels.
Sibylline Oracles 7.61ff.Anonymous · 2nd-3rd cent. · The Sibyl laments Syria for not knowing its God, the Word who was baptized in the Jordan, author of creation with the Father and the Spirit, who took flesh and returned to the Father.
Sibylline Oracles 8.211ff.Anonymous · 2nd-3rd cent. · The Sibyl foretells the earth's abundance in the age to come and begins the acrostic oracle of the judgment: the earth will sweat, and the King will come from heaven to judge all flesh.
Sibylline Oracles 8.241ff.Anonymous · 2nd-3rd cent. · The acrostic concludes with the darkening of sun, moon, and stars, the river of fire, the sign of the cross for the faithful, and the declaration that this is our God, the Savior and immortal King who suffered for us.
Sibylline Oracles 8.251ff.Anonymous · 2nd-3rd cent. · The Sibyl says that Moses with outstretched arms prefigured Christ, the rod of David and the chosen stone, who came in lowliness to renew the man God formed.
Sibylline Oracles 8.261ff.Anonymous · 2nd-3rd cent. · The Sibyl tells how the serpent deceived Adam, and how the Almighty, taking the Son as counsellor, said "Let us make" man, and how the Son came, mindful of that purpose, through a holy virgin.
Sibylline Oracles 8.271ff.Anonymous · 2nd-3rd cent. · The Sibyl foretells Christ's baptism, his healing, his calming of the sea, and the feeding of the five thousand.
Sibylline Oracles 8.281ff.Anonymous · 2nd-3rd cent. · The Sibyl describes Christ as the all-seeing Word, creator and healer, who will be handed over to the lawless, struck, spat upon, and scourged.
Sibylline Oracles 8.291ff.Anonymous · 2nd-3rd cent. · The Sibyl foretells Christ's silence under blows, his crown of thorns, the piercing of his side, and the fulfilment of the law in him.
Sibylline Oracles 8.301ff.Anonymous · 2nd-3rd cent. · The Sibyl foretells the crucifixion: Christ's outstretched hands, the gall and vinegar, the torn veil, and the three hours of darkness.
Sibylline Oracles 8.311ff.Anonymous · 2nd-3rd cent. · The Sibyl foretells Christ's descent to Hades with hope for the saints, his rising on the third day as the first-fruits of resurrection, and his appearing in the flesh with the marks of the nails.
Sibylline Oracles 8.321ff.Anonymous · 2nd-3rd cent. · The four marks of the nails signify the four quarters of the world; the Sibyl bids the daughter of Zion rejoice at her gentle King, the Son of God, who comes on a colt to lift her yoke.
Sibylline Oracles 8.331ff.Anonymous · 2nd-3rd cent. · The Sibyl bids Zion love Christ, be washed in his blood, and praise him with understanding, and foretells the dissolution of all the elements.
Sibylline Oracles 8.431ff.Anonymous · 2nd-3rd cent. · A hymn praises the self-begotten, eternal God who rules thunder, lightning, rain, and hail, and his Child, begotten before all creation, counsellor and creator.
Sibylline Oracles 8.441ff.Anonymous · 2nd-3rd cent. · The hymn tells how God said to the Word, "Let us make man in our form," and how all the elements obeyed his command.
Sibylline Oracles 8.451ff.Anonymous · 2nd-3rd cent. · The hymn tells how all creation was ordered for man, and how in the last times the Word came from heaven, took mortal form of the virgin Mary, and Gabriel was sent to her.
Sibylline Oracles 8.461ff.Anonymous · 2nd-3rd cent. · The hymn tells of the annunciation: Gabriel bids the virgin receive God; she trembles, then rejoices, and the Word enters her womb and is made flesh.
Sibylline Oracles 8.471ff.Anonymous · 2nd-3rd cent. · The hymn tells of the virgin birth, the joy of heaven and earth, the star of the Magi, the babe in the manger shown to the shepherds, and Bethlehem the homeland of the Word.
Protevangelium of James 11Anonymous · ca. 150–200 · The annunciation to Mary at the well and at her spinning, and her visit to Elizabeth.
Protevangelium of James 19Anonymous · ca. 150–200 · Joseph brings a midwife to the cave, where a cloud and a great light attend the birth; Salome refuses to believe that a virgin has given birth.
Protevangelium of James 20Anonymous · ca. 150–200 · Salome's hand is withered for her unbelief and healed when she holds the child; the magi come by Herod to the cave and worship.
Dialogue with Trypho 7.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The prophets proclaimed the Father and his Son Christ; the old man urges Justin to pray for understanding.
Dialogue with Trypho 8.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Justin invites Trypho to know Christ and so find happiness.
Dialogue with Trypho 8.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Trypho urges Justin to keep the law; the Messiah, if he has come, remains hidden until Elijah anoints him.
Dialogue with Trypho 11.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christ is the final and eternal law and covenant, for all people, replacing the law given at Horeb.
Dialogue with Trypho 11.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The conversion and steadfastness of the Gentiles show that Christ is the new covenant.
Dialogue with Trypho 13.5Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Isa 53:5–7.
Dialogue with Trypho 14.8Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The prophets speak of two comings of Christ: first in humility, then in glory.
Dialogue with Trypho 19.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Lot, Noah, and Melchizedek were uncircumcised; Christ is priest after Melchizedek's order.
Dialogue with Trypho 23.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · As there was no need of circumcision before Abraham, there is none now after Christ, born of the Virgin Mary.
Dialogue with Trypho 24.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The eighth day is more significant than the seventh; the blood of circumcision is replaced by Christ's saving blood.
Dialogue with Trypho 24.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christ circumcises with “knives of stone,” making a righteous people.
Dialogue with Trypho 30.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christians pray through Christ to be kept from demons, which flee at his name.
Dialogue with Trypho 31.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · If Christ's passion shows such power, his glorious second coming will show far more, as Daniel foretold.
Dialogue with Trypho 32.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Trypho objects that the Messiah of Daniel is glorious, while Jesus was crucified and fell under the law's curse.
Dialogue with Trypho 32.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Justin answers that the Scriptures foretell two comings: one in humiliation and one in glory.
Dialogue with Trypho 32.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Psalm 110 shows the ascension; the Antichrist of Daniel is near.
Dialogue with Trypho 32.6Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Ps 110 (LXX 109).
Dialogue with Trypho 33.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Psalm 110 cannot refer to Hezekiah, who was never a priest.
Dialogue with Trypho 33.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Like Melchizedek, Christ is priest of the uncircumcised, and blesses the circumcised who come to him.
Dialogue with Trypho 34.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Psalm 72 speaks of Christ, whom Scripture calls King, Priest, God, Lord, Angel, Man, Captain, Stone, and Child.
Dialogue with Trypho 36.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Trypho grants that the Messiah must suffer, but asks proof that Jesus is he.
Dialogue with Trypho 36.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Justin will first show that Christ is called God and Lord of hosts.
Dialogue with Trypho 36.5Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Psalm 24 depicts Christ's ascension through the gates of heaven.
Dialogue with Trypho 36.6Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The heavenly powers did not recognize the humbled Christ and asked who he was.
Dialogue with Trypho 37.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Ps 47:5–9 (LXX 46) is spoken of Christ.
Dialogue with Trypho 37.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Psalm 99 shows Christ as King and Lord of Moses, Aaron, and Samuel.
Dialogue with Trypho 38.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Trypho protests that Justin's claims about the crucified Jesus are blasphemous.
Dialogue with Trypho 38.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Ps 45:6–11: “Your throne, O God.”
Dialogue with Trypho 39.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Psalm 68 foretells the gifts of the ascended Christ.
Dialogue with Trypho 39.7Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Trypho accepts that the Messiah must suffer and return, and asks proof that Jesus is he.
Dialogue with Trypho 40.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The Passover lamb was a type of Christ; his blood marks believers, who are God's house.
Dialogue with Trypho 40.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The roasted lamb on its spits took the shape of a cross.
Dialogue with Trypho 40.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The two goats of the Day of Atonement signify Christ's two comings.
Dialogue with Trypho 41.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Circumcision on the eighth day prefigured Christ's resurrection on Sunday, the “eighth day.”
Dialogue with Trypho 43.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The ceremonial law had to end with Christ, born of the Virgin of David's line.
Dialogue with Trypho 43.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Isaiah says Christ's generation cannot be told.
Dialogue with Trypho 43.5Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Isa 7:10–15: the sign of the virgin.
Dialogue with Trypho 43.7Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · No one but Christ was ever born of a virgin in Abraham's line.
Dialogue with Trypho 43.8Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Trypho's teachers read “young woman” and apply the prophecy to Hezekiah; Justin will refute this.
Dialogue with Trypho 45.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The righteous under the law will be saved through Christ, who existed before creation and became flesh to destroy the serpent and death.
Dialogue with Trypho 48.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Trypho calls the doctrine of the pre-existent, divine Christ born as man paradoxical and foolish.
Dialogue with Trypho 48.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Even if pre-existence could not be proved, Jesus would still be the Christ.
Dialogue with Trypho 48.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Justin separates the proof that Jesus is the Christ from the proof of his pre-existence.
Dialogue with Trypho 48.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Justin rejects the view of some Jewish Christians that Jesus was merely a man.
Dialogue with Trypho 49.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Trypho expects a merely human Messiah anointed by Elijah, who has not yet come.
Dialogue with Trypho 49.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Elijah is to precede the second coming, the great and terrible day.
Dialogue with Trypho 49.7Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Both Christ's and the Spirit's first comings were without glory.
Dialogue with Trypho 49.8Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · God's hidden hand fighting Amalek signifies the hidden power of the crucified Christ.
Dialogue with Trypho 50.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Trypho asks Justin to prove there is “another God” besides the Creator.
Dialogue with Trypho 51.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christ's own predictions of his passion, return, and the rise of heresies have been fulfilled.
Dialogue with Trypho 52.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Jacob's blessing of Judah foretold Christ's two comings.
Dialogue with Trypho 54.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Washing the robe in wine signifies Christ cleansing believers with his blood.
Dialogue with Trypho 54.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The “blood of the grape” shows that Christ's blood comes from God's power, not from human seed: he was born of a virgin.
Dialogue with Trypho 56.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Moses shows that the God who appeared to Abraham at Mamre was sent by another, the unseen Father.
Dialogue with Trypho 56.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Justin will prove there is another God and Lord, under the Creator, called Angel because he announces the Father's will.
Dialogue with Trypho 56.8Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The one who returned is called God.
Dialogue with Trypho 56.11Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The God who appeared to the patriarchs is distinct from the Father in number, but not in will.
Dialogue with Trypho 56.14Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · David too calls another “Lord” and “God” besides the Father.
Dialogue with Trypho 56.22Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The one of the three who is God and Lord remained with Abraham while the two angels went to Sodom.
Dialogue with Trypho 57.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Trypho asks how this God became man through the Virgin.
Dialogue with Trypho 58.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Moses calls the one who appeared to the patriarchs God, Angel, and Lord.
Dialogue with Trypho 58.5Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Gen 31:11–13: the angel says, “I am the God who appeared to you.”
Dialogue with Trypho 58.7Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Gen 32:26–30: Jacob sees God face to face.
Dialogue with Trypho 58.9Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · He is called God, is God, and will be.
Dialogue with Trypho 58.10Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Justin turns to Jacob's vision at Bethel.
Dialogue with Trypho 59.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Justin turns to the burning bush.
Dialogue with Trypho 59.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The angel in the bush declares himself the God of Abraham.
Dialogue with Trypho 60.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Even so, the one who spoke was not the Father, who does not leave heaven to appear in a corner of the earth.
Dialogue with Trypho 60.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Exod 3:2–4: the angel of the Lord and the Lord are the same.
Dialogue with Trypho 60.5Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · In each case the “angel” is also Lord and God, serving the Father.
Dialogue with Trypho 61.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Before all creation God begot from himself a rational Power, called Glory, Son, Wisdom, Angel, God, Lord, Word, and Captain.
Dialogue with Trypho 61.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · As a word is spoken without diminishing the mind, and fire kindles fire without loss, so the Son is begotten without division of the Father.
Dialogue with Trypho 61.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Prov 8:21–25: Wisdom begotten before all things.
Dialogue with Trypho 61.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Prov 8:26–31.
Dialogue with Trypho 62.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The Offspring begotten before creation is the one the Father addresses.
Dialogue with Trypho 62.5Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Josh 5:13–6:2: the captain of the Lord's host.
Dialogue with Trypho 63.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Trypho asks proof of the virgin birth, death, resurrection, and ascension.
Dialogue with Trypho 63.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Isaiah's “who shall declare his generation?” and Jacob's “blood of the grape” show his non-human origin.
Dialogue with Trypho 63.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Ps 110:3–4 speaks of his birth from a womb.
Dialogue with Trypho 63.5Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The “daughter” of Psalm 45 is the church, named after Christ.
Dialogue with Trypho 64.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Trypho says Christ may be Lord for Gentiles, but Jews need not worship him.
Dialogue with Trypho 64.5Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Psalm 72, titled “for Solomon,” shows Christ existed before the sun.
Dialogue with Trypho 64.7Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Psalm 19 shows Christ coming from heaven and returning there.
Dialogue with Trypho 65.7Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · In context, God gives his glory to the one he appointed as light of the nations.
Dialogue with Trypho 66.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Justin returns to the virgin birth.
Dialogue with Trypho 66.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Isa 7:10–15.
Dialogue with Trypho 66.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Only Christ was born of a virgin in Abraham's line.
Dialogue with Trypho 67.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Trypho reads “young woman” and applies Isa 7:14 to Hezekiah.
Dialogue with Trypho 67.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Trypho compares the virgin birth to the Greek myth of Perseus and urges Justin to call Jesus a man chosen for his righteousness.
Dialogue with Trypho 67.6Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christ kept the law to fulfill the Father's plan, not to be justified by it.
Dialogue with Trypho 68.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Trypho finds the incarnation incredible; Justin appeals to Scripture.
Dialogue with Trypho 68.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Justin asks whether anyone besides the Creator and Christ is called God and worshipped in Scripture.
Dialogue with Trypho 68.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Isa 53:8 shows Christ is not of human seed.
Dialogue with Trypho 68.5Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Trypho cites the promise that the Messiah will come from David's loins.
Dialogue with Trypho 68.6Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The promise to David is fulfilled through the virgin of David's house, as Isaiah explained.
Dialogue with Trypho 68.9Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The Jewish teachers admit these texts refer to the Messiah but deny Jesus is he.
Dialogue with Trypho 69.6Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christ is the spring of living water, who healed the blind, deaf, and lame and raised the dead.
Dialogue with Trypho 71.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Justin returns to Isa 7:14.
Dialogue with Trypho 72.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Justin cites a saying attributed to Ezra about the Passover as a figure of Christ.
Dialogue with Trypho 72.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Jer 11:19, which Justin says had been removed.
Dialogue with Trypho 72.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Justin cites a saying on Christ's descent to the dead, attributed to Jeremiah.
Dialogue with Trypho 73.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Justin charges that “from the tree” was removed from Ps 96:10.
Dialogue with Trypho 73.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Only of the crucified Christ is it said that he reigned among the nations.
Dialogue with Trypho 74.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Trypho says Psalm 96 speaks of the Father.
Dialogue with Trypho 74.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The psalm calls all nations to praise the Father for the saving passion of Christ; the text then breaks off.
Dialogue with Trypho 75.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · God's name was upon the angel who led Israel: that name was Jesus (Joshua).
Dialogue with Trypho 75.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Joshua, renamed from Hoshea, bore the name Jesus, which is God's name.
Dialogue with Trypho 75.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · If God appeared in so many forms, why doubt that he was born of a virgin?
Dialogue with Trypho 76.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · “Like a son of man” and “a stone cut without hands” show Christ's non-human origin.
Dialogue with Trypho 76.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Isaiah and Moses point to Christ's divine origin.
Dialogue with Trypho 76.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · “Angel of great counsel” (Isa 9:6 LXX): Christ taught the Father's great plan.
Dialogue with Trypho 76.6Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christians cast out demons in Jesus' name; the apostles understood the prophecies only when Christ explained them.
Dialogue with Trypho 76.7Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christ foretold his passion; David foretold his birth and divinity.
Dialogue with Trypho 77.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The phrase “before the child knows father or mother” fits only Christ.
Dialogue with Trypho 77.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The Magi who worshiped the infant fulfilled the prophecy; Herod is the “king of Assyria.”
Dialogue with Trypho 78.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Joseph, thinking Mary guilty of fornication, was told by an angel that her child was of the Holy Spirit.
Dialogue with Trypho 78.5Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christ was born in a cave near Bethlehem.
Dialogue with Trypho 78.9Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The “power of Damascus” is the demon from whom the Magi were set free by worshiping Christ.
Dialogue with Trypho 83.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christ's “rod of power” is the word of repentance sent from Jerusalem to the nations.
Dialogue with Trypho 84.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · A “sign” must be something extraordinary, not an ordinary birth.
Dialogue with Trypho 84.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The virgin birth is the true sign, as wondrous as Eve's creation from Adam's rib.
Dialogue with Trypho 84.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · A young woman bearing a child is no sign; and God can make even the barren bear.
Dialogue with Trypho 85.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Psalm 24 fits neither Hezekiah nor Solomon, but only Christ.
Dialogue with Trypho 85.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Every demon is subdued by the name of the crucified and risen Son of God.
Dialogue with Trypho 86.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Wood as a type of the cross: the tree of life, Moses' rod, the wood at Marah.
Dialogue with Trypho 86.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Jacob's rods, staff, ladder, and anointed stone are figures of Christ.
Dialogue with Trypho 86.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Every anointing points to Christ, the Anointed.
Dialogue with Trypho 86.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Aaron's rod, the rod of Jesse, the tree of Psalm 1, the palm.
Dialogue with Trypho 86.6Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Elisha's floating axe-head prefigures baptism and the cross; Judah's staff marked Tamar's children.
Dialogue with Trypho 87.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Trypho asks how a pre-existent God could need the gifts of the Spirit listed in Isa 11:1–3.
Dialogue with Trypho 87.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The gifts “rested” on Christ, meaning they ceased in Israel after him.
Dialogue with Trypho 87.5Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The gifts, having ceased in Israel, are now given by Christ to believers.
Dialogue with Trypho 88.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christ grew up as other men until John came.
Dialogue with Trypho 88.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · At Jesus' baptism fire was kindled in the Jordan and the Spirit came like a dove.
Dialogue with Trypho 88.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christ did not need baptism; he acted for fallen humanity.
Dialogue with Trypho 88.6Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The signs showed who the Christ was; they did not make him Christ.
Dialogue with Trypho 88.8Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Jesus the carpenter made plows and yokes; at his baptism the voice said “Today I have begotten you” (Ps 2:7).
Dialogue with Trypho 89.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Trypho grants that the Scriptures speak of the Messiah and is impressed by the name Jesus.
Dialogue with Trypho 89.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Trypho balks at a crucified Messiah, cursed by the law.
Dialogue with Trypho 89.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The suffering foretold by the prophets marks Jesus out as the Christ.
Dialogue with Trypho 90.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Trypho asks proof that the Messiah was to be crucified.
Dialogue with Trypho 90.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Moses' outstretched hands in the battle against Amalek formed the sign of the cross.
Dialogue with Trypho 90.5Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · It was the sign of the cross and the name of Jesus, not the posture of prayer, that won the battle.
Dialogue with Trypho 91.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Moses' blessing of Joseph (Deut 33:13–17).
Dialogue with Trypho 91.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The unicorn's horns picture the cross, including the seat on which the crucified rest.
Dialogue with Trypho 91.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The cross converts the nations and condemns unbelievers, as at the battle with Amalek.
Dialogue with Trypho 91.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The bronze serpent prefigures the cross, which brings death to the serpent and salvation to believers.
Dialogue with Trypho 94.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The bronze serpent proclaimed the defeat of the devil through the cross.
Dialogue with Trypho 94.5Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The law's curse on the crucified does not fall on Christ, who saves the accursed.
Dialogue with Trypho 95.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christ took on the curses of all by the Father's will; those who killed him are not thereby excused.
Dialogue with Trypho 96.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Deut 21:23 foretold what the Jews would do to Christ; it does not mean God cursed him.
Dialogue with Trypho 97.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Moses' hands raised until evening prefigure Christ on the cross until evening; Psalm 3 foretells the resurrection.
Dialogue with Trypho 97.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Isaiah foretold the outstretched hands and the resurrection.
Dialogue with Trypho 97.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Psalm 22 (LXX 21) foretold the piercing of hands and feet and the dividing of garments.
Dialogue with Trypho 97.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Psalm 22 fits no king but the crucified Jesus.
Dialogue with Trypho 98.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Justin will recite Psalm 22 in full.
Dialogue with Trypho 99.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christ spoke the first words of Psalm 22 on the cross.
Dialogue with Trypho 99.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christ's prayer in the garden fulfills the psalm and shows his true humanity.
Dialogue with Trypho 99.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christ knew he would suffer; the “lack of understanding” is that of his enemies.
Dialogue with Trypho 100.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christ's resurrection is his “praise”; the Gospel records his words on knowing the Father.
Dialogue with Trypho 100.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christ is firstborn of God and son of the patriarchs through the Virgin.
Dialogue with Trypho 100.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christ called himself Son of Man because of his birth from Mary, of Abraham's and Adam's race.
Dialogue with Trypho 100.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Peter confessed Christ; Christ became man through the Virgin to undo the serpent's disobedience by the same way.
Dialogue with Trypho 100.5Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Eve the virgin conceived disobedience; Mary the virgin received faith and bore the Son of God.
Dialogue with Trypho 100.6Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Through Mary's Son God destroys the serpent and delivers from death.
Dialogue with Trypho 101.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christ acknowledges the patriarchs as his fathers and trusts in God, not his own strength.
Dialogue with Trypho 101.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christ refers goodness to the Father; he is despised by the people.
Dialogue with Trypho 101.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The mockery at the cross fulfilled Ps 22:7–8.
Dialogue with Trypho 102.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · God protected the infant Christ from Herod because his death was appointed for later.
Dialogue with Trypho 102.5Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christ's silence before Pilate fulfilled the psalm and Isaiah.
Dialogue with Trypho 102.7Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · If even the sinless Son relies on God, how can others hope to be saved without him?
Dialogue with Trypho 103.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The “calves” of Psalm 22 are those who arrested Christ on the Mount of Olives.
Dialogue with Trypho 103.6Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · After the baptism the devil tempted Christ, who rebuked him.
Dialogue with Trypho 103.8Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The Gospels record Christ's bloody sweat, proving he truly suffered.
Dialogue with Trypho 104.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Ps 22:15–18 foretold his condemnation and crucifixion.
Dialogue with Trypho 105.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · “My only one” in Ps 22:20 points to Christ as the Only-begotten.
Dialogue with Trypho 105.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The unicorns' horns point to the cross.
Dialogue with Trypho 106.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The end of Psalm 22 foretold the resurrection and Christ praising God among the apostles.
Dialogue with Trypho 106.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christ's renaming of Peter and the sons of Zebedee shows he is the one who renamed Jacob and Joshua.
Dialogue with Trypho 106.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Balaam's star and the star of the Magi.
Dialogue with Trypho 107.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The sign of Jonah foretold the resurrection on the third day.
Dialogue with Trypho 110.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Jewish teachers apply Micah 4 to the Messiah, who has not yet come or is hidden.
Dialogue with Trypho 110.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Micah's prophecy is fulfilled in Christ's first coming and will be completed at his second, when the Antichrist will persecute Christians.
Dialogue with Trypho 111.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Moses' outstretched hands and Joshua's name together figure the cross and the name of Jesus.
Dialogue with Trypho 111.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Only Christ unites the cross and the name; he was not cursed by the law.
Dialogue with Trypho 111.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The Passover blood prefigured Christ's saving blood.
Dialogue with Trypho 111.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Rahab's scarlet cord signified Christ's blood, which saves former sinners.
Dialogue with Trypho 112.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The bronze serpent must be a symbol of the crucified Jesus.
Dialogue with Trypho 113.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The renaming of Hoshea as Joshua (Jesus) was significant.
Dialogue with Trypho 113.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · As Joshua brought Israel into the land, Jesus will give the good land to his people.
Dialogue with Trypho 113.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Joshua gave a temporary inheritance; Jesus, who appeared to the patriarchs, gives an eternal one.
Dialogue with Trypho 113.5Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christ will renew heaven and earth and shine in Jerusalem; he is king and priest after Melchizedek.
Dialogue with Trypho 113.6Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Joshua's second circumcision with stone knives prefigured Christ's circumcision of the heart by his words.
Dialogue with Trypho 115.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The vision of Joshua the high priest foretells Christ's work.
Dialogue with Trypho 116.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Zechariah's vision applies to Christians, cleansed of their sins by Christ and defended against the devil.
Dialogue with Trypho 118.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Nathan's oracle and Ezekiel's prince refer to Christ; at his return the sacrifices will be spiritual praises.
Dialogue with Trypho 120.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The promise passed through Isaac and Jacob, from whom Christ was to come.
Dialogue with Trypho 120.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Gen 49:10 speaks of Christ, the expectation of the nations.
Dialogue with Trypho 121.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The nations are blessed in Christ himself (Ps 72:17).
Dialogue with Trypho 121.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · No one dies for the sun, but many die for Christ's name, which shines brighter than the sun.
Dialogue with Trypho 121.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · If Christ's humble first coming was so powerful, his glorious return will be far more so.
Dialogue with Trypho 121.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Isa 49:6.
Dialogue with Trypho 122.6Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The nations are Christ's inheritance; Christ is God's covenant.
Dialogue with Trypho 123.8Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Isa 42:1–4 LXX calls Christ Jacob and Israel.
Dialogue with Trypho 124.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Humans were made capable of becoming “gods” and sons of the Most High, but fall like Adam and Eve.
Dialogue with Trypho 125.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · “Israel” means “a man who conquers power”; Jacob's wrestling foretold Christ's struggle.
Dialogue with Trypho 125.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christ defeated the devil in the temptation.
Dialogue with Trypho 125.5Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The numbing of Jacob's thigh foretold Christ's suffering; Israel is Christ's name, given to all who come to the Father through him.
Dialogue with Trypho 126.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · A summary of Christ's titles in the prophets.
Dialogue with Trypho 126.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Exod 6:2–4.
Dialogue with Trypho 126.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The man who wrestled with Jacob was God.
Dialogue with Trypho 126.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The appearance at Mamre.
Dialogue with Trypho 126.5Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The one who appeared to the patriarchs serves the Father's will.
Dialogue with Trypho 126.6Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Num 11:23 and Deut 31:2–3: the Lord who spoke to Moses was the Son.
Dialogue with Trypho 127.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · No one saw the Father; the patriarchs saw his Son.
Dialogue with Trypho 128.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christ appeared as man, angel, and fire before his incarnation.
Dialogue with Trypho 128.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The Son is distinct in number from the Father, begotten without division, as fire from fire.
Dialogue with Trypho 129.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Prov 8:21–25.
Dialogue with Trypho 131.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · and the signs of the bronze serpent and of Moses' hands at the battle with Amalek,
Dialogue with Trypho 131.5Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christ, not Joshua, destroys the memory of Amalek, that is, the demons.
Dialogue with Trypho 132.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Israel sinned despite the miracles, including the sun standing still for Joshua.
Dialogue with Trypho 132.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The heifers stopped at the field of a man named Hoshea, a sign of the power of the name.
Dialogue with Trypho 134.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Jacob's two wives prefigure the synagogue (Leah) and the church (Rachel), for whom Christ serves.
Dialogue with Trypho 134.5Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Jacob's service, Leah's weak eyes, and Rachel's theft of the idols are all figures.
Dialogue with Trypho 135.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The King called Israel is Christ, for Jacob was never king.
Dialogue with Trypho 135.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Isa 42:1–4.
Dialogue with Trypho 136.3Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Rejecting Christ is rejecting the Father who sent him.
Dialogue with Trypho 137.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Justin appeals to them not to mock the crucified, by whose stripes all can be healed.
Dialogue with Trypho 138.1Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · The eight saved in the flood symbolize the eighth day of Christ's resurrection.
Dialogue with Trypho 138.2Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christ is the beginning of a new race regenerated through water, faith, and the wood of the cross, as Noah was saved on wood.
Dialogue with Trypho 139.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Christ calls all peoples to share the land promised to the saints.
Martyrdom of Polycarp 9.3Anonymous · ca. 156–160 · Polycarp refused to curse Christ, whom he had served for eighty-six years.
Martyrdom of Polycarp 14.3Anonymous · ca. 156–160 · Polycarp ended his prayer with praise to God through Christ, the eternal High Priest.
Martyrdom of Polycarp 17.2Anonymous · ca. 156–160 · Opponents claimed Christians would worship Polycarp instead of Christ, but Christians worship Christ alone.
Martyrdom of Polycarp 17.3Anonymous · ca. 156–160 · Christians worship Christ as Son of God and love the martyrs as his disciples.
Martyrdom of Polycarp 19.2Anonymous · ca. 156–160 · Polycarp now rejoices with the apostles and praises God and Christ.
Oration to the Greeks 5Tatian · ca. 165–172 · Tatian's doctrine of the Word: begotten from the Father's power without diminishing him, like a torch lit from a torch, and the maker of the world; matter itself was created, not eternal.
Oration to the Greeks 13Tatian · ca. 165–172 · The soul is not immortal by nature; united with the divine Spirit and knowing God it lives, but without the Spirit it dies and is raised only for punishment.
Oration to the Greeks 21Tatian · ca. 165–172 · The incarnation is no more absurd than the Greek myths of gods in human form; and allegorizing the myths only abolishes the gods.
Lines 1–4Anonymous · ca. 160–220 · Abercius, citizen of a chosen city, names himself a disciple of the pure Shepherd who tends his flocks.
Lines 13–16Anonymous · ca. 160–220 · Faith everywhere sets before him the Fish caught by a pure Virgin, with wine mixed and bread, given to her friends.
Melito, Fr. 1Melito of Sardis · ca. 160-180 · Christ's signs after his baptism showed his hidden Godhead, and his thirty years before it showed his true manhood; he is one person with two essences.
Melito, Fr. 2Melito of Sardis · ca. 160-180 · Isaac, bound and silent on the wood, was a type of the suffering Christ; the ram slain in his place ransomed him, as the Lord slain ransomed us.
Melito, Fr. 3Melito of Sardis · ca. 160-180 · The ram caught in the Sabek tree prefigures the Lord on the cross at Jerusalem; as Sabek means remission, so Ezekiel's water of remission prefigures baptism, and martyrdom and baptism both bring remission of sins.
On Pascha 4Melito of Sardis · ca. 160-180 · text not on this site
On Pascha 5Melito of Sardis · ca. 160-180 · text not on this site
On Pascha 7Melito of Sardis · ca. 160-180 · text not on this site
On Pascha 8Melito of Sardis · ca. 160-180 · text not on this site
On Pascha 9Melito of Sardis · ca. 160-180 · text not on this site
On Pascha 66Melito of Sardis · ca. 160-180 · text not on this site
On Pascha 70Melito of Sardis · ca. 160-180 · text not on this site
On Pascha 96Melito of Sardis · ca. 160-180 · text not on this site
On Pascha 97Melito of Sardis · ca. 160-180 · text not on this site
On Pascha 100Melito of Sardis · ca. 160-180 · text not on this site
On Pascha 101Melito of Sardis · ca. 160-180 · text not on this site
On Pascha 102Melito of Sardis · ca. 160-180 · text not on this site
On Pascha 103Melito of Sardis · ca. 160-180 · text not on this site
On Pascha 104Melito of Sardis · ca. 160-180 · text not on this site
On Pascha 105Melito of Sardis · ca. 160-180 · text not on this site
Diatessaron, section 22Tatian · ca. 160-180
Diatessaron, section 37Tatian · ca. 160-180
Diatessaron, section 49Tatian · ca. 160-180
5Anonymous · ca. 161–180 or 249–251 · Carpus confesses Christ and refuses to sacrifice.
Martyrdom of Justin, Chariton and Companions (Acts of Justin, recension B) 2Anonymous · ca. 165 · Justin states the Christian belief in one Creator and in Christ foretold by the prophets.
Apollinaris of Hierapolis, Fr. 2Claudius Apollinaris of Hierapolis · ca. 165-180 · A later historian reports that Apollinaris, with Irenaeus, Clement, and Serapion, taught that the incarnate Word had a human soul.
Apollinaris of Hierapolis, Fr. 4 (On the Passover)Claudius Apollinaris of Hierapolis · ca. 165-180 · Apollinaris calls the fourteenth of Nisan the Lord's true Passover and lists the events of Christ's passion and burial on that day.
To Autolycus 2.10Theophilus of Antioch · ca. 180–185 · God made all things from nothing through his Word, whom he had within himself and “uttered” with his Wisdom before creation; this Word spoke through the prophets, and Genesis begins with “In the beginning.”
To Autolycus 2.22Theophilus of Antioch · ca. 180–185 · It was the Word, God's Son, who walked in the garden: always within God's heart, “uttered” before creation as the firstborn of all creation, and sent by the Father to appear in a place.
Lines 21–30Anonymous · late 2nd or 4th century (disputed) · All the Gospels declare Christ's birth, passion, resurrection, and twofold coming, and John's first epistle confirms that he wrote as an eyewitness.
Fragment 8Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 170–200
Fragment 17Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 170–200
Fragment 20Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 170–200
Fragment 26Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 170–200
Fragment 30Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 170–200
Fragment 47Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 170–200
A Plea for the Christians 10Athenagoras · ca. 176–180 · Christians worship one God, together with his Son, the eternal Word, and the Holy Spirit, distinct in order yet one in power; there are also angels who serve God.
A Plea for the Christians 18Athenagoras · ca. 176–180 · As the two emperors, father and son, rule all things, so God rules all through his Son, the Word; the pagan gods, by their own poets' account, were born, like human beings.
Martyrdom of Peter (Greek Acts of Peter) 9Anonymous · ca. 180–200 · Hanging head downward, Peter begins to explain the mystery of the first man's fall.
Acts of Peter (Vercelli) 7Anonymous · ca. 180–200 · Peter addresses the gathered church, telling of Christ's coming, his own denial and restoration, and urging them to hold to the crucified and risen Nazarene against Simon.
Acts of Peter (Vercelli) 20Anonymous · ca. 180–200 · Peter heals a blind widow, then expounds the Gospel reading on the transfiguration, teaching that Christ appeared in many forms according to each one's capacity, and lists his titles.
Acts of Peter (Vercelli) 21Anonymous · ca. 180–200 · Blind widows are healed by a heavenly light and each describes Christ in a different form: an old man, a young man, a boy.
Acts of Peter (Vercelli) 23Anonymous · ca. 180–200 · The public contest opens in the Forum; Peter recalls Simon's attempt to buy the gift of the Spirit, and Simon mocks a God who is born and crucified.
Acts of Peter (Vercelli) 24Anonymous · ca. 180–200 · Peter answers Simon with prophecies of Christ's virgin birth, heavenly origin, rejection and coming, and challenges him to perform a sign.
Acts of Peter (Vercelli) 37Anonymous · ca. 180–200 · Peter speaks on the hidden mystery of the cross, asks to be crucified head downward, and explains it as an image of the first man's fall and of conversion.
Acts of Peter (Vercelli) 39Anonymous · ca. 180–200 · Hanging on the cross, Peter gives thanks to Christ in the silence of the spirit and urges the brothers to hope in him alone.
Fragment 7Clement of Alexandria · late 2nd–early 3rd century · Three fragments: alms should be given with discernment to the worthy; the gospel word is like a mustard seed whose growth, the Church, shelters angels and souls; and Christ, born of the Virgin, is like a pearl, light shining through a body.
Fragment 16Clement of Alexandria · late 2nd–early 3rd century · Fragments ascribed to Clement from various sources: on the date of the Last Supper and the Passion (from On the Passover), on the dove at Jesus' baptism and the iota of the law, and on man as God's image.
Fragment 17Clement of Alexandria · late 2nd–early 3rd century · Further fragments ascribed to Clement: on generation and death, the definition of spirit, the true temple of Christ's body, definitions from On Providence, short scattered sayings, and notes on 2 Cor 6:11–13 and on Paul's silence about his name in Hebrews.
Adumbrations on 1 Peter, paragraph 3Clement of Alexandria · original ca. 200; Latin translation 6th century · On 1 Pet 3:10–20: ‘life’ is the Lord and ‘good days’ the saints; Christ was made alive in our spirits and preached to those once disobedient, who heard his voice though they did not see him.
Adumbrations on Jude, paragraph 2Clement of Alexandria · original ca. 200; Latin translation 6th century · On Jude 24: the presence of God's glory means before the angels; the ‘Power’ at whose right hand the Son of Man sits means the holy angels; and Jesus' answer ‘You say’ confessed the truth of their words.
Adumbrations on 1 John, paragraph 2Clement of Alexandria · original ca. 200; Latin translation 6th century · On 1 John 1:1–5: ‘was from the beginning’ signifies the Son's eternal generation and equality with the Father; the handling signifies the incarnation, with a tradition that John's hand passed into the Lord's body; ‘God is light’ declares his majesty, not his essence.
Fragment 2 (Hypotyposes 4; on 2 Cor 5:16)Clement of Alexandria · late 2nd-early 3rd century
Fragment 16 (Hypotyposes 7; on 1 Tim 3:16)Clement of Alexandria · late 2nd-early 3rd century
Fragment 20 (Hypotyposes 7; on 1 Tim 6:13)Clement of Alexandria · late 2nd-early 3rd century
Fragment 35 (On the Passover; on 1 John 4:3 (variant "dissolves Jesus"))Clement of Alexandria · late 2nd-early 3rd century · A manuscript note reports that Clement read 1 John 4:3 as “every spirit that looses Jesus.”
Fragment 36 (Canon of the Church, or Against the Judaizers)Clement of Alexandria · late 2nd-early 3rd century · Solomon's question whether God will dwell on earth is answered in Christ's flesh and in the church as a living temple.
The Instructor 1.1.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Clement introduces the Word as Exhorter, Instructor, and Teacher: having converted us, he now trains our conduct and heals our passions.
The Instructor 1.2.4Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · The Instructor, the sinless Son of God, is the model we must imitate; and there are degrees of freedom from sin, down to not persisting in it.
The Instructor 1.2.6Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · The Word, who made the whole human being, heals both body and soul, as his healing of the paralytic and raising of Lazarus show; he forgives sins and orders all creation for humanity's sake.
The Instructor 1.3.7Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · God, who forgives as God and trains as man, loves the human being as his own handiwork, into whom he breathed something of himself.
The Instructor 1.3.9Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · We must love the Word in return and imitate him, the sighted guide in our darkness, so that God's image and likeness may be fulfilled in us.
The Instructor 1.5.23Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · The window is Christ's flesh; Isaac, carrying the wood but not slain, is a type of the Lord who bore the cross and rose again.
The Instructor 1.5.24Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Isaiah calls the Lord himself a child, “Mighty God” and “Prince of Peace”; John calls him the Lamb of God, the Father's infant, whom we children resemble.
The Instructor 1.6.25Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Christians are not called children because their knowledge is childish: at baptism, as at Christ's baptism, they receive perfection by enlightenment and the Spirit.
The Instructor 1.6.41Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Milk, prepared by God for the newborn like the manna for Israel, pictures the spiritual food of the Word, whom the Father rained down to nourish the faithful.
The Instructor 1.6.43Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Christ gives his flesh and blood as food; Clement explains flesh as the Spirit and blood as the Word, and Christ, who shed his blood for us, as the Father's milk.
The Instructor 1.6.46Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Christ's food was doing the Father's will; ours is Christ himself, the bread from heaven, whose flesh, like grain and baked bread, rises and gladdens the church.
The Instructor 1.6.47Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · The Word is called food, flesh, bread, blood, wine, and milk; Christ's flesh, the heavenly bread, nourishes to incorruption, and Abel's pleading blood prefigures his.
The Instructor 1.6.49Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · As a mother nourishes her child with milk from her blood, Christ, who gave us new birth, nourishes us with the Word; we are united to him by his blood, his Word, and his training.
The Instructor 1.7.53Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Our Instructor is Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who leads his children to salvation; godliness is his instruction.
The Instructor 1.7.56Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Our Instructor is Jesus, God and Word, who guided Israel in the desert, made his covenant with Abraham, and led and wrestled with Jacob.
The Instructor 1.7.57Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · The one who wrestled with Jacob was the Word, the face of God, who kept his name for the new people; he also taught Moses to lead.
The Instructor 1.7.59Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · The old covenant taught by fear through the Word as angel; in the new, the Word became flesh and fear became love, and God's people, foreknown from eternity, are newborn.
The Instructor 1.7.60Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · The law was given by the Word through Moses and was temporary; grace and truth came through Jesus, whom Moses foretold as the prophet like himself, prefigured by Joshua.
The Instructor 1.8.62Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Against those who say the God who threatens and punishes is not good, Clement answers that he became man out of love and hates nothing that he has made.
The Instructor 1.8.68Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · The Word who judges also forgives; his threats are warnings given out of love, to frighten us away from sin before punishment comes.
The Instructor 1.8.74Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · The one God is good, just, and Creator; his rebukes are medicine, and even his “wrath” is love, since he stoops to human passions for the sake of humankind.
The Instructor 1.9.85Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · The Instructor who came to serve and gave his life is good; but he is also just, dealing crookedly with the crooked, and his reproof is for our benefit.
The Instructor 1.11.96Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Christ is like a mustard seed, small but saving and sharp; of old the Word instructed unruly Israel through Moses and the prophets.
The Instructor 1.11.97Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · The law was Israel's instructor to Christ; the one true Instructor is Jesus, the Father's Son, trustworthy through his knowledge, freedom of speech, and goodwill shown in giving his life.
The Instructor 1.12.100Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · The Word is Savior because he heals with rational medicines; we owe him gratitude, and must contemplate God, live by the truth, and make our words match our deeds.
The Instructor 2.2.19Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Water is the natural drink, as the rock in the desert shows; wine is prescribed only as medicine. The great cluster of grapes is Christ, crushed for us, whose blood is both fleshly, redeeming us, and spiritual, anointing us.
The Instructor 2.2.32Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Warlike peoples glory in drunkenness, but the peaceful Christian drinks soberly, as the Lord did: he drank wine, blessed the cup as his blood, and taught self-control at meals.
The Instructor 2.3.38Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · The Lord ate simply, reclined on grass, washed feet with a towel, and asked for water in a clay jar; a Christian's goods should suit a single, simple life.
The Instructor 2.8.62Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · The anointed feet of the Lord are the apostles who spread his teaching; allegorically, too, the oil is Christ, the adulterated perfume Judas, the tears repentant sinners, and the loosened hair mourning Jerusalem.
The Instructor 2.8.63Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Judas was the poisoned oil; Christ's washing of the disciples' feet prepared them for their mission; the kings' golden crowns prefigured Christ, the incorruptible Word.
The Instructor 2.8.65Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Some cities banished perfumers; Christians should smell of goodness and of Christ, anointed with the Spirit as Christ himself was anointed.
The Instructor 2.8.67Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · As luxury is shut out of taste, so it must be shut out of smell; the incense the High Priest offers is spiritual, the fragrance of love; plain oil is enough for the body.
The Instructor 2.8.73Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Garlands are for the dead and for idols; the Christian awaits the unfading crown of heaven; the Lord's crown of thorns is a type of the church, of faith, and of the cost of discipleship.
The Instructor 2.8.74Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Those who crowned Jesus with thorns unwittingly witnessed to his kingship; the crown of thorns symbolizes his bearing our sins, and believers gather grapes from those thorns.
The Instructor 2.8.75Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · The Word who appeared to Moses in the thorny bush at the giving of the law was crowned with thorns at his departure, showing that all is the work of one power.
The Instructor 2.10.110Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Prodicus pictured virtue in white and vice in gaudy clothes; the queen's golden robes in Psalm 45 are the church's adornment of faith, in which Christ shines like gold.
The Instructor 2.12.118Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Precious stones and pearls fascinate the foolish like fire fascinates children; the true pearl is Christ, the pure Word, through whom the flesh, reborn in water, becomes precious.
The Instructor 3.1.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · One who wills what God wills becomes god: God in man and man god, through the Word, the Mediator; the flesh is a servant and should not be adorned like a procuress.
The Instructor 3.1.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · God freed the flesh and adorned it with immortality; love is true beauty, as Paul describes it; the Lord himself had no outward beauty, but showed the true beauty of goodness and immortality.
The Instructor 3.12.98Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · The Instructor hands us over to the Teacher; the church is the school and Christ the Bridegroom its only Teacher, the propitiation for the world's sins, whom we know by keeping his commandments.
The Instructor 3.12.99Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Christians, nurtured by the Instructor, should run to Mother Church; the Word who created all things refashions human beings as the bridle guides the horse.
The Instructor 3.12.100Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · The Word commands the elements and dwells with the humanity he formed; he is both Creator and Instructor, and his children must shine as blameless lights in a crooked generation.
The Instructor 3.12.101Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · The work ends with a prayer to the Word, Instructor and Teacher, and a hymn to Christ the Savior as shepherd, fisher of men, and nourishing milk of his children, praised with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Exhortation to the Greeks 1.5Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · The Word of God, who ordered the universe like a harmony, makes music to God on the instrument of the human being, soul and body.
Exhortation to the Greeks 1.6Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · The Word, the new song, heals and saves; though it seems new, it is older than all things, for “in the beginning was the Word.”
Exhortation to the Greeks 1.7Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · The Word, God and man, who gave us being, has now appeared as teacher to give eternal life and to rescue us from the serpent, who binds people to lifeless idols.
Exhortation to the Greeks 1.8Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · The Lord has always called humanity to salvation in many ways, through signs, the prophets, and at last by becoming a human being himself.
Exhortation to the Greeks 1.10Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Zechariah's silence ended with John's birth, as the prophets' riddles end in the Gospel; Christ is the door through which alone God is known.
Exhortation to the Greeks 9.84Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · The Lord keeps calling sleepers to wake; the Scripture's “today” of grace lasts until the end, so no one should harden his heart.
Exhortation to the Greeks 10.98Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · No sculptor can make a living being; God alone formed the human being as his living image, since the Word is God's image and the human mind the image of the Word.
Exhortation to the Greeks 10.106Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Clement urges his hearers to cast off their serpent-like enmity, repent with the whole heart, and believe in Christ, who is man and God, who suffered and is worshiped.
Exhortation to the Greeks 10.110Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · The divine Word, equal to the Father, took flesh and in a short time filled the world with salvation, becoming a sea of good things.
Exhortation to the Greeks 11.111Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Adam, a free child of God, was enslaved by pleasure; the Lord, taking flesh and stretching out his hands on the cross, set humanity free from the serpent and death.
Exhortation to the Greeks 11.112Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Since the Word has come from heaven, there is no need of Greek schools; Christ's disciples have the wisdom the philosophers only hinted at, and in Christ all divisions are overcome.
Exhortation to the Greeks 11.113Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Godliness is the one exhortation for all of life; the Word enlightens the soul's eyes, and through him we find the Father and become fellow heirs.
Exhortation to the Greeks 11.114Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Christ, the Sun of righteousness, has turned night into day and death into life, lifting humanity to heaven and writing God's laws on the heart.
Exhortation to the Greeks 12.120Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · The true mysteries: the Lord initiates, illumines, and seals the believer; Jesus, the eternal High Priest, calls all humankind to incorruption and to his easy yoke.
Exhortation to the Greeks 12.121Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Let us take Christ's yoke and follow him, the charioteer who, as he once entered Jerusalem, now leads humanity into heaven.
Against Heresies 1.7.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Some Valentinians make the Lord a composite of four elements, of which only the animate Christ and his fashioned body suffered.
Against Heresies 1.9.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · John speaks of one Christ who is the Word made flesh, not of a series of Valentinian Aeons with these names.
Against Heresies 1.9.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The one who suffered and dwelt among us is the Word of God himself, made true flesh, so the Valentinian Ogdoad collapses.
Against Heresies 1.10.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The Church's rule of faith confesses the Holy Spirit who foretold Christ's birth, passion, resurrection, ascension and return to judge and to give eternal life.
Against Heresies 1.12.4Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The Valentinians disagree about the origin of the Saviour and about why he is called Son of Man.
Against Heresies 1.14.4Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Truth utters the name Christ Jesus, and the Tetrad explains that its six letters hide a higher name known in the Pleroma.
Against Heresies 1.15.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Marcus derives the name Jesus (888) and the titles Christ and Son from numbers, and says knowledge of the name freed men from ignorance and death.
Against Heresies 1.15.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Marcus explains Jesus' birth from Mary and the descent of the dove at his baptism in terms of the Aeons, separating the man Jesus from the Christ.
Against Heresies 1.23.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Simon claimed to have come in apparent human form to free Helena and save men by grace alone, setting his followers free from the prophets and the moral law.
Against Heresies 1.24.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Saturninus taught a Saviour without real body, two races of men, and that marriage and procreation come from Satan.
Against Heresies 1.24.4Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Basilides taught that Christ did not suffer, but Simon of Cyrene was crucified in his place while Jesus laughed, so that one should deny the crucified.
Against Heresies 1.25.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Carpocrates taught that Jesus was Joseph's son, whose pure soul remembered the unbegotten God and despised the Jewish customs.
Against Heresies 1.25.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Carpocratians claim that a soul which despises the world-rulers equals or surpasses Jesus.
Against Heresies 1.26.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Cerinthus taught that the world was made by a lower power and that Christ descended on Jesus at his baptism and left him before the passion.
Against Heresies 1.26.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The Ebionites hold a low view of Christ, use only Matthew, reject Paul, and keep circumcision and the law.
Against Heresies 1.30.12Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · In the Ophite myth Christ descends through the seven heavens, joins Sophia as bridegroom and bride, and enters Jesus, born of the Virgin.
Against Heresies 1.30.13Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The Ophites say Christ left Jesus before the crucifixion and raised him in a non-worldly body, which the disciples misunderstood.
Against Heresies 1.30.14Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The Ophites say the risen Jesus stayed eighteen months teaching a few disciples, then took his seat to draw holy souls away from Ialdabaoth.
Against Heresies 2.13.8Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · God is wholly Mind and wholly Word; to model the Word's generation on human speech gives the eternal Word a beginning.
Against Heresies 2.14.5Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The Saviour 'made from all the Aeons' copies Hesiod's Pandora; their indifference to conduct comes from the Cynics, their subtlety from Aristotle.
Against Heresies 2.19.9Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The Valentinians make Christ, the Spirit, and the Savior products of a fall, which is impiety toward all of them.
Against Heresies 2.20.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Christ's saving passion is the opposite of the Aeon's ruinous passion: it gave life, truth, and incorruption.
Against Heresies 2.22.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · John's Gospel records three Passovers in Christ's ministry, so he did not preach for only one year.
Against Heresies 2.22.4Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Christ passed through every stage of life, sanctifying each, and was truly what he seemed.
Against Heresies 2.22.5Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Irenaeus appeals to the Gospel and to the elders of Asia who knew John that Christ taught into older age.
Against Heresies 2.22.6Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The Jews' remark “You are not yet fifty” shows that Christ was then past forty, not thirty.
Against Heresies 2.25.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Man, a creature with a beginning, cannot know the causes of all things as the uncreated God does.
Against Heresies 2.28.5Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · God is wholly Mind and Word without parts; those who describe the Word's generation like human speech know neither God nor man.
Against Heresies 2.28.6Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Even the Son left the day of judgment to the Father; the generation of the Son is unspeakable, known only to Father and Son.
Against Heresies 2.30.9Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · There is one God, Creator and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, revealed through his Son, and no Pleroma or second God.
Against Heresies 2.32.4Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Christ's true disciples work real miracles in his name, and the church freely exercises countless gifts throughout the world.
Against Heresies 2.32.5Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The church heals by prayer in Jesus' name, not by incantations, which shows that Christ truly worked by the power of God.
Against Heresies 3.4.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Barbarian nations who cannot read keep the apostles' faith written on their hearts and reject the heretics' inventions.
Against Heresies 3.5.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Christ is the truth and could not have called a defective god his Father; the apostles did not adapt their teaching hypocritically to their hearers.
Against Heresies 3.5.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Christ revealed himself to the Jews, and the apostles taught the Gentiles the true God; in Christ both are united.
Against Heresies 3.6.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Scripture calls only the true God, the Father and the Son, God and Lord in the proper sense; others called gods are the adopted children.
Against Heresies 3.6.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Only the God who said “I am who I am”, and his Son who makes believers God's children, are called God and Lord.
Against Heresies 3.8.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The devil is strong only compared with us; Christ bound him and rescued us, his former vessels.
Against Heresies 3.8.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · All creatures, including the angelic powers, were made by God through his Word; only the Creator with his Word is properly called God and Lord.
Against Heresies 3.9.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Matthew shows that John the Baptist preached the God of Abraham, who sent his Word incarnate to be seen by all flesh.
Against Heresies 3.9.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The angel, the prophecies of Emmanuel, Balaam's star, and the Magi's gifts all point to the one God and his Son, born of the Virgin.
Against Heresies 3.9.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · At the baptism the Spirit anointed the Word made flesh; Christ and Jesus are not two but one, as Isaiah foretold.
Against Heresies 3.10.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Gabriel's announcement, Mary's Magnificat, and Zechariah's Benedictus proclaim the God of the fathers, whose Son became man that man might become son of God.
Against Heresies 3.10.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The angels at the Nativity announced the birth of the Savior in David's city and glorified the one Creator, refuting the Gnostic account.
Against Heresies 3.10.4Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The presentation in the temple, Simeon, and Anna show that the Lord of the law is the God who opened the new covenant through his Son.
Against Heresies 3.11.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · John wrote against Cerinthus and the Nicolaitans: one God made all things through his Word, including our creation.
Against Heresies 3.11.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · John says the world was made through the Word who became flesh, against Marcion, other Gnostics, and the Valentinians.
Against Heresies 3.11.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · In none of the heretical systems does the Word of God become flesh; John refutes them all with “the Word became flesh.”
Against Heresies 3.11.5Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · At Cana and the feeding of the crowds Christ used created things, showing that the Creator gives his gifts through his Son.
Against Heresies 3.11.6Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The invisible Father is made known by the Son; so Nathanael and Peter came to know Christ as Son of God.
Against Heresies 3.12.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Peter's Pentecost sermon proclaims one God and one Christ who suffered, rose, and was exalted, calling hearers to repentance and baptism.
Against Heresies 3.12.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · At the healing of the lame man, Peter proclaimed that the God of Abraham glorified his Son Jesus and fulfilled the prophets.
Against Heresies 3.12.4Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Before the Sanhedrin Peter proclaimed salvation only in the name of Jesus, raised by the God who sent the prophets.
Against Heresies 3.12.5Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The first church's prayer and preaching invoked the Creator and his anointed Son Jesus; this is the voice from which every church began.
Against Heresies 3.12.7Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Peter's preaching to Cornelius proclaimed the Son of God, anointed with the Spirit and Judge of all, without any other God; the church keeps this one faith worldwide.
Against Heresies 3.12.8Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Philip preached to the Ethiopian eunuch that Isaiah's suffering servant is Jesus, the Son of the God of the prophets.
Against Heresies 3.12.9Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Paul's preaching at Damascus, Athens, and Lystra proclaimed the Creator of heaven and earth and Jesus the Son of God.
Against Heresies 3.16.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Against Gnostic theories that divide Jesus from Christ, Irenaeus will set out the apostles' teaching that Jesus Christ is one.
Against Heresies 3.16.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Matthew's account of the virgin birth of “Christ,” Emmanuel, shows that Jesus and Christ are one and the same Son of God.
Against Heresies 3.16.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Paul, Mark, the prophets, and the angel all proclaim one Jesus Christ, Son of God and son of David.
Against Heresies 3.16.4Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Simeon, the shepherds, John in the womb, and the Magi all recognized the infant Jesus as Christ; the slain children of Bethlehem became his first martyrs.
Against Heresies 3.16.5Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The risen Lord, the Gospels, and John's letter teach one Christ who was born, suffered, and rose; those who divide him are antichrists.
Against Heresies 3.16.6Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The one Word of God became flesh as Jesus Christ, recapitulating man in himself, to be head over all things visible and invisible.
Against Heresies 3.16.7Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Christ accomplished everything at the hour the Father foreknew, as at Cana and in his passion; he is one, yet rich and manifold.
Against Heresies 3.16.8Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Those who divide Jesus, Christ, the Word, and the Savior are wolves in sheep's clothing; John condemns all who deny that Jesus Christ came in the flesh.
Against Heresies 3.16.9Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Paul in Romans knows one Christ Jesus who was born, died for us, and rose, not a Christ separate from Jesus.
Against Heresies 3.17.4Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Since Christ is one and the same, the Gnostic division of Christ and Jesus is false; their words sound like the faith but carry poison, like gypsum passed off as milk.
Against Heresies 3.18.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The Son existed always with the Father; at the incarnation he summed up humanity in himself so that we might recover in Christ the image lost in Adam.
Against Heresies 3.18.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The Son, becoming man and dying, did what fallen man could not; Paul proclaims this same Christ crucified and risen.
Against Heresies 3.18.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Paul knows only one Christ, the one born, crucified, buried and risen; the very name Christ implies the Father who anoints, the Son anointed, and the Spirit who is the anointing.
Against Heresies 3.18.4Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The one Peter confessed as Christ is the one who said he must suffer and be crucified, and who called his followers to take up the cross.
Against Heresies 3.18.5Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Christ’s call to take up the cross and his warnings of persecution show that he truly suffered; those who despise the martyrs will be put to shame, and Christ’s prayer for his killers shows his goodness.
Against Heresies 3.18.6Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · If Christ only seemed to suffer, he would be a deceiver urging us to endure what he never endured; in truth he fought as a man and conquered.
Against Heresies 3.18.7Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Only a true man united to God could justly conquer the enemy and give man incorruption; as many were made sinners through Adam’s disobedience, so many are justified through the obedience of the one born of a virgin.
Against Heresies 3.19.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Those who make Christ a mere son of Joseph stay under death; the Son of God became Son of Man so that man might become a son of God.
Against Heresies 3.19.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Scripture calls no mere son of Adam God, but testifies of Christ both as lowly man and as mighty God and Judge, because he has two generations, from the Father and from the virgin.
Against Heresies 3.19.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The Word rested so that the man could suffer, and the man was taken up into the Word in victory; Christ, born of the virgin, rose as head so that his whole body may rise.
Against Heresies 3.20.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · God allowed man’s fall so that man, delivered by experience, might be grateful, know his weakness and God’s power, and grow into the likeness of Christ, who accustomed God and man to each other.
Against Heresies 3.20.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Emmanuel is the sign that salvation comes from God, not from ourselves, as Paul and Isaiah testify.
Against Heresies 3.20.4Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The prophets foretold that the Lord himself, neither a mere man nor a fleshless angel, would come in the flesh from Bethlehem to save.
Against Heresies 3.21.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Against Theodotion, Aquila and the Ebionites, who read “young woman” in Isaiah 7:14, Irenaeus defends “virgin,” noting that the Jews themselves translated it before Christ’s coming.
Against Heresies 3.21.4Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The same Spirit spoke through the prophets, the Septuagint translators and the apostles; Isaiah 7 shows Emmanuel to be both God and man, born of a virgin.
Against Heresies 3.21.5Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · God promised David a king “from the fruit of his womb,” not “of his loins,” pointing to the birth from a virgin, as Elizabeth confirmed.
Against Heresies 3.21.6Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · A young woman bearing a child by a man would be no sign; the unexpected birth from a virgin, given by God, matches the unexpected salvation.
Against Heresies 3.21.7Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Daniel’s stone cut without hands and Isaiah’s cornerstone show that Christ was born of Mary without Joseph’s part, by God’s will.
Against Heresies 3.21.8Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Moses’ rod that became a serpent, and Christ’s superiority to Solomon, Jonah and David, show that he was not Joseph’s son.
Against Heresies 3.21.9Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Joseph descends from the disinherited Jeconiah, so a Christ born of Joseph could be neither king nor heir; he comes from David by God’s promise.
Against Heresies 3.21.10Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · As Adam was formed from virgin earth by the Word, Christ the Word was born of the virgin Mary to recapitulate the same Adam.
Against Heresies 3.22.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Those who say Christ took nothing from the virgin destroy his likeness to Adam; Scripture says he was made of a woman and of David’s seed according to the flesh.
Against Heresies 3.22.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Christ’s hunger, weariness, tears, bloody sweat, sorrow, and the blood and water from his side prove he took real flesh from Mary.
Against Heresies 3.22.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Luke’s seventy-two generations from Christ back to Adam show Christ summing up all nations in himself; Adam was a type of the one to come.
Against Heresies 3.22.4Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Mary’s obedience undid Eve’s disobedience: as the virgin Eve bound the knot by unbelief, the virgin Mary loosed it by faith.
Against Heresies 3.23.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Christ had to save Adam himself, or the serpent would have defeated God; the captor was taken captive and man was set free.
Against Heresies 3.23.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Adam, the first-formed man, must be saved along with his descendants, as a just liberator would free the captives themselves and not only their children.
Against Heresies 3.23.7Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The seed of the woman, Mary’s son, treads on the serpent; when Adam receives life again, death, the last enemy, is abolished.
Against Heresies 4 pref. 3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The Valentinian system blasphemes the Creator and divides Christ; Book 3 showed that the apostles taught nothing of the kind.
Against Heresies 4.2.5Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The parable shows that Abraham, Moses, the prophets, and the risen Lord belong together, against those who separate the impassible Christ from the suffering Jesus.
Against Heresies 4.5.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Christ’s answer to the Sadducees shows that the God who spoke from the bush is the God of the living, and that Christ with the Father is that God.
Against Heresies 4.5.4Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The apostles and we, sharing Abraham’s faith, follow the Word; Abraham’s offering of Isaac foreshadowed God’s offering of his Son.
Against Heresies 4.6.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · If God provided for mankind only from the time of Tiberius, that would show neglect, not another God; Justin said he would not have believed the Lord had he preached a God other than the Creator.
Against Heresies 4.6.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The Father is known only through the Son, whose manifestation is the knowledge of the Father, so no Father other than the one he reveals may be accepted.
Against Heresies 4.6.6Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Creation, the law and the prophets, and the incarnate Word all reveal the Father; even demons named the Son, but not all believe.
Against Heresies 4.6.7Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · All, friend and foe, testify that Christ is truly man and truly God; the Son has revealed the Father from the beginning, not only since his birth from Mary.
Against Heresies 4.7.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Abraham longed to see Christ’s day and rejoiced; his joy passed to Simeon, the shepherds, and Mary, and returned from them to him.
Against Heresies 4.7.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · All who knew God from the beginning received revelation from the Son, who raised up children to Abraham from the stones by giving the Gentiles Abraham’s faith.
Against Heresies 4.7.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The God who called Abraham is the Creator, known only through the Son, the way to the Father.
Against Heresies 4.7.4Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The Jews erred in seeking the Father without the Word, who spoke to Abraham and Moses; the Son and the Spirit, not angels, serve the Father in creation.
Against Heresies 4.10.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The Scriptures of Moses testify to Christ, who appears throughout them, and Moses foretold the day, place, and hour of his passion in the Passover.
Against Heresies 4.10.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Jacob’s blessing of Judah foretold Christ, and Moses foretold the Word hanging on the tree and the people’s unbelief.
Against Heresies 4.11.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Those who saw the King present received greater grace than those who only heard of his coming, as the crowds at the entry into Jerusalem showed.
Against Heresies 4.13.4Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The natural precepts common to both covenants show one God; the Word first made men servants through the law and then friends, as Abraham became God’s friend.
Against Heresies 4.20.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Scripture teaches one God who made all things; the Father gave all things to the Son, the Lamb who alone opens the book and through whose flesh the Father’s light reaches us.
Against Heresies 4.20.4Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The one Creator, unknown in his greatness, is known in his love through his Word, who became man to join man to God, as the prophets foretold.
Against Heresies 4.20.7Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The Word reveals the Father in due order, keeping the Father’s invisibility yet showing God to men; the glory of God is a living man, and man’s life is the vision of God.
Against Heresies 4.20.8Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The prophets saw God and foretold Christ by visions, words, and actions; Moses showed God as fire to transgressors and as merciful to those who fear him.
Against Heresies 4.20.9Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Moses was told he could not see God’s face and live, a sign that man would see God only in Christ’s coming as man, fulfilled at the Transfiguration.
Against Heresies 4.20.10Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The prophets saw not God’s face but figures of his dispensations: Elijah’s gentle breeze foretold Christ’s gentle coming, and Ezekiel saw only the likeness of God’s glory.
Against Heresies 4.20.11Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The Father is invisible; the Word showed his glory in many forms: in the furnace, as the stone, as the Son of Man, and in John’s visions of the glorified Christ and the Lamb.
Against Heresies 4.21.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Jacob’s life prefigured Christ and the Church: the heel, the birthright, the blessing, the spotted sheep, the two wives, and Rachel, a figure of the Church.
Against Heresies 4.22.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Christ washed the disciples’ feet and roused them from sleep, signs that he came to cleanse and raise the dead, descending to the righteous who had died before him.
Against Heresies 4.23.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The patriarchs and prophets sowed what the apostles reaped; Joseph was persuaded by Isaiah’s prophecy, and Christ showed himself foretold by Isaiah.
Against Heresies 4.25.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Tamar’s twins, Zerah with the scarlet thread and Perez, prefigure the faith of uncircumcision, first shown in the patriarchs, then withdrawn, and restored in the Church.
Against Heresies 4.27.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Christ descended to the dead and forgave the righteous of old; we must not judge them but fear for ourselves, since Christ will not die again for those who sin now.
Against Heresies 4.31.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Lot’s daughters, who acted in innocence, signify the two synagogues that receive the life-giving Spirit from the Word, the true Father of mankind.
Against Heresies 4.33.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The spiritual disciple judges Gentiles and Jews alike, for the prophets foretold Christ’s two comings, one in weakness and one in glory.
Against Heresies 4.33.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The spiritual disciple will refute Marcion’s two gods: Christ’s Eucharist, title Son of Man, forgiveness of sins, and real death and resurrection all imply the one Creator.
Against Heresies 4.33.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The spiritual man will judge the Valentinians, who confess one God and one Christ with the tongue but divide them in doctrine, and the Gnostics as disciples of Simon Magus.
Against Heresies 4.33.4Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The Ebionites cannot be saved, for unless God became man through the virgin birth, man could not pass into God or be freed from the strong one.
Against Heresies 4.33.5Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Those who say Christ only appeared to be man make their own salvation and teaching mere appearance.
Against Heresies 4.33.11Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The prophets each foretold part of Christ’s work: his glory, his second coming and judgment, his kingdom, his birth from the virgin as Emmanuel, his coming in Judea and Bethlehem, and his healings.
Against Heresies 4.33.12Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Other prophets foretold Christ’s humble entry, passion, and death, his descent to the dead, the darkness at the crucifixion, and the fall of Jerusalem.
Against Heresies 4.33.13Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The prophets foretold Christ’s resurrection and ascension, the persecution of the Church, the shaking of the earth at his return, and his final exaltation over all his enemies.
Against Heresies 4.34.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The prophets foretold the whole life of Christ, and what was new in his coming was that he brought himself, as a king fulfils what his heralds announced.
Against Heresies 4.34.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The prophecies cannot have been about anyone else, because the signs of the passion and resurrection were fulfilled in no one but the Lord.
Against Heresies 4.34.4Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The new covenant is not the rebuilding of the temple under Zerubbabel but the word of God that went out from Jerusalem and turned swords into ploughshares, fulfilled in Christ.
Against Heresies 4.36.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The parable of the wicked tenants shows one householder, the Father, who sent first the prophets as servants and then his Son.
Against Heresies 4.38.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Man could not be made perfect at once because created things are childlike; so the Lord came to us as milk, in the flesh, to accustom us to the bread of immortality.
Against Heresies 4.38.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · As Paul gave the Corinthians milk, the Word became an infant with man because newly made man could not receive perfection at once.
Against Heresies 4.38.4Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Those who resent not being made gods from the start are ungrateful; God made men first, to make them gods in time, overcoming mortality by immortality.
Against Heresies 4.40.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The enemy who sowed the weeds is the apostate angel; God pitied deceived man and turned the enmity back on the serpent, which Christ, born of a woman, crushed.
Against Heresies 5 pref.Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · In the preface to Book 5 Irenaeus reviews the first four books and announces proofs from the Lord’s teaching and Paul’s letters, ending with the Word who became what we are to make us what he is.
Against Heresies 5.1.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Only the Word made man could teach and redeem us; he redeemed his own from the apostasy by just persuasion, not force, giving his blood, soul, and flesh for ours and uniting God and man.
Against Heresies 5.1.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Against the Docetists and Valentinians, Christ was truly man, having received flesh from Mary and recapitulated Adam’s formation.
Against Heresies 5.1.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Against the Ebionites, the virgin birth by the Holy Spirit is the new birth that brings life, as the Word and the Spirit, God’s hands, perfect Adam’s formation.
Against Heresies 5.2.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Christ did not come to what belonged to another, but justly and kindly redeemed his own handiwork by his blood.
Against Heresies 5.7.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · As Christ rose with the marks of the nails in his flesh, so our mortal bodies, which alone die and decay, are what God will raise.
Against Heresies 5.12.6Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The Word who healed bodies member by member would have no reason to do so unless the flesh were to be saved; who gives healing gives life and incorruption.
Against Heresies 5.14.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Christ had real flesh and blood, recapitulating the blood of the righteous from Abel onward, which would be pointless unless flesh and blood were to be saved.
Against Heresies 5.14.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Christ’s flesh was of the same substance as Adam’s, for only so could he recapitulate and reconcile the flesh that had perished.
Against Heresies 5.14.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Christ’s flesh differed from ours only in being sinless; had it been of another substance, it could not have reconciled our flesh to God.
Against Heresies 5.14.4Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · “Flesh and blood” in Paul means the works of the flesh; the members once used for sin are to serve righteousness, and the reader, redeemed by Christ’s flesh and blood, can overturn the heretics.
Against Heresies 5.15.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · By making clay to give sight to the man born blind, Christ showed himself to be the hand of God that formed man from the earth and seeks out the lost.
Against Heresies 5.15.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The Word who forms us in the womb formed the blind man’s sight and sent him to wash in Siloam, restoring both his formation and the regeneration of the washing.
Against Heresies 5.15.4Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Against the Valentinians, the clay used to heal the blind man shows man was formed from this earth by the same Word who sought Adam in the garden.
Against Heresies 5.16.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The incarnate Word showed the true image of God and restored the lost likeness by making man like the invisible Father.
Against Heresies 5.16.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · On the tree of the cross Christ’s obedience undid the disobedience at the tree in Eden, reconciling us to the same God we offended in Adam.
Against Heresies 5.17.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The Creator is the Father against whom we sinned, and only he can forgive; so the Word who said “Your sins are forgiven” is his Word and mediator.
Against Heresies 5.17.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The crowds who saw the paralytic healed glorified the God of the law and prophets, showing that Christ, who forgave sins, came from him.
Against Heresies 5.17.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Christ’s forgiving of sins shows he is the Word of God made man, who cancelled our debt on the tree of the cross.
Against Heresies 5.17.4Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The axe-head that floated when Elisha threw in wood prefigures the word of God recovered through the tree of the cross, whose outstretched arms gather two peoples to one God.
Against Heresies 5.18.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Since creation bore the crucified Word, it must be God’s own work, not a product of ignorance, of angels, or of something outside the Pleroma.
Against Heresies 5.18.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The Word who made the world and contains it invisibly became flesh and hung on the tree; those who reject him reject life, and he will come openly to judge.
Against Heresies 5.19.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · As the virgin Eve disobeyed and brought death, the Virgin Mary obeyed and became Eve’s advocate, so that humanity, bound to death through a virgin, is saved through a virgin.
Against Heresies 5.19.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Irenaeus lists the heretics’ contradictory errors about the Creator, the incarnation, the virgin birth, and the salvation of the body.
Against Heresies 5.21.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Christ, born of a woman, recapitulated Adam and crushed the serpent’s head, so that as death conquered through a man, life conquers through a man.
Against Heresies 5.21.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · In the temptation in the desert Christ conquered the devil three times with the words of the law, undoing Adam’s transgression by his obedience.
Against Heresies 5.21.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The God of the law is the one Christ served; through the Man who kept the law the devil was bound as he had bound man, and his captives were set free by God’s mercy.
Against Heresies 5.22.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Christ conquered Satan with the words of the law, so the God of the law is the one God and Father; ignorance could not have overcome ignorance.
Against Heresies 5.23.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Adam died on the day he ate, in several senses: the sixth day, on which Christ also died to give man a second formation, or within the first thousand-year “day”.
Against Heresies 5.36.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · John, the prophets, the Lord, and Paul agree on the resurrection of the just and the kingdom, in which one God brings his handiwork, united to the Son, to the image and likeness of God.
Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching 43Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–200
Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching 44Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–200
Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching 47Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–200
Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching 49Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–200
Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching 51Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–200
36Anonymous · ca. 180–185 · Christ, made man, taught the knowledge of God and by his suffering ended sin.
41Anonymous · ca. 180–185 · Christ was condemned like Socrates.
Hortatory Address to the Greeks 15Anonymous · 2nd–3rd century (disputed) · Orpheus, the first teacher of polytheism, later proclaimed one self-begotten God and spoke of the Father's voice, that is, his Word.
Hortatory Address to the Greeks 38Anonymous · 2nd–3rd century (disputed) · The Sibyl foretold Christ, the Word who restored the ancient religion; true knowledge of God comes only from the prophets.
Prophetic Extracts 4.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Hosea's prophecy that Judah and Israel will appoint “one head” shows that the Son is the Beginning.
Prophetic Extracts 4.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Believers choose the Son as their head; the Lord who saves Judah is the Savior, the Son, who is the Beginning.
Prophetic Extracts 6.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · One of them, Joshua, bore the name of Jesus.
Prophetic Extracts 20.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The Lord bought us with his blood from the old masters, our sins, through which evil powers ruled us.
Prophetic Extracts 20.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · He leads us to the Father's freedom as sons, heirs, and friends.
Prophetic Extracts 20.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Those who do the Father's will are Christ's brothers; call no one on earth father, for the true Father is in heaven.
Prophetic Extracts 23.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · the church serves Christ's work, as the humanity he assumed served the Father's will.
Prophetic Extracts 53.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The “speech” is the Lord, who is also called “day.”
Prophetic Extracts 53.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · “Night to night proclaims knowledge”: the devil knew the Lord would come but not whether Jesus was he, so he tempted him and waited until the resurrection.
Prophetic Extracts 53.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The demons suspected Solomon was the Lord until he sinned.
Prophetic Extracts 53.4Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · After the resurrection all the demons knew Jesus was the Lord; Enoch says the fallen angels taught astronomy and divination.
Prophetic Extracts 58.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The law that converts souls is Christ, called “law and word” in the Preaching of Peter and in Isaiah.
Prophetic Extracts 59.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Christ's own testimony, his suffering and resurrection, confirmed the church's faith.
Excerpts from Theodotus 1.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The Valentinians read Christ's dying words as committing to the Father the spiritual seed that Wisdom gave him as a covering when he came down.
Excerpts from Theodotus 4.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Clement: at the Transfiguration Christ revealed his glory for the church's sake, to show its future after death.
Excerpts from Theodotus 4.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Christ was and is the light above, the same that appeared in the flesh,
Excerpts from Theodotus 4.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Christ did not leave the Father to come to earth but was present in both; the Transfiguration fulfilled his saying that some would see the Son of Man in glory before death.
Excerpts from Theodotus 5.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · At the Transfiguration the disciples fell down at the voice, not the sight, because an unexpected voice astonishes more.
Excerpts from Theodotus 5.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · John the Baptist heard the voice without fear in the Spirit; Christ told the disciples to tell no one what they had seen.
Excerpts from Theodotus 5.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · They saw the light not with fleshly eyes but because Christ's power strengthened them, the soul sharing its vision with the body.
Excerpts from Theodotus 5.4Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Christ commanded silence so that his enemies would not hold back from putting him to death, which would have left the plan of salvation unfulfilled.
Excerpts from Theodotus 5.5Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The voice at the Transfiguration came to believers, the voice at the Jordan to those not yet believing, who ignored it.
Excerpts from Theodotus 7.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · They distinguish the Only-begotten who remained in the Father's bosom from the one who appeared on earth, called “as only-begotten” and “firstborn,” though they say he is the same.
Excerpts from Theodotus 7.4Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The one who descended is never separated from the one who remained, as Paul says.
Excerpts from Theodotus 8.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Clement's view: the Word is God in God, in the Father's bosom, undivided, one God.
Excerpts from Theodotus 8.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · All things were made through the Word; the Savior, firstborn of creation, revealed the Father.
Excerpts from Theodotus 8.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The Only-begotten is the light of the church, once in darkness.
Excerpts from Theodotus 8.4Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The darkness that did not grasp him is the apostates, the rest of mankind who did not know him, and death, which could not hold him.
Excerpts from Theodotus 10.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · No spiritual being, not even the Son, is entirely without form or body; each has a form suited to its rank.
Excerpts from Theodotus 10.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Created beings have substance, but not bodies like those in this world.
Excerpts from Theodotus 10.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Above, the Only-begotten has his own pure substance and direct access to the Father's power; the first-created differ in number but are alike and equal.
Excerpts from Theodotus 10.4Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The seven first-created angels are equal.
Excerpts from Theodotus 10.5Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The first-created were perfect from the start; the Son is the unapproachable light, beyond what any eye or heart has known.
Excerpts from Theodotus 10.6Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The angels see the Father's face, which is the Son; what sees and is seen must have some form, though they see with an intellectual eye.
Excerpts from Theodotus 11.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Heavenly beings are bodiless compared with earthly bodies, but bodily compared with the Son, as the Son is compared with the Father.
Excerpts from Theodotus 11.4Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The first-created share a common, undivided service.
Excerpts from Theodotus 12.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Each rank sees the one above it; the Son, called the Father's face, is the beginning of the vision of the Father.
Excerpts from Theodotus 12.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Angels are purified intellectual fire; intellectual light is a higher state, into which angels long to look,
Excerpts from Theodotus 12.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The Son is purer still, the unapproachable light, who redeemed us by his precious blood and whose face shone like the sun.
Excerpts from Theodotus 13.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The Son is the heavenly bread and spiritual food that gives life through eating and knowledge.
Excerpts from Theodotus 13.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The Son is the living bread given by the Father.
Excerpts from Theodotus 18.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The descending Savior was seen by the angels and by Abraham and the righteous at rest, who rejoiced to see his day.
Excerpts from Theodotus 18.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · After rising, Christ preached to the righteous at rest and transferred them; his coming on earth was a shadow of his glory, a shadow that illuminates.
Excerpts from Theodotus 19.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The Word became flesh not only at the incarnation, but also, in a sense, when he became Son in the beginning, by limitation, not in substance.
Excerpts from Theodotus 19.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The Word also became flesh by working through the prophets; the Savior is called child of the Word.
Excerpts from Theodotus 19.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The Lord is life; Paul's “new man created according to God” means Christ.
Excerpts from Theodotus 19.4Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The Son is the image of the invisible God and firstborn of creation, because, begotten without passion, he became the creator of all things.
Excerpts from Theodotus 19.5Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · “The form of a servant” means both his flesh and created substance, which is subject to the sovereign cause.
Excerpts from Theodotus 20.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The Psalms' “before the morning star I begot you” refers to the Word, begotten before all creation.
Excerpts from Theodotus 22.7Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Theodotus even says that Jesus himself needed redemption.
Excerpts from Theodotus 23.5Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The Father's “face” is the Son and what the Son reveals; the rest of the Father remains unknown.
Excerpts from Theodotus 26.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Theodotus says the visible Jesus was Wisdom and the Church of the spiritual seeds, the invisible part the only-begotten Son.
Excerpts from Theodotus 33.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Clement: this is a distortion of the church's teaching that the Savior is the firstborn, our root and head, and the church his fruit.
Excerpts from Theodotus 43.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · He becomes head of all things after the Father, in whom all things were created.
Excerpts from Theodotus 43.4Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · God exalted him above every name; he is the one who descended and ascended.
Excerpts from Theodotus 43.5Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The one who descended to the depths is the one who ascended above the heavens.
Excerpts from Theodotus 58.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · After the reign of death, Jesus the great champion took up the church, both spiritual and psychic, and saved them and all like them.
Excerpts from Theodotus 59.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · At the Demiurge's realm he put on the psychic Christ foretold by the prophets and the law.
Excerpts from Theodotus 59.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The psychic Christ was invisible, but the one coming into the world had to be seen, touched, and have a perceptible body.
Excerpts from Theodotus 59.4Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · So a body was woven for him from psychic substance, made perceptible by divine power.
Excerpts from Theodotus 60.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · They read Luke 1:35 as the Spirit forming Christ's body and God's power shaping it; and they hold the Savior was distinct from what he assumed.
Excerpts from Theodotus 61.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Christ's own claims about himself are cited.
Excerpts from Theodotus 61.6Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · They say Christ's body died when the Spirit from his baptism withdrew; otherwise death would have overpowered the Savior.
Excerpts from Theodotus 61.7Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Death was tricked: when it seized the body, the Savior destroyed death and raised the body, freed from passions.
Excerpts from Theodotus 72.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The Lord rescues us from the war of the powers, some for us and some against us, and gives us peace.
Excerpts from Theodotus 72.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Good powers are like the king's soldiers; evil ones like robbers who seized their swords.
Excerpts from Theodotus 73.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Because of the hostile powers, the good ones cannot fully protect us.
Excerpts from Theodotus 73.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · They are like hirelings, not like the good shepherd who lays down his life.
Excerpts from Theodotus 74.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The Lord came down to bring heavenly peace to those on earth,
Excerpts from Theodotus 74.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The new star at Christ's birth abolished the old order of the stars; Christ moves believers from Fate to his providence.
Excerpts from Theodotus 75.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The Magi recognized from the star that a king of the God-fearing was born; then only the Jews were famous for piety.
Excerpts from Theodotus 75.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · So the Savior came first to the Jews, then renowned for piety.
Excerpts from Theodotus 76.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Christ's birth frees us from Fate, his baptism from fire, his passion from passion, so that we may follow him in everything.
Excerpts from Theodotus 85.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · After his baptism Christ was tempted among the wild beasts, as a pattern for us; having overcome, he was served by angels.
Excerpts from Theodotus 85.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · Having conquered the evil angels in the flesh, he is served by angels.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 6.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · The rich man asks Christ, who is Life, Savior, Truth, and Word, the question most fitting to him: about eternal life.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 6.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · The question concerns the very purpose of his coming: the gift of eternal life, which is the gospel's theme.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 6.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · As God, Christ knows in advance the questions and answers, as Lord of every prophetic spirit.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 6.4Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · Called “good,” Jesus turns the questioner to God, the only Good, who gives eternal life through the Son.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 8.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · One must first know the Father, revealed only by the Son, and then the greatness of the Savior, whose grace surpasses the law given through Moses.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 8.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · If the law could give eternal life, Christ's coming and suffering would have been in vain, and the man who kept the law would not have needed to ask him.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 8.4Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · Though righteous by the law, the man knows he lacks life, and asks it from the Son of God, who alone can give it.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 8.5Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · He moves from faith in the law to faith in the Savior, as a ship leaves a dangerous harbor for a safe one.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 9.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · The holy law was a preliminary training; Christ is the fulfillment of the law and makes believers sons, brothers, and heirs.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 10.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · The one thing lacking is what Christ alone gives, beyond the law: true life.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 12.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · What Christ commands that is new is not giving up property, which others did, but stripping the soul of its passions and uprooting what is alien to it.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 21.7Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · To follow Christ is to strive for his sinlessness and perfection, shaping one's soul by him as by a mirror.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 23.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · Christ answers: he has given new birth, freedom, and redemption, and will give eternal life and the vision of the Father.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 23.4Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · Christ gives himself as bread and the daily drink of immortality, and has paid the death owed for our sins.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 23.5Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · Having heard both sides, choose salvation: whatever any relative says, let Christ, who fights for you, prevail.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 25.7Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · If possessions or family bring this inner war, leave them, find peace, and choose Christ, the advocate of the soul, above all.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 29.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · The true Good Samaritan and neighbor is Christ himself, who had mercy on us when we were nearly killed by the powers of darkness and our passions.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 29.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · Christ alone heals these wounds, cutting out the passions at the root, where the law dealt only with their fruits.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 29.4Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · Like the Samaritan, Christ poured wine and oil on our wounds, bound them with faith, hope, and love, and set angels to serve us.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 29.5Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · Christ must be loved equally with God, and he is loved by those who do his will and keep his commandments.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 33.6Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · Do not reject the poor, ugly, or weak: their body is only an outward form, and within them dwell the Father and the Son who died and rose for us.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 34.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · The humble body hides from death and the devil the treasure within, guarded by the Father, the blood of the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 37.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · Contemplate the mysteries of love and you will see the Father's bosom, revealed by the only-begotten God; God is love and became visible to us out of love.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 37.3Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · The Son, born of the Father's love, came down, became man, and suffered, so as to raise our weakness to his power.
Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 37.4Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–210 · Before offering himself as a ransom, Christ left a new covenant: his love.
Miscellanies 1.5.28Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Before Christ, philosophy was given to the Greeks for righteousness, as the law was to the Hebrews: a schoolmaster to lead them to Christ; now it is a useful preparation for faith.
Miscellanies 1.5.32Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Abraham's words to Sarah show that worldly learning is a handmaid to true knowledge; philosophy is an inquiry into truth, and Christ is the truth; preliminary training sharpens the mind for rest in him.
Miscellanies 1.7.38Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Good deeds without faith do not profit after death; the Scriptures were translated into Greek so the Greeks would have no excuse; many ways lead to the one gate of righteousness, which is Christ, as 1 Clement shows.
Miscellanies 1.13.57Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Truth is one, but the philosophical schools, like the Bacchants tearing Pentheus, each hold a fragment and claim it is the whole; whoever reassembles the fragments into the one Word will see the whole truth.
Miscellanies 1.18.88Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Paul's “wise man” and “debater of this age” are the Greek philosophers; the cross is a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Greeks, but Christ's coming made believers wise; those who refused chose unbelief.
Miscellanies 1.19.94Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · However the Greeks came by some truths, whether by chance, nature, or reflection, all comes from the one God; they saw God dimly as in a mirror, as we do now, but face to face comes after death.
Miscellanies 1.20.97Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Philosophy is a joint cause helping toward the truth, like one of many men hauling a ship; truth is one, with partial truths in each field, but the sovereign, unassailable truth is found through the Son.
Miscellanies 1.21.126Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Clement interprets the seventy weeks: the temple rebuilt in seven weeks, Christ anointed within the sixty-two, and the last week ending with Nero and the destruction of Jerusalem under Vespasian.
Miscellanies 1.21.145Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Christ was born in the twenty-eighth year of Augustus; baptized at about thirty in Tiberius' fifteenth year, he preached for one year; some even fix the day of his birth on 25 Pachon.
Miscellanies 1.24.158Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Moses was prophet, lawgiver, general, statesman, and philosopher; true kingship is divine rule by God and his Son, above rule by spiritedness or mere conquest.
Miscellanies 1.24.159Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The worst kingship serves the desires; true rule is by reason and virtue; the true king rules willing subjects by law, as Christ does, to whom God has subjected all things.
Miscellanies 1.24.164Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Early Greeks worshiped pillars before statues; the pillar of fire and the burning bush symbolize the holy light that returns to heaven through the wood of the cross.
Miscellanies 1.26.169Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · As the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, the true lawgiver cares for the human flock; Christ is both shepherd and lawgiver, the Word through whom the law was given and who reveals the Father.
Miscellanies 1.28.178Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Dialectic leads to true wisdom only with the Savior, who clears the mist of ignorance from the soul's eye and reveals the Father to whom he wishes.
Miscellanies 1.29.182Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The law of nature and the law of learning come from the one God and the one Word; Moses calls the Lord a covenant, and the Preaching of Peter calls him Law and Word. So ends Book 1.
Miscellanies 2.4.18Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Plato says the happy man must share in truth from the beginning, and that kingly knowledge makes one kingly; so Christians, belonging to Christ the King, are truly kingly; law is right reason, and the true king is a living law.
Miscellanies 2.4.19Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Christ, who fulfilled the law, is the living law inscribed on the high wood of the cross; the philosophers too call the wise man king and law right reason, and the Stoics make the wise man alone king, priest, and prophet.
Miscellanies 2.5.20Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The Greek doctrine that the wise man possesses all things and is dear to God comes from Moses: Abraham was God's friend, Jacob saw God, Isaac was a type of Christ's sacrifice, and God spoke with Moses as with a friend.
Miscellanies 2.5.21Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Moses was wise, king, and lawgiver, but Christ surpasses all: he is the true beauty and light, the king hailed by children, rich enough to scorn the devil's offers, the high priest after Melchizedek, and the lawgiver who spoke through the prophets.
Miscellanies 2.5.22Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Christ, whose Father is God, is the truly noble; Plato too calls the wise man rich, free, beautiful, and king, agreeing with Scripture that riches lie in the soul and freedom comes from the truth.
Miscellanies 2.5.24Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Wisdom belongs to the faithful; knowledge of the first principle is by faith; if Pythagoreans accept “he himself said it,” how much more should we trust Christ, the only Savior; only the mind truly hears.
Miscellanies 2.9.45Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The virtues follow one another from faith to love and knowledge; only God is wise by nature; philosophy begins in wonder, as Plato, the Traditions of Matthias, and the Gospel of the Hebrews say; godliness is following God.
Miscellanies 2.15.68Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Another teacher applied Psalm 1 to evil opinions, the broad way, and fellowship with destructive powers; Peter's Preaching calls the Lord Law and Word; the food laws also teach avoidance of sins in word, deed, and thought.
Miscellanies 2.16.73Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · God makes our joy his own without being changed, as Christ is fed in the least of his brothers; God shows mercy richly through the law, the prophets, and the Son, and only God, the greater, truly shows mercy to us.
Miscellanies 2.17.77Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · We fail to act from inability, unwillingness, or both; we cannot become like the Lord in substance, since adoption is not nature, but we can become eternal sons who behold the Father; willing comes first; the one who knows lives consistently.
Miscellanies 2.22.134Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The Christian goal is an endless end: obedience to God, likeness to right reason, and perfect adoption through the Son; Paul calls it eternal life and the fulfillment of hope through the love poured out by the Spirit.
Miscellanies 3.6.49Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Some call marriage fornication from the devil and claim to imitate the unmarried Lord; but Christ's bride was the church, he needed no helper or heirs, and he himself upheld marriage and spoke of it continuing until his coming.
Miscellanies 3.7.59Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Self-control extends beyond sex to money, luxury, speech, and thought; even angels fell through desire; Valentinus claimed Jesus did not digest food; Christians embrace self-control out of love for the Lord, sanctifying the Spirit's temple.
Miscellanies 3.13.91Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Julius Cassianus, founder of Docetism, argues that sexual organs do not prove intercourse is from God, since Christ blessed eunuchs and Isaiah calls them not fruitless trees.
Miscellanies 3.17.102Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · If birth were evil, then Christ and the Virgin would be in evil; this is the root of Docetism in Cassianus, Marcion, and Valentinus; man becomes a beast not in marriage but in adultery; the view that the serpent taught Adam intercourse insults the Creator.
Miscellanies 3.17.103Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Even if Adam and Eve sinned by coming together too soon, birth itself is holy, the means by which all things exist; the church's life needs the body, since Christ came in the flesh; good desire is a tree of life.
Miscellanies 4.6.33Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · God silences the boastful and rises for the poor; Christ belongs to the humble; the treasures of earth that thieves break into are possessions, anxieties, and bodily loves; the true treasure is with God, gained by sharing.
Miscellanies 4.12.83Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Basilides, pressed about the Lord's sufferings, would call even him a sinful man; his theory that martyrs are punished for sins in a former life fails, since confessing or denying rests with our choice.
Miscellanies 4.12.87Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · God does not cause afflictions but permits them and turns them to good as training, for others because of their sins, for the Lord and the apostles because of ours; God's will is our sanctification, for which the Lord was not prevented from suffering.
Miscellanies 4.13.91Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · If the spiritual race destroys death, Christ did not; if Christ did, the Valentinians do not; their doctrine secretly sets them and Christ above the Creator, as if a son contended with his father.
Miscellanies 4.17.107Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · David, chosen by God, still begged for mercy and confessed his sin; the Spirit searches the inner self, and the Lord Jesus, overseer of the heart, whose blood was offered for us, knows all our thoughts.
Miscellanies 4.21.130Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · One may be perfect in particular virtues, but no one save Christ in all; the law's perfection leads to the gospel; even the knowing martyr is called “perfect” only at the completion of life, when his blood, offered through love, sends his spirit on.
Miscellanies 4.22.136Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The knower seeks the knowledge of God for itself, not for any benefit; if knowledge of God and eternal salvation could be separated (though they are one), he would choose knowledge of God without hesitation.
Miscellanies 4.25.156Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · God the Father is beyond demonstration, but the Son is wisdom, knowledge, and truth, open to demonstration; all the Spirit's powers are united in him, not as parts but as one, a circle of all powers.
Miscellanies 4.25.157Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The Word is Alpha and Omega, whose end is his beginning; believing in him makes one united, while unbelief divides; the foreigner uncircumcised in heart and flesh, excluded from the sanctuary, is the one who chooses unbelief.
Miscellanies 4.25.161Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Rebecca, “virgin” said twice, signifies purity of body and soul, the glory of God; righteousness is peace; Christ is king of Salem, “peace,” foreshadowed by Melchizedek, who gave bread and wine as a type of the Eucharist.
Miscellanies 4.25.162Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Basilides made Righteousness and Peace beings of the Ogdoad; the Savior initiates us into his mysteries, as Euripides' Dionysus says; God, without beginning, is the source of physics, ethics, and logic, and the Word, his Son, is the only teacher.
Miscellanies 5.1.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Book 5 opens on faith: faith and knowledge cannot be separated, as the Father cannot be without the Son; we believe the Son to know the Father; Christians believe and know what most disbelieve and do not know.
Miscellanies 5.1.6Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · It is godless to demand proofs from God; some questions need sense, some rebuke, and some, like whether providence exists, deserve punishment; providence is plain from creation; the Word is not a spoken word but God's wisdom, goodness, and power.
Miscellanies 5.1.7Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · We are saved by grace, but not without good works and a sound will; we need grace, right teaching, and the Father's drawing; God cannot be seen clearly in this life, as Paul, Plato, and Moses say, but the pure in heart will see him; so the Savior was sent as divine teacher.
Miscellanies 5.3.16Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Hope and faith see with the mind; the Word, who is the truth, is seen by the mind, as Plato's truth is seen only by the mind; the Word created the world and then became flesh to be seen; the kingdom is seized by persistent righteous living and prayer.
Miscellanies 5.5.29Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Eurysus the Pythagorean said the Creator made man using himself as model, echoing Genesis; Pythagoras and Plato drew on Moses; Greek philosophy is like lamplight stolen from the sun, useful by night but outshone when the Word dawned.
Miscellanies 5.6.34Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The Son is the Father's face, made flesh; the inner veil with four pillars signifies the four covenants and the four-letter divine Name, pronounced “Iaoue”; Christ alone as high priest enters the unspeakable; the seven-branched lampstand represents the sun among the planets.
Miscellanies 5.6.35Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The golden lampstand is a sign of Christ, giving light in many ways; the seven lamps are the seven spirits on Jesse's rod; the table of loaves, the ark, and the six-winged cherubim symbolize the churches, the intelligible world, and the heavens.
Miscellanies 5.6.37Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The high priest's robe symbolizes the sensible world: the stones are the planets or ways of salvation, the 360 bells the year of the Lord's favor proclaiming the Savior, and the golden crown Christ's kingship as head of the church.
Miscellanies 5.6.38Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The high priest's headdress signifies that God is head of Christ; the breastpiece's parts signify work and the Word; its twelve stones the zodiac or the righteous of both covenants; the Name on the gold plate is the Son, image of the invisible God, beginning of all things.
Miscellanies 5.6.39Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The oracle signifies prophecy and judgment by the Word; the robe the incarnation; the high priest changing garments on the Day of Atonement signifies the knower rising beyond the baptized faithful, cleansed no longer by water but by the Word of knowledge.
Miscellanies 5.6.40Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The perfected knower, purified in word and life, receives the unseen inheritance, becomes son and friend, and sees God face to face; the high priest's changing of robes signifies both Christ's incarnation and the believer's putting on the holy garment.
Miscellanies 5.8.55Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The law and prophets were types until John, who, pointing to Christ, confessed himself unworthy to loose his sandal, that is, to baptize with his power, and so loosed the meaning of the prophecies; Roman will ceremonies are also symbolic.
Miscellanies 5.10.66Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Paul's milk and solid food mean elementary instruction and the highest contemplation, which is the flesh and blood of the Word; Plato's great sacrifice points to Christ our Passover.
Miscellanies 5.11.70Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Those who hunger for truth will be filled with knowledge; Euripides unknowingly hints at the Father and the Son and at Christ's fireless sacrifice, and the Greek mysteries begin with purification as Christians begin with the washing.
Miscellanies 5.11.71Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · As in the Greek mysteries purification comes before contemplation, so we approach God by stripping away everything bodily until we know what he is not; God is beyond place, time, and name, and is known only by the grace that comes through the Son.
Miscellanies 5.11.72Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Divine wisdom is the tree of life in paradise; the Word made flesh bore fruit on the tree of the cross, and choosing life means loving God.
Miscellanies 5.12.81Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Solon, Empedocles, and John agree that God cannot be seen or grasped; God is the first principle, beyond every category, indivisible, infinite, without form or name.
Miscellanies 5.13.84Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Plato said we must believe the children of the gods even without proof; Clement applies this to the prophets and to Christ, the true Son, through whom God proclaimed the Scriptures.
Miscellanies 5.14.94Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Scripture's account of an invisible and a visible creation is the source of Plato's intelligible and sensible worlds; man's body is from the earth and his soul from God's breath, and the image of God is the Word, of whom the human mind is an image.
Miscellanies 5.14.105Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The Stoics follow Heraclitus on the world's conflagration; Plato calls our daylight night and the soul's entry into the body sleep, and David's “I slept and awoke” foretells Christ's incarnation and resurrection.
Miscellanies 5.14.108Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Plato's description of the righteous man who is scourged and impaled nearly prophesies Christ's passion; Antisthenes, Xenophon, and the Sibyl agree with the prophets that God cannot be pictured or seen.
Miscellanies 6.1.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The Miscellanies are deliberately unordered like a meadow, to reward the effort of the seeker; our true knowledge and spiritual garden is Christ, into whom we are transplanted.
Miscellanies 6.3.34Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · God can produce a voice without any physical source to convert unbelievers; at Sinai Israel heard words but saw no form, for the Lord's voice is the formless Word.
Miscellanies 6.5.39Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The best Greeks worship the same God as Christians but without full knowledge; the Preaching of Peter tells believers to worship the one God, not in the Greek manner.
Miscellanies 6.7.55Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · For Christians philosophy is love of the wisdom that is the knowledge of the Son of God; Greek philosophy is the best of the schools, much of it borrowed and only partly true.
Miscellanies 6.7.58Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The first teacher of all, men and angels alike, is the first-begotten Son, God's Wisdom and counselor, who has taught in many ways from the beginning; so Christ says to call no one on earth teacher.
Miscellanies 6.7.61Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Christ is wisdom, so knowledge taught by the Son is wisdom embracing past, present, and future; this knowledge came down unwritten from the apostles to a few and must be trained into constant contemplation.
Miscellanies 6.8.70Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Where others admit things beyond comprehension, the one who knows grasps them, trusting that nothing is hidden from the Son of God, who suffered for us and withholds no knowledge.
Miscellanies 6.9.71Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The one who knows feels only the bodily needs of hunger and thirst; Christ ate only to prove his real body, and the apostles, after the resurrection, rose above even the good emotions, needing neither boldness, cheer, anger, nor zeal.
Miscellanies 6.11.84Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Abraham's 318 servants symbolize the cross (T = 300) and the name of Jesus (IH = 18), by which believers overcome; the numbers 300, 10, 8, and 120 also carry meaning.
Miscellanies 6.15.122Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The finding of the search for God is the Son's teaching, confirmed by prophecy, by witnesses at his birth, and by his powers after the ascension; the question is how to live so as to know God and be saved through right conduct and knowledge taught by the Lord.
Miscellanies 6.15.123Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · As Plato says, truth comes only from God or his offspring, and Christians are taught by the Son; philosophy speaks of God only in outline, and heretics who invent another God and misread Christ speak in outline too.
Miscellanies 6.15.127Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The incarnation, virgin birth, passion, and resurrection look like a riddle to outsiders but, when the Scriptures are opened, are God's power and wisdom; prophecy spoke in veiled terms, and prophets, the Lord, and the apostles were all persecuted.
Miscellanies 6.15.128Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The Preaching of Peter says the apostles found Christ's coming, death, cross, resurrection, and ascension in the prophets, spoken in parables, riddles, and plain words, and so believed; they say nothing without Scripture.
Miscellanies 6.15.132Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Joshua and Caleb saw Moses double at his assumption, one with the angels and one buried: some see only the letter of Scripture, others its meaning; as Peter knew Christ as Son of God by the Father's revelation, so truth is seen gradually.
Miscellanies 6.16.140Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Seven is “motherless and childless,” an image of the resurrection rest; at the Transfiguration the Lord went up as the fourth, became the sixth with Moses and Elijah, was proclaimed by the seventh, the voice, and appears as the eighth, God hidden in flesh.
Miscellanies 6.16.141Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · In the alphabet zeta and eta stand sixth and seventh though they count as seven and eight, because of the episemon; man was made on the sixth day and perfected at the sixth hour; the seven vowels picture the heavens praising the eighth; and God never ceases to do good.
Miscellanies 6.16.145Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Seven and eight are sacred in medicine and in Psalm 90's seventy and eighty years; Genesis 2:4 shows creation was timeless, “the day” being the Son through whom all was made, and the ten commandments, by the letter iota, point to Jesus.
Miscellanies 6.17.151Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · God is Lord of all; the Greeks deal in words, Christians in realities, and the Lord took a plain body so that no one would admire his form instead of his teaching; mere words without understanding are like a raven's speech.
Miscellanies 6.17.161Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The knower benefits others in the same three ways God benefits him—by guidance, example, and command; every good comes from the Father through the Son, the Savior of all, and reaches each person through nearer ministers, including angels.
Miscellanies 7.1.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The one who knows alone truly worships God; he honors what is oldest and best, above all the Son, through whom the Father beyond all speech is known and revered in silence.
Miscellanies 7.2.5Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Faith is the first step to knowing God; above godly people and angels stands the Son, nearest to the Father, everywhere present, all-seeing, ruling all things, and teaching each kind of person in a fitting way.
Miscellanies 7.2.7Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The Son neither envies, nor is hindered, nor is ignorant, nor distracted by pleasure; he is Savior of believers and Lord of the disobedient until they can confess him.
Miscellanies 7.2.8Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Out of love for humanity the Son took flesh and came for the salvation of all; the Word rules by providence, causes all good, and showed in the flesh what obedience makes possible.
Miscellanies 7.3.16Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The one who knows cares for himself and then for others, rules for their good like Moses, and becomes a living image of God, stamped by the Son, who is the image of the Father.
Miscellanies 7.10.58Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Psalm 24 describes the one who knows; by calling the Savior “the face of the God of Jacob,” David shows that he is God, the one who reveals the one Father.
On Idolatry 18Tertullian · ca. 196–211 · The insignia of Roman office are bound up with idolatry, unlike the honors Joseph and Daniel wore, and Christ's own humility teaches Christians to shun worldly rank and power.
Octavius 9.4Minucius Felix · ca. 197–250 · Caecilius mocks Christians for worshipping a crucified criminal and repeats other obscene rumours.
Octavius 29.2Minucius Felix · ca. 197–250 · Christians do not worship a guilty man, nor believe a mere earthly man is God.
Apology 21Tertullian · ca. 197 · Tertullian explains the relation of Christians to the Jews and sets out who Christ is: the Word and Son of God, God from God, born of a virgin, crucified, risen, and ascended.
Apology 23Tertullian · ca. 197 · Tertullian challenges the magistrates to test it: before a Christian, the spirits worshiped as gods confess that they are demons and fear Christ the judge.
Against the Jews 6Tertullian · ca. 197–207 · Since the prophets foretold a new law, circumcision, sacrifice, and sabbath, the question is whether the one who was to bring them has already come.
Against the Jews 7Tertullian · ca. 197–207 · The prophesied Christ has already come, for Isaiah's promise that the nations would hear him is fulfilled: his name is believed and reigns among all peoples, far beyond the reach of any earthly empire.
Against the Jews 8Tertullian · ca. 197–207 · From Daniel's seventy weeks and a list of rulers the author calculates that Christ was born, suffered, and Jerusalem was destroyed at the times foretold, so that prophecy is now sealed.
Against the Jews 9Tertullian · ca. 197–207 · The author argues that Isaiah's prophecies of Emmanuel, of the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria, of the name Jesus, of the rod from Jesse, and of Christ's preaching and miracles were fulfilled in Jesus, read figuratively rather than as warfare.
Against the Jews 10Tertullian · ca. 197–207 · Against the objection that one hanged on a tree is cursed, the author argues that Christ's crucifixion was foretold and prefigured in Isaac, Joseph, Moses' outstretched hands, the bronze serpent, the Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Amos.
Against the Jews 11Tertullian · ca. 197–207 · Citing Ezekiel's vision of the sign Tau, Moses' warning of a life “hanging on a tree,” and Daniel's seventy weeks, the author argues that Christ's coming and suffering have sealed and fulfilled prophecy.
Against the Jews 12Tertullian · ca. 197–207 · The conversion of the nations fulfils the promise to the Son in Psalm 2 and Isaiah's light to the nations, which fits Christ, not David.
Against the Jews 13Tertullian · ca. 197–207 · The author argues that the destruction of Jerusalem, the loss of anointing and temple, the prophecies of the cross (the tree, Isaac, Elisha's axe-head), the resurrection on the third day, and the dispersion of the Jews show that the Christ foretold has already come.
Against the Jews 14Tertullian · ca. 197–207 · The author explains Jewish unbelief by Christ's two comings, the first in humility and the second in glory, prefigured in Zechariah's high priest Jesus and the two goats of the Day of Atonement, and concludes that the prophecies have been fulfilled in Christ.
On Baptism 7Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · After baptism the newly baptized are anointed, as priests were in the Old Testament and as Christ, the Anointed, was anointed with the Spirit.
On Baptism 9Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · The crossing of the Red Sea, the sweetened water of Marah, and the water from the rock prefigure baptism, and water accompanies Christ throughout his life, even to the cross.
On Prayer 1Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · Christ, the Spirit, Word, and Reason of God, gave his new disciples a new, brief form of prayer, to be offered in secret, that sums up the whole gospel.
On Patience 3Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · Christ showed divine patience throughout his life, from his birth and baptism to his gentle ministry, his refusal of the sword at his arrest, and the insults of his passion.
Acts of Thomas 10Anonymous · ca. 200–250 · The flute girl proclaims Thomas a man of God; the king brings him to the bridal chamber, where he prays for the couple to Christ, who descended to Hades and freed its prisoners.
Acts of Thomas 15Anonymous · ca. 200–250 · The bride rejoices that she is joined to a true husband instead of a temporary one, the bridegroom thanks Christ who freed him and showed him who he is, and the king, enraged, orders the sorcerer seized.
Acts of Thomas 39Anonymous · ca. 200–250 · In the Fourth Act a colt speaks, hailing Thomas as Christ's twin and offering to carry him; Thomas answers with praise of Christ, the good shepherd.
Acts of Thomas 60Anonymous · ca. 200–250 · Thomas's fame spreads and he heals the sick laid in his path; the healed praise Jesus and ask to join his flock, and Thomas begins a prayer of glory.
Acts of Thomas 71Anonymous · ca. 200–250 · The wild asses draw Thomas to the city; the end of the chapter and the start of Thomas's prayer are lost, and the prayer closes with thanks to Christ who bought us with his blood.
Acts of Thomas 80Anonymous · ca. 200–250 · Thomas glorifies Christ for his incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension, calling him the heavenly Word of the Father.
Acts of Thomas 153Anonymous · ca. 200–250 · Thomas glorifies the many-formed Jesus; the lamps are put out, and he prays that the Lord act swiftly.
Acts of Thomas 156Anonymous · ca. 200–250 · Thomas prays to Christ, crucified, descended to Hades, and risen, to gather Vazan, Tertia, and Mnesara into his flock and make them temples of the Holy Spirit.
Acts of Thomas 158Anonymous · ca. 200–250 · Thomas gives the Eucharist with a prayer that sets each detail of Christ's passion against a gift to the faithful, and a voice from heaven answers Amen.
Acts of Thomas 163Anonymous · ca. 200–250 · The king questions the stripped Thomas about his master; Thomas names him Jesus the Christ, Lord of heaven and earth, and the king, fearing the crowd, takes him outside the city.
Bruce Codex, untitled work 5Anonymous · ca. 200–300 · In the immeasurable depth a sonship called Christ the Examiner, with twelve faces, seals each one with the Father's seal; the place has twelve springs of eternal life, and Christ contains the All.
Bruce Codex, untitled work 7Anonymous · ca. 200–300 · The writer says the Only-begotten hidden in Setheus can be described only by those who have seen him, such as Marsanes, Nicotheos and Phosilampes; he applies Psalms and John 1 to him and describes the praise of the All; then Setheus sends the spark that brings the light down to matter.
On Christ and Antichrist 4Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–215 · The incarnation is pictured as the weaving of a robe on the loom of the cross, with the patriarchs and prophets as weavers.
On Christ and Antichrist 6Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–215 · Antichrist will imitate Christ in everything: lion, king, lamb, apostles, seal, and temple.
On Christ and Antichrist 7Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–215 · Hippolytus quotes Jacob's blessing of Judah as a prophecy of Christ.
On Christ and Antichrist 8Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–215 · The lion's whelp is Christ, born of Judah but conceived by the Spirit, and his lying down is his three days in death.
On Christ and Antichrist 9Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–215 · Christ is the expectation of the nations, whom believers await from heaven.
On Christ and Antichrist 11Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–215 · The washing in wine is the baptism at the Jordan; the blood of the grape is Christ's flesh on the cross, from whose side flowed blood and water.
On Christ and Antichrist 22Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–215 · The quotation ends with the coming of one like a son of man to receive the everlasting kingdom.
On Christ and Antichrist 26Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–215 · The stone from heaven is Christ, to whom the Father has given all authority in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.
On Christ and Antichrist 44Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–215 · As Christ has two comings, one humble and one glorious, so he has two forerunners; the first was John the Baptist.
On Christ and Antichrist 45Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–215 · John the Baptist leaped in the womb, preached repentance, pointed out the Lamb of God, and went before Christ even into Hades.
On Christ and Antichrist 61Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–215 · The woman is the Church, always bearing Christ; her flight on eagle's wings is the persecuted Church's refuge in faith in the crucified Christ.
On Christ and Antichrist 64Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–215 · After the last week, Christ will appear from heaven to bring the conflagration and judgment.
Against the Greeks 3Hippolytus of Rome · 3rd century (disputed) · Christ the Word, not Minos or Rhadamanthys, will judge all; the wicked suffer endless fire, while the righteous enjoy a kingdom free of night, toil, and death.
Against Noetus 1Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–230 · Noetus of Smyrna taught that Christ was the Father himself; examined twice by the presbyters, he was expelled and founded a school.
Against Noetus 2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–230 · The Noetians argue from texts on the one God that Christ, being God, is the Father, and so the Father suffered.
Against Noetus 3Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–230 · Like Theodotus, who made Christ a mere man, Noetus reads Scripture one-sidedly; one God does not abolish the economy.
Against Noetus 4Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–230 · Read in full, Isa 45 speaks of the Son in whom God is, the Word made flesh, who was in heaven as the Word before he took flesh.
Against Noetus 5Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–230 · Baruch's "Jacob" and "Israel", to whom God gave all knowledge and who appeared on earth, is the Son.
Against Noetus 6Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–230 · Christ is God over all and Almighty because the Father has handed all things to him, yet he goes to his Father and God.
Against Noetus 7Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–230 · "I and the Father are one" shows two persons but one power; whoever has seen the Son, the image, knows the Father through him.
Against Noetus 10Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–230 · God, alone and yet never without his Word, begot the Word as Light from Light and made him visible to the world for its salvation.
Against Noetus 12Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–230 · The Word who spoke through the prophets is the Word made flesh, through whom the Father is known; the Son is believed and the Spirit worshipped.
Against Noetus 13Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–230 · The Word that Jeremiah says was seen is the Word sent, as Peter says, in Jesus Christ.
Against Noetus 14Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–230 · God is one, but there are two persons, Father and Son, and a third economy, the grace of the Holy Spirit; through this Trinity the Father is glorified.
Against Noetus 15Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–230 · The Word is rightly called Son because of the flesh he was to take; the impassible Word suffered in the flesh, and Word and flesh are one perfect Son.
Against Noetus 16Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–230 · The Father's power, the Word, came down from heaven; how he was begotten is not to be pried into, for the Father keeps it to reveal later.
Against Noetus 17Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–230 · According to the apostles' tradition, God the Word came down into the Virgin Mary, took flesh and a rational soul, and truly became man.
Against Noetus 18Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–230 · Being God, Christ showed all the human weaknesses that were his own, from hunger to death, and through them wrought our salvation.
On Elkanah and Hannah, fragment 1Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · Samuel's heifer at Bethlehem points to the king born of David's line, anointed by the Father as king and priest.
On Elkanah and Hannah, fragment 2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · What Mary bore was the firstborn Word of God united to a firstborn man formed in her womb.
On Elkanah and Hannah, fragment 3Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · The Word's visitations of his people: the second through prophets such as Samuel, the third in the flesh, when he wept over Jerusalem.
On Elkanah and Hannah, fragment 4Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · The yearly feasts prefigured Christ: Passover his sacrifice as the true Passover, Pentecost his ascension offering man to God.
On the Psalms, fragment 1Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · Three Psalm fragments run together: Christ's manhood and divinity shown in the Gospel events (Ps 2); the Lord as the ark of incorruptible wood overlaid with gold (Ps 23); and the plagues of Egypt as figures of the punishment that does not touch the sinless (Ps 78).
On Proverbs, fragment 16Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · On Prov 9:1: Wisdom's house is the new Jerusalem and Christ's holy flesh, and its seven pillars the sevenfold Spirit resting on him.
On Proverbs, fragment 18Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · On Prov 11:30: Christ is the fruit of righteousness and tree of life whose fruit gives eternal life, while the souls of the lawless are cut off in torment.
On Proverbs, fragment 21Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · On Prov 30:19: as a serpent leaves no track on rock, the devil found no sin in Christ.
On Proverbs, fragment 23Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · On Prov 30:19: the ship is the church, and ‘the way of a man in youth’ is Christ, born of the Spirit and the Virgin, who began his works at thirty.
On Proverbs, fragment 48Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · A running interpretation of Prov 30:17–31 (LXX 24:52–66): the ways of the man in youth, the adulteress, the four things the earth cannot bear, the lizard, the locust, and the four stately things all point to Christ, the church, and the nations.
On Isaiah, fragment 1Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · On Isa 19:1: Egypt is the world, its idols are idolatry, and the light cloud on which the Lord rides is Christ's pure body, by which he came to shake error.
On the Distribution of the TalentsHippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · From the discourse on the talents: heretics who deny either Christ's divinity or his real flesh, like Marcion and Valentinus, bury one of the talents.
On the Two Thieves, fragment 1Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · Christ's pierced body gave the world both sacred blood and holy water.
On the Two Thieves, fragment 2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · The blood and water from Christ's dead body show the life-giving power that dwelt in it.
On the Two Thieves, fragment 3Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · The unbroken bones of the lamb show that Christ's suffering did not touch his power.
On the Raising of Lazarus (homily), part 1Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · The first part of a homily on the raising of Lazarus: the preacher apologizes for yesterday's lapse of memory, praises the illness and death of Lazarus as occasions of faith, and shows Christ both man and God.
On the Holy Theophany 1Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · The homily on the Theophany opens by praising the goodness of creation and the necessity of water, then marvels that Christ was baptized in the Jordan, and gives John the Baptist's confession of his own lowliness before Christ.
On the Holy Theophany 4Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · Christ comes to John in humility; John protests that he needs Christ's baptism, but Christ insists on fulfilling all righteousness, and at his baptism the heavens open and the Father bears witness.
On the Holy Theophany 6Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · Christ's baptism opened heaven and reconciled earth with heaven; the Father's voice and the dove reveal the Son, and through water and Spirit man is regenerated to immortality as co-heir with Christ.
On the Holy Pascha, fragment 1 (Nicetas catena on Luke)Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · Mary bore the firstborn Word of God joined to a firstborn man formed in her womb.
On the Holy Pascha, fragment 2 (Nicetas catena on Luke)Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · Fragments on the Pascha: Christ was presented in the temple under the law to redeem those under it; with his own soul he went down to Hades; he ate the supper before the Passover and suffered rather than ate it; and he showed his manhood in Gethsemane.
Arabic commentary on the Apocalypse, fragment 3 (on Rev 10, 1—7)Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200-235 · The commentator reports that Hippolytus identified the angel seen by Daniel and by John with the Word of God.
Arabic commentary on the Apocalypse, fragment 16 (on Rev 14, 18)Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200-235 · The commentator notes that if, with Hippolytus, the one seated on the cloud is the Lord, the following angel need not be taken as the Lord of all.
Arabic Pentateuch fragment IV (on Gen 8:1)Hippolytus of Rome · unknown (transmitted in a medieval Arabic catena) · Hippolytus and Jacob of Edessa trace the ark's voyage in the four directions, which the catena reads as a figure of the cross, and its rest on Mount Kardu as Christ's return to the Father.
Arabic Pentateuch fragment X (on Gen 38:12)Hippolytus of Rome · unknown (transmitted in a medieval Arabic catena) · The catena makes Tamar's sad departure from Judah's house a type of the women and the church mourning Christ on the way to Golgotha, and Judah's promise a type of the promise of the resurrection.
Arabic Pentateuch fragment XI (on Gen 38:14)Hippolytus of Rome · unknown (transmitted in a medieval Arabic catena) · The catena reads Tamar as the church and Judah as Christ, her putting off widow's garments as the church putting on the garments of faith and the new covenant.
Arabic Pentateuch fragment XVII (on Num 13)Hippolytus of Rome · unknown (transmitted in a medieval Arabic catena) · The catena lists the twelve spies and reads them as types of the apostles, the cluster carried between two men as Christ on the cross between the robbers, and the forty days as the mission of the seventy.
On the Passover (Syriac fragment IV)Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200-235 · The paradoxes of the incarnation and passion are “new things,” a new mystery of salvation through the cross.
Letters to Virgins 1.6.1Anonymous · 3rd century · A virgin bore God the Word; virginity is glorious.
On Mount Sinai and Mount Zion 4Anonymous · 3rd cent. (disputed) · The name Adam is spelled from the Greek names of the four quarters of the world, and its numerical value, 46, points to Christ's passion and to the temple of his body.
On Mount Sinai and Mount Zion 13Anonymous · 3rd cent. (disputed) · Christ is the spotless mirror of the Father, as Wisdom says, and believers see Christ in themselves as in a mirror; he is also the true vine.
Against All Heresies 1Anonymous · early 3rd cent. (disputed) · The author passes over the Jewish sects and begins his list of Christian heresies with Simon Magus, Menander, Saturninus, Basilides, and Nicolaus.
Against All Heresies 2Anonymous · early 3rd cent. (disputed) · The author describes the Ophites, who exalted the serpent of Eden, the Cainites, who honored Cain and Judas, and the Sethites, who identified Christ with Seth.
Against All Heresies 3Anonymous · early 3rd cent. (disputed) · The author describes Carpocrates and Cerinthus, who held that Christ was a mere man born of Joseph, and Ebion, who used Matt 10:24 to bind Christians to the Law.
Against All Heresies 4Anonymous · early 3rd cent. (disputed) · The author summarizes Valentinus's system of thirty Aeons, the fall of Achamoth, and his docetic Christ, and notes the variations of Ptolemy, Secundus, and Heracleon.
Against All Heresies 5Anonymous · early 3rd cent. (disputed) · The author describes Marcus and Colarbasus, who built a heresy on the numerical values of the Greek letters.
Against All Heresies 6Anonymous · early 3rd cent. (disputed) · The author describes Cerdo's two gods, Marcion, his disciple Lucanus, and Apelles with his starry-fleshed Christ and the prophetess Philumene.
Against All Heresies 8Anonymous · early 3rd cent. (disputed) · The author ends with Blastus, who kept the Passover on the fourteenth, the two Theodoti, who held Christ to be a mere man (one ranking him below Melchizedek), and Praxeas, who identified the Son with the Father.
Against Hermogenes 18Tertullian · ca. 200–206 · If God needed any material, he had his own Wisdom, born within him before creation; but Hermogenes, by making matter unborn, ranks it above the Son, God's Word.
Against Hermogenes 20Tertullian · ca. 200–206 · God made heaven and earth “in the beginning”, that is, in his Wisdom; since neither Genesis nor John's Gospel names any material, he made them from nothing.
Against Hermogenes 45Tertullian · ca. 200–206 · Scripture teaches that God made the world through his Wisdom and Word with his own power, from nothing; Hermogenes' chaotic matter is really a portrait of himself.
Prescription against Heretics 13Tertullian · ca. 203 · Tertullian states the rule of faith: one Creator God, his Word and Son born of the virgin Mary, crucified, risen, ascended, sending the Spirit, and coming to judge, with the resurrection of the flesh.
Prescription against Heretics 33Tertullian · ca. 203 · Many heresies were already present or foreshadowed in the apostles' day and condemned by them: denial of the resurrection, Judaizing, forbidding marriage, endless genealogies, the Nicolaitans, docetism, and Simon's magic.
Prescription against Heretics 44Tertullian · ca. 203 · At the judgment heretics will have no excuse, since Christ warned against false teachers; Tertullian ironically imagines Christ recanting his teaching, and closes by promising treatises against particular heresies.
Fragment 19 on Genesis (Gen. 49, 90" ἃ)Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-235 · “Who will rouse him?” means that Christ, who is in the Father, raised himself.
Fragment 50 on Genesis (Gen. 49, 26°)Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-235 · Joseph's head points to Christ, the head of all believers.
From the Blessings of Balaam (Num 24:17; 23:19)Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-235 · Christ, as mediator between God and humanity, has both the divine essence and the human, as a pledge from both sides.
On the Great Ode (Deut 32), fragment 1 (Deut 32:26?)Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-235 · Christ, the firstborn Word, descended to Hades and into the virgin's womb to raise Adam, and by his obedience on the tree made the conquered man victorious over the serpent.
On the Great Ode (Deut 32), fragment 2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-235 · Those who now reject the incarnate Son will recognize him when he comes as judge in glory.
Commentary on the Song of Songs, fragment 8 (Song 2:8)Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-235 · The Bridegroom leaping over the mountains is the Word, who leaped from heaven to the virgin's womb, to the cross, to Hades, to the earth, and back to heaven, and will come again in glory.
Commentary on the Song of Songs, fragment 12 (Song 3:1)Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-235 · The bride seeking her beloved by night foreshadows the women at the tomb, who found the risen Christ, held his feet, and became apostles to the apostles, a new Eve undoing the first Eve's disobedience.
Commentary on the Song of Songs, fragment 14 (Song 3:7)Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-235 · Solomon's couch is Christ, the rest of the weary and of all the righteous fathers; its sixty mighty men are the sixty generations from Adam to Christ, from whose thigh the Word came forth.
Commentary on Daniel 2.13Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · The stone cut without hands is Christ, who will come from heaven to end the kingdoms of the world and set up the everlasting kingdom of the saints.
Commentary on Daniel 2.27Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · The king acted under the devil, who imitates God's works: the image's eighteen years, sixty cubits and six cubits are read as parodies of Christ, the patriarchs and the six days, and the many idols of the present age as the devil's devices.
Commentary on Daniel 2.30Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · The fourth in the furnace was the Word who spoke through the youths; their hymn shows all creation to be God's servant, against heretics who invent aeons and emanations.
Commentary on Daniel 2.32Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · The fourth in the furnace was the Word, the judge who drowned the Egyptians and burned Sodom, the 'Angel of great counsel', whom the fire fled and whom Nebuchadnezzar confessed as Son of God.
Commentary on Daniel 2.33Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · Nebuchadnezzar sees four men in the fire and confesses the fourth as Son of God, a sign that the nations would recognize the incarnate Word whom Israel rejected.
Commentary on Daniel 2.34Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · On Daniel 3:26–27: the king calls the three by name but cannot name the fourth, for Jesus was not yet born of the virgin.
Commentary on Daniel 2.35Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · Why God rescued some martyrs and not others: he rescues or takes his servants as he wills, so that some may be examples of endurance, as with the Maccabean martyrs, Peter, Paul, Stephen, and Christ himself.
Commentary on Daniel 3.9Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · The felling of the tree is Nebuchadnezzar's overthrow by his own forces; the 'holy one' is the Word announcing the Father's decree to the angels who rule the nations.
Commentary on Daniel 3.14Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · Belshazzar's sacrilege, and the writing hand as a sign of the Word who wrote the law with the finger of God and would one day take flesh.
Commentary on Daniel 3.27Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · On Daniel 6:16–17: Daniel is cast to the lions with the king's word of hope, and the sealing of the den by the satraps' malice foreshadows the sealing of Christ's tomb.
Commentary on Daniel 4.9Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · Rome imitates the church: as Christ gathered one people from all nations under the name Christian, Rome gathers men of all nations under the name Roman, a rivalry marked by the census at Christ's birth.
Commentary on Daniel 4.10Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · On Daniel 7:17–18: when the fourth kingdom is removed, earthly rule ends and Christ, God incarnate, will come from heaven as judge and give the kingdom to the saints.
Commentary on Daniel 4.11Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · On Daniel 7:13–14: the Son of Man receives an everlasting kingdom from the Ancient of Days, the Father; he is firstborn from God, before the angels, from the virgin, and from the dead.
Commentary on Daniel 4.22-23Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · Instead of calculating the end, be patient like the martyrs under the altar; Hippolytus nonetheless reckons Christ's birth in the year 5500 from Adam, so that the six thousand years before the sabbath rest of the saints are not yet complete.
Commentary on Daniel 4.24Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · Hippolytus proves Christ's birth in the year 5500 from the ark's dimensions (5½ cubits) and John's 'sixth hour', and reckons that the Roman kingdom will last five hundred years before the Antichrist and Christ's return.
Commentary on Daniel 4.30Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · On Daniel 9:23–25: angels are swift as birds; the first seven of the seventy weeks (49 years) end with the return from exile under Joshua son of Jozadak, the 'anointed prince', a type of Christ the true King and Priest.
Commentary on Daniel 4.31-34Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · The sixty-two weeks (434 years) run from the return to Christ's birth; Christ is the Holy of holies who wipes out sins for believers and seals them for unbelievers, and the Lamb who opens the sealed book of the prophets.
Commentary on Daniel 4.35-37Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · On Daniel 9:25–27 and 10:1–19: the last week, with Elijah and Enoch and the Antichrist; the vision by the great river of the Word in the form of a man, his robe, girdle and body interpreted, and his strengthening of Daniel.
Commentary on Daniel 4.57-58Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · On Daniel 12:5–7: the two men by the river are the law and the prophets, the man above the water is Christ; his outstretched hands show the Passion, the 'time, times and half a time' the Antichrist's three and a half years, and the 'scattering' the dispersion of the Jews before the end.
Commentary on Daniel 4.60Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · The conclusion: what was sealed is now proclaimed, the book of life spread on the cross, so that believers may be found worthy and watchful for Christ's appearing; doxology.
Antidote for the Scorpion's Sting 7Tertullian · ca. 211–213 · When heretics call God a murderer, Tertullian answers from Scripture: Wisdom “slaughters her children” for their life and glory, as God gave up his own Son; the pagans do not question their gods' demands for human sacrifice.
On the Flesh of Christ 1Tertullian · ca. 206–211 · Those who deny the resurrection of the flesh also deny that Christ had real human flesh; Marcion denied both his flesh and his birth, and Tertullian sets out to examine them.
On the Flesh of Christ 2Tertullian · ca. 206–211 · Marcion cut the whole nativity story out of the Gospel to deny Christ's flesh; having abandoned the faith handed down, he has no authority to do so.
On the Flesh of Christ 3Tertullian · ca. 206–211 · Birth was neither impossible nor dangerous for God: he can become man and remain God, as angels took real bodies and the Spirit a real dove's body without ceasing to be what they were.
On the Flesh of Christ 4Tertullian · ca. 206–211 · Marcion scorns human birth as disgusting, but Christ loved and redeemed man, birth and flesh included; the “foolishness” God chose is precisely a God born of a virgin in the flesh.
On the Flesh of Christ 5Tertullian · ca. 206–211 · A crucified, dead, and risen God is the “foolishness” of the faith: it is credible because absurd, certain because impossible; and it is only true if Christ had real flesh, as he showed after the resurrection.
On the Flesh of Christ 6Tertullian · ca. 206–211 · Apelles granted Christ real flesh taken from the stars, but not birth; yet angels took flesh without birth because they did not come to die, whereas Christ came to die and so had to be born.
On the Flesh of Christ 7Tertullian · ca. 206–211 · Christ's saying “Who is my mother?” does not deny his birth: his mother and brothers really came, and he rebuked their unbelief and preferred those who hear God's word.
On the Flesh of Christ 8Tertullian · ca. 206–211 · The followers of Apelles call earthly flesh shameful, but by their own myth the heavens too are tainted; Paul's “man from heaven” refers to Christ's Spirit, not to a heavenly flesh.
On the Flesh of Christ 9Tertullian · ca. 206–211 · Christ's body showed every mark of earthly flesh; he was taken for an ordinary man, was hungry, thirsty, wept, feared death, was insulted and bled, which a heavenly flesh could not have done.
On the Flesh of Christ 10Tertullian · ca. 206–211 · Against those who say Christ's soul was turned into flesh: he took a real soul like ours in order to save ours, so it was not made flesh, nor his flesh made of soul.
On the Flesh of Christ 11Tertullian · ca. 206–211 · Christ did not turn his soul into flesh in order to make souls visible; he showed a real human soul by clothing it with real flesh.
On the Flesh of Christ 12Tertullian · ca. 206–211 · The soul was never ignorant of itself, for it naturally knows God and his judgement; Christ came not to show the soul to itself but to save it.
On the Flesh of Christ 13Tertullian · ca. 206–211 · Things take the name of what they become, yet Christ speaks separately of “my soul” and “my flesh”; so in him soul and flesh remained two distinct substances.
On the Flesh of Christ 14Tertullian · ca. 206–211 · Christ did not take an angel's nature: he came to save man, not angels, and though called “the angel of great counsel” he is the Lord himself, not a messenger like the prophets.
On the Flesh of Christ 15Tertullian · ca. 206–211 · Scripture everywhere calls Christ a man; the Valentinian objections to his earthly flesh are the same as the heathen's, and our flesh's resurrection simply awaits Christ's final victory.
On the Flesh of Christ 16Tertullian · ca. 206–211 · Christ did not abolish his flesh as sinful; he took our flesh and abolished sin in it, being in the likeness of sinful flesh without sin, just as Adam was made flesh without a man's seed.
On the Flesh of Christ 17Tertullian · ca. 206–211 · Christ was born of a virgin to begin a new birth: as the first Adam came from virgin earth, the last Adam came from a virgin, and as Eve believed the serpent to our ruin, Mary believed Gabriel to our salvation.
On the Flesh of Christ 18Tertullian · ca. 206–211 · The Son of God needed no human father, having God as Father, but took real flesh from his human mother; as he said, what is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
On the Flesh of Christ 19Tertullian · ca. 206–211 · John 1:13, read as “he was born … of God”, denies only that Christ was conceived by intercourse, not that he took flesh from Mary's womb; otherwise the Spirit entered the womb for nothing.
On the Flesh of Christ 20Tertullian · ca. 206–211 · Scripture says Christ was born “of” Mary and “made of a woman”; the psalm's “you tore me from my mother's womb” and the breasts he sucked prove his flesh came from hers.
On the Flesh of Christ 21Tertullian · ca. 206–211 · If Christ took nothing from Mary, Isaiah's prophecy, the angel's announcement, Elizabeth's “fruit of your womb”, and the promise of a son of David are all emptied of meaning.
On the Flesh of Christ 22Tertullian · ca. 206–211 · Matthew's genealogy and Paul's “seed of David according to the flesh” and “seed of Abraham” show that Christ's flesh was the same as that of Abraham, David, Mary, and Adam.
On the Flesh of Christ 23Tertullian · ca. 206–211 · Mary's virginal conception and real childbirth are the “sign spoken against”; she truly bore Christ from her own flesh, and her womb was truly opened in giving birth.
On the Flesh of Christ 24Tertullian · ca. 206–211 · The prophets and apostles already struck at each heresy about Christ's flesh; the one Christ who suffered in the flesh is the same who will return in that flesh.
On the Flesh of Christ 25Tertullian · ca. 206–211 · Tertullian concludes that Christ's true human flesh, born of the virgin, has been proved, and that this lays the groundwork for his coming book on the resurrection of the flesh.
Against the Valentinians 12Tertullian · ca. 206–208 · Made all alike, the Aeons sing to the Father and pool their best qualities to form Jesus, the Saviour, with angels as his escort; Tertullian compares him to a patchwork.
Against the Valentinians 26Tertullian · ca. 206–208 · The Valentinians teach that flesh perishes, the psychic may be saved, and the spiritual is saved by nature; their Saviour had no material body, which denies salvation to our flesh.
Against the Valentinians 27Tertullian · ca. 206–208 · The Valentinian Christ passed through Mary without being born of her, received the Saviour at baptism, and lost him before the passion; so only a psychic Christ suffered.
Against the Valentinians 39Tertullian · ca. 206–208 · The Valentinians disagree even about the origin of Jesus, and their doctrines have grown wild into the many sects of the Gnostics.
Against Marcion 1.11Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · A god who created nothing, owns nothing, and has left no works by which to be known cannot be proved God; if Marcion's god wished to be known, he should have made himself known through works greater than the Creator's.
Against Marcion 1.19Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Marcion's god appeared only in the reign of Antoninus Pius, over a century after Christ, and was born of Marcion's own Antitheses, which set the gospel against the law; so Christ did not reveal him.
Against Marcion 1.24Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Marcion's god saves only a few, and saves only their souls, abandoning the flesh that bears baptism, celibacy, and martyrdom; and he leaves his followers suffering under the Creator's hand, so his goodness is not perfect.
Against Marcion 2.16Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Anger and jealousy in God are the just instruments of a good judge, like a surgeon's tools; God's feelings share names with ours but, like his “hands” and “eyes,” exist in him in a divine, incorruptible way.
Against Marcion 2.26Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · God swears by himself because there is no other god to swear by; and when he told Moses “let me alone” to destroy Israel, he was inviting Moses to intercede, prefiguring Christ.
Against Marcion 2.27Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · God's human-like actions in the Old Testament belong to the Son, the Word who from the beginning dealt with patriarchs and prophets and was preparing to become man; the invisible Father is never seen, and God's humility is the means of human salvation.
Against Marcion 2.28Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Tertullian turns Marcion's method back on him: every charge made against the Creator — ignorance, change of mind, repentance, fraud, cruelty — can be made against Marcion's own god.
Against Marcion 2.29Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Marcion's Antitheses, which set Christ's mercy against the Creator's severity, actually show one God who is both good and just, gentler once his people had been trained; the world itself is built of harmonized opposites made by one Creator.
Against Marcion 3.1Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Tertullian begins his rewritten third book: having shown there is no god but the Creator, he will now prove that Christ belongs to the Creator, which also excludes Marcion's god.
Against Marcion 3.2Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · A son should be acknowledged by his father and a messenger by his sender beforehand; nothing from God is sudden, so Marcion's unannounced Christ is suspect.
Against Marcion 3.3Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Miracles alone cannot prove Marcion's Christ, since Christ himself warned that false Christs would work signs, and the Creator's works came first.
Against Marcion 3.4Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Marcion's god came at an absurd time, too late to correct the Creator and too early to forestall the Creator's Christ, and so shows himself inconsistent.
Against Marcion 3.6Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The Jews' rejection of Jesus does not prove he was a stranger to their God, for the Creator's prophets foretold that they would fail to recognize their own Christ.
Against Marcion 3.7Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The prophets foretold two comings of Christ, one in humility and one in glory; the Jews looked only for the glorious one and so missed the first.
Against Marcion 3.8Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · If Christ's flesh was a phantom, as Marcion holds, then his works, sufferings, death, and resurrection were unreal, and our faith and resurrection are empty.
Against Marcion 3.9Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The angels who ate with Abraham had real, though unborn, flesh; only Christ needed to be born, since only he was to die; so they give Marcion no precedent for a phantom Christ.
Against Marcion 3.10Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · If Marcion's god despised flesh, he should also have scorned its likeness; by feigning flesh he honors it, and the Creator could appear without flesh when he chose.
Against Marcion 3.11Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Marcion denied Christ's real flesh to avoid his birth, but a real birth is no more unworthy of God than a real death; if Christ had flesh he was born, as the prophets foretold.
Against Marcion 3.12Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Christ fulfills the name Emmanuel in its meaning, “God with us,” which is what Christians, even Marcionites, confess him to be.
Against Marcion 3.13Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Isaiah's warlike words about the infant Christ are figurative: the magi's gold was the power of Damascus, the converted magi the spoils of idolatrous Samaria, and Herod the king of Assyria.
Against Marcion 3.14Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The sword of Psalm 45 is the Word of God, as John and Paul show; Christ's weapons and spoils are figurative, so the prophecies do not describe a literal warrior.
Against Marcion 3.15Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The title “Christ” belongs to the Creator's plan and means “anointed,” which requires a body; Marcion's god borrowing it would be both inconsistent and deceitful.
Against Marcion 3.16Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The name Jesus, given to Joshua who led Israel into the promised land, was a figure of the Creator's Christ; both names therefore belong to the Creator's Christ.
Against Marcion 3.17Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Christ's lowly appearance, his fullness of the Spirit, his meekness, and his work of preaching and healing all match Isaiah's prophecies of the Creator's Christ.
Against Marcion 3.18Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The cross was foretold in figures: Isaac carrying the wood, the horns of Joseph's bull, the hamstrung bull of Genesis 49, Moses' outstretched arms, and the bronze serpent.
Against Marcion 3.19Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Further prophecies of the cross: the Lord reigning from the tree, government on his shoulder, wood cast into his bread, pierced hands and feet, and Isaiah's words on his death, burial, and resurrection.
Against Marcion 3.20Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The conversion of the nations, foretold in the Psalms, Isaiah, and Nathan's oracle, is fulfilled in Christ, the son of David through Mary, not in David or Solomon.
Against Marcion 3.21Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The calling of all nations, not merely of proselytes, was foretold for the last days, when the law would go out from Zion and swords be beaten into ploughshares; this is fulfilled in Christ.
Against Marcion 3.22Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The apostles' mission, their break with the synagogue, their persecution, the sign of the cross on believers' foreheads, and the church's pure sacrifice of praise were all foretold by the Creator's prophets.
Against Marcion 3.23Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The ruin of Judea, the scattering of the Jews, and the end of prophecy among them were foretold as punishment for rejecting the Creator's Christ, so he must be the one who came.
Against Marcion 3.24Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Tertullian describes the thousand-year kingdom in a heavenly Jerusalem after the resurrection, then the heavenly kingdom, and shows that the Creator promised both earthly and heavenly blessings.
Against Marcion 4.6Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Tertullian sets his test: whatever in Marcion's own gospel shows Christ fulfilling the Creator's law, prophecies, and character proves Christ is the Creator's.
Against Marcion 4.7Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Marcion's Christ begins at Capernaum, in the Galilee Isaiah foretold; he teaches in the synagogue without opposing the law, and the demon who names him Holy One recognizes the Creator's Christ.
Against Marcion 4.8Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Christ bears the Creator's name Nazarene, has a real body that was seized at Nazareth and heals by touch, and is confessed by demons who fear the Creator's Son, as Isaiah foretold.
Against Marcion 4.9Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The call of fishermen fulfills Jeremiah; Christ's cleansing of the leper and his command to show himself to the priest confirm the law, as Elisha's cure of Naaman prefigured.
Against Marcion 4.10Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Healing the paralytic and forgiving sins fulfills Isaiah; the title Son of Man, from Daniel, means Christ was born of a human mother, a virgin, and so had a real body.
Against Marcion 4.11Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The call of Levi, the question of fasting, Christ as bridegroom, and the sayings on new wine and patches all show Christ fulfilling the Creator's law and prophets, not separating from a foreign god.
Against Marcion 4.12Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · In the sabbath controversies Christ did not destroy the Creator's sabbath but fulfilled it, allowing the relief of hunger as David did and doing God's work of saving life, as Elisha had done.
Against Marcion 4.13Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Christ's preaching on the mountain, his night of prayer, the choice of twelve apostles, the renaming of Peter, and the crowds from Tyre all correspond to the Creator's prophecies and figures.
Against Marcion 4.14Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The Beatitudes on the poor, the hungry, the weeping, and the persecuted echo the Creator's constant care for the lowly in the Psalms and Isaiah, and fulfill Isaiah 61, so they belong to the Creator's Christ.
Against Marcion 4.15Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The woes on the rich, the full, the laughing, and the praised are the Creator's own warnings from the law and prophets; the same God who blesses the poor rebukes the rich, so there is one God, not two.
Against Marcion 4.16Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Love of enemies, turning the other cheek, giving to all who ask, and the Golden Rule are the Creator's own law brought to fulfillment by Christ; a god who does not avenge would command patience in vain.
Against Marcion 4.18Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The centurion's faith, the raising of the widow's son, John the Baptist's question, and the sinful woman who anointed Jesus all show that Christ belonged to the Creator and had a real body.
Against Marcion 4.19Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The women who served Jesus, his warnings about hearing, and his saying “Who is my mother?” all fit the Creator's prophecies, and the last shows that Jesus really had a mother and brothers.
Against Marcion 4.20Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Christ's stilling of the storm, his victory over the legion of demons, and his healing of the bleeding woman all show him to be the Creator's Christ, with a real body, fulfilling rather than opposing the law.
Against Marcion 4.21Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The sending of the Twelve, the feeding of the five thousand, Peter's confession, and Christ's sayings on losing one's life and being ashamed of him all belong to the Creator's Christ, who truly took flesh and suffered.
Against Marcion 4.22Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The Transfiguration, where Christ appears in glory with Moses and Elijah and the Father's voice commands “hear him,” shows that Christ is the one foretold by the Creator's law and prophets, not their destroyer.
Against Marcion 4.23Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Christ's rebuke of unbelief, his love for children, his gentleness toward the Samaritans, and his hard sayings to would-be followers all fit the Creator, who had long dealt with Israel, blessed marriage and children, and gave the laws of priesthood and vows.
Against Marcion 4.25Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Christ's thanksgiving that things hidden from the wise are revealed to little ones, his claim that all things were delivered to him, and his answer to the lawyer about eternal life all point to the Creator, who hid and promised to reveal through his Christ.
Against Marcion 4.26Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The Lord's Prayer, the teaching on asking and knocking, the casting out of demons “by the finger of God,” and the blessing of those who hear God's word all point to the Creator as the Father to whom Christ taught his disciples to pray.
Against Marcion 4.28Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Christ's warnings against hypocrisy, his call to fear the one who can cast into Gehenna and to confess him before men, and his refusal to divide an inheritance all fit the Creator, who judges and who inspired Balaam and Moses.
Against Marcion 4.36Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The parables of the persistent widow and of the Pharisee and the publican, the rich young ruler, and the blind man who called Jesus “son of David” all show that Christ taught prayer to, and obedience toward, the Creator, and was truly David's descendant.
Against Marcion 4.37Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Zacchaeus fulfilled Isaiah's commands of mercy and was saved, Christ came to save the whole man, flesh as well as soul, and the parable of the entrusted money shows a God who judges.
Against Marcion 4.40Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Christ chose the Passover, was betrayed and sold as the prophets foretold, and at the Last Supper called the bread his body and the cup his blood, which shows that he had a real body of flesh and blood.
Against Marcion 4.41Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Christ's woe on his betrayer, his foretelling of Peter's denial, and his answers before the council about the Son of Man and the Son of God show him to be the Creator's Christ, foretold by Daniel and David.
Against Marcion 4.42Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Christ's trial before Pilate and Herod, his silence, his crucifixion between criminals, the darkening of the sun, and his death and burial all fulfill the psalms and prophets and prove that he had a real body.
Against Marcion 4.43Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The burial, the women at the tomb, the road to Emmaus, and the risen Christ's showing of his hands and feet all fulfill the prophets and prove his real body, so that the Christ of Marcion's own gospel is the Creator's Christ.
Against Marcion 5.4Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Working through Galatians 3–6, Tertullian argues that the promise to Abraham, the fullness of time, the end of the old observances, the allegory of the two sons, and the law of love all belong to the Creator, and that Paul's scars show Christ's flesh was real.
Against Marcion 5.5Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The greeting “grace and peace” and Paul's teaching that God made the world's wisdom foolish through the cross fit only the Creator, who was offended and foretold these things, and they require a Christ with real flesh who truly died.
Against Marcion 5.6Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The hidden wisdom Paul speaks of was the Creator's, veiled in figures and revealed in Christ; the rulers who crucified the Lord of glory, the one foundation, the temple of God, and the folly of worldly wisdom all point to the Creator.
Against Marcion 5.9Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Those who denied the resurrection denied the resurrection of the body, which the very words “dead” and “rise again” require; and Christ, who reigns until his enemies are subdued, is the Christ of Psalms 110 and 72, not Hezekiah or Solomon.
Against Marcion 5.13Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · In Romans 1–7 the God whose wrath and judgment are revealed, who judges by the gospel through Christ, whose law is holy and spiritual, and with whom sinners are reconciled, is the Creator, not Marcion's god.
Against Marcion 5.14Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Christ came in the likeness of sinful flesh, not in a phantom body; God will raise mortal bodies as he raised Christ; and Paul's lament over Israel's ignorance, his praise of God's riches, and his moral precepts in Romans 8–14 all come from the Creator's Scriptures.
Against Marcion 5.17Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · Ephesians, which Marcion called Laodiceans, speaks of summing up all things in Christ, of the Spirit promised by Joel, of the nations brought near to Israel's God, and of Christ's real flesh and the prophets' foundation, all of which belong to the Creator.
Against Marcion 5.19Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · In Colossians the gospel's spread through the world, Christ as image and firstborn of creation, the reconciliation of all things, the warning against philosophy, and the law as a shadow of Christ all point to the Creator, and Marcion's doctrines come from the philosophers.
Against Marcion 5.20Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · In Philippians the differing motives of preachers show no difference of doctrine; Christ, found in the form of a servant, truly became man and truly died; and the promised transformation of our lowly body means the body will rise.
On the Veiling of Virgins 6Tertullian · ca. 208–213 · Paul calls the Virgin Mary a “woman” and the angel blesses her “among women”, so the word includes virgins; she was so called not because she was betrothed but because she was female.
On the Soul 16Tertullian · ca. 210 · Reason is natural to the soul from God, while the irrational came from the devil through sin; anger and desire can be rational, as they were in Christ.
On the Soul 17Tertullian · ca. 210 · Against the Academics, the senses are reliable, since apparent errors have natural causes; to doubt them would make even the witness to Christ's real body untrustworthy.
On the Soul 26Tertullian · ca. 210 · Scripture shows that children live in the womb: Jacob and Esau struggled before birth, John leapt at Christ's presence, and God knew Jeremiah before he was born.
On the Soul 41Tertullian · ca. 210 · The soul's inherited corruption overshadows but cannot extinguish the good God gave it; in the new birth of baptism it recovers its light and is wedded to the Holy Spirit.
On Flight in Persecution 8Tertullian · ca. 208–213 · Christ withdrew from danger only until his teaching was complete; then he faced his Passion, and in Gethsemane, though his flesh was weak, he submitted to the Father's will, as Christians should.
On the Resurrection of the Flesh 2Tertullian · ca. 208–212 · Heretics who deny another God than the Creator attack the resurrection of the flesh first; Tertullian, having written against Marcion and on Christ's flesh, now defends the flesh's resurrection itself.
On the Resurrection of the Flesh 6Tertullian · ca. 208–212 · The flesh is honoured by the hands of God who shaped it with Christ, the Word to become flesh, in view; its lowly origin in clay no more disgraces it than earth disgraces gold.
On the Resurrection of the Flesh 20Tertullian · ca. 208–212 · The prophets did not speak only in figures: Christ's birth, passion, and miracles, and the fates of nations, were foretold plainly and fulfilled literally.
On the Resurrection of the Flesh 44Tertullian · ca. 208–212 · The treasure of Christ's life carried in earthen vessels, and the life of Jesus to be manifested in our mortal body after death, show that the flesh will be raised like Christ's.
On the Resurrection of the Flesh 51Tertullian · ca. 208–212 · Christ sits in heaven in the flesh as a pledge that ours will follow; Paul's “this corruptible” and “this mortal” point to the very flesh that must put on incorruption and immortality.
On the Resurrection of the Flesh 63Tertullian · ca. 208–212 · The whole, same flesh will rise, kept safe with God by Christ, who unites flesh and spirit, and the Paraclete’s New Prophecy has cleared away the ambiguities that heretics exploited.
Against Praxeas 1Tertullian · ca. 213 or later · Praxeas brought to Rome the heresy that the Father himself was born and suffered, and also turned the bishop of Rome against the New Prophecy; Tertullian announces his refutation.
Against Praxeas 2Tertullian · ca. 213 or later · Against Praxeas, Tertullian sets out the rule of faith: one God under an “economy,” Father, Son, and Spirit, three in degree, form, and aspect but one in substance, condition, and power.
Against Praxeas 4Tertullian · ca. 213 or later · Because the Son comes from the Father's substance and will hand the kingdom back to the Father, as Paul says, the Trinity preserves the monarchy; the same passage shows that Father and Son are two.
Against Praxeas 5Tertullian · ca. 213 or later · Before creation God was never alone, for he had within himself his Reason, which is also his Word; as reason and inner speech in the human mind, the Word was a second with God.
Against Praxeas 6Tertullian · ca. 213 or later · Scripture calls the Word “Wisdom,” begotten before creation and present with God in making the world; when God willed to create, he first put forth the Word, through whom all things were made.
Against Praxeas 7Tertullian · ca. 213 or later · The Word, conceived in God's mind as Wisdom, was fully born when God spoke at creation; he is not an empty sound but a real substance and person, the Son, second to the Father.
Against Praxeas 8Tertullian · ca. 213 or later · The Son was “put forth” from the Father, not separated as in Valentinus' system, but as a shoot from a root, a river from a spring, a ray from the sun; the Spirit is third, and the Trinity preserves the monarchy.
Against Praxeas 9Tertullian · ca. 213 or later · Father, Son, and Spirit are distinct but not divided: the Son is “another” by distinction, not separation; Christ himself calls the Paraclete “another Advocate.”
Against Praxeas 11Tertullian · ca. 213 or later · Praxeas must show from Scripture that God is his own Son; instead Scripture everywhere distinguishes the one who speaks, the one spoken to, and the one spoken of, showing the three persons.
Against Praxeas 12Tertullian · ca. 213 or later · God's plural “Let us make man” and “one of us” show that the Word and the Spirit were with him; in creation one person commands and another makes, one substance in three persons, distinct but not divided.
Against Praxeas 13Tertullian · ca. 213 or later · Scripture calls both Father and Son “God” and “Lord,” yet Christians do not speak of two gods: the one name was used in the Old Testament so that Christ might be recognized as God, and it is now kept as one, as sun and ray are one substance.
Against Praxeas 14Tertullian · ca. 213 or later · God said no one could see his face and live, yet patriarchs and prophets saw God and lived: the invisible one is the Father, while the Son was seen, in visions and figures, before his incarnation.
Against Praxeas 15Tertullian · ca. 213 or later · The New Testament too distinguishes the invisible Father, whom no one has seen, from the visible Son, whom the apostles saw and touched; the Son was always the one seen and always acted by the Father's will.
Against Praxeas 16Tertullian · ca. 213 or later · From the beginning it was the Son, not the Father, who acted in history, judged, appeared to Adam, Abraham, Moses, and in the furnace, and took on human feelings; the invisible Father did none of these things.
Against Praxeas 17Tertullian · ca. 213 or later · The divine names, God Almighty, Most High, Lord of hosts, King of Israel, He Who Is, belong to the Son too, since he came in the Father's name and received all things from him.
Against Praxeas 19Tertullian · ca. 213 or later · God “alone” stretched out the heavens in contrast to angels and other powers, not to his Wisdom and Word, the Son, who made all things with him; Father and Son are two by arrangement, not separation, and remain one God.
Against Praxeas 21Tertullian · ca. 213 or later · John's Gospel from its first verse distinguishes the Word from God the Father; throughout, Jesus speaks of the Father as another who sent him, loves him, gives him judgment and life, and draws believers to him.
Against Praxeas 22Tertullian · ca. 213 or later · Throughout John 7–10 Jesus speaks of the Father who sent him as another witness; “I and the Father are one” uses the neuter “one thing,” not “one person,” and so shows two united, not one.
Against Praxeas 23Tertullian · ca. 213 or later · At Lazarus' tomb and in the voice from heaven, Son and Father speak to each other, the Son on earth and the Father in heaven; they are two persons, not one God changing roles, and it was the Son, not the Father, who was betrayed and glorified.
Against Praxeas 24Tertullian · ca. 213 or later · When Jesus tells Philip “he who has seen me has seen the Father,” he means that the invisible Father is known through the Son's works and words, not that he himself is the Father; he says “I am in the Father,” not “I am the Father.”
Against Praxeas 25Tertullian · ca. 213 or later · In John's Gospel Christ promises “another” Paraclete, calls the Father the vinedresser, and after the resurrection speaks of ascending “to my Father and your Father”; the Gospel itself says it was written so that we might believe that Jesus is the Son.
Against Praxeas 26Tertullian · ca. 213 or later · The other Gospels confirm that Christ is the Son: the angel announces the Spirit and power of the Most High coming upon Mary, and Jesus throughout speaks of the Father as another, ending with baptism into three names, by triple immersion.
Against Praxeas 27Tertullian · ca. 213 or later · Praxeas' followers split Jesus (the flesh, the Son) from Christ (the Spirit, the Father); Tertullian answers that the Word did not change into flesh but put it on, so that Jesus is one person with two substances, God and man, unconfused, each acting in its own way.
Against Praxeas 28Tertullian · ca. 213 or later · “Christ” means “anointed,” a title, not a proper name; Scripture shows that the Father anointed the Son, and if Christ were the Father there would have to be another God above him.
Against Praxeas 29Tertullian · ca. 213 or later · Christ died in his human, not his divine, substance; the Monarchians blaspheme by making the Father suffer and be accursed, and even their claim that the Father “suffered with” the Son makes him passible.
Against Praxeas 30Tertullian · ca. 213 or later · Christ's cry “My God, why have you forsaken me?” shows that the Son, not the Father, suffered and died; the Son rose, ascended, sits at the Father's right hand, and poured out the Holy Spirit, the third person.
Against Praxeas 31Tertullian · ca. 213 or later · To believe in one God without the Son and the Spirit is the Jewish faith; the gospel reveals one God in three persons, and those who confuse Father and Son deny both, like the antichrists John condemns.
On the Crown 14Tertullian · 211 · A man's head belongs to Christ and a woman's is veiled, so neither may be crowned; Christ wore thorns for us, and the Christian should not wear flowers where he wore thorns.
Letter to Aristides 1Julius Africanus · ca. 220–240 · Africanus rejects the view that the two Gospel genealogies mix priestly and royal lines to show Christ as priest and king, since a pious falsehood dishonours God.
On First Principles 1.0.4Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · The apostolic teaching affirms one God, Creator and giver of both Testaments; Jesus Christ, born of the Father before creation, truly incarnate, dead and risen; and the Holy Spirit, equal in honour and the same in both Testaments.
On First Principles 1.1.8Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · Scripture confirms that God is by nature invisible; between Father and Son there is not seeing but knowing.
On First Principles 1.2.1Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · In Christ the divine nature of the only-begotten Son is distinct from the human nature he assumed; the Son is called Wisdom and firstborn.
On First Principles 1.2.2Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · Wisdom, the Son, is a real subsistence, begotten of the Father without any beginning in time or thought, and contains beforehand the forms of all creation.
On First Principles 1.2.3Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · Wisdom is also the Word, the interpreter of the Father's mind; to give the Word a beginning is to deny that the Father was always Father.
On First Principles 1.2.4Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · The Son is the truth, life, way and resurrection of all things, and his generation from the Father is eternal and beyond comparison with any bodily begetting.
On First Principles 1.2.5Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · Scripture supports this: the Son is the image of the invisible God and the brightness of his glory, and the Wisdom of Solomon describes Wisdom as the emanation of God's glory.
On First Principles 1.2.6Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · The Son is the invisible image of the invisible Father, begotten as will proceeds from mind, without division of the divine nature; whoever understands him understands the Father.
On First Principles 1.2.7Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · As the brightness of God's light, the Son gently accustoms weak human eyes to bear the light and so mediates between them and it.
On First Principles 1.2.8Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · As a small statue exactly like an immense one lets people see it, the self-emptied Son is the express figure of the Father's substance, showing his greatness in his works.
On First Principles 1.2.9Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · Wisdom is the vapour of God's power, subsisting in its own right and having no beginning but God himself, so that Christ is power from power.
On First Principles 1.2.10Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · God has always been almighty, so there have always been beings over whom he rules; the Son shares the glory of omnipotence, by which all things are subjected through reason, not force.
On First Principles 1.2.11Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · Wisdom as the brightness of eternal light shows that the Son comes from the Father without any beginning in time.
On First Principles 1.2.12Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · Wisdom as the spotless mirror of God's working shows that the Son does the very same works as the Father, without any dissimilarity.
On First Principles 1.2.13Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · The Son is the image of the Father's goodness, with no second goodness in him; “No one is good but God” does not deny goodness to the Son or Spirit, who derive it from the Father as its fountain.
On First Principles 1.4.4Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · Since creatures cannot be coeternal with God, Origen proposes that the creation was always present, as a prefiguration, in God's Wisdom, the eternal Son.
On First Principles 2.6.1Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · Origen turns to the incarnation: the Son, the mediator and image of God whom only the Father fully knows, emptied himself, became man, and sent prophets before him and apostles after him.
On First Principles 2.6.2Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · The incarnation of the Word, born, suffering and dying, is the greatest wonder; the truth of both natures in one person must be held reverently, neither degrading the divine nor treating the human as illusion.
On First Principles 2.6.3Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · The soul of Jesus, clinging to the Word from the beginning with perfect love, became one spirit with him and mediated between God and the flesh; hence divine and human names are exchanged in Scripture.
On First Principles 2.6.4Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · The soul of Christ was united to the Word by the merit of its love, anointed above all with the fullness of the Spirit, and free from all sin.
On First Principles 2.6.5Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · Christ's human soul had the same nature as all souls, but by its immense love for righteousness it became unchangeable, so that it had no possibility of sin.
On First Principles 2.6.6Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · As iron always in the fire becomes wholly fire, Christ's soul, always united to the Word, is unchangeable; it is anointed above its fellows as the very vessel of the ointment.
On First Principles 2.6.7Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · Christ's soul is the “shadow of Christ the Lord” in which the nations live; Origen offers these views on the incarnation provisionally.
On First Principles 2.8.4Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · Minds fell into souls in different degrees, explaining differences of ability; Origen offers this as inquiry, not dogma, and notes that the Gospel ascribes Christ's distress to his soul and his offering to his spirit.
On First Principles 2.8.5Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · The “soul of God” is to be understood figuratively, perhaps as the only-begotten Son; Origen leaves these views on the soul for readers to discuss.
On First Principles 3.5.6Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · In the last times the Son himself came, emptying himself to teach obedience and to restore true rule; his final subjection to the Father includes all the saved in him.
On First Principles 3.5.7Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · The Son's subjection to the Father is good, the crowning of his work; so the subjection of his enemies to him means their salvation and the restoration of the lost.
On First Principles 4.1.2Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · The rapid growth of the faith through persecution, spread by unlearned teachers, fulfils Christ's own predictions and shows that he who became man is truly God.
On First Principles 4.1.5Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · The Psalms, Isaiah, Micah, Daniel and Job foretold Christ's grace, birth and victory; the spread of the Gospel by the apostles shows a power beyond human strength.
On First Principles 4.3.13Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · As Deuteronomy is a clearer law, so Christ's glorious second coming will fulfil the shadow of his first and bring the saints from the temporal to the eternal Gospel.
On First Principles 4.4.1Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · The recapitulation begins: the Son is begotten of the incorporeal Father without emission or passion, as will from mind and radiance from light, so there was never a time when he was not; and he is contained in no place.
On First Principles 4.4.2Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · The Son's divinity is in no place and absent from none; he dwells in Paul, Peter and the archangels alike, but more fully in some than in others, according to their merits.
On First Principles 4.4.3Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · All things were created through the Son, as Colossians, John and Psalm 33 show; in the incarnation his divinity was neither confined to his body nor separated from the Father, as the Baptist's words 'among you stands one' imply.
On First Principles 4.4.4Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · The Son's undivided divinity took a human body and soul; that soul, joined to the Word in a spotless union, chose the good and could not sin, and is the example for believers to imitate.
On First Principles 4.4.5Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · Some apply Philippians 2 to Christ's soul; all rational beings, souls and angels alike, need participation in the one incorporeal Trinity; Origen turns to the question of 'matter'.
Eclogae on Exodus-Judges, column 283Origen · ca. 220-254 · A wicked heart is called hardened, strengthened, and heavy in different senses; Moses' wonders are not magic; the Passover lamb is Christ, its blood is faith, and leaven is vice.
Eclogae on Exodus-Judges, column 573Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Numbers 11–14: the name of the manna; the elders prophesied only once; the camp waited for Miriam; Joshua as a type of Christ; only the adults who sinned died in the desert.
Eclogae on Exodus-Judges, column 577Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Balaam: God came to him to avert the demons; God's power defeats magic; sacrifices were allowed to end sacrifice to demons; the donkey loosed by Christ's disciples; Peor and the two summits.
Eclogae on Exodus-Judges, column 579Origen · ca. 220-254 · Balaam's oracles read of the Gentiles' conversion and of the soul: houses and tents, glens and gardens, lordship free from passion, the kingdom of Gog, and Christ called out of Egypt.
Eclogae on Exodus-Judges, column 581Origen · ca. 220-254 · Christ the unicorn makes many “christs”; he feeds on the converted nations; Balaam devised Israel's sin at Peor; the land promised to Abraham was withheld for unbelief; tribal marriage and Christ's kingly and priestly descent.
Eclogae on Exodus-Judges, column 805Origen · ca. 220-254 · The manna and the good land read of Christ and his gifts: bread, vine, oil, pomegranates, fig, honey, stones, and bronze; then the literal sense of the land's goodness, and warnings against forgetting God and against child sacrifice.
Eclogae on Exodus-Judges, column 813Origen · ca. 220-254 · Moses' blessing read of Christ: God comes from Paran with the saints, spares the Gentiles who were not a people, and rules them with Israel through the beloved Son.
Eclogae on 1 Kingdoms, column 993Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on 1–3 Kingdoms: David's ruddiness; the loaves of the presence prefigure the twelve apostles sent two by two; Saul as a type of the evil spirit; David's mercy to the blind and lame; the saint as adamant that the devil's hammer cannot break.
Fragments on Genesis, column 107Origen · ca. 220-254 · The wild beasts that fear the righteous are evil powers; the image of God is the Saviour, who is therefore God; a Hebrew tradition that Canaan first saw Noah's nakedness.
Fragments on Genesis, column 117Origen · ca. 220-254 · Catena notes on Gen 19–24: Lot's wife; Abimelech did not touch Sarah; Isaac carrying the wood as a type of Christ carrying the cross; the meanings of the names in Nahor's family.
Fragments on Genesis, column 127Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Gen 31–37: gathering stones for the spiritual house; Jacob's humility toward Esau; the one who wrestled with Jacob is the Word of God; Joseph's tunic and his brothers' hatred.
Fragments on Genesis, column 145Origen · ca. 220-254 · Jacob crosses his hands to bless Ephraim, foreseeing Joshua, a type of Christ; Judah's lion and cub signify Christ's death in the economy.
Fragments on Luke, column 319Origen · ca. 220-254 · The angel came to Mary, not Joseph, and John leaped in the womb at her greeting, receiving the Spirit before his mother.
Fragments on Luke, column 321Origen · ca. 220-254 · Elizabeth confesses Mary as mother of the Lord, Mary's soul magnifies God by living according to his image, and Zacharias's tongue is loosed when he names John.
Fragments on Luke, column 329Origen · ca. 220-254 · Zacharias's silence is a type of those who cast out the Word, John's name means one who points to the present God, and Mary called Joseph Jesus' father because of others' suspicions.
Fragments on Luke, column 343Origen · ca. 220-254 · The transfiguration is seen by those who rise above the six days of the world: to them the Word appears as God, his garments are the Gospel words made clear, and Moses and Elijah are the law and prophets in harmony with him.
Fragment on Matthew 1:18Origen · ca. 220-254 · The fragment distinguishes Christ's “genesis” (Matt 1:1) from his “birth” (Matt 1:18) and explains what he took from each.
Fragment on Matthew 11:12Origen · ca. 220-254 · “The least in the kingdom of heaven” of Matt 11:11 is read as Christ himself, lesser in his hearers' eyes but greater than John.
Fragments on Proverbs, column 153Origen · ca. 220-254 · Christ is righteousness itself, of which the righteous bear an image; innocence can be blameworthy simplicity or praiseworthy guilelessness.
Fragments on Proverbs, column 185Origen · ca. 220-254 · Wisdom is eternal in essence but became the "beginning of ways" in relation to creation; Wisdom's house is Scripture and the Word; reproof belongs to the wise, while the wicked must be taught patiently.
Fragments on Proverbs, column 199Origen · ca. 220-254 · Virtues hide the corresponding vices; evil never leaves the house of one who repays good with evil; Christ is the friend who became man out of friendship.
Fragments on Proverbs, column 201Origen · ca. 220-254 · God the Father and the church our mother rejoice over the instructed son and grieve over the foolish one, who has only one who bore him and not a mother.
Fragments on Proverbs, column 233Origen · ca. 220-254 · Christ is the friend whose reproof calls us back, and the truth that sets free; wisdom belongs in a passionless mind; the coals of fire heaped on an enemy are the gifts of the Spirit that cleanse him.
PG 12:1063Origen · ca. 220-254 · The titles “for those who will be changed” (Psalms 59, 68, 44, 79 LXX) as the change of the nations, of Christ in his passion, and of the former people; “for the hidden things” as Christ’s hidden war and victory.
PG 12:1071Origen · ca. 220-254 · Psalm 71 (LXX) can refer only to Christ; Origen discusses the meaning of “diapsalma” and argues that not every psalm entitled “psalm” was sung to the psaltery (Psalms 50 and 3 LXX).
PG 12:1085 (Ps 1 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Psalm 1 begins the Psalter with the blessedness of the man who is like the Only-begotten, the tree of life; the three steps of walking, standing, and sitting describe three kinds of error.
PG 12:1087 (Ps 1 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Meditating on the law day and night means practicing it, so that the perfect man’s every action is prayer; Aquila’s “transplanted” tree is Christ, rooted in the Father, or the Savior’s soul taken to paradise.
PG 12:1089 (Ps 1 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Christ, the tree of life transplanted to paradise, gives his fruit in season according to the fitness of those who receive it; fruits and leaves are the primary and the secondary things of creation, of Scripture, and of the blessed man’s life.
PG 12:1099 (Ps 1–2 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · God “knows” the way of the righteous, Christ, and does not know evil, as his questions to Adam and in the Gospel show; Psalm 2 opens with Origen’s note that some Hebrew copies join it to Psalm 1, as Acts 13:33 does.
PG 12:1101 (Ps 2 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · The speakers of Psalm 2 change at the diapsalma; the nations, peoples, kings and rulers who set upon Christ are both the human agents of the passion and the invisible powers, and war against Christ is impiety against the Father.
PG 12:1103 (Ps 2 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · On the divine names: Adonai, Iah, and the unpronounced four-letter name written in the old Hebrew script, rendered “Lord” in Greek; and on the Septuagint’s use of the past tense for prophecies about Christ.
PG 12:1107 (Ps 2 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · God’s wrath gives sinners time to repent; Christ receives the nations as heir “as a man,” by the economy of the incarnation; a further note on the inheritance as contemplation; the rod of iron is the sterner treatment that heals sinners.
PG 12:1109 (Ps 2 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Christ is the rod for the more beastlike and the flower for those worthy of kindness; the shattering of the nations “like a potter’s vessel” is the beneficial breaking of the proud spirit and heart, as in Psalm 50 (LXX).
PG 12:1111 (Ps 2 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Two short notes on Christ the shepherd and the iron rod of the cross; “kings” and “judges of the earth” may be the persecutors called to repentance or the saints, who reign over their own impulses; instruction by punishment is either imposed on the immature or accepted willingly.
PG 12:1117 (Ps 2–3 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · The end of Psalm 2 (God’s quickly kindled anger and the blessedness of trust) and the beginning of Psalm 3: the psalm cannot be read wholly as history of David’s flight from Absalom, for in Scripture David often stands for Christ.
PG 12:1119 (Ps 3 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · David in Scripture often stands for Christ the judge; on Ps 3:1–2, those who afflict and rise up against David are Absalom’s followers in the history, those who opposed Christ in the passion, and, in a higher sense, the teachers of false doctrine, their disciples, and unbelievers.
PG 12:1121 (Ps 3 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Every sinner afflicts the Son of God as a wicked son grieves his father; affliction yields the righteous a weight of glory; on Ps 3:3 Christ is exalted by the Father, and the saint’s glory is God himself, as with Moses and Elijah.
PG 12:1125 (Ps 3 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · The Word, who is Wisdom, always cries out; on Ps 3:5 Origen gives a literal reading (David blaming his own lack of watchfulness) and a higher one, in the person of Christ, distinguishing “lying down” from “sleep.”
PG 12:1127 (Ps 3 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Sleep also means the soul’s inattention; applied to Christ, “I lay down” is his death and “I slept” the separation of his soul from the body, during which his soul was active for the salvation of souls, as 1 Peter 3:19 shows.
PG 12:1129 (Ps 3 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Christ after his falling asleep was raised by the Father; the saint, like Christ in the passion, fears no multitude; on Ps 3:7 Origen notes that the Hebrew has “jaw” where the Septuagint has “without cause,” and discusses God “arising” and enmity “without cause.”
PG 12:1133 (Ps 4 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · The title “for the end” signifies the end of the rational nature, life in Christ, and Christ’s victory, which he wins by persuasion; the musical terms of the title; the speaker of Psalm 4 is the Prophet or Christ.
PG 12:1135 (Ps 4 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · God hears the saint while he is still calling; “calling upon the Lord” belongs only to the righteous, like Samuel, whose works say “Lord”; Christ is “the righteousness” of the righteous; Scripture calls the trials of the saints “affliction,” those of sinners “scourges.”
PG 12:1139 (Ps 4 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · “Son of man” in the prophets is a title of honor (Daniel, Ezekiel) recalling the image of God, but “man” can also be blame; the “heavy-hearted” sons of men are those who bear the man of dust and carry lawlessness like lead.
PG 12:1167 (Ps 4–5 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · The end of Psalm 4 (the true bread; the Hebrew “from the time of” the harvest; Christ or the saint dwelling “alone” in hope) and the beginning of Psalm 5: only one whose King and God the Lord truly is can pray its words.
PG 12:1185 (Ps 8–9 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · On Ps 8:4–8: God visits man to do him good; man, made in God’s image, is a little lower than the angels and rules the creatures; Hebrews applies the psalm to Christ, and through the incarnation man is crowned with glory; Psalm 9 begins with its title, “for the hidden things.”
PG 12:1187 (Ps 9 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · On Ps 9:1–5: only the Savior can tell all God’s wonders; the enemy’s defeat makes those strong in vice grow weak; Christ is God’s throne; God’s rebuke is correction, and the blotting out of the nations’ name is like the renaming of Abram, Sarai, and Simon.
PG 12:1189 (Ps 9 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · On Ps 9:10–17 (LXX 9:11–18): God dwells in the soul that is a Zion; the deeds to be declared are Christ’s miracles and the saving cross; the gates of death are mortal sins; the nations stuck fast in the body; Hades, the place where the souls awaited the soul of Jesus descending.
PG 12:1203 (Ps 12 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · LXX Psalm 12 (Ps 13): God turns his face away in care, to draw us to himself, and the Son is the Father’s face; the light of knowledge drives away the sleep of death; the enemy rejoices at every sin, the angels at every repentance.
PG 12:1205 (Ps 12–13 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · The end of LXX Psalm 12 (Ps 13): the saved sing and add practice to contemplation; LXX Psalm 13 (Ps 14), whose heading is lost: the fool’s denial of God leads to a corrupt life; salvation from Zion is Christ, who comes from the Father; captivity is the fall from knowledge into ignorance.
PG 12:1207 (Ps 13–14 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Only Christ, the physician, could bring the salvation from Zion, and the Old Testament calls him “salvation”; LXX Psalm 14 (Ps 15): the holy mountain is the knowledge of Christ, reached by one who walks blameless like Abraham and works all the virtues, unlike Cain.
PG 12:1211 (Ps 15 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · On Ps 16:3–5 (LXX 15:3–5): God makes his “wishes,” the virtues, wonderful in the saints; Christ gathers his assemblies not from blood but by an unbloody sacrifice and the one blood of the Lamb; the Lord as portion and cup.
PG 12:1213 (Ps 15 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · On Ps 16:5–7 (LXX 15:5–7): the Father is the portion of Christ the high priest, and the restored people his inheritance; the Lord as bread and cup; the “lines” as the measure of the receiver, not of the Spirit; the kidneys that instruct as the soul’s generative thoughts.
PG 12:1215 (Ps 15–16 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · The end of LXX Psalm 15 (Ps 16:7–10): the heart is the mind, the tongue the gift of the Spirit; Christ’s flesh rested in hope of the third-day resurrection and did not see decay, as Peter teaches; the beginning of LXX Psalm 16 (Ps 17).
PG 12:1219 (Ps 16 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · On Ps 17:7–11 (LXX 16:7–11): God’s mercies are “made wonderful” in Christ’s miraculous healings; the one who resists Christ resists God’s right hand; the righteous are sheltered under God’s wings; the enemies’ shut-up “fat” is the thickness of a mind bound to matter, or the loss of brotherly love.
PG 12:1225 (Ps 17 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · On Ps 18:2–6 (LXX 17:3–7): the titles of God as wall, helper, champion and horn of salvation (Christ, the horn of Zechariah’s song); prayer with praise; the pangs and snares of death that surrounded Christ but could not hold him; God hears from his temple, which is Christ.
PG 12:1229 (Ps 17 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · On Ps 18:11–15 (LXX 17:12–16): God’s tent is the flesh of Christ, or bodily nature through which the Creator is seen; his arrows, lightnings and rebukes are healing, revealing the springs of living water and the foundations of the world, which are the holy Trinity or the saints on whom believers are built.
PG 12:1249 (Ps 20 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Ps 20 LXX (21):3–9: the crown of precious stone, the life Hezekiah asked for, and the glory of the risen king.
PG 12:1253 (Ps 20–21 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · End of Ps 20 LXX (21) and beginning of Ps 21 LXX (22): the cry from the cross, Christ as the worm, and the Saviour drawn from the womb by the Father.
PG 12:1255 (Ps 21 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Ps 21 LXX (22):10–14: Christ’s sinless infancy, his struggle in Hades without the angels’ help, and the calves, bulls and lion as hostile powers.
PG 12:1257 (Ps 21 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Ps 21 LXX (22):15–27: the scattered bones of the Word, the dust of death, the divided garments, and the sword of temptation.
PG 12:1263 (Ps 22 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Ps 22 LXX (23):5–6: the table of mystical teaching in the age to come, the oil and the cup of wisdom, and Mercy (Christ) who pursues.
PG 12:1269 (Ps 23–24 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · End of Ps 23 LXX (24) (the gates taken away at the ascension; “Sabaoth” as “Almighty” of the Saviour) and beginning of Ps 24 LXX (25): lawlessness without cause and the meek taught God’s ways.
PG 12:1279 (Ps 26 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Ps 26 LXX (27):4–5: the house of the Lord as the church, the tent as progress and the house as perfection, and the rock as Christ.
PG 12:1285 (Ps 27 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Ps 27 LXX (28):2–3: Christ as the holy temple, the grades of prayer (1 Tim 2:1), the lifting of hands as godly actions, and the righteous among sinners.
PG 12:1293 (Ps 29 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Ps 29 LXX (30):3–7: Christ confessing the sins of his body as his own, “his” holy ones, wrath and life, and prosperity without being shaken.
PG 12:1295 (Ps 29 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Ps 29 LXX (30):7–10, with readings of Symmachus and Aquila: the perfected soul unshaken, the church as Christ’s mountain, the turned-away face, and the blood shed in vain for those who persist in sin.
PG 12:1405 (Ps 39 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Ps 39 LXX (40):3–9: the pit of misery, the new song, and the sacrifice not desired, read with Hebrews as Christ’s words.
PG 12:1407 (Ps 39–40 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · End of Ps 39 LXX (40):9–17 (Christ’s will to take away sin, his lips the teachers of the church) and beginning of Ps 40 LXX (41): blessed is he who understands the poor.
PG 12:1409 (Ps 40 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Ps 40 LXX (41):3–12: the bed of pain, Judas who saw but did not understand, and Christ asking mercy and resurrection for us.
PG 12:1415 (Ps 41–42 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · End of Ps 41 LXX (42) (gloom in oppression; God in no place) and beginning of Ps 42 LXX (43): Christ asks to be judged, and the light and truth sent to lead to the holy mountain.
PG 12:1417 (Ps 42–43 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · End of Ps 42 LXX (43) (light and truth as the Only-begotten sent upon the soul of Jesus, the high priest) and beginning of Ps 43 LXX (44): the fathers’ report and the nations destroyed.
PG 12:1425 (Ps 44 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Ps 44 LXX (45):3–7: grace on Christ’s lips, the sword on the thigh as his birth and purity, the arrows of the virtues, and Christ as God.
PG 12:1445 (Ps 49 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Ps 49 LXX (50):1–6: God speaking through Christ, the Word who comes openly in the flesh, equal in power to the Father, and the separation of God’s people at the judgment.
PG 12:1459 (Ps 53–54 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · End of Ps 53 LXX (54) and beginning of Ps 54 LXX (55): bold prayer, “musing” as prayer, and the devil’s powers troubling the heart of Jesus before his death.
PG 12:1465 (Ps 54–55 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · End of Ps 54 LXX (55):18–23 (evening, morning and noon as passion, resurrection and faith; the one who exists before the ages) and Ps 55 LXX (56): Christ trampled by man, sinless in the flesh, and the demons who cannot read hearts.
PG 12:1477 (Ps 60 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Ps 60 LXX (61):2–6: Christ the rock and guide, the hope of the nations, the eternal tent and the state beyond it in the Trinity, and the inheritance of those who fear God.
PG 12:1479 (Ps 60–61 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · End of Ps 60 LXX (61) (paying vows daily, singing for ever) and beginning of Ps 61 LXX (62): the psalm of the coming Judge; the soul of the Saviour subject to God and shaken only a little.
PG 12:1507 (Ps 67–68 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on the end of Psalm 68 (LXX 67) and the beginning of Psalm 69 (LXX 68), read as the prayer of the Word who went down to Hades and repaid what he did not seize.
PG 12:1511 (Ps 68 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Psalm 69:14–25 (LXX 68:15–26): the pit, the reproach of Christ, the gall and vinegar at the cross, and the table that became a snare.
PG 12:1515 (Ps 70 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Psalm 71:1–11 (LXX 70): Christ who leaned on God from the womb and was sheltered from Herod, and who became a portent to the many on the wide road.
PG 12:1517 (Ps 70–71 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Psalm 71:12–22 (LXX 70) and the title of Psalm 72 (LXX 71), applied to Christ, the arm of God, who rose from the depths of the earth.
PG 12:1519 (Ps 71 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Psalm 72:1–11 (LXX 71): Christ the king who will hand over the kingdom, the judgment of the poor, the moon taken away, and every rational nature serving Christ.
PG 12:1535 (Ps 76 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Psalm 77:5–19 (LXX 76): the memory of past ages, the change of the right hand of the Most High as the Saviour taking the form of a servant, and God's way in the sea.
PG 12:1553 (Ps 97–101 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on the end of Psalm 98 (LXX 97) and on Psalms 99–102 (LXX 98–101): the footstool as Christ's flesh, the gates of wisdom, and the value of keeping watch.
PG 12:1559 (Ps 103–105 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on the end of Psalm 104 (LXX 103) and on Psalm 105 (LXX 104): renewal as resurrection, the anointed who share in Christ, and the plagues of Egypt.
PG 12:1565 (Ps 108–111 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on the end of Psalm 109 (LXX 108) and on Psalms 110–112 (LXX 109–111): the Son begotten before every rational nature, the works and commandments of God, and wisdom as wealth and glory.
PG 12:1577 (Ps 117 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Psalm 118:12–22 (LXX 117): the sweet doctrines that are not bees, the Word as strength and song, the gates of righteousness and of the virtues, and the rejected stone.
PG 12:1579 (Ps 117 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Psalm 118:22–27 (LXX 117): the rejected stone as Christ, the day the Lord made as the day of reconciliation, and the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
PG 12:1583 (Ps 118 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Psalm 119:1–4 (LXX 118): why each letter is repeated eight times, the eighth day of Christ's resurrection, and the ways of God as contemplations.
PG 12:1621 (Ps 118 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Psalm 119:166–170 (LXX 118): the prayer that draws near to God at the last letter of the psalm, drawing near by the hidden inner man through Christ, and the request that comes before the Lord.
PG 12:1649 (Ps 135 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Psalm 136:2–16 (LXX 135): God of gods by love and by creation, the Saviour God by essence and not by participation, the wonders of goodness, and the psalm read as the soul's journey from Egypt to knowledge.
PG 12:1669 (Ps 145–146 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Psalm 146:7–10 (LXX 145) and Psalm 147:2–8 (LXX 146): passionate thoughts as the true bonds, Christ's reign before the ages and in the flesh, God numbering the stars, and sinners humbled into the earthly body.
Fragment 3Julius Africanus · after 221 · On Gen 4:26: Enos, whose name means ‘man,’ first hoped to be called by God's name, as the Savior is truly son of man.
Fragment 4Julius Africanus · after 221 · God's name is shared by all who come from him; in the incarnation he is called man, as the one in whom the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily.
Fragment 49Julius Africanus · after 221 · Long excerpts from Africanus's Chronography: the history of Herod, Antony and Augustus to the fall of Alexandria; the three kings omitted from Matthew's genealogy; the darkness at the crucifixion, which Thallus wrongly called an eclipse; and the seventy weeks of Daniel, counted from Artaxerxes' twentieth year to Tiberius's sixteenth.
Refutation of All Heresies 4.48.6Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The heretics say the Serpent-holder is the Word protecting man.
Refutation of All Heresies 5.6.7Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Naassenes say the three natures came together in Jesus, and there are three kinds of church: chosen, called, and captive.
Refutation of All Heresies 5.7.33Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · They cite "Wake up, sleeper" and say Christ is the Son of Man stamped on all things.
Refutation of All Heresies 5.10.2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Naassene psalm tells of the soul's wanderings and of Jesus descending with seals to reveal the hidden way.
Refutation of All Heresies 5.12.4Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Peratae say a threefold Christ came down in Herod's time bearing the powers of all three worlds.
Refutation of All Heresies 5.12.5Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · They cite Colossians on the fullness dwelling bodily in Christ, and say seeds of power came down from the upper worlds.
Refutation of All Heresies 5.12.6Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Peratae say Christ came to save the upper worlds, while the lower "world" must perish.
Refutation of All Heresies 5.16.7Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Only the perfect serpent that Moses showed can save those who leave the body and the world.
Refutation of All Heresies 5.16.10Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Peratae say the serpent appeared under Herod and was prefigured by Joseph's coat and by Esau.
Refutation of All Heresies 5.16.11Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The perfect serpent is Nimrod the hunter and the serpent Moses lifted up, as John 3:14 says.
Refutation of All Heresies 5.16.12Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Peratae identify the serpent with the constellation in heaven and with the Word of John's prologue.
Refutation of All Heresies 5.17.2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Son, identified with the serpent, receives forms from the Father and stamps them on formless Matter.
Refutation of All Heresies 5.17.8Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Only the Son, the serpent, can carry the awakened back up to the Father.
Refutation of All Heresies 5.19.20Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Sethians say the Word took the serpent's likeness and entered a virgin's womb to free the imprisoned mind.
Refutation of All Heresies 5.19.21Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · After his birth the Word washed and drank living water, which all must drink to put on a heavenly garment.
Refutation of All Heresies 5.21.9Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Through teaching, the captured ray hastens to the Word who came in a slave's form and becomes one with him.
Refutation of All Heresies 5.26.29Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Baruch comes to the twelve-year-old Jesus, a shepherd boy in Nazareth, and tells him the whole story.
Refutation of All Heresies 5.26.30Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Baruch charges Jesus to proclaim the Good one and ascend to him.
Refutation of All Heresies 5.26.31Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Jesus stayed faithful; Naas had him crucified, but he left Eden's body on the cross and ascended.
Refutation of All Heresies 5.26.32Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · From the cross Jesus gave the soul and body back to Eden and committed the spirit to the Father.
Refutation of All Heresies 6.32.2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The common fruit is Jesus, the great high priest; meanwhile the outer Sophia feared she would perish without Christ.
Refutation of All Heresies 6.35.3Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Valentinians read the annunciation as Sophia (Spirit) and the Demiurge (Most High) acting together in Jesus' birth.
Refutation of All Heresies 6.35.4Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Jesus, the new man, received his body from the Demiurge and his substance from Sophia, a heavenly Word born through Mary.
Refutation of All Heresies 6.35.6Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Italian school (Heracleon, Ptolemy) held that Jesus' body was psychic and that the Spirit came on him at his baptism.
Refutation of All Heresies 6.35.7Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Eastern school (Axionicus, Ardesianes) held that the Savior's body was spiritual.
Refutation of All Heresies 6.36.3Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Jesus was born through Mary to heal the passions of the soul, as the higher Christ healed Sophia's.
Refutation of All Heresies 6.36.4Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Valentinians teach three Christs: the one emitted in the Pleroma, the common fruit, and the one born of Mary.
Refutation of All Heresies 6.50.1Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Jesus' secret generation: from the first tetrad came the second, making an ogdoad, and from it the decad.
Refutation of All Heresies 6.50.2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Eight multiplied by ten gives 8, 80, 800, totaling 888, the numerical value of “Jesus” in Greek.
Refutation of All Heresies 6.50.3Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Greek alphabet's numerals sum to 888, the number of Jesus, who is therefore “alpha and omega.”
Refutation of All Heresies 6.51.1Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Marcus maps the annunciation onto the second tetrad: Gabriel, Holy Spirit, power of the Most High, and the Virgin.
Refutation of All Heresies 6.51.2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · At the baptism the higher power came down on Jesus as a dove, carrying the seed of the elect.
Refutation of All Heresies 6.51.3Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The power that descended on Jesus contains the Father, the Son, Silence, and all the Aeons.
Refutation of All Heresies 6.51.4Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Spirit united with Jesus spoke through him; the Savior destroyed death and made the Father known.
Refutation of All Heresies 6.51.5Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · “Jesus” names the human of the economy, who, receiving the heavenly Man, became all the Aeons.
Refutation of All Heresies 7.26.8Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The light came down through the Hebdomad onto Jesus, son of Mary, and enlightened him.
Refutation of All Heresies 7.26.9Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Basilides reads the angel's words to Mary as the descent of the light through the heavens.
Refutation of All Heresies 7.27.5Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Basilides cites “my hour has not yet come” and the Magi's star to show that even Jesus was under appointed times and stars.
Refutation of All Heresies 7.27.6Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Jesus is the spiritual inner man within the psychic one, clothed with his own soul.
Refutation of All Heresies 7.27.8Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Jesus' life happened as the Gospels say, so that he might be the first fruits of sorting out what was mixed together.
Refutation of All Heresies 7.27.9Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Because the world has three levels, the mixed elements had to be sorted out by dividing Jesus.
Refutation of All Heresies 7.27.10Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · At the passion each part of Jesus returned to its own level: body to the formless, soul to the Hebdomad, and higher parts to the great Archon and the boundary Spirit.
Refutation of All Heresies 7.27.12Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The passion served only to sort out the mixture; the whole Sonship must be sorted as Jesus was.
Refutation of All Heresies 7.28.4Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · At death the spark returns above; Saturnilus held that the Savior only appeared to be a man.
Refutation of All Heresies 7.31.5Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Marcion denied Christ's birth, saying he came down from heaven in Tiberius's fifteenth year and taught in the synagogues.
Refutation of All Heresies 7.31.6Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Prepon's Jesus came down unborn, free from both evil and good, as a middle being, citing “Why do you call me good?”
Refutation of All Heresies 7.32.1Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Carpocrates taught that angels made the world and that Jesus, son of Joseph, received power from above because his pure soul remembered what it had seen with God.
Refutation of All Heresies 7.32.2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Jesus' soul, trained in Jewish customs, despised them and so received powers to overcome the passions.
Refutation of All Heresies 7.33.1Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Cerinthus taught that a lower power made the world and that Jesus was the natural son of Joseph and Mary.
Refutation of All Heresies 7.33.2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · For Cerinthus the Christ descended on Jesus at his baptism and left him before the passion.
Refutation of All Heresies 7.34.2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Ebionites keep the Jewish law, saying Jesus became Christ by keeping it perfectly and that they too can become Christs.
Refutation of All Heresies 7.35.2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Theodotus held that Jesus, a man born of a virgin, received the Christ-Spirit at his baptism; his followers differed on whether he ever became God.
Refutation of All Heresies 7.36.1Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Theodotus the banker taught that Melchizedek is a great power, greater than Christ, who was made in his image.
Refutation of All Heresies 7.38.3Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Apelles said Christ was not born of a virgin but made himself a real body from the elements.
Refutation of All Heresies 7.38.4Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Christ died, rose after three days, and showed the disciples his wounds to prove he was not a phantom.
Refutation of All Heresies 7.38.5Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Apelles said Christ returned his body to the elements and went to the good Father, leaving the seed of life through the disciples.
Refutation of All Heresies 8.9.2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · All the Aeons together begot from the virgin Mary a common offspring, the Savior, equal to the first seed except that he is begotten.
Refutation of All Heresies 8.10.3Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The only-begotten Son contracted his greatness into a small body, like the light of the eye that reaches the stars yet hides under the eyelids.
Refutation of All Heresies 8.10.5Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Clothed in the thirty Aeons, the only-begotten entered the world hidden, unknown, and disbelieved.
Refutation of All Heresies 8.10.6Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · To put on flesh, the “outer darkness,” he was announced to Mary by an angel and born of her.
Refutation of All Heresies 8.10.7Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · At his baptism Jesus received a copy of his body in the water, so that at the cross his soul, stripping off the flesh, would not be found naked.
Refutation of All Heresies 8.10.10Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · This is why the sects quarrel over Jesus: each sees only the aspect of him akin to itself and thinks it the only one.
Refutation of All Heresies 8.13.3Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Son of Man, unknown to all, is wrongly imagined by creation as born of a woman; his faint rays sustain the world.
Refutation of All Heresies 8.13.4Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Everything in the world came from only a part of the Son of Man, who is the single iota flowing from above.
Refutation of All Heresies 8.17.3Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Hermogenes confessed Christ's virgin birth and resurrection but said at the ascension he left his body in the sun.
Refutation of All Heresies 8.17.4Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Hermogenes supported his view with Psalm 19's “in the sun he set his tent.”
Refutation of All Heresies 9.10.11Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Noetus taught that the Father, by being born, became his own Son, so that Father and Son are one person under two names at different times.
Refutation of All Heresies 9.10.12Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Cleomenes and his followers say that the one crucified, buried, and raised is himself the God and Father of all.
Refutation of All Heresies 9.12.17Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Callistus said Father and Son are one and the same, and that the Spirit incarnate in the virgin is the Father, citing John 14:10.
Refutation of All Heresies 9.12.18Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · For Callistus the visible man is the Son and the Spirit in him is the Father; they are one God and one person, so the Father co-suffered with the Son.
Refutation of All Heresies 9.14.1Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Elchasaites require circumcision and the law, and teach that Christ is an ordinary man reborn many times.
Refutation of All Heresies 9.30.5Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · All Jews await the Christ foretold by the prophets, but because they failed to recognize him and killed him, they still expect him.
Refutation of All Heresies 9.30.6Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · They say the Christ who came is not the one, and await another, misreading some of the prophecies.
Refutation of All Heresies 9.30.7Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · They expect a Messiah of David's line born naturally, a warrior-king who will gather Israel and restore Jerusalem.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.9.2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · They call Man Adamas; all three natures came together in Jesus, who spoke to the three kinds of people.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.10.3Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · In Herod's time a threefold Christ came down, containing the elements and powers of all three parts of the world.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.10.4Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Peratae cite Col 2:9 and say Christ came down to save what was divided into three.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.11.10Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The light above sends the perfect Word, who took the form of a serpent and entered the womb to rescue the spark of light.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.11.11Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Sethians read Phil 2:6–7, “the form of a slave,” as the serpent form taken by the Word.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.13.3Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Demiurge came from the Deficiency; Christ descended from the Pleroma to save the spirit dwelling in the inner man.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.14.9Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The power of the gospel came down through the sons of both Archons onto Jesus, son of Mary, to purify the Sonship left behind.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.15.7Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Jesus, son of Mary and Joseph, resisted Edem, who had him crucified; his spirit rose to the Good, and so will the spirits of Justin's followers.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.16.2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Together the Aeons begot from the virgin Mary the Savior, equal to the first seed except that he is begotten.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.16.6Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Savior was born to show the captive souls the way of escape; clothed in the only-begotten power, he could not be seen in his glory.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.19.3Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Marcion cites “a good tree cannot bear bad fruit” against the Creator and holds that Christ, son of the Good, only seemed to have flesh, birth, and suffering.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.20.2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Apelles followed Philumene's Revelations, said Christ's flesh came from the world's elements, attacked the Law and Prophets, and denied the resurrection of the flesh.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.21.2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · For Cerinthus, Jesus was the natural son of Joseph and Mary, excelling in virtue.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.21.3Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Christ descended on Jesus at baptism and left him at the passion.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.23.1Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Summary of Theodotus: God made all things; Christ was an ordinary man born of a virgin by God's will.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.23.2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Theodotus held that the Christ descended at baptism and that Christ is not God.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.24.1Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Melchizedekians agree with Theodotus but make Melchizedek a supreme power and Christ his image.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.27.2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · For Noetus the one God is invisible or visible, unbegotten or born, impassible or suffering, and is called Son at different times.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.27.4Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Callistus called the Word one God who became flesh, the visible flesh being the Son and the indwelling God the Father.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.29.2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · They teach that the Christ above passes from body to body, now in Jesus, and will keep reappearing.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.33.1Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The one God first begot the Word, not a spoken word but the inner reason of all things, from his own being.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.33.2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Word, the Father's firstborn, carried the Father's will and ideas and made the world at his command.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.33.8Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Word alone is from God himself and so is God; the world, made from nothing, is not God, and God made nothing evil.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.33.11Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Word, the Father's first-born, governs all things; righteous friends of God became prophets foretelling the future.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.33.14Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · In the last times the Father sent the Word himself, no longer through prophets or angels but visibly present.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.33.15Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Word took a body from the virgin and lived through every age of life, showing in his humanity that God made nothing evil and that humans are free.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.33.16Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Christ's humanity is of the same stuff as ours; otherwise his command to imitate him would be unjust.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.33.17Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Christ endured weariness, hunger, thirst, sleep, suffering, and death, and rose as the first fruits, so that suffering humans may hope for the same resurrection.
Refutation of All Heresies 10.34.5Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Hippolytus closes: Christ, the God over all, washes away sin and renews humanity; whoever obeys and imitates him will be made like him, a god by grace for his glory.
Fragment 1 on John 1:1Origen · ca. 226-254 · On John 1:1: the Son is called Word as maker of all; ‘was’ (not ‘became’) signifies his eternal existence before the incarnation; he was in the beginning of all creatures, and is the Wisdom ‘created as the beginning of God's ways’ in relation to creation.
Fragment 2 on John 1:4Origen · ca. 226-254 · On John 1:3–4: the Word is not originate but is life by essence, begotten of the living Father; by relation he gives life and light to rational creatures, as the word of the Lord ‘came’ to the prophets.
Fragment 6 on John 1:8Origen · ca. 226-254 · On John 1:8–9: John was a light but not the true light; ‘true’ here contrasts not with false but with image, and ‘coming into the world’ may be read of the light or of every man.
Fragment 9 on John 1:14Origen · ca. 226-254 · On John 1:14: ‘only-begotten from the Father’ means that the Son is from the Father's essence; he is full of grace and truth because he forgives all sins and fulfills every shadow of the law.
Fragment 10 on John 1:15Origen · ca. 226-254 · On John 1:15–16: Jesus came after John in birth and baptism but was before him as God and maker; all the saints receive only a part from his fullness, and will see God more fully hereafter, as far as creatures can.
Fragment 14 on John 1:18Origen · ca. 226-254 · On John 1:18: ‘in the bosom of the Father’ expresses the Son's intimacy with the Father in human terms, as the faithful rest in Abraham's bosom; no one sees God by his own power, but God reveals himself as creatures can receive him.
Fragment 16 on John 1:23Origen · ca. 226-254 · On John 1:26–27: the Word stands among all as the reason within us, yet unknown when inactive; the sandal thong that John cannot loose is the incomprehensible manner of the Word's union with a body.
Fragment 24 on John 1:49Origen · ca. 226-254 · On John 1:49: Nathanael confesses Jesus as Son of God and king of Israel, the race that sees, since only the Only-begotten sees into hearts.
Fragment 25 on John 1:50Origen · ca. 226-254 · On John 1:48–50: allegorically, Philip hunts souls for the Word; Nathanael, ‘gift of the Lord,’ is first taught the incarnation, then called to see, and is praised as a true Israelite whose mind sees God.
Fragment 28 on John 2:11Origen · ca. 226-254 · On John 2:11: the disciples' faith was confirmed, for turning water into wine is a change of essence possible only to the Creator.
Fragment 31 on John 2:23Origen · ca. 226-254 · On John 2:23–25: Jesus did not entrust himself to those who believed only from signs, since as God he knows the hidden depths of the heart, as only God can.
Fragment 37 on John 3:14Origen · ca. 226-254 · On John 3:14–15: as Israel was healed by looking at the bronze serpent at God's command, so all who look in faith to the lifted-up Son are freed from the spiritual serpents of sin and have eternal life.
Fragment 38 on John 3:18Origen · ca. 226-254 · On John 3:17–18: the Son sent into the world was not the body from Mary, formed here, but God the Word and true light, so the name ‘Son’ belongs to the Word.
Fragment 43 on John 3:29Origen · ca. 226-254 · On John 3:29–30: the rational soul is a bride that bears virtues only from Christ the bridegroom; John is the bridegroom's friend who rejoices to send his disciples to him; Christ ‘increases’ and John ‘decreases’ as the morning star fades before the sun, not by any change in either.
Fragment 48 on John 3:35Origen · ca. 226-254 · On John 3:35–36: the Father loves the Son as Father, not as he loves the world; he gives all things into the Son's hand not to add to the Son but to heal creatures who strayed through sin, a gift fulfilled when every knee bows to him.
Fragment 50 on John 4:6Origen · ca. 226-254 · On John 4:6: Jesus' weariness at noon shows that he had a true human body subject to common sufferings; he rested by the well also to meet the woman.
Fragment 51 on John 4:9Origen · ca. 226-254 · On John 4:8–9: the origin of the Jews' avoidance of Samaritans is found in Kings and Chronicles; Jesus worked feeding miracles only when needed to show his divinity, and otherwise let the disciples buy food, so as to show his humanity too.
Fragment 56 on John 4:22Origen · ca. 226-254 · On John 4:22: ‘salvation is from the Jews’ refers to Christ himself, the salvation of the nations.
Fragment 67 on John 9:30Origen · ca. 226-254 · On John 9:30: it is no wonder that men do not know where Jesus is from, since they do not see his source, the Father.
Fragment 80 on John 11:26Origen · ca. 226-254 · On John 11:26–27: Jesus asks Martha whether she believes so that her faith may be made known, and she confesses that she has long believed him to be the Christ, the Son of God.
Fragment 87 on John 12:27Origen · ca. 226-254 · On John 12:27: Christ's soul was troubled in human fashion, not from fear of death but over the contest with Satan's powers, and only for an instant, ‘now’; he prays for the contest in which evil is defeated.
Fragment 88 on John 12:31Origen · ca. 226-254 · On John 12:31: Christ's suffering on the cross, triumphing over the powers and reconciling all things, is the judgment of this world.
Fragment 107 on John 1:2 (Munich codex 208 appendix)Origen · ca. 226-254 · On John 1:2–3: the evangelist's words fit the Word's cooperation with the Father, through whom all things were made.
Commentary on John 1.11Origen · ca. 230–248 · The most devoted Christians may be high priests after Aaron's order; Christ alone is priest after Melchizedek's.
Commentary on John 1.22Origen · ca. 230–248 · Matthew and Mark begin with Christ's human descent and the gospel's beginning; John most clearly reveals his divinity.
Commentary on John 1.28Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Gospels fit the definition, for they announce the saving coming of Christ and of the Father in him.
Commentary on John 1.29Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Gospels announce the long-expected good: the Christ for whom John the Baptist and the Samaritan woman waited.
Commentary on John 1.37Origen · ca. 230–248 · Even before the incarnation Christ came spiritually to the patriarchs, Moses, and the prophets.
Commentary on John 1.38Origen · ca. 230–248 · Those still spiritually infant receive only Christ's forerunners, not yet the Word himself.
Commentary on John 1.43Origen · ca. 230–248 · Beginners need the bodily gospel of Christ crucified; the mature should be taught the Word as he was with God.
Commentary on John 1.52Origen · ca. 230–248 · Jesus is many good things at once, as his many titles show; he is life.
Commentary on John 1.53Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is light, truth, the way, and life.
Commentary on John 1.54Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is the resurrection and the door to blessedness.
Commentary on John 1.55Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is the Wisdom of God in whom the Father delights.
Commentary on John 1.56Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is the power of God.
Commentary on John 1.57Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is God the Word, second after the Father; blessed are those who receive these good things.
Commentary on John 1.59Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is life to God, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption for believers.
Commentary on John 1.60Origen · ca. 230–248 · Jesus is a multitude of good things, more than can be written, for the fullness of the Godhead dwells in him.
Commentary on John 1.62Origen · ca. 230–248 · Announcing the Savior is announcing the good things, for he received from the Father to be them.
Commentary on John 1.101Origen · ca. 230–248 · Wisdom's “beginning of his ways” fits both the sense of origin and the sense of a way.
Commentary on John 1.104Origen · ca. 230–248 · As the pattern, the Father is the beginning of Christ, and Christ of those made in God's image.
Commentary on John 1.105Origen · ca. 230–248 · Human beings are made after the image, Christ, who is the image of the Father.
Commentary on John 1.107Origen · ca. 230–248 · By nature the beginning of learning about Christ is his divinity; for us, his humanity and cross.
Commentary on John 1.108Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is also the last Adam; and Wisdom may be the beginning of God's actions.
Commentary on John 1.110Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Word may be the beginning as the agent through whom God created.
Commentary on John 1.111Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Word is in the beginning, that is, in Wisdom: Wisdom contains the plan of all things, the Word communicates it.
Commentary on John 1.112Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ's aspects have an order: life came to be in the Word, and the Word was in the beginning, Wisdom.
Commentary on John 1.113Origen · ca. 230–248 · All things may come to be according to the patterns in Wisdom.
Commentary on John 1.114Origen · ca. 230–248 · As a house follows the builder's plan, all things are made according to the patterns God set in Wisdom.
Commentary on John 1.115Origen · ca. 230–248 · God entrusted living Wisdom with giving form to all things, perhaps even their very being.
Commentary on John 1.116Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is the beginning of all things, but not in every aspect under which he is named.
Commentary on John 1.117Origen · ca. 230–248 · As life and as firstborn from the dead, Christ is not the beginning.
Commentary on John 1.118Origen · ca. 230–248 · Of all Christ's aspects, Wisdom alone is the beginning; it is prior even to the Word.
Commentary on John 1.119Origen · ca. 230–248 · God is simple, but the Savior becomes many things according to creation's needs.
Commentary on John 1.120Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ became the light of men because humanity was darkened by sin.
Commentary on John 1.121Origen · ca. 230–248 · Had there been no fall, Christ would not have died and become the firstborn from the dead.
Commentary on John 1.122Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is shepherd because humans became like cattle; those not ready for the king receive a shepherd.
Commentary on John 1.123Origen · ca. 230–248 · Some of Christ's titles, such as Wisdom, Word, Life, and Truth, are eternal; others were added for our salvation.
Commentary on John 1.124Origen · ca. 230–248 · Blessed are those who no longer need Christ as physician or shepherd, but as wisdom and word.
Commentary on John 1.125Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen wonders why some believers take “Word” literally but treat Christ's other titles as figurative.
Commentary on John 1.126Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen lists Christ's “I am” sayings.
Commentary on John 1.127Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ calls himself Messiah and Lord and Teacher.
Commentary on John 1.128Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ proclaims himself Son of God and king.
Commentary on John 1.129Origen · ca. 230–248 · Before Pilate Christ declares his kingdom is not of this world.
Commentary on John 1.130Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is the true vine.
Commentary on John 1.131Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is the vine and the living bread from heaven.
Commentary on John 1.132Origen · ca. 230–248 · In Revelation Christ calls himself the first and the last.
Commentary on John 1.133Origen · ca. 230–248 · The prophets too give Christ names: chosen arrow, servant, light of the nations.
Commentary on John 1.134Origen · ca. 230–248 · Isaiah's servant speaks of being made a chosen arrow.
Commentary on John 1.135Origen · ca. 230–248 · Isaiah calls the servant a light to the nations; Jeremiah, an innocent lamb.
Commentary on John 1.136Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Gospels, apostles, and prophets give Christ countless other titles.
Commentary on John 1.137Origen · ca. 230–248 · John the Baptist calls Christ the Lamb of God and a man who was before him.
Commentary on John 1.138Origen · ca. 230–248 · In his letter John calls Christ our advocate with the Father.
Commentary on John 1.139Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is the propitiation for our sins, according to John and Paul.
Commentary on John 1.140Origen · ca. 230–248 · Paul calls Christ the wisdom and power of God, our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
Commentary on John 1.141Origen · ca. 230–248 · Hebrews calls Christ the great high priest.
Commentary on John 1.142Origen · ca. 230–248 · Jacob's blessing of Judah is a prophecy of Christ.
Commentary on John 1.144Origen · ca. 230–248 · Isaiah calls Christ Jacob and Israel, the gentle servant.
Commentary on John 1.145Origen · ca. 230–248 · Matthew applies Isaiah's servant prophecy to Christ.
Commentary on John 1.146Origen · ca. 230–248 · Ezekiel calls Christ David, the shepherd.
Commentary on John 1.147Origen · ca. 230–248 · Isaiah calls Christ the rod and flower from Jesse's root.
Commentary on John 1.148Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Psalms call Christ the rejected stone.
Commentary on John 1.149Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Gospel identifies the rejected stone with Christ.
Commentary on John 1.150Origen · ca. 230–248 · Acts too calls Christ the stone; John names him the Word who was with God.
Commentary on John 1.151Origen · ca. 230–248 · Some treat the Word as a mere spoken utterance of the Father, denying him distinct subsistence.
Commentary on John 1.152Origen · ca. 230–248 · A spoken word cannot be a son; the Word must either lack subsistence or be a distinct divine being.
Commentary on John 1.153Origen · ca. 230–248 · The title “Word” must be examined like Christ's other names.
Commentary on John 1.154Origen · ca. 230–248 · It is arbitrary to interpret every title except “Word”.
Commentary on John 1.157Origen · ca. 230–248 · Studying Christ's titles leads to a fuller understanding of him.
Commentary on John 1.158Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen begins with “light of the world” and its related titles.
Commentary on John 1.159Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is the light of men, the true light, and the light of the nations.
Commentary on John 1.161Origen · ca. 230–248 · The heavenly bodies light the earth, but Christ is the true light of rational souls, the sun of the Lord's great day.
Commentary on John 1.162Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ, the light of the world, calls his disciples lights too.
Commentary on John 1.164Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ enlightens the mind, not the body.
Commentary on John 1.167Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is the true light; perceptible things are not “true,” yet they are not false either.
Commentary on John 1.175Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ became man, not a heavenly being, and the star of Bethlehem served knowledge of him.
Commentary on John 1.180Origen · ca. 230–248 · It is arbitrary to allegorize every title of Christ except “Word.”
Commentary on John 1.181Origen · ca. 230–248 · As Christ enlightens rational beings, so by raising them to true life he is the resurrection.
Commentary on John 1.182Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is the resurrection for the baptized now, and more fully for those who wholly put off death.
Commentary on John 1.183Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is the way, on which one travels without bag, tunic, staff, or sandals.
Commentary on John 1.186Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is truth because he holds the whole account of all things and shares it with each as each deserves.
Commentary on John 1.187Origen · ca. 230–248 · Since the Son is the truth, he cannot be ignorant of anything the Father knows.
Commentary on John 1.188Origen · ca. 230–248 · True life has its source in Christ, and those who share in him truly live.
Commentary on John 1.189Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is called the door because no one reaches the Father except through the Son.
Commentary on John 1.190Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is shepherd to those whose goodness is gentle but not yet reasoned, like sheep.
Commentary on John 1.191Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen asks whether Christ's kingship was given later, since Psalm 45 links his anointing to his love of righteousness.
Commentary on John 1.192Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen suggests that “Christ” refers to Jesus' humanity and “King” to his divinity.
Commentary on John 1.193Origen · ca. 230–248 · Psalm 72, though headed for Solomon, is a prophecy about Christ.
Commentary on John 1.195Origen · ca. 230–248 · The “king” is the divine nature of the Word, and the king's son is the humanity he assumed.
Commentary on John 1.196Origen · ca. 230–248 · The psalm speaks of king and king's son as one, as Christ is one.
Commentary on John 1.197Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ first made divine and human one in himself, and so also the saved become spiritual.
Commentary on John 1.200Origen · ca. 230–248 · Those who contemplate invisible things are ruled by the Word's divine nature, those who know God through the visible world by Christ.
Commentary on John 1.201Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is Lord of those who serve in fear but becomes friend to those who grow in wisdom.
Commentary on John 1.204Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Son's begetting is eternal, since for God it is always “today.”
Commentary on John 1.205Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ as the true vine is explained by the psalm's saying that wine gladdens the heart.
Commentary on John 1.206Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ the true vine gives the wine of the Word that brings a divine joy, and his disciples bear truth as fruit.
Commentary on John 1.207Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen asks how Christ as vine differs from Christ as bread of life.
Commentary on John 1.208Origen · ca. 230–248 · Moral teaching is the bread of life; mystical contemplation is the wine of the true vine.
Commentary on John 1.209Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen begins to explain how Christ is first and last, and how these titles differ from Alpha and Omega.
Commentary on John 1.217Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ became all things to all, a man to men and an angel to angels.
Commentary on John 1.218Origen · ca. 230–248 · Scripture shows Christ appearing as an angel, as at the burning bush and in Isaiah's “Angel of great counsel.”
Commentary on John 1.219Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is first and last, meaning he became all things; Origen asks whether “last” means man or the beings under the earth.
Commentary on John 1.220Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ also went among the dead, and alone was free there, so he is truly the last as well as the first.
Commentary on John 1.221Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is Alpha and Omega as the letters of God, the thoughts by which heavenly things are read.
Commentary on John 1.222Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is beginning as Wisdom, but as the Word he is “in” the beginning.
Commentary on John 1.223Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ's aspects form an order, with Wisdom first.
Commentary on John 1.225Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is beginning and end of the one body of the saved, from the man he assumed, or from Adam, to his coming.
Commentary on John 1.226Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen sums up the difference between first and beginning, last and end, Alpha and Omega.
Commentary on John 1.227Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ died and lives for ever, so that those who share his dying will share his life.
Commentary on John 1.228Origen · ca. 230–248 · In Isaiah Christ calls himself a sharp sword, a chosen arrow, God's servant, and a light for the nations.
Commentary on John 1.229Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ's word is a sword that separates soul from bodily attachments, and an arrow that wounds souls with love of God.
Commentary on John 1.230Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ took the form of a servant, and so the Father calls him his servant in Isaiah.
Commentary on John 1.231Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ's goodness, most like the Father's, is shown in his humbling himself to death on a cross.
Commentary on John 1.232Origen · ca. 230–248 · Becoming a servant was a great gift, for through it Christ restored Israel and became a light to the nations.
Commentary on John 1.233Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ as the Lamb of God died like a silent lamb, and his death is a medicine that weakens hostile powers and frees believers from sin.
Commentary on John 1.234Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is continually taking away sin until every enemy, even death, is abolished.
Commentary on John 1.236Origen · ca. 230–248 · The man Jesus, united with the Word, existed before his birth from Mary, and John says he did not know him.
Commentary on John 1.240Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is called Advocate, propitiation, and mercy seat because he intercedes for us with the Father.
Commentary on John 1.241Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ could intercede only as the very power of God that strengthens believers.
Commentary on John 1.242Origen · ca. 230–248 · Simon Magus falsely claimed to be God's power; Christ truly is, and all power shares in him.
Commentary on John 1.243Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ as God's wisdom is a real subsisting being, not a mere idea in God's mind.
Commentary on John 1.244Origen · ca. 230–248 · God's Wisdom is a living, bodiless subsistence containing the principles of all things, and creation was made through it.
Commentary on John 1.245Origen · ca. 230–248 · All things share in wisdom, but few grasp it; Christ is wisdom in full.
Commentary on John 1.246Origen · ca. 230–248 · Every wise or powerful person shares in Christ, who is wisdom and power.
Commentary on John 1.247Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is sanctification and redemption itself, and each believer is sanctified and redeemed by sharing in him.
Commentary on John 1.248Origen · ca. 230–248 · Scripture calls Christ wisdom and power absolutely, but sanctification and redemption only “for us.”
Commentary on John 1.249Origen · ca. 230–248 · As the Father is Christ's head, perhaps he is also the sanctification of Christ, who is ours.
Commentary on John 1.250Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ redeems us who were captives, but he himself, sinless, needed no redemption.
Commentary on John 1.251Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen turns to ask whether Christ is righteousness only for us or also absolutely.
Commentary on John 1.252Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen asks whether the Father is righteousness for Christ as Christ is for us.
Commentary on John 1.254Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ by righteousness prepares all for the Father's goodness, which is why he asked, “Why do you call me good?”
Commentary on John 1.255Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is the great high priest who offered himself once for all rational beings, not for humans alone.
Commentary on John 1.256Origen · ca. 230–248 · On either reading of Hebrews 2:9, Christ died for all.
Commentary on John 1.257Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ's death extends even to the stars, which Job says are not clean before God.
Commentary on John 1.258Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is the great high priest because he restores all things to the Father's kingdom.
Commentary on John 1.259Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is also called Judah, so that those who are Jews inwardly are named after him.
Commentary on John 1.260Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is also Jacob and Israel, and believers take these names from him.
Commentary on John 1.261Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is called David, who fought the Lord's wars, and a rod for those who need harsher discipline.
Commentary on John 1.262Origen · ca. 230–248 · As a rod, Christ comes forth from his prior state.
Commentary on John 1.263Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is first a rod of correction and then a flower for those he corrects.
Commentary on John 1.264Origen · ca. 230–248 · All who meet Christ as a rod will meet him as a flower, but the perfect receive his fruit beyond the flower.
Commentary on John 1.265Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is called a stone because he is part of the building of living stones.
Commentary on John 1.266Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen has listed Christ's many titles to correct those who consider only the title “Word.”
Commentary on John 1.267Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is called the Word because he removes what is irrational in us and makes us truly rational.
Commentary on John 1.268Origen · ca. 230–248 · Sharing in Christ, we become rational in a divine way.
Commentary on John 1.269Origen · ca. 230–248 · All people may share in the Word, who is near them, in their mouth and heart.
Commentary on John 1.270Origen · ca. 230–248 · Those in whom reason is not yet developed have no sin; those who share in the Word and act against it do.
Commentary on John 1.275Origen · ca. 230–248 · Before reason is perfected, human thoughts are imperfect; the incarnate Word matches the first stage, the divine Word the second.
Commentary on John 1.276Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen asks whether, in the believer, the Word passes by stages from flesh back to its divine state.
Commentary on John 1.277Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Son is the Word because, as speech reveals the mind, he reveals the Father whom no creature can reach without him.
Commentary on John 1.278Origen · ca. 230–248 · As Word, Christ reveals the Father, is the Angel of great counsel, and rides the white horse of Revelation.
Commentary on John 1.280Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen examines the common use of Psalm 45:1 about the Father uttering the Word.
Commentary on John 1.282Origen · ca. 230–248 · God's “heart” means his power of thought and purpose, and the Word announces it.
Commentary on John 1.283Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Father “belches forth” the Word as he breathes out the truths of his mind, making their imprint in the Son.
Commentary on John 1.288Origen · ca. 230–248 · Psalm 33:6 may refer to the Son and Spirit, or simply to God's word as the principle by which the heavens were made firm.
Commentary on John 1.289Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Word is always “in the beginning,” that is, in Wisdom, and so is with God and is God.
Commentary on John 1.290Origen · ca. 230–248 · John says the Word was “in the beginning with God,” because all things were made through him in wisdom.
Commentary on John 1.291Origen · ca. 230–248 · Scripture speaks of many rational “powers,” and Christ is the highest, which shows that the Word is a distinct living being.
Commentary on John 1.292Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is the Word as a distinct subsisting being in Wisdom, unlike the word in us.
Commentary on John 2.1Origen · ca. 230–248 · Book 2 opens: having treated “In the beginning was the Word,” Origen turns to “the Word was with God.”
Commentary on John 2.4Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Word came to Hosea, “one being saved,” son of Beeri, “wells”: every saved person is a son of the spring of God's wisdom.
Commentary on John 2.8Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Word “came” to the prophets but always “was” with God.
Commentary on John 2.9Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Word always was, both in the beginning and with God, before all time.
Commentary on John 2.10Origen · ca. 230–248 · Coming to the prophets, the Word enlightens them; being with God, he is God.
Commentary on John 2.11Origen · ca. 230–248 · John's three statements in John 1:1 each have their own force.
Commentary on John 2.12Origen · ca. 230–248 · The order of the clauses shows that the Word is God because he is with God.
Commentary on John 2.13Origen · ca. 230–248 · John deliberately uses and omits the Greek article with “God.”
Commentary on John 2.14Origen · ca. 230–248 · “The God” with the article means the Father; “God” without it is said of the Word.
Commentary on John 2.15Origen · ca. 230–248 · As the Father is “the God,” so Christ, the source of all reason, is “the Word.”
Commentary on John 2.16Origen · ca. 230–248 · The distinction between “the God” and “God” resolves the dilemma of those who either merge Father and Son or deny the Son's divinity.
Commentary on John 2.17Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Father alone is God in himself; the Son is God by being with him and shares divinity with other beings made divine.
Commentary on John 2.18Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Son is the archetypal image of God and remains God by unceasing contemplation of the Father.
Commentary on John 2.19Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen will add a further distinction so that the Son's glory is not made equal to that of other “gods.”
Commentary on John 2.20Origen · ca. 230–248 · As the Father is the source of divinity, the Son is the source of reason in every rational being.
Commentary on John 2.21Origen · ca. 230–248 · There are many gods, lords, and words, but for us one God, one Lord, and the one Word.
Commentary on John 2.22Origen · ca. 230–248 · Those who cannot receive the divine Word know him as flesh, or share in those who share in him, or fall into a false word.
Commentary on John 2.23Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen illustrates his point by comparing grades of “gods” with grades of “words.”
Commentary on John 2.24Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Father is God of the elect and of the true gods; the Word is God of those who rest wholly in him.
Commentary on John 2.28Origen · ca. 230–248 · Some, like the prophets, share in the divine Word himself.
Commentary on John 2.29Origen · ca. 230–248 · Most believers know only the Word made flesh, Christ crucified.
Commentary on John 2.32Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen summarizes the four grades of “God” and of “Word,” and the four ranks of worshipers.
Commentary on John 2.33Origen · ca. 230–248 · The same four grades apply to the Word; the next lemma is John 1:2.
Commentary on John 2.34Origen · ca. 230–248 · John 1:2 sums up the three statements of John 1:1.
Commentary on John 2.35Origen · ca. 230–248 · John 1:2 gathers the three clauses of John 1:1 into a fourth statement.
Commentary on John 2.36Origen · ca. 230–248 · Taking “beginning” as the world's beginning, the Word is older than heaven and earth.
Commentary on John 2.37Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen asks why John says “the Word” and not “the Word of God.”
Commentary on John 2.38Origen · ca. 230–248 · There cannot properly be several Words, Wisdoms, or Righteousnesses, as the case of truth shows.
Commentary on John 2.40Origen · ca. 230–248 · Since truth and wisdom are one, the Word who announces them is also one.
Commentary on John 2.41Origen · ca. 230–248 · John omits “of God” with good reason, not because the Word is not God's.
Commentary on John 2.42Origen · ca. 230–248 · In Revelation John calls the rider on the white horse “the Word of God.”
Commentary on John 2.43Origen · ca. 230–248 · Scripture calls him both “the Word” and “the Word of God,” and both are needed.
Commentary on John 2.44Origen · ca. 230–248 · Without the absolute title “Word,” one might imagine many Words.
Commentary on John 2.45Origen · ca. 230–248 · John, apostle, evangelist, and prophet, saw the Word of God on a white horse.
Commentary on John 2.46Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen proposes to interpret the details of the vision of the rider.
Commentary on John 2.47Origen · ca. 230–248 · Heaven is opened to the righteous, and the Word reveals heavenly things through the “horse” of clear speech.
Commentary on John 2.48Origen · ca. 230–248 · The faithful Word rides securely on voices that outrun every false word and false truth.
Commentary on John 2.49Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Word is “faithful” as worthy of belief, and “true” as the reality behind shadows and types.
Commentary on John 2.50Origen · ca. 230–248 · Most believers are taught by the shadow of the Word, as Lamentations says.
Commentary on John 2.51Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Word judges each according to its worth, being righteousness and judgment itself.
Commentary on John 2.54Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Word wars against unreason and injustice in the soul so as to dwell in it and justify it.
Commentary on John 2.55Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Word wars against falsehood that claims to be truth, destroying it with the breath of his mouth.
Commentary on John 2.56Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ as truth and wisdom destroys falsehood and false wisdom; his eyes are a flame of fire.
Commentary on John 2.57Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Word's fiery eyes both enlighten and consume coarse and false thoughts.
Commentary on John 2.58Origen · ca. 230–248 · The many diadems show that the Word has conquered many forms of falsehood.
Commentary on John 2.59Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Word wears many diadems for his victories over many falsehoods and rebel powers.
Commentary on John 2.60Origen · ca. 230–248 · Only the Word knows his name, since no lower being can grasp all he knows; those who share in him know more than others.
Commentary on John 2.61Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Word's blood-stained garment recalls his passion, which believers never forget even at the height of contemplation.
Commentary on John 2.66Origen · ca. 230–248 · The word “He” in John 1:2 gathers into one the distinct aspects “Word” and “God.”
Commentary on John 2.67Origen · ca. 230–248 · John 1:2 sums up what each clause of John 1:1 left unsaid.
Commentary on John 2.68Origen · ca. 230–248 · John 1:2 gathers everything in the three clauses into one statement.
Commentary on John 2.69Origen · ca. 230–248 · “In the beginning” occurs twice, teaching that the Word both was in the beginning and was with God; the next lemma is John 1:3.
Commentary on John 2.70Origen · ca. 230–248 · “Through whom” always denotes a secondary agent, as Romans 1:1–5 shows.
Commentary on John 2.71Origen · ca. 230–248 · God is the source, while the prophets and Christ are those “through whom” he acts.
Commentary on John 2.72Origen · ca. 230–248 · If all things were made through the Word, they were made by one greater, the Father.
Commentary on John 2.81Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Spirit's sending Christ reflects the lowliness of the incarnation, not a higher nature.
Commentary on John 2.82Origen · ca. 230–248 · Hebrews says the incarnate Jesus was made lower even than the angels.
Commentary on John 2.83Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen suggests the Spirit, unable itself to undertake the incarnation, joined the Father in sending the Son and promised to descend on him.
Commentary on John 2.89Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen asks whether Christ's own aspects, such as life, are among the “all things” made through him, and thinks not.
Commentary on John 2.90Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ's own aspects, like wisdom, were not made through the Word; all else was made through him, in wisdom.
Commentary on John 2.91Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen explains why John adds “without him nothing came to be.”
Commentary on John 2.104Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Word was the Creator's servant in making all things, visible and invisible, as the Psalms and Colossians show.
Commentary on John 2.111Origen · ca. 230–248 · Paul seems to identify the word in our hearts with Christ; the next lemma is John 1:3–4.
Commentary on John 2.123Origen · ca. 230–248 · God alone truly lives and alone has immortality; even Christ tasted death.
Commentary on John 2.125Origen · ca. 230–248 · Some of Christ's titles belong to him for others, like “shepherd,” and some for himself as well.
Commentary on John 2.126Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is way and door for others, but wisdom for himself too; perhaps some of his wisdom is known to him alone.
Commentary on John 2.128Origen · ca. 230–248 · As life and light of men, Christ is life for others rather than for himself.
Commentary on John 2.129Origen · ca. 230–248 · True life follows when the Word has first cleansed the soul of deadness.
Commentary on John 2.130Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Word always “was” in the beginning, but life “came to be” in the Word, as the light of men.
Commentary on John 2.131Origen · ca. 230–248 · The distinction between “was” and “came to be” is one of order, not time.
Commentary on John 2.153Origen · ca. 230–248 · John puts life before light because one must live before one can be enlightened.
Commentary on John 2.154Origen · ca. 230–248 · The light of men is also the light of the nations in Isaiah and David's illumination in Psalm 27.
Commentary on John 2.163Origen · ca. 230–248 · Because Christ was made sin for us, “no darkness at all” belongs strictly to the Father alone.
Commentary on John 2.164Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ bore our weaknesses and sins, like the filthy garments of Joshua the high priest in Zechariah.
Commentary on John 2.165Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ, bearing believers' sins, speaks of them as his own in the Psalms.
Commentary on John 2.166Origen · ca. 230–248 · As only the Father has immortality, since Christ died for us, so only the Father has no darkness, since Christ took ours on himself.
Commentary on John 2.167Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ's light shines in the darkness of our souls, pursued but not overcome by hostile powers.
Commentary on John 2.193Origen · ca. 230–248 · As voice differs from word, John the voice differs from Christ the Word.
Commentary on John 2.195Origen · ca. 230–248 · John, the voice, came first, pointed out Christ, and baptized him, as a voice presents a word.
Commentary on John 2.202Origen · ca. 230–248 · God provides many kinds of evidence, since different people are moved by different proofs.
Commentary on John 2.203Origen · ca. 230–248 · Many come to faith by seeing how the prophets foretold Christ's birth, teaching, miracles, death, and resurrection.
Commentary on John 2.212Origen · ca. 230–248 · John the Baptist's testimony runs from John 1:15 to 1:18.
Commentary on John 2.215Origen · ca. 230–248 · John's third testimony, “among you stands one you do not know,” may point to the Word present in every rational soul.
Commentary on John 2.216Origen · ca. 230–248 · The fourth testimony names Jesus as the Lamb of God, pointing to his suffering.
Commentary on John 2.225Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen asks why John testified specifically about the light rather than about Christ's other titles.
Commentary on John 2.226Origen · ca. 230–248 · John testified to the light because people in darkness need light.
Commentary on John 2.228Origen · ca. 230–248 · John could not testify to the hidden life, nor to the divine Word as such, but to the light.
Commentary on John 6.15Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ taught the prophets and Abraham too; they also received from his fullness, passing from types to truth.
Commentary on John 6.17Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Word taught the saints before his incarnation, as he always works like the Father.
Commentary on John 6.18Origen · ca. 230–248 · The patriarchs, whom God calls his own and Christ counts as living, were taught by the pre-incarnate Christ.
Commentary on John 6.19Origen · ca. 230–248 · The patriarchs, seeing the Son, the image of God, are said to have seen and heard God.
Commentary on John 6.29Origen · ca. 230–248 · The prophets longed to see the incarnation as an apostle might long to see the second coming, without knowing less than those who see it.
Commentary on John 6.35Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Baptist explains that Christ is before him because the prophets and he received from Christ's fullness.
Commentary on John 6.36Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Father gave the law through Moses but made grace and truth come to be through Christ.
Commentary on John 6.37Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen asks how truth came through Christ if Christ is the truth.
Commentary on John 6.38Origen · ca. 230–248 · Truth itself, the Son, was begotten by God, not made through anyone.
Commentary on John 6.39Origen · ca. 230–248 · The truth in people came through Christ; from the one Truth flow many truths.
Commentary on John 6.40Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is Righteousness itself, and from him come many righteousnesses in the saved.
Commentary on John 6.41Origen · ca. 230–248 · Because Christ, the life, is in each person, Scripture can speak of many “lives.”
Commentary on John 6.42Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ dwells in each saint, making many “christs”; John 1:17 is still the Baptist's testimony.
Commentary on John 6.49Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen counts John's reply to the Pharisees as a third testimony and describes the purpose of each.
Commentary on John 6.94Origen · ca. 230–248 · As the Son is the Word, John is a voice that points to the Word.
Commentary on John 6.95Origen · ca. 230–248 · John is the voice of the one crying, Christ, who cries out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me.”
Commentary on John 6.96Origen · ca. 230–248 · As Aaron was Moses' prophet, John is the voice that presents the Word.
Commentary on John 6.104Origen · ca. 230–248 · Like the apostles, we should ask the ancient paths and find the good way, Jesus Christ.
Commentary on John 6.106Origen · ca. 230–248 · The living way feels whoever walks it without reverence; it leads to Christ, the life.
Commentary on John 6.107Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is the way for those progressing and the life for the perfect; on this way no provisions, staff, or sandals are needed.
Commentary on John 6.154Origen · ca. 230–248 · John answered precisely: his baptism is bodily, while Christ is invisibly present everywhere.
Commentary on John 6.155Origen · ca. 230–248 · “Whom you do not know” exposes the Pharisees' ignorance of Christ's divine greatness.
Commentary on John 6.156Origen · ca. 230–248 · John identifies the invisible Word with the one who became man and would appear after him.
Commentary on John 6.157Origen · ca. 230–248 · Untying the sandal strap means explaining the mystery of Christ's incarnation, which John confesses he cannot do.
Commentary on John 6.163Origen · ca. 230–248 · John cannot bear even the least of the things surrounding Christ.
Commentary on John 6.164Origen · ca. 230–248 · John, despite all his honors, is unworthy even to carry Christ's sandals, let alone understand his seamless garment.
Commentary on John 6.172Origen · ca. 230–248 · The evangelists did not misremember; to carry Christ's sandals and to untie them both mean grasping the mysteries of his incarnation.
Commentary on John 6.174Origen · ca. 230–248 · Mystically, one sandal is the incarnation and the other is Christ's descent into Hades and his journey to the spirits in prison.
Commentary on John 6.175Origen · ca. 230–248 · Psalm 16 speaks of the descent into Hades, and 1 Peter of Christ preaching to the spirits in prison.
Commentary on John 6.176Origen · ca. 230–248 · Whoever can explain both of Christ's descents, to earth and to Hades, is fit to untie his sandals.
Commentary on John 6.177Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ put on both living and dead, those on earth and in Hades, to be Lord of both.
Commentary on John 6.179Origen · ca. 230–248 · Luke and John omit “stooping”: one may also untie the sandals while standing tall, and so see the Word as he is in himself.
Commentary on John 6.185Origen · ca. 230–248 · John understood Christ's coming on earth but not yet his descent to the dead, which is why he later asked from prison, “Are you the one who is to come?”
Commentary on John 6.188Origen · ca. 230–248 · “Among you stands one you do not know” refers to the Word, who as Wisdom pervades all creation.
Commentary on John 6.189Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Word stands among all things, and among human beings in the heart, the ruling center of reason.
Commentary on John 6.190Origen · ca. 230–248 · Those who have the Word within but do not understand him do not know him; John knew him.
Commentary on John 6.193Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Father stands unchanging; the Word also stands, saving and teaching, inviting all to drink from him.
Commentary on John 6.194Origen · ca. 230–248 · Heracleon took “among you stands” to mean Christ was already present and manifest, denying that the Word always pervades the world.
Commentary on John 6.195Origen · ca. 230–248 · Against Heracleon: the Word was always in the world, though the world did not know him.
Commentary on John 6.196Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Word was always among human beings, speaking through Isaiah and David.
Commentary on John 6.198Origen · ca. 230–248 · Heracleon read John's words as confessing unworthiness of the lowliest service, and as saying he could not explain Christ's taking flesh.
Commentary on John 6.202Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen asks whether God fills the world through the Word pervading it, or whether the Father, who encompasses creation, granted this to the Son.
Commentary on John 6.218Origen · ca. 230–248 · The river “Descent” is the Savior, who came down to share our descent and who divides the inheritance like Joshua.
Commentary on John 6.219Origen · ca. 230–248 · The streams that gladden God's city refer to the church, built on the apostles and prophets with Christ as cornerstone.
Commentary on John 6.220Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Jordan is the incarnate Word; the humanity he assumed was washed and received the Spirit permanently, so that he can baptize others with the Spirit.
Commentary on John 6.222Origen · ca. 230–248 · Someone may object that John distinguishes his water baptism from Christ's baptism with the Spirit.
Commentary on John 6.223Origen · ca. 230–248 · As the Word is water, wine, or blood as drink, so he is baptism of water, Spirit, fire, and for some of blood.
Commentary on John 6.224Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ's last baptism is his death; John writes that Spirit, water, and blood agree; Christ is the way for some and the door for others.
Commentary on John 6.229Origen · ca. 230–248 · Joshua prefigures Jesus; the Red Sea baptism into Moses was bitter, marked by fear and complaint.
Commentary on John 6.231Origen · ca. 230–248 · The priests leading with the ark show the mystery of the Father exalting the Son, at whose name every knee bows.
Commentary on John 6.240Origen · ca. 230–248 · Striking the Jordan should not offend, since the rock that was Christ was also struck twice.
Commentary on John 6.244Origen · ca. 230–248 · Naaman expected the prophet to lay hands on him, but that was the work of Jesus alone, who touched and cleansed the leper.
Commentary on John 6.252Origen · ca. 230–248 · Even before birth Jesus formed John in his likeness, which is why John was mistaken for Christ and Jesus for John; now John sees Jesus coming.
Commentary on John 6.253Origen · ca. 230–248 · At the Visitation John heard, and now he sees; one first hears of higher things, then sees them.
Commentary on John 6.254Origen · ca. 230–248 · John, the voice, was shaped by Jesus, the Word, even in the womb, as Elizabeth's loud cry shows.
Commentary on John 6.255Origen · ca. 230–248 · Mary's greeting filled John, and Elizabeth became his mouth and a prophetess.
Commentary on John 6.256Origen · ca. 230–248 · Mary visited Elizabeth so that the power of the child she carried might pass to John, and through him prophetic grace to his mother.
Commentary on John 6.264Origen · ca. 230–248 · Of the five sacrificial animals, why is Christ called a lamb?
Commentary on John 6.269Origen · ca. 230–248 · The continual sacrifice, understood spiritually, is the Word himself.
Commentary on John 6.270Origen · ca. 230–248 · The morning and evening lambs are the Word received at the soul's enlightenment and offered up at the end of contemplation, which the body does not allow to last.
Commentary on John 6.272Origen · ca. 230–248 · Our spiritual offering begins and ends with Christ, the Image, with other studies between.
Commentary on John 6.273Origen · ca. 230–248 · Taken literally, the Lamb is the man Jesus, led to slaughter as Isaiah and Jeremiah say.
Commentary on John 6.274Origen · ca. 230–248 · The slain Lamb became a purification for the whole world, buying us back with his blood from the one to whom our sins had sold us.
Commentary on John 6.275Origen · ca. 230–248 · The divine Word in Jesus was the high priest who offered the lamb, laying down his own life.
Commentary on John 6.284Origen · ca. 230–248 · If martyrs and self-sacrificing pagans help others, how much more the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the whole world.
Commentary on John 6.285Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is the propitiation for the whole world, who blotted out our debt with his blood and triumphed over the powers on the cross.
Commentary on John 6.286Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ has conquered the world, freeing the nations from their former masters to serve him.
Commentary on John 6.287Origen · ca. 230–248 · After his victory Christ needed a purification from the Father, which is why he told Mary not to touch him before he ascended.
Commentary on John 6.288Origen · ca. 230–248 · As Christ ascends in triumph with his risen body, the powers ask who he is, and his escort bids the heavenly gates open.
Commentary on John 6.289Origen · ca. 230–248 · The powers ask why his garments are red, and he answers that he has crushed his enemies.
Commentary on John 6.290Origen · ca. 230–248 · After bearing the world's sin, Christ needed to wash his robe, perhaps a baptism greater than any known to us.
Commentary on John 6.292Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ ascended to be cleansed by the Father and came down with gifts: the tongues of fire and the protecting angels.
Commentary on John 6.294Origen · ca. 230–248 · Only Jesus in his love ate with sinners, let a sinful woman wash his feet, and humbled himself to death for the ungodly.
Commentary on John 6.295Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ did the Father's will, as the image of his goodness, reconciling the world step by step until all his enemies are subdued.
Commentary on John 6.296Origen · ca. 230–248 · When all things, even death, are subjected to Christ and he to the Father, we see how the Lamb takes away the world's sin.
Commentary on John 6.304Origen · ca. 230–248 · Is the “world” whose sin the Lamb removes only the church?
Commentary on John 6.305Origen · ca. 230–248 · 1 John and 1 Timothy show that Christ's atonement extends beyond the church to the whole world.
Commentary on John 6.306Origen · ca. 230–248 · Heracleon says “Lamb of God” refers to Christ's body and “who takes away sin” to the one dwelling in it, since a lamb is an immature sheep.
Commentary on John 6.307Origen · ca. 230–248 · Heracleon claims a ram would have signified a perfect body; Origen replies briefly that the world needed a lamb, not a ram. The text then breaks off.
Commentary on John 10.21Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ has many aspects, so the evangelists could say seemingly contradictory things, such as that he was and was not born of David.
Commentary on John 10.22Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ was born of David according to the flesh, but not in his divine power, by which he is Son of God.
Commentary on John 10.23Origen · ca. 230–248 · Scripture calls Christ both servant and son, man and more than man, according to his two aspects.
Commentary on John 10.24Origen · ca. 230–248 · Marcion, and those who deny either Christ's humanity or his divinity, went wrong by taking only one side of what Scripture says.
Commentary on John 10.25Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Docetists, who say Christ only seemed human, would rob us of the man through whom alone we are saved.
Commentary on John 10.26Origen · ca. 230–248 · As death came through one man, so life comes through one man; we receive the Word through the humanity he assumed, each according to the room we make for him.
Commentary on John 10.36Origen · ca. 230–248 · Few are wise enough to grasp the whole Christ from all four Gospels.
Commentary on John 10.46Origen · ca. 230–248 · The “I” who is with the disciples until the end may be Christ in the form of a servant.
Commentary on John 10.89Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Jewish Passover is many lambs slain; ours is Christ, sacrificed once.
Commentary on John 10.92Origen · ca. 230–248 · Objection: if the lamb prefigures Christ, why were many lambs sacrificed, not one?
Commentary on John 10.93Origen · ca. 230–248 · Further difficulties: how do the details of eating the Passover lamb apply to Christ?
Commentary on John 10.94Origen · ca. 230–248 · John applies the command not to break the lamb's bones to Christ.
Commentary on John 10.95Origen · ca. 230–248 · John reports that Christ's legs were not broken, fulfilling the Scripture about the Passover lamb.
Commentary on John 10.97Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen will answer briefly, recalling that Christ is the Lamb of God and that the Passover lamb could be a lamb or a kid.
Commentary on John 10.99Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Passover lamb's flesh is the flesh of the Word, eaten now in the night of this world, together with the Word as bread from heaven.
Commentary on John 10.110Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Passover signifies Christ; historical things are types of spiritual realities.
Commentary on John 10.148Origen · ca. 230–248 · If the story is literal, it shows Christ's divine power to master crowds, no less than his other miracles.
Commentary on John 10.149Origen · ca. 230–248 · This would be greater than turning water into wine, since it subdued the minds of thousands.
Commentary on John 10.165Origen · ca. 230–248 · Taken literally, the Son of God saying he “needs” a donkey seems unworthy of his divinity.
Commentary on John 10.169Origen · ca. 230–248 · Driving out everyone would need divine power, especially given the harsher words in the other Gospels.
Commentary on John 10.222Origen · ca. 230–248 · Psalm 69 is spoken throughout by Christ, including the verses cited in the Gospels.
Commentary on John 10.226Origen · ca. 230–248 · Jesus answers by linking the temple with his own body.
Commentary on John 10.245Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ's own resurrection had stages: paradise, the appearance to Mary, and its completion in going to the Father.
Commentary on John 10.263Origen · ca. 230–248 · Should everything about the temple be applied to Christ's body, whether his flesh or the church?
Commentary on John 10.264Origen · ca. 230–248 · The simpler view: as God's glory dwelt in the temple, so Christ, God's image, dwells in his body or the church.
Commentary on John 10.266Origen · ca. 230–248 · The temple is the church built of living stones; Solomon, building in peace after David's wars, is a type of Christ.
Commentary on John 10.286Origen · ca. 230–248 · Solomon may represent the eternal Son and Hiram the humanity he assumed, together building the temple, the church; this needs the mind of Christ.
Commentary on John 10.315Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Son of God knows every person directly and needs no one's testimony.
Commentary on John 10.316Origen · ca. 230–248 · If “man” means every rational being, Christ knows them all by the power given by the Father.
Commentary on John 10.317Origen · ca. 230–248 · If “man” means only mortals, some might say Christ needed testimony about higher beings.
Commentary on John 10.318Origen · ca. 230–248 · Another view: in his self-emptying Christ needed testimony only about things beyond the human.
Commentary on John 10.319Origen · ca. 230–248 · No signs in Jerusalem are recorded; perhaps the temple cleansing itself counts as a sign.
Commentary on John 10.320Origen · ca. 230–248 · John says both that Jesus knew all and that he needed no testimony about man.
Commentary on John 10.321Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ knew all beings and the hearts of men, greater than prophets who reveal secrets; he knew also which powers were at work in people.
Commentary on John 13.151Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ and the Holy Spirit surpass all created things beyond comparison, yet the Father surpasses them as much or more, as Jesus said, “The Father is greater than I.”
Commentary on John 13.152Origen · ca. 230–248 · Though the Son surpasses all beings, he is not comparable with the Father.
Commentary on John 13.153Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Son is the image, radiance, and mirror of the Father's goodness, glory, and power, through whom we see God. Next lemma: John 4:25.
Commentary on John 13.154Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Samaritans, accepting only the Pentateuch, would expect the Messiah from texts like Jacob's blessing of Judah.
Commentary on John 13.155Origen · ca. 230–248 · They may also hope from Balaam's prophecies.
Commentary on John 13.156Origen · ca. 230–248 · Balaam's oracle continues with the strength of the one God led out of Egypt.
Commentary on John 13.157Origen · ca. 230–248 · Balaam foretells a star from Jacob and a man from Israel.
Commentary on John 13.158Origen · ca. 230–248 · Moses' blessing of Judah might also be read as messianic by the Samaritans.
Commentary on John 13.159Origen · ca. 230–248 · Samaritans, who claim Joseph as patriarch, may read the blessings of Joseph messianically.
Commentary on John 13.160Origen · ca. 230–248 · Jesus says Moses wrote about him.
Commentary on John 13.161Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Law has many veiled references to Christ; “Messiah” is rendered “Christ” by the Seventy and “Anointed” by Aquila.
Commentary on John 13.162Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Samaritans also had a false messiah, Dositheus, whose followers claim he never died.
Commentary on John 13.163Origen · ca. 230–248 · The heterodox soul awaits a perfect Word, and Christ, already present, says, “I am he.”
Commentary on John 13.165Origen · ca. 230–248 · Compare other passages where Christ declares who he is.
Commentary on John 13.228Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Son's food is doing the Father's will so fully that their wills are one, which is why he says, “I and the Father are one.”
Commentary on John 13.234Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Son is the image of the invisible God: his will images the Father's will, his divinity the true divinity, his goodness the Father's goodness.
Commentary on John 13.236Origen · ca. 230–248 · What does “complete his work” mean? If Christ completes God's work, was it incomplete?
Commentary on John 13.237Origen · ca. 230–248 · The work completed is the perfecting of rational beings, for which the Word became flesh.
Commentary on John 13.238Origen · ca. 230–248 · But would God have created something incomplete for the Son to finish?
Commentary on John 13.241Origen · ca. 230–248 · Humanity became incomplete through disobedience, and the Savior was sent to perfect each person for solid food and wisdom.
Commentary on John 13.246Origen · ca. 230–248 · Doing the Father's will and completing his work are together Christ's food.
Commentary on John 13.306Origen · ca. 230–248 · The seed was the mystery long hidden and now revealed through the prophets and Christ's appearing, the true light that whitened the fields.
Commentary on John 13.310Origen · ca. 230–248 · The transfiguration was a harvest in which Moses and Elijah, the sowers, rejoiced with the apostles, the reapers.
Commentary on John 13.319Origen · ca. 230–248 · Another view: Moses and the prophets understood fully, but the apostles built on their seeds and reaped far more when the fullness of time came in Christ.
Commentary on John 13.324Origen · ca. 230–248 · Heracleon distinguishes a Son of Man above the Place who sows from the Savior who reaps; Origen notes he did not explain these two.
Commentary on John 13.348Origen · ca. 230–248 · Faith began through the woman's word but grew through the Word himself, who is known better directly than through another.
Commentary on John 13.384Origen · ca. 230–248 · As Origen showed earlier, the temple cleansing revealed divine power no less than the healing miracles, and the Galileans rightly perceived it.
Commentary on John 13.397Origen · ca. 230–248 · The great King is Christ, whose city is the true Jerusalem and who was established on Zion.
Commentary on John 13.405Origen · ca. 230–248 · As John the Baptist awaited a sign to recognize Christ, so the saints of old recognized his coming by signs and wonders.
Commentary on John 13.412Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen suggests some angelic rulers, struck by Christ's divinity, turned to him, as humans repent.
Commentary on John 13.413Origen · ca. 230–248 · Why should beings of purer nature be unable to turn to Christ? Origen thinks some rulers changed for the better, so that some cities and nations were more open to him.
Commentary on John 13.415Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ need not go down: his effective word “your son lives” is enough.
Commentary on John 19.3Origen · ca. 230–248 · How can the Jerusalemites know Jesus but not the Father? 1 John sharpens the problem.
Commentary on John 19.4Origen · ca. 230–248 · By not knowing the Father, they deny both Father and Son.
Commentary on John 19.5Origen · ca. 230–248 · The difficulty stated: the sayings seem to contradict each other.
Commentary on John 19.6Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ speaks of himself sometimes as man, sometimes as divine and one with the Father.
Commentary on John 19.7Origen · ca. 230–248 · “You know me” concerns Christ's humanity, “you know neither me nor my Father” his divinity, as the context shows.
Commentary on John 19.10Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Jerusalemites knew his human origin; to the Pharisees he spoke of his divine origin as firstborn of creation.
Commentary on John 19.21Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Pharisees neither knew nor believed in the Father, since whoever denies the Son has the Father in no way.
Commentary on John 19.31Origen · ca. 230–248 · Romans 1 also shows the God who spoke through the prophets is the Father of Christ.
Commentary on John 19.35Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Father is known only by ascending from the Son; one cannot see God except through the Word.
Commentary on John 19.36Origen · ca. 230–248 · Through Wisdom, created for God's works, one ascends to her Father.
Commentary on John 19.38Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Son is like the steps of the temple: we climb first through his humanity, then through his higher aspects, toward God.
Commentary on John 19.39Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ's aspects form a progression: way before door, shepherd before king, lamb before true food; so knowing him leads to knowing the Father.
Commentary on John 19.54Origen · ca. 230–248 · Jesus' sayings in the treasury were more precious than any coin.
Commentary on John 19.59Origen · ca. 230–248 · Jesus spoke only as much as the treasury could hold; the world cannot contain the whole Word.
Commentary on John 19.61Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ kept silent before Pilate so that he could be crucified in weakness.
Commentary on John 19.64Origen · ca. 230–248 · The treasury discourse runs until “before Abraham was, I am,” after which Jesus left the temple.
Commentary on John 19.68Origen · ca. 230–248 · Only those who “lift up” the Son come to know him; beginners fed on milk know only Christ crucified.
Commentary on John 19.98Origen · ca. 230–248 · Perhaps Jesus “killed himself” in a divine sense: while others' souls are demanded back by appointed powers, he laid his down himself.
Commentary on John 19.99Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ alone says no one takes his life from him; he lays it down himself.
Commentary on John 19.100Origen · ca. 230–248 · One who can leave and resume the body at will is not one whose soul is demanded of him.
Commentary on John 19.101Origen · ca. 230–248 · Only Jesus could say he laid down his soul himself; all others' souls are taken from them.
Commentary on John 19.102Origen · ca. 230–248 · Psalm 88's “free among the dead” fits Christ, who did not die like the robbers, by broken legs, but laid down his life.
Commentary on John 19.103Origen · ca. 230–248 · Jesus gave up his spirit like a king, and at once the signs of his power followed, so that the centurion confessed him Son of God.
Commentary on John 19.104Origen · ca. 230–248 · Perhaps Jewish tradition held that the Christ would leave life of his own accord, and they half-recognized this in Jesus' words.
Commentary on John 19.105Origen · ca. 230–248 · The crowd was divided about whether Jesus was the Prophet or the Christ.
Commentary on John 19.111Origen · ca. 230–248 · His power to die by his own choice appears in the words “I am going away.”
Commentary on John 19.114Origen · ca. 230–248 · They could have spoken with reverence of a soul departing at will.
Commentary on John 19.115Origen · ca. 230–248 · Jesus foretold his passion, speaking of being delivered and crucified.
Commentary on John 19.116Origen · ca. 230–248 · Those who cried “crucify him” are still guilty of killing him, though he gave up his spirit before the soldiers came.
Commentary on John 19.119Origen · ca. 230–248 · Paul's “he gave himself up” fits the same idea.
Commentary on John 19.120Origen · ca. 230–248 · Only thus is Christ both high priest and Lamb, offered by a holy priest, himself, not by the impious.
Commentary on John 19.128Origen · ca. 230–248 · As firstborn of creation Christ is not said to be “from heaven,” though Paul calls the second man “from heaven.”
Commentary on John 19.137Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ descended to the lowest parts and ascended above the heavens, opening a road for his disciples beyond bodily things.
Commentary on John 19.145Origen · ca. 230–248 · The ascent “above all the heavens” is spiritual: Jesus' soul has reached God himself.
Commentary on John 19.147Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ, as manifold Wisdom containing the principles of all things, may himself be called a “world,” far richer than the material one.
Commentary on John 19.148Origen · ca. 230–248 · Perhaps Jesus' soul, dwelling in that higher world, leads his disciples to it.
Commentary on John 19.154Origen · ca. 230–248 · One born of God does not sin; believing in Christ as Righteousness excludes doing wrong.
Commentary on John 19.155Origen · ca. 230–248 · Believing in Christ as Wisdom and Word rules out folly and irrational acts.
Commentary on John 19.156Origen · ca. 230–248 · Believing in Christ as our peace and God's power excludes strife and weakness in good.
Commentary on John 19.157Origen · ca. 230–248 · If we give up under toil or are weak, we have not believed in Christ as endurance and strength.
Commentary on John 19.158Origen · ca. 230–248 · Whoever lives contrary to what Christ is dies in his sins.
Commentary on John 19.159Origen · ca. 230–248 · Hearing him speak with authority, they naturally asked who he was.
Commentary on John 20.76Origen · ca. 230–248 · We need Christ, God's power and wisdom, to understand and do Abraham's works.
Commentary on John 20.80Origen · ca. 230–248 · God cannot be killed; those who plotted against Jesus treated him as a mere man.
Commentary on John 20.85Origen · ca. 230–248 · It was the man, not God the Word, who could be killed; Origen asks whether the Word, becoming flesh, became man.
Commentary on John 20.86Origen · ca. 230–248 · If the Word became man, he could be sought to be killed; if not, he returned unharmed to what he was before.
Commentary on John 20.88Origen · ca. 230–248 · Abraham saw Christ's day; a man speaking God's truth existed in his time, and Abraham did not seek to kill him.
Commentary on John 20.89Origen · ca. 230–248 · The spiritual Christ was always present; so those who fell away after enlightenment crucified him afresh even before his bodily coming.
Commentary on John 20.91Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Acts of Paul's saying “I am about to be crucified again” can apply before as well as after Christ's coming.
Commentary on John 20.128Origen · ca. 230–248 · Their retort may be a veiled slur that Jesus was born of fornication, since they rejected the virgin birth.
Commentary on John 20.130Origen · ca. 230–248 · They meant: we have God as Father more truly than you, who claim a virgin birth but were born of fornication.
Commentary on John 20.152Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen compares “I came forth from God” with Micah's “the Lord goes forth from his place.”
Commentary on John 20.153Origen · ca. 230–248 · Before emptying himself, the Son was in the Father, and God was, as it were, his place.
Commentary on John 20.154Origen · ca. 230–248 · In the form of God, the Son had not yet “come forth.”
Commentary on John 20.155Origen · ca. 230–248 · By taking the form of a servant the Son came forth to us, yet the Father remains with him and in him.
Commentary on John 20.156Origen · ca. 230–248 · Otherwise “coming forth” and “remaining in God” would contradict each other.
Commentary on John 20.162Origen · ca. 230–248 · Jesus' soul came forth from God because the Father sent it; other souls came without being sent.
Commentary on John 20.191Origen · ca. 230–248 · Every son does his father's desires and works, as the Savior does the Father's.
Commentary on John 20.228Origen · ca. 230–248 · Through Christ's death, the devil no longer rules even the dead.
Commentary on John 20.240Origen · ca. 230–248 · Moses standing on the rock means standing on Christ, the truth.
Commentary on John 20.269Origen · ca. 230–248 · One can believe in Christ in one aspect but not another, such as accepting his crucifixion but not his virgin birth.
Commentary on John 20.270Origen · ca. 230–248 · Or believing in his miracles but not that he is the Son of the Creator.
Commentary on John 20.277Origen · ca. 230–248 · Only Christ, who was sinless, could say “Which of you convicts me of sin?”
Commentary on John 20.278Origen · ca. 230–248 · The challenge is addressed to the whole human race.
Commentary on John 20.280Origen · ca. 230–248 · Not even the devil could convict Christ of sin.
Commentary on John 20.281Origen · ca. 230–248 · The devil found nothing in Christ.
Commentary on John 20.303Origen · ca. 230–248 · Degrees of sonship reach up to the Firstborn, who is Son beyond all others.
Commentary on John 20.313Origen · ca. 230–248 · They said he had a demon because of his superhuman claims.
Commentary on John 20.317Origen · ca. 230–248 · The parable of the Good Samaritan may explain this.
Commentary on John 20.318Origen · ca. 230–248 · If the Good Samaritan is Christ, he rightly did not deny being a Samaritan.
Commentary on John 20.319Origen · ca. 230–248 · Another view: Christ became all things to all, even a “Samaritan” to those under the law.
Commentary on John 20.320Origen · ca. 230–248 · A third view: “Samaritan” means “guardian,” and Christ is the guardian of souls.
Commentary on John 20.322Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is the tree of life whose every leaf is lasting.
Commentary on John 20.330Origen · ca. 230–248 · Only Jesus, who triumphed over the powers on the cross, can say he never had a demon.
Commentary on John 20.335Origen · ca. 230–248 · Even the saints once sinned; only Christ could always say he had no demon, and only he perfectly honored the Father.
Commentary on John 20.339Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ, born under the law that commands honoring one's father, had God alone as Father.
Commentary on John 20.345Origen · ca. 230–248 · Despising wisdom dishonors Christ, who is Wisdom.
Commentary on John 20.356Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ humbly leaves it to the Father to demand the glory due to the Son.
Commentary on John 20.370Origen · ca. 230–248 · Keeping the Word means keeping the life and light inseparable from him.
Commentary on John 20.398Origen · ca. 230–248 · The prophets too live, for the Word that came to them was the Son himself.
Commentary on John 20.406Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is to be tasted as bread and seen as Wisdom: “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”
Commentary on John 20.419Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is greater than Abraham, all born of women, and all the prophets, having received this from the Father.
Commentary on John 20.420Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Son has life from the Father; he did not make himself what he is.
Commentary on John 20.421Origen · ca. 230–248 · Jesus answers that the Father glorifies him.
Commentary on John 28.40Origen · ca. 230–248 · What is granted to the Savior exceeds the promise to the righteous.
Commentary on John 28.88Origen · ca. 230–248 · Calling him “this man” denied his divinity, as when they accused him of making himself God.
Commentary on John 28.155Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ is Savior of all and takes away the sin of the whole world.
Commentary on John 28.156Origen · ca. 230–248 · On this view the whole speech is true prophecy, beginning with “you know nothing.”
Commentary on John 28.157Origen · ca. 230–248 · They did not see that the man Jesus died for them too.
Commentary on John 28.158Origen · ca. 230–248 · Jesus called himself a man whom they sought to kill.
Commentary on John 28.159Origen · ca. 230–248 · The man died; God the Word, the image of God, could not die.
Commentary on John 28.160Origen · ca. 230–248 · The sinless man bore and destroyed the sin of the whole world.
Commentary on John 28.161Origen · ca. 230–248 · The sinless Christ was “made sin” and became the offscouring of the world, far more than his apostles.
Commentary on John 28.163Origen · ca. 230–248 · Only Jesus could die for the whole world and carry the sin of all on the cross.
Commentary on John 28.164Origen · ca. 230–248 · He alone knew how to bear weakness, as Isaiah says.
Commentary on John 28.165Origen · ca. 230–248 · He bore our sins and the punishment owed to us.
Commentary on John 28.166Origen · ca. 230–248 · Healed by his wounds, we boast only in his cross; the Father handed him over for our sins.
Commentary on John 28.167Origen · ca. 230–248 · In his humiliation unto the cross his judgment was taken away, and he died for the people's sins.
Commentary on John 28.205Origen · ca. 230–248 · He was seized only because he humbled himself and chose to obey.
Commentary on John 28.206Origen · ca. 230–248 · At his “I am,” his captors fell back.
Commentary on John 28.207Origen · ca. 230–248 · Then, willing to suffer, he asked again.
Commentary on John 28.208Origen · ca. 230–248 · He let himself be bound; otherwise one “I am” would have felled them again.
Commentary on John 28.223Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ, like Joseph, can say God made him fruitful in the land of his humiliation.
Commentary on John 28.237Origen · ca. 230–248 · True purification came at the Passover when Christ, the Lamb, died.
Commentary on John 32.25Origen · ca. 230–248 · As the passion drew near, Jesus, knowing all was given him, rose from supper.
Commentary on John 32.26Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Father gave all things into the Son's hands, as Psalm 110 foresees.
Commentary on John 32.34Origen · ca. 230–248 · Seeing the plan move to its good end, the Father put all things under the Son's hands, that is, his works.
Commentary on John 32.35Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Son went out from God for the sake of those who had gone out, to lead them back to God.
Commentary on John 32.44Origen · ca. 230–248 · Origen asks what the garments Jesus laid aside at the supper stand for.
Commentary on John 32.45Origen · ca. 230–248 · The garments are the Word's outward clothing in words and sounds; laying them aside and taking the towel shows him taking the form of a slave.
Commentary on John 32.46Origen · ca. 230–248 · The glorified Word humbles himself in washing the disciples' feet.
Commentary on John 32.49Origen · ca. 230–248 · Jesus, who came as one who serves, pours the water himself, because only he could wash them so as to give them a part with him.
Commentary on John 32.80Origen · ca. 230–248 · The apostles' feet were cleansed so they could walk on Christ, the way.
Commentary on John 32.83Origen · ca. 230–248 · The disciples needed more than bare feet: Jesus washed them, perhaps taking their dirt on himself, as he bears our weaknesses.
Commentary on John 32.115Origen · ca. 230–248 · Jesus washed them both as teacher and as lord.
Commentary on John 32.117Origen · ca. 230–248 · Jesus washes as teacher, since disciples still fall short of becoming like their teacher.
Commentary on John 32.120Origen · ca. 230–248 · Unlike other masters, Christ wants his servants to become like him.
Commentary on John 32.121Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ as Lord makes his servants like himself, giving them the spirit of adoption.
Commentary on John 32.127Origen · ca. 230–248 · The apostles rightly called Jesus Lord, for vice no longer ruled them but the Word.
Commentary on John 32.128Origen · ca. 230–248 · Whoever says “Jesus is Lord” in the Holy Spirit says it well.
Commentary on John 32.188Origen · ca. 230–248 · One must believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, both God and man.
Commentary on John 32.191Origen · ca. 230–248 · Denying the virgin birth means lacking something essential to full faith.
Commentary on John 32.192Origen · ca. 230–248 · Denying Christ's real humanity also falls short of full faith.
Commentary on John 32.193Origen · ca. 230–248 · Denying the Son's divine subsistence also falls short of full faith.
Commentary on John 32.203Origen · ca. 230–248 · Hebrews calls Christ himself the Father's apostle.
Commentary on John 32.223Origen · ca. 230–248 · In John 12:27 the soul itself was troubled; in John 13:21 the trouble came under the governance of Jesus' human spirit.
Commentary on John 32.225Origen · ca. 230–248 · This holds even more of Jesus, who took on a whole human nature, including a human spirit.
Commentary on John 32.227Origen · ca. 230–248 · Jesus' spirit foresaw the betrayal the devil had planted in Judas and was troubled by that knowledge.
Commentary on John 32.228Origen · ca. 230–248 · Perhaps Jesus' flesh too was troubled, for he was fully human, the one announced by Gabriel.
Commentary on John 32.264Origen · ca. 230–248 · John in Jesus' bosom symbolizes his rest in the Word, as the Word is in the Father's bosom.
Commentary on John 32.295Origen · ca. 230–248 · “Do quickly” may be addressed to Satan or Judas; Jesus was not afraid but eager for the contest of his passion.
Commentary on John 32.296Origen · ca. 230–248 · Psalm 27 is the Savior's own voice, fearless as the powers of evil gather against him.
Commentary on John 32.299Origen · ca. 230–248 · Jesus' words were a challenge to the contest for human salvation; the next text is John 13:30.
Commentary on John 32.316Origen · ca. 230–248 · Leaving Jesus, the Sun of righteousness, Judas went into night; his darkness could not overcome the light.
Commentary on John 32.318Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ's glorification began when Judas, with Satan, left his presence.
Commentary on John 32.319Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ glorified God by his death.
Commentary on John 32.320Origen · ca. 230–248 · “Now” marks the start of the saving plan of Christ's death.
Commentary on John 32.321Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ cannot be glorified without the Father being glorified in him.
Commentary on John 32.322Origen · ca. 230–248 · The glory of the death belonged to Christ's human nature, since the divine Word cannot die.
Commentary on John 32.323Origen · ca. 230–248 · Jesus calls himself a man when speaking of his death and Son of Man when speaking of his glory.
Commentary on John 32.324Origen · ca. 230–248 · God exalted the obedient man; the divine Word, already supreme, could not be exalted.
Commentary on John 32.325Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ's exaltation was that the man became one and the same with the Word.
Commentary on John 32.326Origen · ca. 230–248 · If a believer joined to the Lord becomes one spirit, all the more is Jesus' humanity made one with the Word.
Commentary on John 32.327Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ's death triumphed over the powers and made peace; in all this the Son and the Father were glorified.
Commentary on John 32.341Origen · ca. 230–248 · Moses' glory fades before Christ's as night-lights before the sun.
Commentary on John 32.342Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ's knowledge of the Father far surpasses Moses' knowledge.
Commentary on John 32.345Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Son is glorified by his perfect knowledge of the Father.
Commentary on John 32.346Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Son is also glorified by knowing himself.
Commentary on John 32.347Origen · ca. 230–248 · Knowing all things, the Son of Man is glorified through union with Wisdom, and all his glory is the Father's gift.
Commentary on John 32.348Origen · ca. 230–248 · The highest part of the Son's glory is God himself, known by the Son.
Commentary on John 32.353Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Son is the full radiance of God's glory; other rational beings receive partial rays.
Commentary on John 32.354Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ's suffering for all was not apart from God, so both Son and Father are glorified.
Commentary on John 32.359Origen · ca. 230–248 · The Son reveals the Father, who is seen in him as the original is seen in its image.
Commentary on John 32.361Origen · ca. 230–248 · God was glorified supremely in the sinless Jesus.
Commentary on John 32.387Origen · ca. 230–248 · Seeking Jesus means seeking God's Word, wisdom, righteousness, truth, and power.
On Prayer 10.2Origen · ca. 233–234 · The one who prays rightly shares in the Word of God, the high priest and advocate who prays with those who pray; Jesus' parables urge us to pray always and without shame.
On Prayer 13.1Origen · ca. 233–234 · If Jesus himself prayed and received what he asked through prayer, none of us should neglect to pray.
On Prayer 14.6Origen · ca. 233–234 · Supplication, intercession, and thanksgiving may be offered to people too, especially to saints; still more should we thank Christ and intercede with him, as Stephen did.
On Prayer 15.1Origen · ca. 233–234 · Origen argues that prayer in the strict sense should be addressed only to the Father, not to Christ, but always through Christ the High Priest.
On Prayer 15.2Origen · ca. 233–234 · Prayer is to be addressed to the Father, but always through and in the name of Jesus, as he taught.
On Prayer 15.3Origen · ca. 233–234 · To the objection that angels are told to worship Christ, Origen answers that Scripture also says kings will bow down to the church, so worship in this sense is not the same as prayer.
On Prayer 15.4Origen · ca. 233–234 · Origen imagines Christ saying: do not pray to me but to the Father, through me as your High Priest and brother.
On Prayer 16.1Origen · ca. 233–234 · Christians should not be divided by praying some to the Father and some to the Son, but should pray to God through Christ, serving him out of love rather than fear.
On Prayer 22.4Origen · ca. 233–234 · The saints are an image of Christ, who is the image of God, and so bear the likeness of sonship; the Son came to destroy the devil's seed in sinners so they may become God's children.
On Prayer 23.2Origen · ca. 233–234 · The Son's “going to the Father” is not a movement from place to place but his return from his humble state to his own fullness, an ascent of the mind rather than of the body.
On Prayer 23.4Origen · ca. 233–234 · God “walks” and “dwells” in the saints and in Christ; “heaven” may mean the saints or Christ himself, the Father's throne, with the church as his footstool.
On Prayer 26.3Origen · ca. 233–234 · Since evil spirits exist even “in the heavenly places,” one solution takes heaven to mean Christ and earth the church, which prays to do the Father's will as Christ did.
On Prayer 26.4Origen · ca. 233–234 · An objection from Christ's words “all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth” is met by applying them to the human nature of Christ, exalted and united with the divine Son.
On Prayer 27.2Origen · ca. 233–234 · Jesus taught in John 6 that the true bread from heaven is himself, the Word, which nourishes the inner man made in God's image.
On Prayer 27.3Origen · ca. 233–234 · In John 6 Jesus speaks of the bread from heaven both as the Father's gift and as himself, the bread of life.
On Prayer 27.4Origen · ca. 233–234 · Christ's flesh, the Word made flesh, is true food for the mature; when we eat and drink him, he dwells in us and we behold his glory.
On Prayer 27.9Origen · ca. 233–234 · The “daily bread” is the Word of God, which passes into the soul's very being as food passes into the body, strengthening each according to his capacity and imparting immortality.
On Prayer 30.2Origen · ca. 233–234 · God delivered Job from the evil one not by sparing him temptation but by keeping him faithful through two great trials; the threefold victory over the tempter was reserved for Christ.
Homily on Luke 3Origen · ca. 233–250 · Divine beings are seen only when they choose to appear and only by the pure in heart, as Christ in the flesh was truly seen only by his disciples.
Homily on Luke 6Origen · ca. 233–250 · Elizabeth hid from modesty; Christ was born of a betrothed virgin so that his birth would be hidden from the devil; the angel’s “full of grace” is a greeting unique to Mary; and Christ’s greatness now fills the world.
Homily on Luke 7Origen · ca. 233–250 · At Mary’s visit the unborn Christ sanctifies John and fills Elizabeth with the Spirit; Origen rejects the claim that Mary married Joseph after Jesus’ birth and urges the catechumens to persevere.
Homily on Luke 10Origen · ca. 233–250 · Zechariah, taught by the hidden presence of Christ during Mary’s stay, prophesies of Christ and John; Christ delivers us from spiritual enemies without fear, and benefited even the patriarchs and the heavenly powers.
Homily on Luke 14Origen · ca. 233–250 · Christ’s circumcision and presentation were for our sake; “their purification” leads Origen to distinguish the “defilement” of bodily birth from sin, to explain the baptism of infants by it, and to speak of Mary’s womb as opened only at Christ’s birth.
Homily on Luke 17Origen · ca. 233–250 · Joseph is called Jesus’ father for the sake of the genealogy; the “fall and rising” happen in the same person; Christ is a sign spoken against by heretics; the sword in Mary’s soul is doubt at the passion; and Anna is held up as a model of widowhood, with remarriage said to exclude from the kingdom though not from salvation.
Homily on Luke 18Origen · ca. 233–250 · Christ, who had emptied himself, is “filled with wisdom” even as a child; he is found not among kinsfolk but in the temple among the teachers, and his calling the temple his Father’s refutes those who separate the Creator from the Father of Jesus.
Homily on Luke 19Origen · ca. 233–250 · The child Jesus, filled with wisdom before twelve, shows a divine presence in a sinless human soul; his parents’ sorrowful search signifies the search for the hidden meaning of Scripture, and he is found in the temple, questioning the teachers in order to teach them.
Homily on Luke 20Origen · ca. 233–250 · Jesus’ words about being in his Father’s things refute the heretics and show that the true temple is the souls and churches that belong to the Father; his subjection to Joseph and Mary teaches obedience to parents and to the church’s clergy, and his growth in wisdom calls us to spiritual maturity.
Homily on Luke 28Origen · ca. 233–250 · Matthew’s descending genealogy, with its sinful ancestors and women, shows Christ taking on sinners’ condition, while Luke’s ascending genealogy follows his baptism; Christ at thirty, like Joseph, gathers the wheat of the Scriptures for the hungry.
Homily on Luke 29Origen · ca. 233–250 · Jesus was full of the Spirit beyond all others; the devil’s stone offered as bread stands for heretical doctrine; and Christ, tempted as man, now no longer subject to death, is God, and believers who become like him will become divine.
Homily on Luke 30Origen · ca. 233–250 · In the second temptation the devil shows Christ his own kingdom, the people ruled by sin, and offers it for worship; Christ refuses, wishing to reign over all only so that they may worship God alone.
Homily on Luke 32Origen · ca. 233–250 · Christ returns “in the power of the Spirit” after defeating the tempter; in the Nazareth synagogue he reads Isaiah’s prophecy of himself, whose poor and captives are the nations, and the hearers are urged to fix the eyes of their souls on him.
Exhortation to Martyrdom 9Origen · 235 · God calls himself jealous as a wise bridegroom shows jealousy to keep his bride, the soul, from unfaithfulness to false gods.
Exhortation to Martyrdom 10Origen · 235 · Confession unites the martyr with Christ and denial cuts the denier off from him; each receives back the measure he gave.
Exhortation to Martyrdom 29Origen · 235 · Jesus' prayer “let this cup pass” was not cowardice; Origen suggests he declined only a particular form of death, while the martyr's death is “precious in the sight of the Lord.”
Exhortation to Martyrdom 35Origen · 235 · Being confessed by Christ before the Father and the angels far outweighs any suffering; Origen suggests Christ as divine Son confesses before the Father and as Son of Man before the angels.
Homily on Isaiah 1Origen · ca. 235–250 · Origen reads Uzziah's death as the death of sin's rule in the soul, interprets the two seraphim as the Son and the Holy Spirit covering God's beginning and end, and applies the cleansing of Isaiah's lips to the hearers.
Homily on Isaiah 2Origen · ca. 235–250 · Origen interprets the sign of Isa 7 as Christ, who descended and ascended, discusses the reading “you shall call” against Matthew's “he shall be called,” and reads the butter and honey as the good words and works Christ eats with us.
Homily on Isaiah 3Origen · ca. 235–250 · Origen reads the seven women of Isa 4:1 as the sevenfold Spirit of Isa 11:2, reproached by false wisdom, which rested fully only on Jesus, the shoot of Jesse, whose name they take.
Homily on Isaiah 4Origen · ca. 235–250 · Origen returns to Isaiah's vision: God's beginning and end are hidden, the seraphim proclaim the threefold holiness, God's glory fills the earth through holy lives, and the burning coal from the altar is Christ's purifying word.
Homily on Isaiah 5Origen · ca. 235–250 · Origen calls Christ the living righteousness of Isa 41:2, then returns to Isaiah's vision, urging his hearers to let the “Uzziah” of sin die within them, as the reign of Pharaoh had to end before Israel could cry to God.
Homily on Isaiah 7Origen · ca. 235–250 · Origen expounds Isa 8:18–20: all believers are Christ's little children, even the prophets and apostles knew only in part, and Christians must not seek ventriloquists and demons, or teachers who speak from the belly, but the Law and the Word made flesh.
Address of Thanksgiving 4Gregory Thaumaturgus · ca. 238–245 · Only the Word can thank the Father worthily; Gregory thanks Origen, and his guardian angel who led him to Origen.
Address of Thanksgiving 17Gregory Thaumaturgus · ca. 238–245 · Gregory consoles himself: Christ the Word is the physician of the wounded, and he carries seeds from Origen that may bear fruit.
On the Witch of Endor 6Origen · ca. 240 · Christ, greater than all prophets, himself went down to Hades to conquer death, as the Psalms and Acts say; so it is not absurd that the prophets, including Samuel, went there before him as physicians to proclaim his coming.
On the Witch of Endor 8Origen · ca. 240 · As Christ remained Christ when he descended to Hades, so the prophets and Samuel, going down there to help the souls, remained holy, below in place but above in purpose; a demon could not have prophesied David's kingship.
On the Witch of Endor 9Origen · ca. 240 · Samuel kept his prophetic gift after death and used it for the souls in Hades, who needed to hear of Christ's coming; before Christ no one, not even Abraham, could pass the flaming sword to paradise, so the saints waited for him who is the way.
Homilies on Exodus 6.1Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The first song of Scripture is sung after victory with a timbrel, the crucified flesh, and “gloriously honoured” points to Christ, glorified humbly in his incarnation and cross but gloriously at his second coming.
Homilies on Exodus 6.2Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Persecutors are horses ridden by demons, as Judas was once ridden by the Lord and then by Satan; “the God of my father” is the God of Christ, who calls the Father his God to safeguard the oneness of God.
Homilies on Exodus 6.12Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The sanctuary prepared by God's hands is best understood of the flesh of Christ, formed in the virgin without human work, the stone cut without hands.
Homilies on Exodus 7.8Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Meat in the evening is the flesh of the Word, who came at the evening of the world, and bread in the morning is the word given to believers after the resurrection; the manna of the word gives each believer the taste he needs but becomes a worm to the unfaithful.
Homilies on Exodus 11.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Amalek's attack after the gift of water from the rock shows that temptations follow grace, and Moses calling “Jesus” to choose mighty men figures the law calling Christ, who alone chooses his soldiers.
Homilies on Exodus 12.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · In the law only Moses' face is glorified, while his hand is leprous and his feet unshod, but at the transfiguration he appears wholly in glory beside Christ, of whom he had said, “You shall hear him.”
Homilies on Exodus 12.4Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · “The Lord is the Spirit” calls hearers to turn to the Word as spirit, so that the veil over the law is taken away, and true freedom comes only from the Son.
Homilies on Ezekiel 1.4Origen · ca. 238–250 (Jerome's translation in the 380s) · Ezekiel, called “son of man” and seeing the heavens opened at thirty, is a type of Christ, whose true birth Origen defends against those who call it a phantom.
Homilies on Ezekiel 1.5Origen · ca. 238–250 (Jerome's translation in the 380s) · Ezekiel “in the midst of the captivity” figures Christ, who came among captives and lamented in his human soul; the river Chebar is the heavy river of this world.
Homilies on Ezekiel 1.6Origen · ca. 238–250 (Jerome's translation in the 380s) · The heavens, closed until Christ, were opened at his baptism so that the Spirit might descend first on him and then come to us.
Homilies on Ezekiel 1.10Origen · ca. 238–250 (Jerome's translation in the 380s) · Allegorically, the word came to the man born of the virgin, joined to the divine Word; the land of the Chaldeans signifies the error of astrology and fate.
Homilies on Ezekiel 1.15Origen · ca. 238–250 (Jerome's translation in the 380s) · The cherubim are those full of knowledge whom God rules, and the four faces stand for all creation subject to Christ: heavenly, earthly, infernal, and what is above the heavens.
Homilies on Ezekiel 6.6Origen · ca. 238–250 (Jerome's translation in the 380s) · The reborn soul must be salted with grace and swaddled like the infant Christ; and Christ, and even the Father, suffer the passion of love in pity for humankind.
Homilies on Ezekiel 9.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Jerome's translation in the 380s) · Righteousness and sin are measured by comparison: the lesser sinner is “justified” by the greater, while even the greatest saints are darkness beside Christ, the Sun of righteousness.
Homilies on Ezekiel 14.2Origen · ca. 238–250 (Jerome's translation in the 380s) · The shut gate signifies the hidden meanings of Scripture, opened only by Christ, who holds the key of knowledge; some mysteries are known to Christ alone, the prince who eats the bread within.
Homilies on Ezekiel 14.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Jerome's translation in the 380s) · As certain priestly foods were eaten only in the holy place, Christ alone eats the bread of the Father’s nature, though he also invites believers to dine with him and gives them daily bread.
Homilies on Joshua 1.1Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Origen observes that no one in Genesis bore the name Jesus (Joshua), which first appears when Moses gives Joshua command against Amalek, a figure of Christ leading his army.
Homilies on Joshua 2.2Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Christ became “the minister of Moses” by being born under the law, and through him God gives the land promised to the meek.
Homilies on Joshua 3.5Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Rahab’s scarlet cord is the blood of Christ, and her house is the church, outside of which no one is saved.
Homilies on Joshua 5.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Christ, always exalted with the Father, is exalted in the believer’s sight when his divinity is revealed at baptism.
Homilies on Joshua 6.2Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The prince of the Lord’s army who appears to Joshua at Jericho, and whom Joshua worships, is Christ, the commander of all the heavenly powers.
Homilies on Joshua 7.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Christ conquered the world on the cross by stripping the hostile powers, and the heavenly army raised the shout of victory at his triumph.
Homilies on Joshua 7.7Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Achan’s “tongue of gold” is the eloquence of pagan philosophy and poetry, which heretics such as Valentinus, Basilides, and Marcion brought into the church; the “pure” bracelets are works without God, as a merely human Christ would be.
Homilies on Joshua 8.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The double tree on which the king of Ai was hanged is the twofold cross: Christ was crucified visibly in the flesh, and the devil and his powers invisibly.
Homilies on Joshua 8.6Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Joshua’s feigned flight teaches the virtue of fleeing sin, especially sexual immorality, anger, and avarice, and the double tree signifies the twofold power of the cross, a tree of the knowledge of good and evil on which Christ and the devil both hung.
Homilies on Joshua 16.2Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Christ, the firstborn of all creation, is the true presbyter, the prince of high priests, shepherds, presbyters, and bishops.
Homilies on Judges 2.1Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Jesus lives in the saints but dies in those who sin, as Joshua's death was followed by a generation that did not know him.
Homilies on Leviticus 1.2Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Leviticus distinguishes who offers (man, soul, high priest, synagogue, ruler); the 'man' is the human race, and the calf without blemish is Christ, offered outside the door.
Homilies on Leviticus 1.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The blood poured at the altar by the door signifies Christ's death in Jerusalem and also his sacrifice for heavenly beings: a twofold victim through two veils.
Homilies on Leviticus 1.4Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Flaying and dividing the calf signify removing the veil of the letter and distributing teaching suited to beginners, the progressing, and the perfect; the washing of entrails and feet signifies baptism.
Homilies on Leviticus 2.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Even the high priest can sin, and God appointed priests who share human weakness; Christ, offered as a gift in heaven and for sin on earth, suffered 'outside the camp' of the heavenly angels.
Homilies on Leviticus 3.1Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Christ as high priest offered 'for sin' because he was made sin for us; he 'made the people sin' because his passion, life to believers, became an occasion of guilt to those who rejected him.
Homilies on Leviticus 3.5Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Every victim bears the image of Christ: the fat is his soul between divinity and flesh, the sevenfold sprinkling the Spirit, the four horns the Gospels, and the blood at the base the final salvation of Israel.
Homilies on Leviticus 4.8Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Christ is the one sacrifice whose flesh sanctifies all who touch it in faith, as the woman with the flow of blood did; only 'males', mature souls, may eat it, and only within the church, not among schismatics.
Homilies on Leviticus 5.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The sin offering slain where the burnt offering is shows God's mercy; Christ is both the holy victim and the priest who 'eats', that is consumes like fire, the people's sins, and the church's priests must imitate him; some mysteries are reserved for God alone.
Homilies on Leviticus 7.1Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The law forbidding priests wine at the altar teaches sobriety, which the Gospel confirms; mystically, Christ the high priest drank wine with his disciples before his passion, but at the altar of the cross vowed not to drink until he drinks it new in the kingdom.
Homilies on Leviticus 7.2Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Christ does not yet drink the wine of gladness because, as our advocate at the heavenly altar, he mourns our sins; he, the apostles, and the saints await the perfection of the whole body, when all are subject to God and the new wine is drunk in the kingdom.
Homilies on Leviticus 7.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The 'breast of segregation' is knowledge of the Trinity, set apart from all creation, which Christ possesses and reveals to the apostles; the 'shoulder of separation' is surpassing works, such as Christ's doing the Father's will.
Homilies on Leviticus 8.2Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The law speaks of a woman who 'has conceived seed' to exempt Mary, who conceived without seed; Paul's calling her 'woman' refers to sex and age, not to loss of virginity.
Homilies on Leviticus 8.4Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The 'week' of impurity is this life, and the eighth day the age to come, when the manly soul is purified at once; Mary's offering of the poor man's victim shows Christ's chosen poverty.
Homilies on Leviticus 9.2Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The high priest's linen garments are read as figures of Christ's earthly and virginally conceived body and of the chastity of those who imitate him.
Homilies on Leviticus 9.5Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Christ is the 'ready man' who leads the hostile powers into the wilderness and, as true high priest, enters the heavenly Holy of Holies to intercede for those who wait for him.
Homilies on Leviticus 12.1Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Christ alone is the truly 'great priest', who entered heaven and forgives sins by his own blood; the Jewish high priest bore the title only as a shadow.
Homilies on Leviticus 12.2Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The 'great priest from among his brothers' is Jesus, great because sinless; spiritual greatness comes from virtue, and the strong must care for the little ones in faith.
Homilies on Leviticus 12.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Christ alone fits the description of the great priest: anointed with the oil of gladness, with perfected hands, never laying aside his head, God, and never entering a soul dead in sin.
Homilies on Leviticus 12.4Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Christ alone was 'not defiled for father and mother', being born of an undefiled body without human father and never sinning against God the Father or the heavenly mother; he never leaves the holy place, which is found in holy deeds, not locations.
Homilies on Numbers 3.4Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The striking of Egypt's firstborn before Israel's were sanctified signifies Christ's triumph over the demonic powers, which makes believers God's firstborn.
Homilies on Numbers 6.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The Spirit rested on the seventy elders and the prophets only for a time and left them in sin, but he remained permanently on Christ alone, who committed no sin.
Homilies on Numbers 9.5Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Aaron standing with his censer between the living and the dead prefigures Christ, who stood between them in his incarnation and death and will again at the judgment.
Homilies on Numbers 11.8Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Only the Trinity is holy by nature; creatures are “sanctified holy,” and the firstfruits we offer are the highest forms of the Spirit's fruits, such as loving God with the whole heart and rejoicing in God's word.
Homilies on Numbers 16.6Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The spiritual Israel will receive the glories forfeited by fallen powers, and its glory will be like that of the unicorn, a figure of Christ whose one horn is his single kingdom over all.
Homilies on Numbers 17.5Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The man who comes forth from Israel’s seed is Christ; “Gog,” read as an untranslated Hebrew word meaning “upon the roofs,” signifies his kingdom exalted in the perfect and growing in the churches.
Homilies on Numbers 17.6Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The rest of the third oracle is read of Christ: called out of Egypt, ruling as the unicorn, consuming the nations by converting them, resting like a lion on the cross; those who curse him, including Christians whose conduct brings his name into blasphemy, are cursed.
Homilies on Numbers 18.4Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The star out of Jacob is the star of the Magi, which remained on Christ as a sign of his divinity, while the man out of Israel signifies his humanity; Christ destroys the demonic princes, takes humanity as his plunder, makes even the flesh an heir, and saves those whom he “destroys” by setting them free from the world.
Homilies on Numbers 24.1Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The various festival victims figure the saints, apostles, and angels whose intercession contributes to the purification of the human race, as Christ the Lamb takes away the sin of the whole world; the decreasing number of bulls at Tabernacles shows sins diminishing through purification, until the one perfect victim ends the others.
Homilies on Numbers 27.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The forty-two stations of the exodus correspond to the forty-two generations through which Christ descended; believers ascend by the same steps, beginning, as their first station, with faith in his birth from the Virgin.
Homilies on Psalms 36-38 2.1Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · To be subject to the Lord is shown by deeds, not words; Christ, whose members we are, will be “subject” to the Father when all his members are subject to God, and we should cease from sin before asking pardon for past sins.
Homilies on Jeremiah 1.6Origen · ca. 240 · Some apply Jeremiah's call to Christ, but parts fit Christ poorly and parts fit Jeremiah poorly; Origen refuses to split one passage between them.
Homilies on Jeremiah 1.7Origen · ca. 240 · The nations and kingdoms to be rooted out are sins ruling in souls; and with Scripture as witness, even “I am too young” can be applied to Christ, who emptied himself and grew as a child.
Homilies on Jeremiah 1.8Origen · ca. 240 · Christ, the Word of God, can truly say “I do not know how to speak,” because human speech is lower than the divine knowledge he has; like a grown man learning baby talk, he took up human speech in the incarnation.
Homilies on Jeremiah 1.9Origen · ca. 240 · In the Father the Word had no need of words that root out evil; “I do not know how to speak” means he did not speak human things, just as “I do not know you” marks his greatness.
Homilies on Jeremiah 1.11Origen · ca. 240 · God sanctified Jeremiah before birth; the Savior was sanctified even earlier.
Homilies on Jeremiah 1.12Origen · ca. 240 · Jeremiah literally prophesied against the nations, but in the higher sense the Savior is the prophet to all nations foretold by Moses, still drawing people to salvation by his Spirit.
Homilies on Jeremiah 8.2Origen · ca. 240 · Christ is God's understanding, as he is God's wisdom, power, and righteousness, one subject with many aspects; the righteous who bear the heavenly image are themselves a heaven, and their good works lead them to heaven.
Homilies on Jeremiah 8.6Origen · ca. 240 · The many treasuries of God may be the different resting places of the ranks of the risen, all contained in the one treasure, Christ.
Homilies on Jeremiah 8.8Origen · ca. 240 · The wisdom Christ brought when he emptied himself is “the foolishness of God” compared with God's heavenly wisdom, yet it is wiser than all human wisdom.
Homilies on Jeremiah 8.9Origen · ca. 240 · God refutes worldly wisdom not with his full wisdom but with a little of his “foolishness,” the humble Gospel; Christ took on weakness and folly to lead us up to God's true wisdom and power.
Homilies on Jeremiah 9.1Origen · ca. 240 · The Word who came to Jeremiah is the same Christ who was incarnate, so the God of the law and the gospel is one; the “men of Judah” addressed are Christians, since Christ is the true Judah of Jacob's blessing.
Homilies on Jeremiah 9.4Origen · ca. 240 · Christians who sin return to their former father, the devil, for whoever sins is born of him; but as the Father always begets the Son, so God always begets the righteous as his sons in every good deed.
Homilies on Jeremiah 10.1Origen · ca. 240 · God alone is our teacher, through Christ, the Spirit, and the saints; in Jeremiah's “innocent lamb” Christ speaks, who “did not know” sin, since to know sin is to commit it.
Homilies on Jeremiah 10.2Origen · ca. 240 · The “wood put into his bread” is the cross added to Christ's teaching; far from spoiling it, the cross sweetened his word, like the wood that sweetened the bitter water, and spread it through the world.
Homilies on Jeremiah 10.3Origen · ca. 240 · Those who killed Christ hoped to blot out his name, but his death, like a grain of wheat, bore abundant fruit, and his resurrection will bear still more.
Homilies on Jeremiah 10.4Origen · ca. 240 · The men of Anathoth (“Hearkening”) who sought Jeremiah's life stand for those who rejected Christ; their punishment is a famine of God's word, as prophecy and true teaching passed from them to the church.
Homilies on Jeremiah 10.7Origen · ca. 240 · In Jeremiah's lament Christ speaks: he left his heavenly home and inheritance and gave his soul into the hands of its enemies.
Homilies on Jeremiah 11.1Origen · ca. 240 · Christ is the one who says “because of me the land is laid waste,” since the desolation came after he was killed.
Homilies on Jeremiah 14.5Origen · ca. 240 · Unlike Isaiah, who prophesied after being cleansed of sin, Jeremiah was a prophet from birth; “mother” may be Wisdom, who bears the prophets; and “disputed with by all the earth” fits Christ better than Jeremiah.
Homilies on Jeremiah 14.6Origen · ca. 240 · Christ can say “woe is me,” as he wept over Jerusalem and as he laments in the prophets over the lack of fruit among men, but he says it as man, in his human soul, not as the divine Word.
Homilies on Jeremiah 14.7Origen · ca. 240 · Christ is “judged in all the earth” whenever Christians are tried or falsely accused for their faith, since he identifies himself with them.
Homilies on Jeremiah 14.8Origen · ca. 240 · Everyone who hears of Christianity puts Christ on trial: unbelievers condemn him, doubters dispute him, and believers welcome him; those who bear the heavenly image are no longer “earth” that judges him.
Homilies on Jeremiah 14.9Origen · ca. 240 · “My strength has failed” is Christ speaking: he was crucified in weakness, as Isaiah's suffering servant, having emptied himself to take the form of a servant.
Homilies on Jeremiah 14.10Origen · ca. 240 · Every rational person shares in Christ the Word; in sinners his strength fails, while in the righteous it grows, so that Jesus himself “advances” in them.
Homilies on Jeremiah 14.11Origen · ca. 240 · Christ interceded with the Father for sinners in the very time of their sins, dying for them while they were still sinners and rescuing them from the devil.
Homilies on Jeremiah 14.18Origen · ca. 240 · The prophet's severe wound foreshadows the cross, followed by healing in the resurrection; God's promise “I will restore you” implies a return to where we once were, pointing to the restoration of all things.
Homilies on Jeremiah 15.3Origen · ca. 240 · “Judged in all the earth” fits Christ, who will stand before the Father at the judgment; his lament over the scanty harvest of virtue, found even in the churches, should make each of us examine our own fruit.
Homilies on Jeremiah 15.4Origen · ca. 240 · Christ laments over human sin as man, in his human soul, and the angels lament with him; the “mother” he addresses may be Mary, or, according to the Gospel of the Hebrews, the Holy Spirit.
Homilies on Jeremiah 15.5Origen · ca. 240 · Christ owed nothing, since he committed no sin, and “no one owed him” because he forgave all debts, like the lender in the parable who forgave both debtors, the Jewish people and the Gentiles.
Homilies on Jeremiah 15.6Origen · ca. 240 · “Cursed is he who hopes in man” condemns those who hold that Christ was a mere man; Christians hope in him as God's Wisdom and Word, and must not put their trust in bodily strength or influential friends.
Homilies on Jeremiah 16.2Origen · ca. 240 · To be taken by God's hunters one must live on the “mountains,” like the mount of the Transfiguration and of the Beatitudes; the rock is Christ, and the cleft through which Moses saw God is Christ's coming in the flesh.
Homilies on Jeremiah 17.4Origen · ca. 240 · At the end of time the devil's worldly wisdom will be shown to be folly; Christ is the exalted “throne of glory,” our sanctification and endurance, and whoever sins forsakes him, “written on the earth” instead of in heaven.
Homilies on Jeremiah 17.5Origen · ca. 240 · Only Christ, the physician of souls, can truly be asked “heal me and I shall be healed,” as the woman with the hemorrhage found; the one who renounces every earthly boast can say to God, “you are my boast.”
Homilies on Jeremiah 18.2Origen · ca. 240 · Moses was told to go up the mountain, Jeremiah to go down to the potter's house: some teachings concern higher things, others lower things, and the mind that follows Christ, who both ascended and descended, can be led by the Word to all of them.
Homilies on Jeremiah 18.5Origen · ca. 240 · The potter's word about two nations refers to Israel, threatened and punished for rejecting Christ, and to the church of the nations, planted on Christ, which will likewise be cut off if it bears no fruit.
Homilies on Jeremiah 20.1Origen · ca. 240 · God's anger, wrath, and repentance share only their names with ours: like his Word, which is unlike any human word, they are purposeful and corrective, as his “repentance” over Saul gave Israel David.
Lines 49–72Commodian · 3rd century (disputed) · God, who gave the law through Moses, foretold Christ's incarnation through many prophets, and the poet, no appointed teacher, opens the prophecies to those still adrift.
Lines 97–120Commodian · 3rd century (disputed) · God's majesty is hidden even from the angels, but he shows himself in forms suited to those who see him, appeared in fire, and took flesh.
Lines 215–236Commodian · 3rd century (disputed) · Israel killed the prophets sent to correct it and did not recognize Christ, who came in humble flesh and healed by his word.
Lines 261–284Commodian · 3rd century (disputed) · The prophets foretold Christ's crucifixion (David, Solomon, Jeremiah, Moses); the one God came as the Son and was born in the flesh.
Lines 285–308Commodian · 3rd century (disputed) · The prophets foretold that the Gentiles would believe in Christ's name; Christians believe for the sake of eternal life, not for this life's passing goods.
Lines 309–332Commodian · 3rd century (disputed) · Christ descended into death to raise Adam and overcame the devil by the cross, the true tree of life, from which believers receive life.
Lines 333–356Commodian · 3rd century (disputed) · Isaiah foretold Christ's humiliation and suffering, Malachi the pure offering of the Gentiles to his name.
Lines 357–380Commodian · 3rd century (disputed) · The crucifixion of the Creator seems folly, but God came thus by his own counsel, calling himself the Son, as the prophets foretold that God would appear on earth.
Lines 381–404Commodian · 3rd century (disputed) · The prophets foretold the faith of the Gentiles in Christ; those who call him a magician are refuted by the fulfilled prophecies, including the loss of their own land.
Lines 405–428Commodian · 3rd century (disputed) · Isaiah foretold the virgin birth and the passion; David, the nails, the vinegar and the lots; Amos, the darkness at the crucifixion; and the prophets, Israel's refusal and the hearing of the Gentiles.
Lines 429–452Commodian · 3rd century (disputed) · Deuteronomy foretold the precedence of the Gentiles; against the slander that Jesus' body was thrown into a pit, the Psalms proclaim his resurrection and refer to the Lord, not to David.
Lines 453–476Commodian · 3rd century (disputed) · The Psalms do not fit David, who was not crucified; Isaiah and Christ himself foretell his glorification and voluntary death.
Lines 477–500Commodian · 3rd century (disputed) · Against the slander that Jesus was thrown into a pit, the poet cites his burial and Wisdom's prophecy of the plot against the righteous one who calls God his Father.
Lines 501–524Commodian · 3rd century (disputed) · No prophet or king was the righteous one the prophets foretold, for all sinned or died otherwise; only Christ, hanged on the wood, fulfilled the prophecies.
Lines 525–548Commodian · 3rd century (disputed) · Christ's crucifixion was necessary for the fall of Adam, and he made a new people of the Gentiles, as Isaiah and Moses foretold, though the Jews claim the law for themselves alone.
Lines 549–572Commodian · 3rd century (disputed) · Christ foretold his passion and resurrection, appeared to the apostles, and showed his wounds to Thomas, who confessed him as God and Lord.
Lines 597–620Commodian · 3rd century (disputed) · Advocates and the worldly strive for gain and neglect salvation; the whole hope is faith in the God who hung on the cross, whom Israel failed to recognize because he called himself Son.
Lines 621–644Commodian · 3rd century (disputed) · The God who tested Abraham and made animals and an infant speak came hidden in the flesh, and sea, winds, and death obeyed him.
Lines 645–668Commodian · 3rd century (disputed) · Christ's miracles, from raising Jairus's daughter to the wine at Cana, did not move his people to recognize him, though pardon remains for those who believe.
Lines 765–788Commodian · 3rd century (disputed) · God became man and, born of a virgin, secretly destroyed the death the devil brought; no one can serve both idols and God, and conversion must not be put off.
Instructions 1.36Commodian · 3rd century (disputed) · The cross is folly to unbelievers descended in spirit from Cain, who will recognize the crucified Lord only at the judgment, while Abel's race believes.
Instructions 1.40Commodian · 3rd century (disputed) · The prophets reject Israel's sabbaths and sacrifices and foretold the crucifixion of God, who is life, which the Jews mock.
Declaration of FaithGregory Thaumaturgus · 3rd century · A creed confessing one God the Father, one Lord the Son, and one Holy Spirit, a perfect and undivided Trinity in which nothing is created.
To Theopompus on the Impassibility and Passibility of God, section 1Gregory Thaumaturgus · if authentic, ca. 240-275 · Theopompus asks Gregory before a gathering of friends whether God is impassible, and argues that if God's nature is impassible, it would prevent him from suffering even if he willed it.
To Theopompus on the Impassibility and Passibility of God, section 2Gregory Thaumaturgus · if authentic, ca. 240-275 · Gregory warns against subjecting God's will to the necessity of his nature, since God alone is free; Theopompus grants God's freedom but presses whether an impassible nature can take on human suffering.
To Theopompus on the Impassibility and Passibility of God, section 4Gregory Thaumaturgus · if authentic, ca. 240-275 · Gregory argues that in God, who is simple and one in essence and will, nature and will cannot conflict, unlike man, who is composed of body and soul whose wills differ.
To Theopompus on the Impassibility and Passibility of God, section 5Gregory Thaumaturgus · if authentic, ca. 240-275 · Theopompus accepts God's freedom and lordship but asks whether God ever intended to subject himself to human sufferings, since his impassible nature never changes.
To Theopompus on the Impassibility and Passibility of God, section 6Gregory Thaumaturgus · if authentic, ca. 240-275 · Gregory answers that it is no suffering for God willingly to humble himself and serve men for their healing and salvation, since his impassible nature proves its impassibility in suffering.
To Theopompus on the Impassibility and Passibility of God, section 7Gregory Thaumaturgus · if authentic, ca. 240-275 · Using the image of a physician who willingly humbles himself to serve the sick without losing his dignity, Gregory argues that God's willing entry into suffering defeats suffering itself.
To Theopompus on the Impassibility and Passibility of God, section 8Gregory Thaumaturgus · if authentic, ca. 240-275 · Like a diamond struck by iron, God remains unharmed when he enters suffering and death, so that his entry into death was the death of death.
To Theopompus on the Impassibility and Passibility of God, section 9Gregory Thaumaturgus · if authentic, ca. 240-275 · As iron is damaged by the stone it strikes, God remains impassible in his sufferings, and his presence within suffering is the true proof of his impassibility and immortality.
To Theopompus on the Impassibility and Passibility of God, section 10Gregory Thaumaturgus · if authentic, ca. 240-275 · God's impassibility becomes known only by his entering into sufferings, against which the sufferings cannot stand.
To Theopompus on the Impassibility and Passibility of God, section 11Gregory Thaumaturgus · if authentic, ca. 240-275 · God's entry into death shows not weakness but his unchangeable power; like a king visiting a prison without becoming a criminal, he entered death without being subject to it.
To Theopompus on the Impassibility and Passibility of God, section 12Gregory Thaumaturgus · if authentic, ca. 240-275 · God came to death and went forth from it as almighty, mocking death as no mortal can, whereas transgressors remain in death; so those who mock his coming to death are wrong.
To Theopompus on the Impassibility and Passibility of God, section 13Gregory Thaumaturgus · if authentic, ca. 240-275 · As the salamander, a mortal creature, endures fire unharmed, so God truly came to death and remained impassible, becoming like mortal men without losing anything of his Godhead.
To Theopompus on the Impassibility and Passibility of God, section 14Gregory Thaumaturgus · if authentic, ca. 240-275 · God, who took on the form of mortal men by his own will for a short time, remained unchanged and undiminished, so the sufferings that came about by his counsel are not sufferings of God.
To Theopompus on the Impassibility and Passibility of God, section 15Gregory Thaumaturgus · if authentic, ca. 240-275 · As a sword passes through fire without dividing it, so the divine nature, finer than all bodies, entered sufferings without being divided or harmed, and so revealed its impassibility.
To Theopompus on the Impassibility and Passibility of God, section 16Gregory Thaumaturgus · if authentic, ca. 240-275 · As sunlight passes through glass without being lessened, God passes through sufferings unharmed and gives his gifts without loss, so his coming to men is not an impossible suffering.
To Theopompus on the Impassibility and Passibility of God, section 17Gregory Thaumaturgus · if authentic, ca. 240-275 · Only a God who does not fear fire, iron or death is truly free; and God, who willingly takes on human sufferings without suffering their pains, alone is impassible.
To Theopompus on the Impassibility and Passibility of God, section 18Gregory Thaumaturgus · if authentic, ca. 240-275 · A God harmed by sufferings would cease to be God; the true God comes to help, taking human form for our sake while remaining unchanged.
To Theopompus on the Impassibility and Passibility of God, section 19Gregory Thaumaturgus · if authentic, ca. 240-275 · A God who chose idle rest would be inferior to the many famous pagans who died for their city or friends; but God, needing no praise, came willingly and fearlessly to death.
To Theopompus on the Impassibility and Passibility of God, section 20Gregory Thaumaturgus · if authentic, ca. 240-275 · God suffers no dishonor by going into death to free men from it, since he has no pride or fear of losing glory; vainglory would be a suffering incurable even by him.
To Theopompus on the Impassibility and Passibility of God, section 21Gregory Thaumaturgus · if authentic, ca. 240-275 · God, who is life and above death, can go into death without suffering from it, and hastens gladly into death in order to destroy it.
To Theopompus on the Impassibility and Passibility of God, section 22Gregory Thaumaturgus · if authentic, ca. 240-275 · As light enters darkness without being darkened and lights it up, so God willingly emptied himself into death while his divine nature remained incorrupt and conquered the sufferings.
To Theopompus on the Impassibility and Passibility of God, section 23Gregory Thaumaturgus · if authentic, ca. 240-275 · Things like the salamander, the diamond and talc keep their nature in contact with what harms them, so God remains impassible in suffering; and a God who did nothing for men would not be blessed, since true impassibility kills men's sufferings.
To Theopompus on the Impassibility and Passibility of God, section 32Gregory Thaumaturgus · if authentic, ca. 240-275 · Gregory concludes that Jesus, King over all, came to heal men's sufferings, scattering them by his impassibility like darkness before light, and made mortals immortal.
On the Trinity 9Novatian · ca. 240–250 · The rule of truth also requires faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God the Creator, whom the Old Testament promised in many prophecies of his birth, miracles, passion, resurrection, and reign.
On the Trinity 10Novatian · ca. 240–250 · The heretics' Christ, who rejects the Old Testament and comes only in appearance, is a fiction; the true Christ took real flesh from Mary, died, and rose in that body as the pattern of our resurrection.
On the Trinity 11Novatian · ca. 240–250 · Against those who say Christ was only a man, Scripture shows him both man and God: his weaknesses prove his humanity, and his mighty works and titles prove his divinity.
On the Trinity 12Novatian · ca. 240–250 · Hosea, Isaiah, and Habakkuk speak of God saving, coming, and working signs, which Christ fulfilled; so those who call Christ a mere man must either confess him God the Son or fall into Sabellianism.
On the Trinity 13Novatian · ca. 240–250 · John's “the Word became flesh” shows Christ both God and man; since he came from heaven, knows hearts, forgives sins, is called God by Thomas and Paul, and made all things, he is God and not only man.
On the Trinity 14Novatian · ca. 240–250 · A series of questions shows that a mere man could not have made the world, come from heaven, be present everywhere when called upon, be the object of hope, precede John the Baptist, or give life as the Father does.
On the Trinity 15Novatian · ca. 240–250 · Christ's sayings that he came from above, proceeded from God, gives immortality, existed before Abraham, and is one with the Father prove him God, yet the Son and not the Father.
On the Trinity 16Novatian · ca. 240–250 · Christ's promises of eternal life to believers, the Paraclete's receiving from him, his joining himself to the Father as object of faith, and his glory before the world prove him God, not a mere man or only predestined.
On the Trinity 17Novatian · ca. 240–250 · Moses agrees with John: the Word through whom God created all things, and who made man in God's image and came down at Babel, is the Son, Christ, who is therefore God.
On the Trinity 18Novatian · ca. 240–250 · The God who appeared to Abraham at Mamre and the Angel who spoke to Hagar, called both angel and God, cannot be the invisible Father or a mere angel; he is the Son, who accustoms human eyes to see God.
On the Trinity 19Novatian · ca. 240–250 · Scripture calls the one who spoke to Jacob both Angel and God, and the man who wrestled with Jacob both man and God; these figures point to Christ, who is God and not only man or angel.
On the Trinity 20Novatian · ca. 240–250 · If angels, unjust judges, and Moses can be called “gods” without blasphemy, much more can Christ, who is Lord over them all and received the divine name without measure.
On the Trinity 21Novatian · ca. 240–250 · Christ's power to raise his own body, his title “firstborn of all creation,” and his putting off and on of the flesh show that the Word who took up a man is both God and man.
On the Trinity 22Novatian · ca. 240–250 · Philippians 2 shows Christ in the form of God, obedient to the Father, emptying himself by taking a servant's form and receiving the name above every name; a mere man is not emptied by being born, so Christ is God.
On the Trinity 23Novatian · ca. 240–250 · Even heretics who call Christ the Father, or who deny his flesh, testify by their error to his evident divinity; the Scriptures show him God as the Son and man as the Mediator who unites God and man.
On the Trinity 24Novatian · ca. 240–250 · Heretics use Luke 1:35 to identify the man born of Mary with the Son of God; but its “also” shows that the Son of God is principally the Word who came down, and that the man he took up became Son of God by union with him.
On the Trinity 25Novatian · ca. 240–250 · To the objection that if Christ is God then God died, Novatian answers that only the man in Christ died: as death cannot kill even the soul, much less can it touch the divinity of the Word.
On the Trinity 26Novatian · ca. 240–250 · Against those who say Christ is the Father because he is God, many texts show the Son as a second person after the Father, sent by him, obedient to him, and receiving all things from him.
On the Trinity 27Novatian · ca. 240–250 · “I and the Father are one” means one in concord, not one person: Christ says “one thing,” “we are,” and calls himself the Son sanctified and sent by the Father, as Paul and Apollos are two yet one.
On the Trinity 28Novatian · ca. 240–250 · “He who has seen me has seen the Father” does not make Christ the Father: Scripture speaks of the certain future as done, and whoever sees the Son, the Father's image, is on the way to seeing the invisible Father.
On the Trinity 30Novatian · ca. 240–250 · Both Sabellians and adoptionists err by thinking “one God” excludes Christ's divinity; but as calling Christ Lord, Paul teacher, and Christ good does not undo the one Lord, Teacher, and Good, so Christ's being God does not undo the one God.
On the Trinity 31Novatian · ca. 240–250 · The one God is the Father, without origin; the Son, the Word born from him before all time, is God and a second person, yet, having his origin from the Father and returning all things to him in obedience, he does not make two Gods.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 0.69Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · Scripture uses 'love' openly only where no misunderstanding is possible; love and charity mean the same, and God, Father and Son, is charity.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 0.84Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · Solomon is a figure of Christ; the three titles correspond to Christ reigning in Israel (Proverbs), in the heavenly Jerusalem (Ecclesiastes), and as the Peaceable One when God is all in all (the Song).
Commentary on the Song of Songs 0.85Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · The Song names Solomon only, without bodily titles, because the perfect bride loves Christ no longer according to the flesh; the Levites, set above Israel's number, show something greater than Israel.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 1.90Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · Spiritually, the church, having received the law from angels and the promises from the prophets, prays that the Bridegroom himself would come and speak to her, as he did in the incarnation.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 1.98Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · The 'spices' are the law and prophets that prepared the church; the ointment of Christ, anointed by the Spirit, surpasses them as the spiritual high-priestly ointment surpasses Aaron's (Exod 30).
Commentary on the Song of Songs 1.99Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · The four spices of the holy ointment figure the incarnation: myrrh his death and resurrection, cinnamon the spotless church, calamus his teaching, iris the Spirit or judgment, and the oil his mercy and the unity of his person.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 1.107Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · Scripture's references to spiritual eyes, ears, smell, taste and touch confirm the spiritual senses; the 'emptied ointment' is Christ's self-emptying, from whose fullness the young maidens receive.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 1.113Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · Christ is the virtues, which are also said to embrace him; likewise he is called both bridegroom and bride (Isa 61:10).
Commentary on the Song of Songs 2.118Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · Moses was praised most when he married the Ethiopian, figure of the church wed to Christ; the queen of Sheba likewise prefigures the gentile church coming to the true Solomon.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 2.152Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · The white horse of Revelation may be Christ's body, his soul, both, or the church; the bride, likened to this heavenly cavalry, surpasses souls still under Pharaoh, or was herself taken from Pharaoh's chariots.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 2.153Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · Souls that take the Word as rider are blessed; 'my close one' may be Christ's own soul, the church's model. In verse 10 the bride, blushing at the rebuke, has cheeks and neck made beautiful.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 2.156Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · The necklace is Christ's obedience, which the church's obedience imitates, as Judah's pledge to Tamar foreshadowed; in verse 11 the speakers are the Bridegroom's friends, the angels, prophets or patriarchs.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 2.167Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · From many nards (the prophets) the soul comes to the one nard (Christ's teaching); Christ becomes for each spiritual sense its object: light, word, bread, ointment and touchable flesh.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 2.169Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · The 'bundle of the drop' signifies Christ's body binding his divine power, or for the soul the binding of doctrines (as only bound vessels are clean); Christ is a 'drop', small like Daniel's stone, who gathers the nations.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 3.176Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · The shady body shares in grace; Christ's assumed body may be the shared bed; the house with cedar timbers is the Church.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 3.178Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · Christ, not perfected as a flower under the law, became a lily among the Gentiles, clothed by the Father in sinless flesh, and his Church becomes a lily among thorns.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 3.182Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · The shade of the apple tree is the life-giving shadow of Christ, better than the shadow of the law and a step toward seeing face to face.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 3.183Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · All in this life are under some shadow; the shadow of the law gave little protection, but faith in Christ's incarnation shelters fully until we see face to face.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 3.196Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · Scripture uses human words for divine realities; the left hand is the incarnation and its riches and glory, faith in the passion; the right hand is the eternal Word.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 3.197Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · The Church rests on faith in the incarnation (the left hand) and seeks knowledge of the eternal Word (the right); the Bride adjures the maidens by the field to rouse love as far as the Bridegroom wills.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 3.206Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · Believers become mountains as Christ grows in them, the proud are brought low; Christ is the mountain of mountains; the roe and stag are clean animals and images of the holy.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 3.213Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · The spiritual stags give birth to the spirit of salvation and free their converts; the 'stag of friendships' is Christ who slew the serpent, and the 'foal of graces' the Holy Spirit.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 3.214Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · Christ is a 'young stag' because he was born a child of the saintly 'stags', his forebears; the high mountains for the stags are the persons of the Trinity; the roe is named from keen sight.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 3.215Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · Christ alone sees the Father and, like the roe whose humour heals eyes, gives others sight of him; God is seen by the mind, not the body.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 3.222Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · The devil's nets ensnared all; Christ alone, sinless and free among the dead, broke them, rose, and led captivity captive.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 3.230Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · In spring the Word calls the soul out of the city (the world) to the outer wall, sheltered by the rock, Christ, on whom no trace of the serpent (sin) is found.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 3.231Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · The rock is Christ, whose cleft reveals the Father; sheltered there, the soul shows its unveiled face and is heard, as Moses was.
Homily on the Song of Songs 1Origen · ca. 240–250 · Origen's first homily on the Song of Songs presents it as the highest of the Bible's songs, a wedding drama of Christ and the church, and expounds Song 1:2–11 on the kiss, the ointments, the black but beautiful bride, and the bridegroom's absences.
Homily on the Song of Songs 2Origen · ca. 240–250 · Origen's second homily expounds Song 1:12–2:14: the nard as the anointing at Bethany, the bridegroom as a drop from the mountain, the dove-eyed bride, the ordering of love, the wound of love, and the bridegroom's call to rise after the winter of the passion.
To Vigilius, on Jewish Unbelief 3Anonymous · 3rd century (disputed) · The magi and Simeon bore witness that the light, Christ, had been born.
To Vigilius, on Jewish Unbelief 4Anonymous · 3rd century (disputed) · The prophets foretold Christ's coming so plainly that unbelievers have no excuse, yet Israel did not recognize him.
To Vigilius, on Jewish Unbelief 6Anonymous · 3rd century (disputed) · Christ is the sun of righteousness; to believe in him is to know God, and faith leads to understanding.
To Vigilius, on Jewish Unbelief 7Anonymous · 3rd century (disputed) · Abraham's faith is the pattern for believers, his true sons; Israel lost that name by unbelief, yet Christ turned some of them to the truth.
On the Computation of Easter 10Anonymous · 243 · Abraham's story prefigures Christ: Isaac carrying the wood, and Abraham's 318 servants, whose number signifies the cross (T = 300) and the name of Jesus (ιη = 18).
On the Computation of Easter 17Anonymous · 243 · The forty-nine years signify Christ's thirty-one years and the name of Jesus (18), and also the fire prepared for sinners, figured by the furnace of Babylon; from the exodus to the rebuilding of Jerusalem are 1,114 years.
On the Computation of Easter 18Anonymous · 243 · The sixty-two weeks (434 years) bring the reckoning to Christ's birth, 1,548 years after the exodus, which the author places on Wednesday 28 March.
On the Computation of Easter 19Anonymous · 243 · Christ was born on the day the sun was created, as the Sun of righteousness, and the divisions of the solar year figure the three days without sun, the four Gospels, and the twelve apostles.
On the Computation of Easter 21Anonymous · 243 · The moon's phases after its creation foreshow Christ's death on the fifteenth of the moon, his rest in the earth, and his resurrection on the third day, and our own resurrection at the end of the world.
Against Celsus, preface 1Origen · ca. 248 · Origen tells his patron Ambrose that Jesus kept silent before false witnesses, trusting his life to speak for him, and quotes Matthew's account of the trial.
Against Celsus, preface 2Origen · ca. 248 · Jesus could have defended himself and been released, but he chose silence; now he is defended by the lives of his true disciples.
Against Celsus 1.6Origen · ca. 248 · Christians cast out demons not by spells but by the name of Jesus and the telling of his story; Celsus wrongly calls Jesus a sorcerer.
Against Celsus 1.7Origen · ca. 248 · Christian preaching is known everywhere, not secret; like philosophy and the mysteries it has deeper teachings for the prepared, which is no fault.
Against Celsus 1.11Origen · ca. 248 · All human life—sailing, marrying, farming—rests on faith, so it is far more reasonable to trust God and Christ, who died for humanity and sent his disciples through the world.
Against Celsus 1.28Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus's imaginary Jew claims Jesus invented the virgin birth, that Mary was a poor adulteress, and that Jesus learned magic in Egypt; Origen begins his reply.
Against Celsus 1.29Origen · ca. 248 · Jesus had none of the advantages of birth, wealth, or education, yet he stirred the whole world more than any sage, king, or general.
Against Celsus 1.30Origen · ca. 248 · Jesus is uniquely admired for wisdom, miracles, and leadership together, and even his shameful death by crucifixion did not destroy his fame.
Against Celsus 1.31Origen · ca. 248 · The apostles' readiness to die makes sense only if they saw Christ risen; his death, like that of heroes who died for their cities, defeated the ruler of demons for all humanity.
Against Celsus 1.32Origen · ca. 248 · The Jewish story that Mary bore Jesus by a soldier named Panthera betrays that Jesus was not Joseph's son; even on Platonic assumptions, so great a soul would have a pure and exceptional birth.
Against Celsus 1.33Origen · ca. 248 · If bodies suit the souls that inhabit them, the soul of Jesus would need an extraordinary body, not one born of adultery.
Against Celsus 1.34Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus ignored Isaiah's prophecy that a virgin would bear Emmanuel; Origen quotes it and defends the translation "virgin" against the rendering "young woman."
Against Celsus 1.35Origen · ca. 248 · From Isaiah's own words: a birth to a young wife would be no sign; the sign fits a virgin birth, given to the house of David and fulfilled in Christ, who descended and ascended.
Against Celsus 1.37Origen · ca. 248 · Nature and Greek stories show that birth without a father is not impossible; the Jew's comparison of Mary with the mothers of Greek myth is buffoonery.
Against Celsus 1.38Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus says Jesus learned magic in Egypt, but a magician would not teach God's judgment, and the apostles would not have risked death for a teaching that forbids magic.
Against Celsus 1.39Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus's jokes about Mary's beauty and poverty are mere street abuse, not argument.
Against Celsus 1.41Origen · ca. 248 · Origen will answer Celsus point by point in Celsus's order; the Jew mocks the dove at Jesus' baptism and asks who witnessed it.
Against Celsus 1.43Origen · ca. 248 · A Jew who believes the visions of Ezekiel and Isaiah cannot reject the dove at Jesus' baptism; Jesus' power, still at work in the churches, makes him more credible than the prophets.
Against Celsus 1.45Origen · ca. 248 · Origen recalls telling Jewish scholars that they cannot believe Moses' miracles while rejecting Jesus'; indeed the prophecies of Jesus prove Moses a true prophet.
Against Celsus 1.48Origen · ca. 248 · The prophets' visions and Jesus' opened heavens are perceived by a spiritual "divine sense," not the bodily senses; and Jesus did not boast of his own baptismal vision, which John witnessed.
Against Celsus 1.49Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus ignores the many prophecies of Christ and has his Jew speak of one prophet in Jerusalem announcing a "son of God," which no Jew would say.
Against Celsus 1.50Origen · ca. 248 · The prophets foretold Christ's birthplace, sufferings, resurrection, and miracles, not merely that a judge would come; Origen will cite some of these prophecies.
Against Celsus 1.51Origen · ca. 248 · Micah foretold Bethlehem as the Messiah's birthplace, the cave of the nativity is still shown there, and the Jewish teachers knew the prophecy until they suppressed it after Christ came.
Against Celsus 1.53Origen · ca. 248 · Jacob's prophecy that rule would not leave Judah until the one came who is the nations' expectation is fulfilled in Christ, in whom the nations now hope.
Against Celsus 1.54Origen · ca. 248 · Against Celsus's mockery of Christ's suffering, Origen quotes Isaiah's prophecy of the Servant who would suffer and die for others' sins.
Against Celsus 1.55Origen · ca. 248 · In debate with Jewish scholars who applied Isaiah's Servant to the people of Israel, Origen argued that the Servant who dies for "my people" must be someone else—Jesus Christ.
Against Celsus 1.56Origen · ca. 248 · The prophets foretold two comings of Christ, one humble and one glorious; Psalm 45 calls the anointed one God, anointed by his God.
Against Celsus 1.57Origen · ca. 248 · Jesus is Son of God in a unique sense, the source of all adoption; the would-be messiahs Theudas, Judas the Galilean, Dositheus, and Simon Magus all came to nothing, as Gamaliel foresaw.
Against Celsus 1.59Origen · ca. 248 · Comets were thought to mark great events, and Balaam prophesied a star at the Messiah's birth, so the star of Bethlehem is fitting.
Against Celsus 1.60Origen · ca. 248 · At Christ's birth the angels' praise broke the power of the magi's demons; guided by Balaam's prophecy of the star, the magi came to worship a greater power, with gifts fit for a king, a mortal, and God.
Against Celsus 1.61Origen · ca. 248 · Herod's plot and the flight to Egypt reflect blind wickedness moved by the devil; Christ's kingdom is not of this world, and avoiding danger until his appointed time was not cowardice.
Against Celsus 1.66Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus mocks the flight to Egypt; Origen answers that Christ, being truly man as well as God, was protected by ordinary human means, which suited his purpose better than a spectacular rescue.
Against Celsus 1.67Origen · ca. 248 · The sons of gods in Greek myth did nothing to compare with the work of Jesus, whose churches fill the world and whose name still heals and transforms.
Against Celsus 1.68Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus likens Jesus' miracles to street magic, but magicians never call anyone to moral reform or the fear of God, as Jesus' works and life did.
Against Celsus 1.69Origen · ca. 248 · Christ truly took a human body, born of a woman and tempted like us but without sin; Celsus's objection rests on his belief in the Panthera story.
Against Celsus 1.70Origen · ca. 248 · Jesus' eating and speaking are no argument against his divinity, since he truly took a human body; the Greek gods too spoke through human prophetesses.
Against Celsus 2.6Origen · ca. 248 · Even if Jesus kept the Jewish customs, he is still the Son of the God who gave the law, which the prophets themselves teach has a hidden meaning.
Against Celsus 2.7Origen · ca. 248 · Jesus, who washed his disciples' feet, was not boastful or a liar, and turning the law's bodily observances into spiritual ones is not unholy.
Against Celsus 2.8Origen · ca. 248 · No one like Jesus has appeared; the Jews' rejection of him was foretold by Isaiah, and Origen sees their loss of Jerusalem as a consequence.
Against Celsus 2.9Origen · ca. 248 · Christians do not call Jesus' visible body or human soul God, but the divine Word who spoke in him, who created all things at the Father's command and is not confined to Jesus' body, though united with it.
Against Celsus 2.10Origen · ca. 248 · Jesus was not caught as a fugitive but gave himself up willingly, as John and Matthew record; the disciples' readiness to die shows they believed what they wrote.
Against Celsus 2.11Origen · ca. 248 · Only one disciple, Judas, betrayed Jesus, and even he was not wholly lost to Jesus' teaching, as his repentance shows; the betrayal was prophesied in the Psalms.
Against Celsus 2.13Origen · ca. 248 · Jesus foretold that his followers would be brought before rulers for his name alone—as Christians uniquely are—that the gospel would reach the whole world, and that Jerusalem would be besieged, all of which came true.
Against Celsus 2.14Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus refuses to grant Jesus foreknowledge, but even the pagan historian Phlegon admitted that Christ's predictions came true.
Against Celsus 2.16Origen · ca. 248 · Origen answers Celsus that Jesus' death did not contradict his teaching, that his suffering and resurrection were real rather than apparent, and that he is immortal as the one risen from the dead.
Against Celsus 2.17Origen · ca. 248 · Like Socrates, Leonidas, Paul, and many Christian martyrs, Jesus knowingly went to meet the death he foresaw rather than avoiding it.
Against Celsus 2.18Origen · ca. 248 · Origen argues that if Jesus truly foreknew the betrayal and denial, they had to happen, and that neither Judas nor Peter acted with complete indifference to him.
Against Celsus 2.19Origen · ca. 248 · Origen rejects Celsus's argument that the betrayal and denial could not have been foretold, since a prediction is shown true by its fulfilment.
Against Celsus 2.22Origen · ca. 248 · Origen dismisses Celsus's claim that Jesus plotted against his own disciples and made them traitors.
Against Celsus 2.23Origen · ca. 248 · Origen replies that Jesus, having truly taken a human body, truly felt pain, even though he freely chose to suffer for the benefit of all.
Against Celsus 2.24Origen · ca. 248 · Origen accuses Celsus of quoting Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane selectively, omitting his submission to the Father's will, as the impious quote “I will kill” without “I will make alive.”
Against Celsus 2.25Origen · ca. 248 · Origen explains that in Gethsemane Jesus spoke as a man, showing both the weakness of the flesh and the eagerness of the spirit, and that his real suffering is an example to believers.
Against Celsus 2.26Origen · ca. 248 · Origen replies that the disciples could easily have hidden Jesus' distress by not recording it, and that they cannot have been both sincere believers and conscious liars.
Against Celsus 2.28Origen · ca. 248 · Origen criticizes Celsus for dismissing the argument from prophecy without examining a single prophecy, and for putting into a Jew's mouth what no Jew would say.
Against Celsus 2.29Origen · ca. 248 · Since Christ's two comings have been explained, Origen answers only the insult that Jesus was a “pest”: no pest turns so many people from vice to virtue.
Against Celsus 2.30Origen · ca. 248 · Answering Celsus that the Son of God should have shone like the sun, Origen says he did, for the peace of Augustus's empire prepared the world for the spread of Jesus' teaching.
Against Celsus 2.31Origen · ca. 248 · Origen defends calling the Son of God the Word, who took a human body and soul, and notes that no Jew he has met actually approves that the Word is God's Son, as Celsus's Jew claims.
Against Celsus 2.32Origen · ca. 248 · Origen answers Celsus's objection to Jesus' royal genealogy: poor people can descend from kings, and Celsus ignores the real difficulties about the genealogies that Christians themselves discuss.
Against Celsus 2.33Origen · ca. 248 · Origen points to the signs at Jesus' death recorded in the Gospels and by the historian Phlegon, and to healings still done in Jesus' name, as his noble deeds.
Against Celsus 2.34Origen · ca. 248 · Origen answers Celsus's taunts drawn from Euripides' Bacchae, pointing to the miraculous freeing of Peter and Paul, the judgment on the Jewish nation, Pilate's wife's dream, and Jesus' patient endurance of mockery.
Against Celsus 2.35Origen · ca. 248 · Origen answers that the Greeks face the same question about why God does not punish blasphemers, and that divine signs at the crucifixion did show that Jesus was more than a man.
Against Celsus 2.36Origen · ca. 248 · To Celsus's jibe about divine “ichor,” Origen answers with the blood and water from Jesus' side and the centurion's confession.
Against Celsus 2.37Origen · ca. 248 · Origen answers Celsus's mockery of the vinegar and gall by pointing to Psalm 69, which foretold them.
Against Celsus 2.38Origen · ca. 248 · Origen explains what Christians charge the Jews with: not answering the proof from prophecy, attributing Jesus' exorcisms to Beelzebul, and slandering his tireless preaching as vagrancy.
Against Celsus 2.39Origen · ca. 248 · Origen denies that Jesus persuaded no one: crowds followed him, and his disciples, though frightened, did not abandon their faith and were strengthened by his resurrection appearances.
Against Celsus 2.40Origen · ca. 248 · Origen says Celsus wrongly thinks greatness means escaping death, whereas Jesus' death became an example for those who die for true piety.
Against Celsus 2.41Origen · ca. 248 · Origen answers that poverty and persecution are not true evils, as the examples of Socrates, Democritus, Crates, and Diogenes show; Celsus cannot point to any wickedness in Jesus.
Against Celsus 2.42Origen · ca. 248 · Origen says no witness records anything blameworthy in Jesus, his fulfilled predictions confirm faith, and his sufferings are a noble example, not a disgrace, except to one who thinks pain the greatest evil.
Against Celsus 2.43Origen · ca. 248 · Origen affirms that Jesus persuaded many during his life and that after death, as a soul without a body, he preached to the souls of the dead.
Against Celsus 2.44Origen · ca. 248 · Origen rejects Celsus's comparison of Jesus with condemned sorcerers and robbers: Jesus was indeed crucified among robbers, as foretold, and his martyrs share his unjust condemnation.
Against Celsus 2.46Origen · ca. 248 · Origen refutes the claim that Jesus won only ten disreputable followers, pointing to the crowds of thousands, and argues that if his disciples persuaded many, he must have persuaded far more.
Against Celsus 2.47Origen · ca. 248 · Origen denies that Christians believe Jesus is God's Son merely because he was punished; they have countless reasons, and they do not worship everyone who was crucified.
Against Celsus 2.48Origen · ca. 248 · Origen defends Jesus' healings and raisings of the dead as foretold by Isaiah and credibly reported, and says the disciples do greater works in healing souls.
Against Celsus 2.49Origen · ca. 248 · Origen shows that Jesus warned not against wonder-workers in general but against false christs, and that his warning, far from reducing his own miracles to sorcery, presupposes their divine character.
Against Celsus 2.50Origen · ca. 248 · Origen shows from 2 Thessalonians that the deceptive signs foretold belong to the Antichrist, and that Christ's miracles, like Moses' against Egypt's magicians, are proven divine by their fruit in changed lives.
Against Celsus 2.52Origen · ca. 248 · Origen asks Celsus's Jew why he accepts Moses' miracles as divine but rejects Jesus', when Jesus did a greater work in founding a new way of life among the nations.
Against Celsus 2.53Origen · ca. 248 · Origen shows that every objection Celsus's Jew raises against Jesus' warning about false wonder-workers can be turned against Moses, who gave a similar warning in Deuteronomy.
Against Celsus 2.54Origen · ca. 248 · Origen replies that Celsus's Jew mocks Jesus' foretelling of his resurrection, yet Moses too wrote of his own mysterious, unknown burial.
Against Celsus 2.55Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus's Jew compares the resurrection to Greek tales of heroes returning from Hades and dismisses its witnesses; Origen answers that the same objections could be made against Moses, so that defending Moses defends Jesus even more.
Against Celsus 2.56Origen · ca. 248 · Origen argues that Jesus' public crucifixion rules out comparison with heroes who merely disappeared and reappeared, and that the disciples' willingness to die shows they did not invent the resurrection.
Against Celsus 2.57Origen · ca. 248 · Origen notes that a Jew could not deny bodily resurrection, since Scripture tells of boys raised by Elijah and Elisha, and suggests Jesus came to the Jews because they were prepared for such marvels.
Against Celsus 2.58Origen · ca. 248 · Origen replies that Christians count the Greek tales as myths but the shared Scriptures as true, and that Jesus' resurrection, worked by the Father himself, has had far greater effects than those worked by Elijah and Elisha.
Against Celsus 2.59Origen · ca. 248 · Origen answers that Jesus did help himself in the way that matters, by keeping silent and virtuous in suffering as Isaiah foretold, and notes that Celsus disparages Mary Magdalene and the other witnesses of the resurrection.
Against Celsus 2.60Origen · ca. 248 · Origen replies to Celsus's claim that the resurrection appearances were waking dreams: even appearances of the dead imply that the soul survives, and nothing in the Gospel suggests the witnesses were deranged.
Against Celsus 2.61Origen · ca. 248 · Against Celsus's view that the risen Jesus was an apparition, Origen points to Thomas, who doubted a bodily resurrection until Jesus invited him to touch his wounds.
Against Celsus 2.62Origen · ca. 248 · Origen explains that the risen Jesus was in a state between an ordinary body and a disembodied soul, entering through shut doors and vanishing at Emmaus, as the Gospels record.
Against Celsus 2.63Origen · ca. 248 · Origen grants that the risen Jesus did not appear publicly to all, citing Acts, the Gospels, and Paul's list of witnesses, and proposes to explain why.
Against Celsus 2.64Origen · ca. 248 · Origen teaches that Jesus appeared differently to different people according to their capacity, as at the Transfiguration, and that after his victory over the powers not everyone could bear to see him.
Against Celsus 2.65Origen · ca. 248 · Origen explains that even the apostles could not always behold the risen Christ, whose appearances were given to those able to see them, and that Christ died and rose to be Lord of both dead and living.
Against Celsus 2.66Origen · ca. 248 · Just as Paul gave the Corinthians only what they could receive, and God appeared to Abraham only at times, so the risen Christ appeared by divine judgment only to those fitted to see him.
Against Celsus 2.67Origen · ca. 248 · Origen argues that Jesus spared his judges and persecutors by not appearing to them, as the men of Sodom were struck blind, and that he came both to be known and to remain partly hidden.
Against Celsus 2.68Origen · ca. 248 · Origen answers that Celsus, like critics of providence, imagines a better world than the real one, and notes that Jesus could and did vanish at will, as at Emmaus.
Against Celsus 2.69Origen · ca. 248 · Origen explains that Jesus' death and burial carry symbolic meaning for believers, who die and are buried with him in baptism, that his new rock-hewn tomb signifies his purity, and that vanishing from the cross would only have drawn other objections.
Against Celsus 2.70Origen · ca. 248 · Origen denies that Jesus hid himself or appeared only to one woman after rising, citing Matthew's account of the two Marys, and points out the absurdity of Celsus's claim that the opposite should have happened.
Against Celsus 2.71Origen · ca. 248 · Origen says Jesus revealed the Father who sent him, as John's Gospel and letters show, and that the purposes of his mission are set out by prophets, evangelists, and apostles.
Against Celsus 2.72Origen · ca. 248 · Origen answers that God's voice at Jesus' baptism and Transfiguration was heard only by those meant to hear it, since the divine voice is perceived by spiritual, not bodily, hearing.
Against Celsus 2.73Origen · ca. 248 · Origen replies that Jesus had already called all to the light and taught why he came, in the Sermon on the Mount, the parables, his disputes, and John's Gospel.
Against Celsus 2.74Origen · ca. 248 · Answering the claim that no god present among people is disbelieved, Origen points out that Israel disbelieved God's own manifest presence in the Exodus and made the golden calf, so their unbelief toward Jesus is in character.
Against Celsus 2.75Origen · ca. 248 · Origen argues that the Jews' rejection of Jesus matches their ancestors' unbelief in the wilderness, fulfilling Jesus' words and the prophecy of Deuteronomy about “your life hanging before your eyes.”
Against Celsus 2.76Origen · ca. 248 · Origen answers that Jesus' “woes” are no different from God's in the prophets and the curses of the Law, spoken to bring people to repentance, and that even Greek sages could not persuade everyone.
Against Celsus 2.77Origen · ca. 248 · Origen notes that the Jew in Celsus himself believes in bodily resurrection, yet ignores that Jesus is “the firstborn from the dead,” and answers his demand to see Jesus by asking where the God of the prophets can now be seen.
Against Celsus 2.78Origen · ca. 248 · Origen replies that Jesus did not come to cause the Jews' unbelief but foresaw it, and that God's providence used it to call the Gentiles, as the prophets and Paul foretold.
Against Celsus 2.79Origen · ca. 248 · Origen closes Book 2 by arguing that no mere man could have spread his teaching across the world against all opposition and transformed so many lives, since Christ is the power and wisdom of God.
Against Celsus 3.1Origen · ca. 248 · Opening Book 3, Origen addresses Celsus's own claim that the dispute between Jews and Christians over whether the prophesied Savior has come is a quarrel over nothing.
Against Celsus 3.2Origen · ca. 248 · Origen argues that the Jewish prophecies of Christ are no trifle, and that a nation taught to reject pagan oracles must have had genuine prophets to keep it from turning to them.
Against Celsus 3.4Origen · ca. 248 · Origen insists that the debate over the meaning of the prophecies is serious, since both Jews and Christians rightly accept that the prophets spoke from God.
Against Celsus 3.14Origen · ca. 248 · Origen replies that the Christian community rests not on rebellion or self-interest but on God's working, who foretold Christ through the prophets and established first Judaism and then Christianity.
Against Celsus 3.17Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus compares Christianity to Egyptian temples that are grand outside but worship animals within; Origen replies that even Christ's human sufferings served the salvation of the whole world.
Against Celsus 3.19Origen · ca. 248 · Origen objects that Celsus allows hidden meanings in Egyptian animal cults but denies any in Christian teaching, though Paul speaks of hidden wisdom taught to the mature.
Against Celsus 3.21Origen · ca. 248 · Origen points to the depth of the Gospels, with parables explained only to those “in the house” and Jesus' ascents of the mountain, as proof that Christianity's inner teaching is nothing like Egyptian animal worship.
Against Celsus 3.22Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus contrasts the deified Greek heroes with the risen Jesus; Origen asks whether Celsus thinks those heroes exist at all, and argues from their own stories that they could not have become gods.
Against Celsus 3.23Origen · ca. 248 · Origen contrasts the blameless life and real death of Jesus with the scandalous stories of the Greek demigods, and asks why Celsus trusts those myths but not the eyewitness disciples who died for their testimony.
Against Celsus 3.24Origen · ca. 248 · Origen replies that if Celsus credits the many witnesses to Asclepius, far more witness to Jesus, and that Christians still heal the sick and insane by invoking God and Jesus' name, as Origen himself has seen.
Against Celsus 3.25Origen · ca. 248 · Origen argues that healing and prophecy do not prove divinity, since Apollo's oracles honored a boxer and the licentious poet Archilochus, and the Pythia's inspiration was indecent, unlike anything Christians hold of Jesus.
Against Celsus 3.27Origen · ca. 248 · Origen asks why Celsus believes the story of Aristeas on the word of Herodotus and Pindar, but dismisses the Gospel accounts written by disciples who died for them, when the moral fruit points to Jesus.
Against Celsus 3.28Origen · ca. 248 · Origen contrasts the pointless marvels of Aristeas with the saving purpose of Jesus' miracles, foretold by the prophets, and explains that in Christ divine and human nature began to be woven together so that believers too might become divine.
Against Celsus 3.29Origen · ca. 248 · Origen explains that demons opposed the spread of the gospel because it ended their sacrifices, but God made churches arise everywhere, which even at their worst are better than the civic assemblies around them.
Against Celsus 3.31Origen · ca. 248 · Origen contrasts the purposeless marvel of Abaris riding an arrow with Jesus' ascension in glory, which served to commend his teaching and turn people to God.
Against Celsus 3.32Origen · ca. 248 · Against the tale of Hermotimus of Clazomenae, whose soul left his body, Origen sets Jesus' own authority to lay down his life and take it again, shown in his death and resurrection as foretold.
Against Celsus 3.33Origen · ca. 248 · Origen argues that the tale of Cleomedes vanishing from a chest, even if true, served no purpose, whereas Jesus' divinity is shown by the churches, the prophecies, the healings, and the wisdom found in Scripture.
Against Celsus 3.34Origen · ca. 248 · Origen rejects Celsus's comparison of Christian worship with the hero cults of Zamolxis, Mopsus, and others: Christians build no temples or statues but, through Jesus as mediator and high priest, pray to the God over all.
Against Celsus 3.35Origen · ca. 248 · Origen presses Celsus: either the hero-shrines have no power, making Celsus an Epicurean, or they do, in which case Jesus, who forbids their worship as demons, must be more powerful than all of them.
Against Celsus 3.36Origen · ca. 248 · Origen rejects Celsus's comparison of Jesus with Hadrian's favorite Antinous, whose cult was set up by royal command and sustained by Egyptian sorcery, whereas God himself commended Jesus, whose name still drives out demons.
Against Celsus 3.37Origen · ca. 248 · Origen says Christians refuse to compare Jesus with Zeus or Apollo, whom they know to be demons that feed on sacrifices, and explains that some fallen spirits, like deluded philosophers, proclaim themselves gods, so that one should trust only the God over all and Christ.
Against Celsus 3.40Origen · ca. 248 · Origen argues that Christian teaching agrees with the common human notion that God is not a material image, so that the rational soul, hearing it, recognizes its Creator, abandons idols, and welcomes Christ.
Against Celsus 3.41Origen · ca. 248 · Origen answers that the eternal Son is the Word himself, and that his human body and soul, united with him, were changed into something divine, just as philosophers say matter can take on new qualities.
Against Celsus 3.42Origen · ca. 248 · Origen replies that the body is not defiled by nature, only by vice, and that the pagan heroes Asclepius, Dionysus, and Heracles made no one better and lived immorally, so they have no better claim than Jesus to divinity.
Against Celsus 3.43Origen · ca. 248 · Origen turns Celsus's defense of Zeus's tomb in Crete against him, citing Callimachus, who called the Cretans liars yet admitted Zeus was born, while Celsus accepts Jesus' burial but denies his resurrection.
Against Celsus 3.62Origen · ca. 248 · Christ came as physician to sinners and as teacher to the purified; no one except Jesus has been sinless from the beginning, and God receives the sinner who repents and lives well.
Against Celsus 3.81Origen · ca. 248 · The blessed life belongs to those who worship God through Jesus, and nothing is better than to entrust oneself to God through his living Word; so ends the third book.
Against Celsus 4.2Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus mocks both Christians and Jews for expecting a divine judge to come to earth, but he never engages the actual prophecies about Christ; and Jews do not say the coming Messiah is God.
Against Celsus 4.3Origen · ca. 248 · Christ came to call back the lost sheep of Israel and give the kingdom to others; God does not correct people by force, since virtue must be freely chosen, and he always corrects the willing through his Word.
Against Celsus 4.4Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus's objection applies equally to his own belief in providence; God always sends correctors like Moses and the prophets, and above all Jesus, Savior of all people everywhere.
Against Celsus 4.5Origen · ca. 248 · God fills heaven and earth, so his coming in Jesus does not mean leaving his place; he “departs” only from the wicked soul and fills the virtuous one, and the only change he brings is moral transformation.
Against Celsus 4.6Origen · ca. 248 · God does not seek recognition out of vanity like the newly rich; he makes himself known because knowing him frees people from misery and leaves unbelievers without excuse.
Against Celsus 4.8Origen · ca. 248 · Why Christ came at a particular time is a deep mystery, tied to God's allotment of the nations to angels and of Israel to himself, and to his later gift of all nations to the Son.
Against Celsus 4.14Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus argues that God cannot descend without changing for the worse; Origen replies that God remains unchangeable in his being while descending by providence, unlike the Epicurean and Stoic gods, which are bodily and changeable.
Against Celsus 4.15Origen · ca. 248 · Christ emptied himself in the form of God without sinning or losing his blessedness, as a physician touches disease out of kindness; the Word remains unchanged and becomes “flesh” for those who cannot yet see his divine glory.
Against Celsus 4.16Origen · ca. 248 · The Word appears differently to each person according to their spiritual progress, as at the Transfiguration, where only those who went up the mountain saw his glory.
Against Celsus 4.17Origen · ca. 248 · The Christian account of Christ's descent is far nobler than Greek myths like that of Dionysus torn by the Titans, which the Greeks allegorize; Christ came down in love to seek the lost sheep.
Against Celsus 4.18Origen · ca. 248 · The Word does not deceive but adapts himself to each person as milk, vegetables, or solid food; and the soul of Jesus freely entered human misfortunes out of love, as Philippians 2 describes.
Against Celsus 4.19Origen · ca. 248 · Christians hold that Christ's incarnation was real, not an illusion; yet even on Celsus's terms, a healing deception would not be absurd, since Christ came for sinners and enemies to make them God's friends.
Against Celsus 4.22Origen · ca. 248 · Origen sees the destruction of Jerusalem about forty years after the crucifixion, and the Jews' long exile from their temple worship, as evidence of Jesus' divine significance and of God's call passing to the Christians.
Against Celsus 4.28Origen · ca. 248 · Christians do not claim God cares for them alone: Scripture teaches that God loves all he made, shows mercy to all flesh, sends sun and rain on all, and that Christ died for the sins of the whole world.
Against Celsus 4.32Origen · ca. 248 · Providence transferred the dignity of Israel's law to believers from all nations through Jesus, whose word prevailed despite demon-inspired persecution by rulers and peoples; Israel was protected while faithful and forsaken after killing Jesus.
Against Celsus 4.73Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus mocks the idea of an angry God sending his Son to suffer; Origen answers that the Jews' ruin came from the wrath they stored up for themselves, and that the Son suffered willingly for our salvation.
Against Celsus 4.85Origen · ca. 248 · One looking down from heaven would see not bodies but minds, and would see how far rational humans, made in God's image, surpass ants and even elephants.
Against Celsus 5.2Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus's claim that no god or son of God ever comes down would also rule out Apollo and Asclepius, whom pagans believe visit earth, or reduce them to demons.
Against Celsus 5.3Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus's denial that any god comes down is Epicurean; anyone who does believe in providence should ask whether Jesus or the oracle-giving gods better fits the description of a God who came down.
Against Celsus 5.4Origen · ca. 248 · Christians believe in angels who carry prayers up and blessings down, and who are sometimes called 'gods' in Scripture, but prayer and worship go to God alone through Christ the High Priest.
Against Celsus 5.5Origen · ca. 248 · Angels need not be invoked; prayer goes to God through the Son, and the angels favor those who imitate them; 'demons,' unlike 'angels,' always means evil powers.
Against Celsus 5.10Origen · ca. 248 · God allotted the heavenly bodies to the nations but chose Israel for himself; his people, promised to shine like stars in the resurrection and possessing the true light of Christ, have no reason to worship sun, moon, or stars.
Against Celsus 5.11Origen · ca. 248 · Those who know God and his Son as the true light will not worship sun and stars, which themselves pray to God through the Son; as Jesus sent praise on to the Father, so the sun would say, 'Worship God alone.'
Against Celsus 5.12Origen · ca. 248 · God is present everywhere by providence, and Christ is always with his disciples, so it is absurd to pray to the stars; even if they announce the weather, their Lord, not his heralds, deserves worship.
Against Celsus 5.22Origen · ca. 248 · Origen distances himself from Christians who deny the resurrection: following Paul's seed image, he holds that God raises a transformed, incorruptible body, and that the 'words' of things, rooted in the divine Word, never pass away.
Against Celsus 5.24Origen · ca. 248 · Origen agrees that God does nothing shameful and gives the soul eternal life; human corpses deserve honorable burial because of the soul that lived in them, and what God makes eternal is the new body raised from the seed.
Against Celsus 5.32Origen · ca. 248 · Christ, the Lord who kept Israel, is mightier than the angels of the nations and frees people from their bondage; so it is holy, not unholy, for Christians to leave ancestral customs for his better law.
Against Celsus 5.33Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus asks where Christians come from and who founded their laws; Origen answers with Isaiah's prophecy of the nations streaming to the Lord's mountain: Christians are a people of peace founded by Jesus, who came from the Jews.
Against Celsus 5.37Origen · ca. 248 · When a city's law contradicts God's natural law, God's law must be obeyed even at the cost of death; so Christians reject the local gods, and Christ, unlike the newly invented Sarapis, is older than all creation.
Against Celsus 5.39Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus approves of Egyptians who revere man-eating crocodiles but blames Christians who honor Virtue itself, the Son of God, who is God's Wisdom and Righteousness, uniquely united with the soul of Jesus.
Against Celsus 5.48Origen · ca. 248 · Jewish circumcision on the eighth day differs even from Ishmaelite practice; Origen suggests, from Zipporah's story, that it guarded against a hostile angel whose power Christ destroyed by his own circumcision, so Christians need not be circumcised.
Against Celsus 5.51Origen · ca. 248 · Christians do not boast and were not bewitched; they follow the God who spoke through Moses and honor Jesus, attested by prophecy and by his mighty works, as the Son of God.
Against Celsus 5.52Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus asks whether Jesus, granted to be an angel, was the first or one of many, citing the fallen angels of Enoch, the angels at the tomb, and those who appeared to Joseph.
Against Celsus 5.53Origen · ca. 248 · Origen will answer briefly: Christ is not merely an angel but, as Isaiah says, the 'angel of great counsel' who announced God's plan for humanity, and no Christian claims he was the only messenger ever sent.
Against Celsus 5.58Origen · ca. 248 · It is more fitting that a servant angel, not the risen Lord himself, rolled away the stone; the other angels Celsus mentions do nothing for his case, since Christ alone came to turn all humanity from sin and gave God's kingdom to the church.
Against Celsus 5.61Origen · ca. 248 · Divisions among Christian sects no more discredit Christianity than rival schools discredit philosophy or medicine; Origen distinguishes the church from Valentinians, Gnostics, and the two kinds of Ebionites.
Against Celsus 6.8Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus praises Plato for not telling marvels or demanding faith in a Son of God, but Origen points to the marvellous legends told of Plato, Pythagoras, and Socrates, and to Plato's own mention of a Father of the world's ruler.
Against Celsus 6.9Origen · ca. 248 · Origen compares Plato's five steps to knowledge (name, definition, image, knowledge, the thing itself) with John the Baptist, Christ the Word, Christ formed in the soul, and Christ as wisdom.
Against Celsus 6.10Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus says Plato gives reasons and makes no boastful claims, but Origen answers that Plato's Zeus boasts in the Timaeus, that Scripture condemns thoughtless belief, and that Christians suit their teaching to each hearer, often with reasoned argument.
Against Celsus 6.11Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus asks how a seeker could choose among rival Christian saviours, but Origen replies that only Jesus is preached worldwide as Son of God, while pretenders like Simon Magus, Dositheus, Theudas, and Judas the Galilean came to nothing.
Against Celsus 6.15Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus says Christian humility is a garbled borrowing from Plato's Laws, but Origen shows it is older, from the Psalms, and was taught above all by Christ, who humbled himself to death on a cross.
Against Celsus 6.17Origen · ca. 248 · Against Plato's lofty words Origen sets the Scriptures' teaching that God hides in darkness and depth, known fully only by the Son and by those to whom the Son reveals him.
Against Celsus 6.45Origen · ca. 248 · Just as Jesus is the height of goodness, the Antichrist will be the height of evil, working false wonders with the devil's help, as the prophets and Paul foretold.
Against Celsus 6.47Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus says Christians took the idea of a Son of God from pagan talk of the world as God's child, but Origen replies that the prophets spoke of the Son long before, and that Jesus' soul is so united with the Word that they are not two.
Against Celsus 6.48Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus accepts the Stoic claim that a wise man equals God in happiness yet mocks the Christian teaching that Jesus is one with the Word, which Origen illustrates by the Church as Christ's body animated by the Word.
Against Celsus 6.60Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus again mocks the six days of creation, and Origen again answers that the Father made the world through the Word and that the “days” are not literal periods of time.
Against Celsus 6.63Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus denies man is God's image, but Origen explains that Christ alone is God's image, and man is made “according to” that image in the inner self, renewed by becoming holy and like God.
Against Celsus 6.64Origen · ca. 248 · God has no shape, colour, or motion; he is not a partaker of being but is partaken of, and Origen raises the question whether God is even beyond being, with the Son as the being of beings.
Against Celsus 6.65Origen · ca. 248 · Origen qualifies Celsus's claims that God cannot be reached by reason or named: God is known through the divine Word, and though no name captures him, words can point toward him.
Against Celsus 6.66Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus imagines a seeker blinded by the light of true teaching, but Origen replies that it is idol-worshippers who sit in darkness, while Christians, following Christ the way, already know God.
Against Celsus 6.67Origen · ca. 248 · It is Celsus who plunges people into darkness; Christ, the true light, opens the eyes of the soul, as he healed the blind who cried to him for mercy.
Against Celsus 6.68Origen · ca. 248 · The Word became flesh so that those bound to the flesh might receive him, and then leads them up, as on the mount of Transfiguration, to see his divine glory.
Against Celsus 6.69Origen · ca. 248 · The Son shares the Father's greatness and is as hard to see as the Father, who can be seen only by the pure in heart; the Son did not come as an easier substitute for an invisible God.
Against Celsus 6.71Origen · ca. 248 · When Christians call God “spirit” they do not mean, like the Stoics, a bodily breath pervading the world; God, the Word, and even the rational soul are incorporeal and imperishable.
Against Celsus 6.72Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus attacks views Christians do not hold, such as that the Son's spirit would be defiled by a body; God is a “consuming fire” only in that he burns away sin.
Against Celsus 6.73Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus asks why God's Spirit needed a virgin's womb, but Origen answers that the pure divine nature is not defiled by a body, as sunlight is not defiled by mud, and that a body formed without birth would not have looked any different.
Against Celsus 6.75Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus says a divine being would have looked impressive, whereas Jesus was said to be small and ugly; Origen notes Isaiah says he had no beauty, but a Psalm speaks of his beauty too.
Against Celsus 6.76Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus accepts Isaiah's prophecy of Jesus' plain appearance but ignores the Transfiguration and the Psalm on his beauty, and in accepting the prophecy he concedes that Jesus fulfilled it.
Against Celsus 6.77Origen · ca. 248 · Jesus appeared differently to different people according to what they could bear, and this points to the Word of God and the Scriptures, which seem plain to the many but are transfigured in glory for those who climb higher.
Against Celsus 6.78Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus mocks God for waking up, like Zeus in comedy, and sending his Son to one small corner; Origen answers that God has always done good to mankind, and Christ came first to the people who had the prophets, whence his word spread worldwide.
Against Celsus 6.79Origen · ca. 248 · One Christ rising from Judaea was enough to enlighten the world, and those who teach his word faithfully are themselves “anointed ones” sharing in his anointing, as the oil runs down from Aaron's head.
Against Celsus 6.81Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus says an all-knowing God would not have sent his Son to men who would kill him, forgetting that the prophets foretold Christ's sufferings; Origen ends his sixth book here.
Against Celsus 7.13Origen · ca. 248 · The prophets foretold Christ's sufferings with their purpose, but nothing shameful; the gall and vinegar offered him stand for the wickedness of those who oppose the truth.
Against Celsus 7.14Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus says fulfilled prophecy proves nothing if what is foretold is unworthy of God; Origen replies that he should instead have tried to show that the prophecies were not in fact fulfilled in Jesus.
Against Celsus 7.15Origen · ca. 248 · Using a Stoic form of argument, Origen shows that Celsus's hypothesis contradicts itself: true prophets could not have foretold that the supreme God himself would be enslaved, fall sick, or die.
Against Celsus 7.16Origen · ca. 248 · The prophets foretold the death of a man, not of God; what died was the man Jesus, not the divine Word, who is the Life and the Resurrection and cannot die.
Against Celsus 7.17Origen · ca. 248 · What the prophets foretold was worthy of God: the divine Word came with the human soul of Jesus, and his human death gave an example of dying for piety and began the defeat of the devil.
Against Celsus 7.35Origen · ca. 248 · Origen refuses Celsus's oracle-shrines as seats of demons, and asks how a mere phantom, as Celsus calls the risen Jesus, could transform souls and drive out demons across the world.
Against Celsus 7.42Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus quotes Plato's Timaeus that the maker of the universe is hard to find and impossible to declare to all; Origen answers that the Word became flesh to reach everyone, and that God can only be found with God's own help.
Against Celsus 7.43Origen · ca. 248 · Plato does not say God is nameless, only hard to declare to many; Christians say God is seen by the pure in heart and through Christ, the image of the invisible God, not by bodily sight.
Against Celsus 7.53Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus mocks Christians for choosing Jesus instead of heroes like Heracles, Orpheus, Anaxarchus, Epictetus, the Sibyl, or even Jonah and Daniel.
Against Celsus 7.54Origen · ca. 248 · Origen replies that Heracles' deeds were disgraceful, Orpheus told worse myths than Homer, and Anaxarchus and Epictetus, however brave, cannot be compared with Jesus, whose words still convert people.
Against Celsus 7.55Origen · ca. 248 · Jesus' silence under scourging and his gentleness when mocked show more fortitude than any Greek hero; his prayer in Gethsemane was not cowardice but submission to providence.
Against Celsus 7.56Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus gives no proof that Christians altered the Sibyl or that Jesus' life was infamous, and Jesus' death was no more pitiable than Socrates'; Celsus seems moved by a demon that Jesus overthrew.
Against Celsus 7.57Origen · ca. 248 · Jonah preached to one city and fled his mission, while Jesus preached to the whole world and died for humankind; Jesus gave his followers authority over all the enemy's power, greater than Daniel's deliverance.
Against Celsus 7.65Origen · ca. 248 · The Persians worship the sun and creation, which Christians may not do, since creation awaits its liberation; one can know God and those he calls gods, but cannot both know God and pray to images.
Against Celsus 8.4Origen · ca. 248 · Scripture distinguishes the one God and one Lord from the many so-called gods and lords; Christians ascend to the God of gods through the Son alone, while Plato's picture of a host of gods and demons following Zeus came from the devil.
Against Celsus 8.6Origen · ca. 248 · Christians refuse to serve anyone but God not to protect God but to avoid harming themselves; like the Spartan envoys who would not bow to the Persian king, Christ's ambassadors bow to no ruler but Christ.
Against Celsus 8.9Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus cannot prove that God granted honour to the gods, heroes, or deified Antinous; honour to Jesus was granted by God, foretold by the prophets and confirmed by his works, and honouring him as Word and Truth makes people better.
Against Celsus 8.10Origen · ca. 248 · Honour to God and to his Son consists in a sound life, since breaking the law dishonours God; only the wise belong to God, which answers Celsus's claim that honouring all God's beings cannot grieve him.
Against Celsus 8.12Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus charges Christians with worshipping a recent man; Origen answers that Father and Son are one, two in subsistence but one in concord and will, and the Son who is the Truth existed before Abraham.
Against Celsus 8.13Origen · ca. 248 · Christians do not serve the pagan gods, who are servants of the devil, not of God; they reverence the one God and his Son, offering prayer to the Father through the Son as high priest.
Against Celsus 8.14Origen · ca. 248 · Christians know from Scripture that Jesus is truly the Son of the Father, the radiance of his glory; he is the leader of peace, not sedition, and the Father is greater than the Son.
Against Celsus 8.15Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus quotes an obscure “heavenly dialogue” claiming the Son of Man is lord of God; Origen replies that no Christian he knows says this, since the Son is inferior to the Father and rules only those who willingly obey him.
Against Celsus 8.16Origen · ca. 248 · The sayings Celsus quotes come from another heresy, not from the church; Christians worship the Creator, not a new god invented as greater than him, and serve only the Son, the Word of God.
Against Celsus 8.19Origen · ca. 248 · Christians' temples are their bodies, and above all Christ's body, which he raised; believers are living precious stones in God's temple, as Peter, Paul, and Isaiah teach.
Against Celsus 8.26Origen · ca. 248 · Christians must die rather than obey or sacrifice to demons; city laws that command it are not true laws, and prayer belongs to God alone, offered through the Son as high priest.
Against Celsus 8.27Origen · ca. 248 · Christians need not win the demons' favour, since God guards them by his angels and they can say with the psalmist, “The Lord is my light; whom shall I fear?”
Against Celsus 8.39Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus retorts that Christ's persecutors go unpunished; Origen says the retort fails, since Christians do not mock statues, Christ is God's Word and not a demon, and judgment will come on the incurably wicked in due time.
Against Celsus 8.41Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus taunts that the gods punish blasphemers while Jesus' executioners went unpunished and his Father abandoned him; Origen answers that Christians revile no one, not even statues or demons.
Against Celsus 8.42Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus's vengeful gods prove wicked; and it is false that Jesus' killers went unpunished, since Jerusalem, where he was condemned, was soon besieged and destroyed.
Against Celsus 8.43Origen · ca. 248 · Since Jesus' death a whole new nation of Christians has arisen; like a grain of wheat his death bore much fruit, and the Father gave his Son willingly for the world, while the demons avenge themselves on Christians who expel them.
Against Celsus 8.54Origen · ca. 248 · Christians need not obey Celsus's prison overseers, since Jesus came to free those bound by Satan, like the woman he healed; Christians expose the demons' deceptions and die for piety not at random but as a death precious to God.
Against Celsus 8.59Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus would have Christians turn from God through Jesus, at whose name every knee bows, to thirty-six Egyptian demons invoked by magicians; but Jesus has spread true worship through the whole world.
Against Celsus 8.67Origen · ca. 248 · Christians hymn only God and his Son, as sun, moon, and stars do, not Athena; nor will they swear by the emperor, since whatever they rightly receive, like bread, wine, and oil, comes from God's providence.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 5Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · Christ's question about David's son exposed the Pharisees, who knew only his human descent and not his divinity as the eternal Word, Wisdom, and priest of Psalm 110.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 7Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · The “sitting at the right hand” of Psalm 110 must be understood figuratively of the Son's kingdom, since a bodily reading leads to absurdities.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 8Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · God makes Christ's enemies his footstool not to destroy them but to save them, as the Scriptures on the “footstool” and Paul on the final subjection show.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 25Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · The scribes and Pharisees are guilty not for building the prophets' tombs but for completing their fathers' crimes by killing Christ and his messengers; Origen reports a tradition that Zechariah, John the Baptist's father, was killed for defending Mary's virginity.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 28Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · Origen explains which prophets Jerusalem killed, citing books outside the canon with caution, and reads Christ's lament as his constant will in every generation to gather God's scattered children.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 32Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · The Mount of Olives figures the Church of the Gentiles; the disciples who ask privately are the more advanced, and Christ's twofold coming is also his coming into the soul, first in humility and then in glory to the perfect.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 33Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · The many who come saying “I am the Christ” are above all false interpretations of Scripture and feigned virtues; doctrinal error, even among churchmen, is worse than moral failure, and every counterfeit of truth or virtue is Antichrist.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 40Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · Origen interprets Daniel's seventy weeks, reckoning a week as seventy years, of the period from Christ's coming to the destruction of Jerusalem, which will remain desolate until the end; he denies that earthly Jerusalem will be rebuilt except for Antichrist.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 50Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · On Christ's coming on the clouds, Origen weighs literal, combined, and spiritual readings, suggesting living and rational clouds and the Word's daily coming in Scripture; the angels gather the elect, living and dead, from earth and from successive heavens.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 55Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · Origen offers explanations of why the Son is said not to know the day and hour: his human growth before his exaltation, the Father's not fixing the times in advance, and the Son's sharing the ignorance of his body the Church until all know together.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 65Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · Christ, present everywhere as God the Word, is said to go abroad according to the body he took up, which is never separated from him; and he is absent from us while we walk by faith and present when we walk by sight; his money is his pure words.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 70Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · The judgement of the nations is not merely an exhortation to generosity: at Christ's second coming his divinity will be manifest to all everywhere, not in one place, his throne is the saints or angelic powers, the sheep are the gentle and the goats the wicked, and the “laying down” of the world is a mystery not to be written down.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 73Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · As the soul feels the body's hunger, the impassible Saviour suffers in his members; the judge lists the good deeds of the righteous one by one but shortens the faults of the wicked, and his true brothers are the perfect who imitate him.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 90Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · Jesus only “began” to be sorrowful, according to his human nature and not his impassible divinity, to teach the disciples, especially self-confident Peter, that the flesh is weak; he kept the three at a set distance, since each must remain in the rank of his calling.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 92Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · Christ's prayer in Gethsemane belongs to his true human nature, which shrinks from suffering, and teaches submission to God's will; alternatively he grieved for the Jews and for Judas, who would perish through his passion, yet chose the salvation of all; the cup of salvation is martyrdom, and John omits the prayer because he writes of Christ's divinity.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 100Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · Judas needed a sign because, by tradition, Jesus appeared differently to each according to his worth, as the manna suited every taste; the kiss was either a remnant of reverence or meant to keep Jesus from escaping; heretics betray the Word with a kiss, and “friend” in Scripture is said only to the wicked.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 111Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · Christ's “sitting at the right hand of power” means his royal establishment in all power, fulfilled from his resurrection on, and seen at last even by his enemies; the clouds on which he comes are the prophets and apostles who reign with him.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 125Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · The soldiers' mockery was the work of the invisible rulers of this age; the scarlet cloak recalls Rahab's cord and Tamar's son and signifies the world's blood taken on by Christ; the crown of thorns, consumed on his head, bore away our sins; the reed is the fragile sceptre of the evil one, exchanged for the rod of God's kingdom.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 130Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · The inscription proclaims Christ king in every script and was the only charge against him; as the high priest wore God's name on his forehead, Christ, the true priest and king, wears on the cross his title, and in his ascension has the Father himself as his crown.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 132Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · Those who blaspheme Jesus are those who “pass by”, like heretics who have left the Church's way; they falsely made him the destroyer of the temple, whereas he rebuilds what others destroy; he did not come down from the cross to satisfy mockers, but showed himself Son of God to believers after descending to the dead and rising.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 135Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · Christ's loud cry, “Why have you forsaken me?”, was not a lie nor a merely human complaint: he was forsaken in taking the form of a servant and enduring the cross, and his cry, uttered when darkness fell on Judea, expresses the forsaking of Israel for the salvation of the Gentiles and his grief at the sins of those for whom he suffered.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 140Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · The centurion's confession may have come from Jesus' dying so quickly, by prayer or by his own will, since he had not been struck to hasten death, as Pilate's surprise shows; morally, those who see the mysteries of the passion confess him Son of God; the women who watched from afar, especially Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and Salome, are blessed for following and ministering.
Commentary on Matthew 10.5Origen · ca. 246–248 · The field may be Scripture with its plain words and the treasure its hidden meanings, or the field may be Christ, in whom the treasures of wisdom are hidden.
Commentary on Matthew 10.8Origen · ca. 246–248 · The fine pearls are the prophets, the one precious pearl is Christ, and the cloudy pearls of the marshes are the teachings of heretics.
Commentary on Matthew 10.9Origen · ca. 246–248 · The many fine pearls of the law and prophets prepare for the one pearl, Christ, as the partial glory of Moses prepares for the surpassing glory of the gospel.
Commentary on Matthew 10.17Origen · ca. 246–248 · Origen explains the astonishment at Nazareth, says the brothers of Jesus were by some held to be Joseph's sons by a former wife so as to keep Mary a virgin, and cites Josephus on James.
Commentary on Matthew 12.6Origen · ca. 246–248 · Leaven in Scripture signifies teaching; Jesus’ knowledge of the disciples’ thoughts shows his divinity, and all faith in this life is “little faith” compared with what is perfect.
Commentary on Matthew 12.9Origen · ca. 246–248 · The people’s opinions that Jesus was John, Elijah, Jeremiah, or a prophet came from unsound reasoning, while Peter, taught by the Father, confessed him as the Christ and Son of the living God.
Commentary on Matthew 12.10Origen · ca. 246–248 · Whoever confesses Christ as Peter did, by revelation from the Father, becomes a Peter, and on every such disciple, a “rock,” the Church is built by God.
Commentary on Matthew 12.15Origen · ca. 246–248 · Why does Jesus forbid the disciples to say he is the Christ, when he had sent them to preach? Origen answers that belief is less than knowledge, and knowledge itself has degrees, the highest coming by the Father’s revelation, as Peter received it.
Commentary on Matthew 12.17Origen · ca. 246–248 · If the apostles had already proclaimed Jesus as the Christ, he now held back the fuller teaching—the crucified and risen Christ—for a fitting time, to spare new believers the offence of the cross.
Commentary on Matthew 12.18Origen · ca. 246–248 · Alternatively, Jesus kept the title Christ for the fuller, saving proclamation of the crucified and risen Christ, whose cross triumphed over the principalities and the ruler of this world.
Commentary on Matthew 12.19Origen · ca. 246–248 · Proclaiming Christ without the cross is defective, so Jesus prepared the disciples to preach him as crucified and risen, “showing” them this more clearly than bodily sight could.
Commentary on Matthew 12.29Origen · ca. 246–248 · The Son of Man came first without form or beauty to bear our sins, and will come in the Father’s glory, restored to the form of God and making his disciples conformed to it.
Commentary on Matthew 12.37Origen · ca. 246–248 · Jesus is transfigured “before them,” not before all: to those who rise to wisdom the Jesus of the Gospels is known no longer according to the flesh but in the form of God, the sun of righteousness.
Commentary on Matthew 13.8Origen · ca. 246–248 · Origen distinguishes this prediction from the earlier one and argues, by the example of Job, that the Father delivered the Son to hostile powers out of love, while they delivered him to men to bring him under death.
Commentary on Matthew 13.9Origen · ca. 246–248 · Origen explains the devil's power of death as spiritual death, holds that the powers of this age delivered Jesus to men, and notes that the disciples grieved at the death but overlooked the resurrection.
Commentary on Matthew 13.26Origen · ca. 246–248 · Origen explains smallness and greatness of soul as matters of free choice, and suggests that the little ones are cared for by angels while the perfect are cared for by the Lord himself.
Commentary on Matthew 14.7Origen · ca. 246–248 · Origen identifies the king of the parable with the Son of God, the kingdom itself, united with the man Jesus, and explains the settling of accounts by the different gifts entrusted to each soul.
Commentary on Matthew 15.10Origen · ca. 246–248 · Only God is good in the proper sense; others are called good by extension, and Origen compares the Saviour, the image of God’s goodness, with the Father and with lesser goods.
Commentary on Matthew 15.24Origen · ca. 246–248 · In the final restoration the Word returns to his glory with the Father, the man Jesus being one with him; the apostles and those who live like them will judge an Israel noble by birth but unbelieving.
Commentary on Matthew 16.5Origen · ca. 246–248 · Christ’s sitting on his throne is his restoration to his kingdom when sin and every hostile power are abolished; the right and left may be the invisible and visible creation; the places are the Father’s to give.
Commentary on Matthew 16.8Origen · ca. 246–248 · Jesus forbids church leaders to lord it over others as Gentile rulers do, a fault Origen sees among bishops of his day; Christ came to serve and gave his soul as a ransom to the evil one, who could not hold it, his divinity not being the ransom.
Commentary on Matthew 16.12Origen · ca. 246–248 · Literally, the blind men in Matthew, Mark, and Luke may be different healings; figuratively, Bartimaeus is the Israelite remnant, and the Ebionite who believes Jesus a son of Joseph is rebuked by Gentile believers in the virgin birth, yet is healed when he calls him Rabbouni.
Commentary on Matthew 17.10Origen · ca. 246–248 · “They will respect my son” was not a mistaken prediction: the tenants did inwardly respect the Son, recognizing him as the heir, even though they did not act on it.
Commentary on Matthew 17.12Origen · ca. 246–248 · Christ, the stone rejected by the builders, became the head of the corner uniting the two Testaments; the kingdom was only “let out” to Israel but is “given” to the nation that bears its fruit.
Commentary on Matthew 17.14Origen · ca. 246–248 · The crowds rightly but inadequately held Jesus to be a prophet; he is the Son and Wisdom of God, and those who teach falsely about him, though they gather in his name, scatter.
Commentary on Matthew 17.20Origen · ca. 246–248 · Origen explains “Son of Man” as meaning that the Son, imitating God who in parables is called a man, becomes by dispensation the son of that “man,” who is God.
Commentary on Romans 1.5Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Christ was 'made' of David's seed according to the flesh but 'destined', not predestined, Son of God, for he always existed; his soul, united to the Word, is one spirit with him; his Davidic descent and his being Son of God from the resurrection are discussed.
Commentary on Romans 1.14Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Paul is not ashamed of the Gospel, God's saving power (his 'right hand'), perhaps Christ himself; his order 'Jew, Greek, barbarian' improves on the Greeks' division, since the Jews had laws first, and from God.
Commentary on Romans 3.7Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · The 'righteousness of God manifested without the law' is Christ, revealed apart from natural law but witnessed by the spiritual sense of Moses and the prophets (Paul marks the law of Moses with the article); faith and the Scriptures together reveal it, and all, Jew and Gentile, are justified freely through the redemption of Christ's blood.
Commentary on Romans 3.8Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Christ as 'propitiatory' fulfills the golden mercy seat of Exodus: Origen reads its measures and cherubim as the sinless human soul of Jesus, mediator between the Trinity and humanity, indwelt by the Word and the Spirit; he is also high priest and sacrifice, whose blood brings remission to believers first and then to the whole world, while God now forbears and will judge hereafter.
Commentary on Romans 4.8Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Peace with God through Christ means abandoning the enmity of sin and fighting the devil, which itself brings peace; Christ is the door to grace through which only the truthful, righteous, and humble can pass; and the 'hope of the glory of God' looks beyond the glory seen in Moses and in Christ's earthly coming to the Father's glory at his return, for which we prepare by contemplation now.
Commentary on Romans 5.9Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Origen explains being “planted together” in the likeness of Christ’s death and resurrection, answers Docetists, and discusses two meanings of “the body of sin,” including infant baptism as an apostolic tradition.
Commentary on Romans 5.10Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Origen explains dying and living with Christ, the threefold death in believers, why death no longer rules Christ, rejects the idea that Christ must suffer again in future ages, and teaches that love will keep free choice from falling.
Commentary on Romans 6.12Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Origen reads Romans 8:3–9 of the law understood according to the letter (weak and now “dead”) versus according to the spirit, explains the Son’s “likeness of sinful flesh” and his sacrifice for sin, and gives a second reading based on the law of the mind.
Commentary on Romans 7.7Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Origen explains that all things work for good for those who love God, distinguishes the two forms of Christ to which believers are conformed, reads “foreknew” as God’s knowing the good with love, and calls the soul of Jesus the proper image of the Son.
Commentary on Romans 7.9Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Origen sums up the gifts of Romans 8, shows that with God for us the adversary is powerless, and explains the Father’s handing over of his own Son for all, so that none in the Church may be despised and all things are given with him.
Commentary on Romans 7.13Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Origen explains Paul’s wish to be anathema for Israel as Christlike self-offering that was heard (all Israel will be saved), lists Israel’s privileges, and argues from Rom 9:5 that Christ is God over all and that the Trinity is one in nature and substance.
Commentary on Romans 8.2Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Christ, the end of the law and the righteousness of faith, is present everywhere as the Word, near every person in possibility and in believers in actuality; true confession of Jesus as Lord means subjection to all that Christ is and newness of life.
Commentary on Romans 8.5Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Calling on the Lord presupposes faith, and since Christ is called upon he is to be prayed to and honored with the Father; preachers speak only by the power of the one who sends them, and their beautiful feet are spiritual, announcing the one good of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, which heretics announce but not well.
Commentary on Romans 8.11Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Against the Valentinians' fixed natures, Origen holds that all rational beings share one nature and become good or wild olives by free choice; the holy root is Christ, and Gentile believers must not boast over the broken branches but fear God's severity.
Commentary on Romans 9.34Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · To put on Christ is to put on the virtues he is; the flesh is to be cared for in necessities but not in its lusts.
Commentary on Romans 9.39Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · We take the pattern of dying to sin and of new life from Christ's death and resurrection; Christ rules all by power as Creator, but by his death he rules by persuasion those who freely die to sin and live the new life.
Commentary on Romans 10.8Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Christ was minister of circumcision either by being circumcised in the flesh, so that Jewish believers who keep the law should not be judged, or as minister of the spiritual circumcision of the heart; the cited texts follow the Septuagint, and the 'root of Jesse' (Jesse meaning 'he is to me') points to the eternal one who is, born for the Gentiles' salvation.
Commentary on Romans 10.43Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Marcion removed the doxology and cut away Rom 14:23 to the end, while other manuscripts place the doxology after 14:23 or at the end; the gospel strengthens all believers, but the revelation of the long-silent mystery, known to the prophets yet kept hidden until the Incarnation, is for the chosen few; God is 'only wise' as the begetter of Wisdom, Christ.
That Idols Are Not Gods 11Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 246–250, if by Cyprian · God foretold a more faithful people at the end of the age; his Word and Son became incarnate of a virgin so that man might become what Christ is.
That Idols Are Not Gods 12Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 246–250, if by Cyprian · The prophets foretold two comings of Christ, in humility and in power; the Jews, blinded by their sins, recognized only the second.
That Idols Are Not Gods 13Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 246–250, if by Cyprian · Christ's miracles fulfilled prophecy, but the Jewish leaders, thinking him a mere man and a magician, handed him to Pilate and demanded his death.
That Idols Are Not Gods 14Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 246–250, if by Cyprian · As foretold, Christ died by his own will, rose on the third day, stayed forty days with his disciples, ascended, and will return as judge, while the disciples spread his teaching.
That Idols Are Not Gods 15Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 246–250, if by Cyprian · Christians confirm their confession of Christ by suffering; they follow him as their leader and will become what he is.
To Quirinus 1.7Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · Isaiah and John show that those who reject Christ lose the light of the Lord.
To Quirinus 1.10Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · The prophets foretold a new law going out from Zion, and the Father's voice commands us to hear his Son.
To Quirinus 1.15Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · God promised David a son who would build God's house, and Christ foretold the temple's destruction and a new temple raised without hands.
To Quirinus 1.17Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · The Psalms and God's word to Eli foretold a new and eternal priest after the order of Melchizedek.
To Quirinus 1.18Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · Moses foretold a prophet like himself, and Christ says that Moses wrote of him.
To Quirinus 2.1Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · Proverbs, Sirach, the Psalms, John, Paul, and the Apocalypse show Christ as the firstborn and the Wisdom and Power of God through whom all was made.
To Quirinus 2.2Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · Wisdom's banquet in Proverbs is read as a figure of Christ's incarnation, passion, the eucharistic cup and altar, and the apostles' preaching.
To Quirinus 2.3Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · The Psalms, Isaiah, John, and the Apocalypse show that Christ is the Word of God.
To Quirinus 2.4Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · Isaiah's references to the hand and arm of the Lord are read as speaking of Christ.
To Quirinus 2.5Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · Passages where the angel of the Lord speaks and acts as God are read of Christ, who came in his Father's name.
To Quirinus 2.6Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · From Genesis to the Apocalypse, Scripture calls Christ God, as Thomas confessed and Paul wrote.
To Quirinus 2.7Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · The prophets foretold that God himself would come to save and enlighten, and the Gospels announce Jesus as that Savior.
To Quirinus 2.8Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · The eternal Son of God was to be born in the flesh, as the Psalm, Elizabeth's greeting, Paul, and John declare.
To Quirinus 2.9Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · Isaiah's sign of the virgin who bears Emmanuel, and the woman's seed who crushes the serpent's head, foretell Christ's virgin birth.
To Quirinus 2.10Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · Scripture shows Christ as both man and God, born of the Spirit and of Mary, the heavenly man who mediates between us and the Father.
To Quirinus 2.11Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · God's promise to David, Isaiah's shoot of Jesse, the angel's word to Mary, and the lion of Judah show that Christ was born of David's line.
To Quirinus 2.12Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · Micah foretold, and Matthew records, that Christ would be born in Bethlehem.
To Quirinus 2.13Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · Isaiah's suffering servant, the Psalms, Zechariah's high priest, and Paul's hymn in Philippians show that Christ came first in humility.
To Quirinus 2.14Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · The Wisdom of Solomon, Isaiah, and Judas' confession point to Christ as the Righteous One who would be put to death.
To Quirinus 2.15Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · Isaiah, Jeremiah, the Passover lamb, the Apocalypse, and John the Baptist show Christ as the lamb to be slain.
To Quirinus 2.16Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · Christ is the stone of Scripture: the cornerstone of Isaiah and the Psalms, and the stone of Jacob's pillow, Moses' seat, the ark's resting place, David's sling, and Samuel's Ebenezer.
To Quirinus 2.17Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · The stone cut without hands in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, which becomes a mountain filling the earth, is read as Christ.
To Quirinus 2.18Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · Isaiah's mountain of the Lord, to which the nations stream, and the Psalm's hill of the Lord are read of Christ in the last times.
To Quirinus 2.19Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · Christ is the Bridegroom and the church his bride; Joshua and Moses took off their shoes, and John was unworthy to loose Christ's sandal, because none of them was the bridegroom.
To Quirinus 2.20Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · The prophets and Psalms foretold the crucifixion: the outstretched hands, the pierced hands and feet, the divided garments, and the Son of Man lifted up like Moses' serpent.
To Quirinus 2.21Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · The horns in God's hands, the government on the child's shoulders, and Moses' outstretched arms against Amalek are read as figures of the power of the cross.
To Quirinus 2.23Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · Amos and Jeremiah foretold the midday darkness that fell at the crucifixion.
To Quirinus 2.24Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · The Psalms and Jesus' own words show that death could not hold him.
To Quirinus 2.25Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · Hosea, the third day at Sinai, and the sign of Jonah foretell the resurrection on the third day.
To Quirinus 2.26Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · Daniel's son of man, the Psalm's Lord at God's right hand, and the risen Christ of the Apocalypse and the Gospel show that he received all power from the Father for ever.
To Quirinus 2.27Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · The Gospels and letters teach that Christ is the only way and door to the Father.
To Quirinus 2.28Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · The prophets, the Psalms, the demons' outcry, and the words of Jesus and Paul show that Christ will come as Judge.
To Quirinus 2.29Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · The prophets, the royal Psalms, the magi, and Jesus' words to Pilate show that Christ is the eternal King.
To Quirinus 2.30Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · The Psalm, the rider on the white horse, and the parable of the sheep and goats show Christ as both Judge and King.
To Quirinus 3.24Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · Christ is the only way to the Father.
To Quirinus 3.33Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · The Father has given all judgment to the Son, and whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father.
To Quirinus 3.39Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · Christ's patient suffering, self-emptying, and foot-washing give believers the pattern for their lives.
Fragment E V (on Luke 22:42 ff.)Dionysius of Alexandria · ca. 248–265 · From a commentary on Luke 22:42–48: Christ asked that the cup pass, yet as the Father willed, the two wills being one in the divinity; his bloody sweat and the strengthening angel show his true humanity; ‘not entering temptation’ means not being overcome by it; and his gentle words to Judas teach forbearance.
Letter 13.4Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Some confessors disgrace their name by drunkenness, pride, or rashly returning from exile; they must imitate the humble, silent Christ.
Letter 63.4Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Melchizedek's offering of bread and wine prefigured Christ, priest after his order, who offered bread and the cup mixed with wine, his body and blood; the blessing of Abraham passes to all who believe.
Letter 63.6Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Jacob's blessing of Judah, washing his robe in the blood of the grape, and Isaiah's red garments from the winepress, both point to the Lord's blood in the wine of the cup.
Letter 63.7Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · As grapes must be trodden to make wine, Christ had to suffer before believers could drink his blood.
Letter 73.5Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Marcion does not confess the Trinity, the Creator, or Christ's true incarnation and bodily resurrection, so his baptism, given in a false faith, conveys nothing true.
Martyrdom of Conon 4Anonymous · ca. 250 · The governor urges Conon to offer a token sacrifice and mocks the crucified Christ.
Acts of Achatius (Disputation of Achatius) 4Anonymous · ca. 250–251 · Achatius explains the Son of God as the Word proceeding from God's heart.
On the Lord's Prayer 13Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 252 · 'Your kingdom come' asks for the heavenly kingdom promised to believers; Christ himself can be understood as that kingdom.
On the Lord's Prayer 14Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 252 · 'Your will be done' asks for God's help to do his will, as Christ did the Father's will.
On the Lord's Prayer 29Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 252 · Christ, though sinless, prayed often and all night; how much more should sinners pray.
On the Lord's Prayer 35Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 252 · Christians also pray at dawn for the resurrection and at sunset for Christ, the true Sun and Day, and indeed at every hour.
Martyrdom of Pionius and Companions 9Anonymous · 250 (the text may be later) · The formal interrogation of Pionius, Sabina (as Theodote), and Asclepiades.
13Anonymous · 250 (the text may be later) · Pionius warns the lapsed against Jewish invitations and answers the charge that Christ was a mere man who died a violent death.
Martyrdom of Pionius and Companions 14Anonymous · 250 (the text may be later) · From Saul and the medium of Endor Pionius argues that demons, not the dead, appear at necromancy, and urges the lapsed to repent.
Martyrdom of Pionius and Companions 16Anonymous · 250 (the text may be later) · At the altar Pionius confesses Christ, sent for the world's salvation.
In Praise of Martyrdom 6Anonymous · 3rd cent. (disputed) · Christ first suffered in himself what he crowns in martyrs: he became mortal so that we might be immortal and turned death into a saving remedy.
In Praise of Martyrdom 29Anonymous · 3rd cent. (disputed) · Christ suffered in the prophets and patriarchs and at last on the cross, amid cosmic signs; martyrs who imitate his passion surpass all others in glory.
Prayer 2 3Anonymous · uncertain · The petitioner thanks the Father for sending his Son, born of the Virgin by the Holy Spirit, to free us from death.
Prayer 2 4Anonymous · uncertain · The petitioner invokes the Son of God through his miracles and his work in creation.
Prayer 2 6Anonymous · uncertain · The prayer ends by confessing Christ's passion, descent, resurrection, and return, and asks for victory over the devil and deliverance from eternal punishment.
On Rebaptism 8Anonymous · ca. 250–258 (disputed) · Answering the objection that the disciples were rightly baptized, the writer lists the many signs by which the disciples believed Jesus was the Christ.
On the Lapsed 17Cyprian of Carthage · 251 · Only Christ can forgive sins against God; the martyrs' merits will count with the Judge, but only at the last judgment, not as a present substitute for penance.
To Demetrian 26Cyprian of Carthage · 252–253 · Christ grants this grace by his cross and blood, reconciling us to God; all should follow him and share his joy and immortality.
On Works and Almsgiving 1Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 253 · Besides the gift of redemption, God has given a further remedy for the sins committed after baptism: works of mercy and almsgiving.
On the Good of Patience 6Cyprian of Carthage · 256 · Christ taught patience by his whole life: his incarnation, baptism, fasting, temptation, washing his disciples' feet, and bearing with Judas and his opponents.
On the Good of Patience 7Cyprian of Carthage · 256 · In his passion Christ patiently bore spitting, scourging, thorns, blows, stripping, gall and vinegar, false witness, and death, silent to the end.
On the Good of Patience 8Cyprian of Carthage · 256 · Christ receives even his murderers and persecutors if they repent; without such patience the church would not have had Paul.
On the Good of Patience 9Cyprian of Carthage · 256 · Christians must walk as Christ walked, following his example of patient suffering, as John and Peter teach.
On the Good of Patience 23Cyprian of Carthage · 256 · The one who kept silent is Christ, silent in his passion as the prophets foretold, who will not be silent when he comes again in power.
On the Good of Patience 24Cyprian of Carthage · 256 · Christ, worshiped in heaven, is not yet avenged on earth; Christians should imitate his patience, await his coming, and keep his commands.
Opinions of the Bishops 17Cyprian of Carthage · 1 September 256 · Fortunatus of Thuccabori holds that Christ built the church on Peter and gave the power to baptize to bishops, not heretics.
Symposium 1.4Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd century · Virginity was reserved for Christ to teach: taking our form, he became the model by which humanity, made in God's image, may attain his likeness.
Symposium 1.5Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd century · Christ is the chief virgin; Revelation's 144,000 virgins who follow the Lamb are few compared with the countless saints; Marcella hands over to Theophila.
Symposium 3.3Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd century · Objection: how can sinful, mortal Adam be a likeness of the sinless Son of God?
Symposium 3.4Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd century · Thalia argues that Christ is Adam himself, re-formed: the pre-existent Word united himself with the first man, born anew of a virgin as Adam was formed from virgin earth.
Symposium 3.5Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd century · Like the potter's spoiled vessel, Adam was remade in the virgin's womb, united with the Word and made indestructible; the parable of the lost sheep teaches the same.
Symposium 3.6Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd century · The Shepherd left the angelic hosts, the ninety-nine sheep, to recover man, and defeated the devil through the very man the devil had overcome.
Symposium 3.7Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd century · Man stands between life and death and becomes what he inclines to; in Christ he became a harmonious instrument on which the Lord sings the resurrection.
Symposium 3.8Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd century · Christ is the new Adam: from his side, in the trance of his passion, God forms the church, his bride, who through baptism and teaching bears new children to virtue.
Symposium 7.1Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd century · Procilla, the seventh speaker, lets Christ himself be the witness to chastity, as the Bridegroom of the Song of Songs who praises the virgin soul as his bride, a sealed garden.
Symposium 7.8Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd century · Alternatively, the bride and dove is Christ's own sinless flesh, which he took up to the Father's right hand, the queen of Psalm 45.
Symposium 8.9Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd century · “Today I have begotten you” means that the eternal Son is born in the world, and in each believer, when he becomes known; so the church always bears Christ in the baptized.
Symposium 8.11Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd century · The church's wilderness is Arete's garden, and the 1,260 days are the knowledge of the Trinity: a thousand for the Father, two hundred for the Spirit, and sixty, from the perfect number six, for Christ.
Symposium 9.3Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd century · The “beautiful fruit” of Tabernacles is not the citron but Christ, the tree of life, and faith in him; without it one cannot share the first resurrection.
Symposium 11.2Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd century · Led by Thecla, the virgins sing an alphabetical hymn to Christ the Bridegroom, with the refrain “I keep myself pure for you,” recalling chaste figures from Abel to Mary and ending in praise of the Father.
Fragment 1 (Hypotyposes; quoted by Gregory of Nyssa)Theognostus of Alexandria · ca. 260–300 · Theognostus says that God, before making the world, first gave the Son his existence as the rule or pattern for creating it.
Commentary on the Apocalypse 1.1Victorinus of Pettau · late 3rd century · Victorinus comments on the opening blessing and greeting of Revelation, the seven spirits, and Christ's first and second comings.
Commentary on the Apocalypse 1.2Victorinus of Pettau · late 3rd century · Christ, glorified after his victory over death, walks among the churches, and his white head shows his eternity.
Commentary on the Apocalypse 1.3Victorinus of Pettau · late 3rd century · Christ's face is likened to the sun because, like the sun, he rose, set, and rose again.
Commentary on the Apocalypse 4.4Victorinus of Pettau · late 3rd century · Victorinus matches each Gospel to a living creature (John lion, Matthew man, Luke calf, Mark eagle) and applies the four images to Christ himself.
Commentary on the Apocalypse 4.7Victorinus of Pettau · late 3rd century · The elders casting their crowns before the throne mean that all victories yield to Christ's, as the palms strewn at his entry into Jerusalem showed.
Commentary on the Apocalypse 5.1Victorinus of Pettau · late 3rd century · The sealed book is the Old Testament, which only Christ, the slain Lamb and conquering lion, could open by his death.
Commentary on the Apocalypse 5.2Victorinus of Pettau · late 3rd century · Christ, the lion and the slain Lamb, unseals the testament veiled in Moses' law, which becomes plain after his death and victory.
Commentary on the Apocalypse 5.3Victorinus of Pettau · late 3rd century · The new song of the elders is the Christian confession of the new things done in Christ.
Commentary on the Apocalypse 10.1Victorinus of Pettau · late 3rd century · The mighty angel with the open book is Christ, the messenger of great counsel, with all things under his feet.
Commentary on the Apocalypse 11.1Victorinus of Pettau · late 3rd century · The measuring reed is John's authority, shown when bishops asked him to write his Gospel against the heretics, and the measure is the rule of faith.
Commentary on the Apocalypse 11.6Victorinus of Pettau · late 3rd century · The opened temple is Christ's appearing, for his body is the temple, and the ark is the Gospel with the forgiveness of sins.
Commentary on the Apocalypse 12.1Victorinus of Pettau · late 3rd century · The woman clothed with the sun is the ancient church of patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, longing for Christ's birth from her people.
Commentary on the Apocalypse 12.2Victorinus of Pettau · late 3rd century · The dragon is the devil, who could not hold Christ in death because Christ, not born of seed, owed nothing to death.
Commentary on the Apocalypse 21.1Victorinus of Pettau · late 3rd century · The holy city of the first resurrection, with its river and tree of life, needs no sun, for the Lamb is its light.
On the Making of the World 7Victorinus of Pettau · late 3rd century · The seven heavens correspond to the seven gifts of the Spirit on Christ, and the Word, the author of creation, bears these seven names in the seven days.
On the Making of the World 9Victorinus of Pettau · late 3rd century · The saving events of Christ's life correspond to the days of creation, and his deeds show both his humanity and his lordship.
Letter of the six bishops to Paul 1Anonymous · ca. 264–269 · Six bishops write to Paul of Samosata setting out the apostolic faith that the Son of God is God, begotten before the ages.
Letter of the six bishops to Paul 2Anonymous · ca. 264–269 · The bishops cite Psalms, Isaiah, Romans and Hosea to show the Son is God, and identify him as the one through whom the Father created all things.
Letter of the six bishops to Paul 3Anonymous · ca. 264–269 · The bishops teach that the Son is the living, personal Word through whom the Father made all things, and that he appeared to Abraham and the patriarchs.
Letter of the six bishops to Paul 4Anonymous · ca. 264–269 · The bishops identify the 'angel of the Lord' who spoke to Abraham and Jacob, and who mediated the law, with the Son of God.
Letter of the six bishops to Paul 5Anonymous · ca. 264–269 · The bishops show from Exodus and Deuteronomy that the one who appeared to Moses in the bush and in glory was the Son of God.
Letter of the six bishops to Paul 6Anonymous · ca. 264–269 · The bishops confess that the Son, God and Lord of all, became man from the virgin, his body united unchangeably with the Godhead, and that Scripture names Christ even before the incarnation.
Letter of the six bishops to Paul 7Anonymous · ca. 264–269 · The bishops close by affirming that Christ is one and the same before the ages and ask Paul to sign whether he agrees.
Fragment I of the acts of the disputation with MalchionAnonymous · ca. 264–269 · A fragment of the disputation distinguishes the Word, begotten by God alone, from Jesus Christ born of the virgin, with whom the Word came together.
Fragment II of the acts of the disputation with MalchionAnonymous · ca. 264–269 · A saying of Paul of Samosata: the Word is greater than Christ, who became great through wisdom.
Fragment III of the acts of the disputation with MalchionAnonymous · ca. 264–269 · Paul of Samosata teaches that wisdom dwelt in Christ as in a temple, more than in the prophets, but that Jesus Christ and the Word are two.
Fragment IV of the acts of the disputation with MalchionAnonymous · ca. 264–269 · Paul of Samosata says that the visible Jesus was not wisdom, since wisdom cannot take a visible shape.
Fragment V of the acts of the disputation with MalchionAnonymous · ca. 264–269 · Malchion presses Paul that he denies that the only-begotten Son was present in essence in the whole Saviour.
Against the Manichaeans 4Alexander of Lycopolis · ca. 280–320 · Alexander reports the Manichaean teaching on the moon and sun as vessels of souls, the making of man, Christ as Mind, and the abstinence of the Elect.
Against the Manichaeans 24Alexander of Lycopolis · ca. 280–320 · Alexander attacks the Manichaean doctrine of Christ as Mind and contrasts their view of the cross as a demonstration with the church's teaching that Christ gave himself for the forgiveness of sins.
Book 2, chapter 8Macarius Magnes · ca. 400 (disputed) · Macarius explains that Christ's question about his mother and brothers rebukes those who took him for a mere man, and that those who do the Father's will become his kin by faith.
Book 2, chapter 9Macarius Magnes · ca. 400 (disputed) · Macarius explains that Christ refused the title “good” only as the young man meant it, of a mere man, since God alone is good by nature and creatures only by participation.
Book 2, chapter 11Macarius Magnes · ca. 400 (disputed) · Macarius explains that Christ's own testimony is untrue only if he is a mere man, as his opponents thought, but true because he is God, to whom no one else can bear witness.
Book 2, chapter 14Macarius Magnes · ca. 400 (disputed) · The pagan philosopher asks why the risen Jesus appeared only to obscure women and a few others rather than to Pilate, Herod, the high priest, or the Roman senate.
Book 2, chapter 18Macarius Magnes · ca. 400 (disputed) · Macarius answers that John's unique report of the piercing is to be valued, since blood and water from Christ's side undo the evil that came from a side and bring cleansing.
Book 2, chapter 19Macarius Magnes · ca. 400 (disputed) · Macarius answers that the risen Christ did not appear to Pilate or the powerful so that the Jews could not claim a substitution and fraud, and so that the resurrection would be proclaimed by humble witnesses as God's work rather than men's.
Book 2, chapter 20Macarius Magnes · ca. 400 (disputed) · Macarius answers that “world” here means humanity, a part of the universe, and that the ruler cast out is the devil, stripped by Christ of the power he had usurped over men, not moved from one place to another.
Book 3, chapter 1Macarius Magnes · ca. 400 (disputed) · The pagan philosopher asks why Christ said nothing wise before his judges and endured insult, unlike Apollonius of Tyana, who spoke boldly to Domitian and vanished.
Book 3, chapter 2Macarius Magnes · ca. 400 (disputed) · The pagan philosopher argues that Jesus' fear and prayer in Gethsemane contradict his teaching not to fear death and are unworthy of a son of God or a wise man.
Book 3, chapter 8Macarius Magnes · ca. 400 (disputed) · Macarius answers that Christ kept silent and humble before his judges to fulfil the prophecies of a suffering servant and to avoid any suspicion of sorcery, and that his divinity was shown afterwards in the signs at his death.
Book 3, chapter 9Macarius Magnes · ca. 400 (disputed) · Macarius answers that in Gethsemane Christ feigned fear to lure the hesitant devil into bringing on the Passion, catching him as a fisherman catches a fish with a worm on a hook.
Book 3, chapter 10Macarius Magnes · ca. 400 (disputed) · Macarius answers that Moses wrote of Christ in many figures, that the same Spirit restored the law through Ezra accurately, and that the prophets and Psalms call Christ the Word and God.
Book 3, chapter 13Macarius Magnes · ca. 400 (disputed) · Macarius answers that the lake may rightly be called a sea, as Genesis calls every gathering of waters, and interprets the walking on the water, Peter's doubt, and the fourth watch both literally and as the coming of Christ after the patriarchs, the law, and the prophets.
Book 3, chapter 14Macarius Magnes · ca. 400 (disputed) · Macarius answers that Christ before his death spoke of his bodily departure, but after the resurrection, as God, is present everywhere, as he already was on the cross when he took the thief into paradise that very day.
Book 3, chapter 18Macarius Magnes · ca. 400 (disputed) · The pagan philosopher argues that Jesus refused to throw himself from the temple out of fear, when he should have proved himself God's Son by doing so unharmed.
Book 3, chapter 23Macarius Magnes · ca. 400 (disputed) · Macarius answers that as a newborn lives on its mother's blood as milk, the children of God live on Wisdom's flesh and blood, first allegorically in the words of Scripture and then truly in the eucharistic bread and wine, which are Christ's body and blood.
Book 3, chapter 26Macarius Magnes · ca. 400 (disputed) · Macarius answers that Christ refused to leap from the temple because accepting the devil's advice even once, though it quoted prophecy about him, would have led him on to worship the devil.
Book 3, chapter 27Macarius Magnes · ca. 400 (disputed) · Macarius answers that the devil, not Peter, was called Satan for prompting Peter to oppose the Passion, while Peter, by his confession of the Christ, the Son of the living God, received the keys as one who had seen the truth of Christ's divinity.
Book 4, chapter 16Macarius Magnes · ca. 400 (disputed) · Macarius answers that heaven and earth, made for man, will pass away with fallen man only to be renewed with him, like a silver vessel remade by the smith, and that God's throne does not depend on them; allegorically, man himself is heaven and earth, soul and body.
Book 4, chapter 18Macarius Magnes · ca. 400 (disputed) · Macarius answers that the healthy and righteous are the angels, who need no call, while fallen humanity is the sick whom the Word has called from Adam onwards and still calls, the fault of refusal lying with human choice.
Book 4, chapter 22Macarius Magnes · ca. 400 (disputed) · The pagan philosopher argues that belief in God's birth from the Virgin Mary is less worthy than the crudest belief that the gods dwell in their statues.
Book 4, chapter 28Macarius Magnes · ca. 400 (disputed) · Macarius answers that the Word took flesh from the Virgin without being defiled, as the sun dries mud without being soiled, and that God, who formed man from dust, could not be ashamed to dwell in the human nature he made in his own image.
Against Porphyry, fragment 1Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · Christ took flesh and was crucified so that, through the very human nature the demons had used to deceive, they might be overthrown; the cross is the sign of victory, seen in the standards, the ship's mast, the bird's wings, and the outstretched arms of man.
Against Porphyry, fragment 2Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · Divine power can contract itself into a human body; and as fire and air cannot be cut, much more did the divine Wisdom remain impassible though united to the body that was struck and nailed.
Against Porphyry, fragment 3Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · God's standard of beauty is not human opinion: the cross, despised by men, frees souls, restores humanity to the tree of life, and makes Christ the death of death while he remains impassible and immortal.
Cib. 11Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · The red heifer is Christ's flesh; its burning with cedar, hyssop, and scarlet images the Trinity, and its ashes signify his real death and burial, into which believers are baptized.
Creat. 11Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · The "beginning" of Genesis 1:1 is Wisdom, the Word, who was with the Father before creation and through whom all things were made.
On the Martyrs (Peri martyron), fragment 1 (Phil 2:6)Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · Christ himself honored martyrdom by bearing witness, though equal with God, to crown humanity with this gift.
Res. 1.25Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · Proclus explains Origen's view with the image of a waterskin that keeps its shape while water flows in and out, and answers the appeal to Christ's risen flesh by stressing the difference between his virginal conception and ours.
Res. 2.8Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · Paul's 'body of this death' is the law of sin in the members, not the body itself, from which Christ delivers us so that the natural law of the good may be fulfilled; Methodius then pauses before the harder questions.
Res. 2.18Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · Methodius explains that 'flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom' refers to the flesh's impulses and to corruption, not to the body, which God restores to incorruption, as Justin Martyr also taught.
Res. 2.23Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · A plant flourishing unburned beside a natural fire on Mount Olympus in Lycia prefigures the righteous passing unharmed through the final fire; and since even humble images of a king are honoured, God will not let his images perish but raised them up through the incarnate Word.
Res. 3.5Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · If Moses and Elijah at the transfiguration had already risen in the bodily form, Christ would not be 'the firstborn of the dead'; so the resurrection must be of the flesh, and those raised before Christ died again.
Res. 3.7Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · Greek phrases of Origen quoted in Book 3, chapters 7-8.
Res. 3.12Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · Against Origen's claim that the risen Christ showed the disciples a body adapted to their sight rather than his real one, the narrator insists from Luke 24 and John 20 that Christ rose in the same body of flesh and bones.
Res. 3.13Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · If the disciples could see Christ's glory as novices at the transfiguration, they could have seen it after the resurrection; instead Christ showed them his flesh and bones, as Paul's creed also teaches.
Res. 3.14Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · The 'body of humiliation' was once a body of glory before the fall, and it is this same body that will rise glorified.
Sang. 7Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · In Psalm 19 the heavens are the angels, who announced Christ, the Glory of God, and the firmament is the church, which proclaims his life and works.
Sang. 8Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · Heaven and firmament may also mean the mind and the feelings; true confession of Christ come in the flesh includes his coming into the church and into each believer, with a holy life.
Sang. 10Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · Solomon's words in Wisdom 7 about his human birth refer to himself, not to Christ, who was born of the Virgin; the work closes with a prayer.
Fragment on Job, no. 8Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · The “worm” of Job 25:6 is read of Christ, humble and not born of human union.
Fragment on Job, no. 11Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · Christ, the Wisdom of God, went down to the abyss unconquered and enables those who trust him to walk on the waves of life.
Fragment on Job, no. 19Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · The catenist notes that Methodius's commentary ends here, then reads the cornerstone of Job 38:6 as Christ, who joins Jews and Gentiles.
Fragment on Job, no. 21Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · Christ alone went down to the abyss as a free man and called its prisoners out.
Against the Nations 1.36Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · The objection is that Christians worship a crucified man as God; Arnobius answers that the pagan gods were themselves once mortals with human births and stories.
Against the Nations 1.37Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · Pagans worship deified mortals, so they cannot fault Christians for worshiping one who was born a man.
Against the Nations 1.38Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · Even if Christ were only a man, his gifts of truth about God, the world, and the soul would make him more worthy of divine honor than any deified benefactor.
Against the Nations 1.39Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · Arnobius recalls his former worship of idols and anointed stones and confesses Christ, his teacher, as God.
Against the Nations 1.40Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · Christ's death on the cross no more discredits his teaching than violent deaths discredited Pythagoras, Socrates, or Regulus.
Against the Nations 1.41Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · Pagans themselves worship gods who died violent deaths, such as Liber, Aesculapius, Hercules, Attis, and Romulus.
Against the Nations 1.42Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · Arnobius affirms that Christ is truly God, sent by the supreme King, as his works prove.
Against the Nations 1.43Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · Arnobius rejects the charge that Christ was a magician, since no magician ever did what he did without spells or rites.
Against the Nations 1.44Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · Christ worked his miracles by the power of his name alone, and all of them were beneficial.
Against the Nations 1.45Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · Christ's healings of the sick, the possessed, lepers, the blind, and the lame show he was more than a mortal.
Against the Nations 1.46Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · Christ calmed the sea, walked on water, fed five thousand, raised the dead, knew hearts, appeared after his death, and his name still puts demons to flight.
Against the Nations 1.47Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · Christ's miracles were meant to lead people to the true God, and they show him stronger than fate itself.
Against the Nations 1.48Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · Pagan gods healed, if at all, by prescribing remedies like physicians, while Christ healed by word and touch alone.
Against the Nations 1.49Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · Countless sufferers prayed in vain at the temples, while Christ helped good and bad alike without regard to merit.
Against the Nations 1.50Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · Christ gave his unlearned disciples power to work the same miracles in his name, proving they were not magic.
Against the Nations 1.51Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · No pagan god ever gave priests power to heal, whereas Christ's sharing of his power with men shows a power above all things.
Against the Nations 1.52Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · Arnobius challenges the famous magicians of legend to do, even with all their arts, what simple Christians did by bare command.
Against the Nations 1.53Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · Christ was God sent from the supreme God, unknown to the powers of the world, and at his death all creation was shaken.
Against the Nations 1.54Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · The miracles were attested by eyewitnesses and believed by whole nations, who would not have suffered hatred for a fiction.
Against the Nations 1.60Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · Christ took human form because otherwise his invisible divine power could not have been seen or heard by mortals.
Against the Nations 1.61Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · Why God chose to act through a man is hidden, and unbelief prevents understanding it.
Against the Nations 1.62Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · Arnobius argues that the divine Christ did not die; the death was that of the man he had assumed, as a prophet's death is not the death of the god who speaks through him.
Against the Nations 1.63Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · Christ, who could have prevented his death, freely allowed it in accordance with God's plan, and in his life taught virtue and healed with gentleness.
Against the Nations 1.64Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · Pagans deify tyrants and honor immoral philosophers, yet hate Christ, who harmed no one and brought good news of the soul's salvation.
Against the Nations 1.65Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · People would welcome a physician promising health, yet they persecute Christ, who brought salvation of souls and let his humanity die to confirm that hope.
Against the Nations 2.1Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · Arnobius asks what wrong Christ ever did to deserve such hatred: he conquered no nations, seized no wealth, violated no marriages, insulted no one.
Against the Nations 2.2Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · Christ brought light and the way to heaven, and teaching people to worship the one God is the truest religion.
Against the Nations 2.11Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · Pagans believe philosophers who worked no miracles; Christians believe Christ, whose mighty works justify faith in him.
Against the Nations 2.34Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · If Plato could have secured escape from death, people would rightly worship him; Christ promised it and proved it by his mighty works.
Against the Nations 2.60Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · Christ, who is God, commanded his followers to leave aside unanswerable questions and to direct their whole minds to the knowledge of God.
Against the Nations 2.63Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · To the question of souls who lived before Christ, Arnobius answers that God's mercy reached them too, though how is beyond present knowledge.
Against the Nations 2.65Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · God does not force belief; salvation is given through Christ alone, whom God the Father appointed as the only door of life.
Against the Nations 2.66Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · Not even purity or rites of passage bring immortality apart from Christ, and the novelty of Christianity is no fault, since people always rightly exchange the worse for the better.
Against the Nations 2.74Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · Why Christ came so late is known only to God, but his coming is no less certain for that; the pagans cannot explain the late births of their own gods.
Against the Nations 2.75Arnobius of Sicca · ca. 297–303 · In eternity nothing is late; God sent Christ at the fitting time according to his fixed plan, perhaps when humanity had grown weaker.
Canons of Hippolytus, canon 1Anonymous · 4th century · The first canon confesses the equal and eternal Trinity and the Word as Son and Creator, and separates from the Church those who teach wickedly about the Word.
Canons of Hippolytus, canon 22Anonymous · 4th century · The week of the Jewish Passover is kept by all as a strict fast of bread, salt, and water in mourning for the Lord's passion; those who missed it through ignorance or sickness keep it after Pentecost.
Church History 1.1.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The history begins with Christ's divine nature and saving plan.
Church History 1.1.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · A church history must begin with Christ, from whom Christians take their name.
Church History 1.2.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Christ is both God (the head) and man (the feet); beginning with his divinity will show that Christianity is not a novelty.
Church History 1.2.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Christ's divine nature is beyond description; only the Father fully knows the Son.
Church History 1.2.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Only the Father truly knows the pre-existent Word, the Father's Wisdom, agent of creation and Lord of all, as John 1 proclaims.
Church History 1.2.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Moses shows the Father creating through his Word, speaking with him at man's creation: “Let us make man.”
Church History 1.2.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The psalmist likewise shows the Father commanding and the Word carrying out creation.
Church History 1.2.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The righteous of old, from Abraham to the prophets, recognized and worshipped the Son of God.
Church History 1.2.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The Word appeared as a man to Abraham at Mamre, who worshipped him as God and Judge of all the earth.
Church History 1.2.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The one who appeared to Abraham cannot be the unchangeable Father, and so must be the pre-existent Word.
Church History 1.2.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Moses calls the Word a second Lord at Sodom, and Jacob saw him as God face to face.
Church History 1.2.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · These appearances were not of angels, for Scripture names angels as angels.
Church History 1.2.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Joshua saw the Word as the commander of the Lord's army, leader of angels and the Father's viceroy.
Church History 1.2.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Scripture tells how the commander of the Lord's army appeared to Joshua at Jericho.
Church History 1.2.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The same words were spoken to Moses at the burning bush, showing it was the same divine Word.
Church History 1.2.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Wisdom herself, speaking through Solomon, testifies that she existed before the world and served in creation.
Church History 1.2.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Wisdom continues: the Lord created her before the earth and she was with him, rejoicing, as he made the world.
Church History 1.2.16Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · So the Word existed before and appeared to some of the ancients.
Church History 1.2.21Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · When wickedness had overwhelmed nearly all, the Word in his love appeared to a few godly men, in human form.
Church History 1.2.23Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Once the nations had been tamed, the Word appeared as a man at the start of the Roman Empire, fulfilling the prophecies of his birth, works, death, resurrection, and ascension.
Church History 1.2.24Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Daniel foresaw the Ancient of Days enthroned in judgment.
Church History 1.2.25Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Daniel saw one like a son of man receive an everlasting kingdom.
Church History 1.2.26Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Daniel's vision refers to Christ, the Word, called Son of Man because he became man.
Church History 1.3.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Next he shows that the names “Jesus” and “Christ” were honoured by the ancient prophets.
Church History 1.3.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Moses first gave the title “Christ” (anointed) to the high priest, showing the name's divine honour.
Church History 1.3.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Moses also first gave the name “Jesus” (Joshua) to his successor, as a type of Christ.
Church History 1.3.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Moses renamed Hoshea “Jesus” (Joshua), because he bore the image of the Saviour who would succeed the Mosaic worship.
Church History 1.3.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Moses gave the names “Christ” and “Jesus” to the two greatest men of his day.
Church History 1.3.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Later prophets named Christ, foretelling both the plot against him and the calling of the nations.
Church History 1.3.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Kings, too, were anointed and so were “christs” in figure of the true Christ.
Church History 1.3.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Some prophets were also anointed, so priests, kings, and prophets all point to Christ, the true high priest, king, and prophet.
Church History 1.3.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · None of the ancient anointed ones had the divine power that Jesus, the true Christ, has shown.
Church History 1.3.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · No anointed king or priest ever gave his followers his name, received worship, or moved all nations as Christ has.
Church History 1.3.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Jesus had no priestly, royal, or prophetic office among the Jews, yet the Father gave him all of these in reality.
Church History 1.3.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Jesus, the true Christ, has filled the world with Christians who bear his name and live by his teaching.
Church History 1.3.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Christ's anointing was with the divine Spirit, as Isaiah foretold.
Church History 1.3.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · David's psalm calls Christ God and King, anointed with the oil of gladness.
Church History 1.3.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The psalm shows Christ anointed with divine, not material, oil, surpassing all earlier anointed ones.
Church History 1.3.16Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Psalm 110 shows Christ seated at God's right hand, begotten before the morning star, a priest for ever like Melchizedek.
Church History 1.3.17Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Like Melchizedek, whose priesthood came neither by anointing nor descent, Christ is priest by God's oath.
Church History 1.3.18Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Christ was not anointed bodily nor of a priestly tribe, but existed from God before the world and is an eternal priest.
Church History 1.3.19Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · That the whole world calls him Christ and worships him as king, prophet, priest, and God proves his divine anointing.
Church History 1.4.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Having shown Christ is not new, Eusebius will now show that Christian teaching is not new either.
Church History 1.4.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The patriarchs, like Christians, did not keep circumcision, sabbath, or food laws, but knew Christ, who appeared to them.
Church History 1.5.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Augustus's forty-second year, at the time of Quirinius's census.
Church History 1.6.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Daniel's seventy weeks foretold the end of the Jewish anointing, fulfilled at Christ's coming.
Church History 1.8.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · When the magi sought the newborn king, Herod ordered the infants of Bethlehem killed, hoping to kill Jesus.
Church History 1.11.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Josephus (quoted) describes Jesus as a wise man and wonder-worker who won many Jews and Greeks.
Church History 1.11.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Josephus (quoted): Jesus was crucified under Pilate, appeared alive on the third day, and the Christians named after him still exist.
Church History 1.13.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Abgar (quoted) concludes that Jesus is either God or the Son of God.
Church History 1.13.20Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The Syriac account (quoted): Thaddaeus promised to preach Christ's coming, works, humiliation, death, descent to Hades, and ascension.
Church History 2.2.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Following custom, Pilate reported the resurrection of Jesus to the emperor Tiberius.
Church History 2.23.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Commanded to deny Christ, James boldly confessed him as Son of God, and was killed in the interval after Festus's death.
Church History 2.23.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Hegesippus (quoted): James proclaimed that Jesus, the Son of Man, sits at God's right hand and will come on the clouds.
Church History 3.7.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Comparing Christ's words with Josephus shows his foreknowledge to be truly divine.
Church History 3.8.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The oracle fits Christ better than Vespasian, since Christ's apostles were then reaching the whole world.
Church History 3.20.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Hegesippus (quoted): they said Christ's kingdom is heavenly and will come at the end, when he judges the living and the dead.
Church History 3.24.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · So the Gospels do not conflict; John omitted the genealogy and began with Christ's divinity.
Church History 3.27.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Others, the Ebionites, were named for their “poor” opinions of Christ.
Church History 3.27.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Some Ebionites held Jesus a mere man born of Joseph and Mary, and required the law for salvation.
Church History 3.27.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Other Ebionites accepted the virgin birth but denied Christ's pre-existence as the Word, and kept the law.
Church History 3.36.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Ignatius (quoted) says that the risen Christ told Peter's company to touch him, for he was not a bodiless spirit.
Church History 4.15.20Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The Martyrdom (quoted): Polycarp refused to revile Christ, whom he had served eighty-six years.
Church History 4.15.41Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The Martyrdom (quoted): Nicetes, urged by the Jews, asked that the body not be released lest Christians worship Polycarp; but Christians worship Christ alone.
Church History 4.15.42Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The Martyrdom (quoted): Christians worship Christ the Son of God, but love the martyrs as his disciples and imitators.
Church History 5.1.23Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Christ suffered in the mangled Sanctus, showing that where God's love is nothing is to be feared.
Church History 5.1.41Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Blandina, hung as on a cross, inspired the others, who saw Christ crucified in her.
Church History 5.2.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The confessors, imitating Christ's humility, refused to be called martyrs.
Church History 5.2.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · They gave the title “martyr” to Christ and the dead, calling themselves mere confessors and asking for prayer.
Church History 5.7.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Irenaeus: Christ's miracles were real and foretold, and his true disciples still work wonders in his name.
Church History 5.8.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Irenaeus defends the Septuagint's “virgin” in Isaiah 7:14 against the “young woman” of Theodotion and Aquila, whom the Ebionites follow.
Church History 5.16.21Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Martyrs prove nothing: the Marcionites have many martyrs but do not truly confess Christ.
Church History 5.28.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Eusebius introduces an anonymous work against the heresy of Artemon.
Church History 5.28.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The anonymous author refutes the claim that the “mere man” Christology was ancient.
Church History 5.28.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The Artemonites claimed their view was apostolic and held in Rome until Victor, and corrupted under Zephyrinus.
Church History 5.28.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Scripture and earlier writers — Justin, Miltiades, Tatian, Clement — contradict them, calling Christ God.
Church History 5.28.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Irenaeus, Melito, and the church's early hymns all proclaim Christ as God.
Church History 5.28.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Victor himself excommunicated Theodotus the cobbler, the first to call Christ a mere man.
Church History 6.12.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Serapion found the Gospel of Peter mostly orthodox but with Docetic additions.
Church History 6.14.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Clement cites a presbyter: Paul did not call himself apostle of the Hebrews, since the Lord himself was their apostle.
Church History 6.17.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Symmachus the translator was an Ebionite; Origen received his writings from a woman named Juliana.
Church History 6.31.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Africanus's letter to Aristides reconciled the genealogies of Christ; Eusebius quoted it in Book 1.
Church History 6.33.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Beryllus of Bostra denied that Christ pre-existed with his own divinity before the incarnation.
Church History 6.33.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Origen persuaded Beryllus by argument and restored him to orthodoxy.
Church History 7.6.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Dionysius reports the Sabellian teaching in the Pentapolis and his letters against it.
Church History 7.18.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The statue was said to depict Jesus, and Eusebius saw it himself.
Church History 7.25.18Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The Gospel of John and 1 John open with closely parallel words.
Church History 7.25.19Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · 1 John begins by opposing those who deny Christ came in the flesh.
Church History 7.27.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Paul taught that Christ was a mere man; bishops gathered at Antioch, and the aged Dionysius sent his view by letter.
Church History 7.28.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Repeated synods debated, Paul's party concealing his views and the others exposing them.
Church History 7.30.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · They say he banned hymns to Christ and had women sing hymns in his own honour at Easter.
Church History 7.30.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Paul denies that the Son came down from heaven, yet lets his followers call him an angel from heaven.
Church History 7.30.16Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Since Paul follows the heresy of Artemas, the synod need not judge his morals.
Church History 8.10.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Phileas writes that the martyrs, following the examples of Scripture and the Christ who humbled himself to death, held fast to their calling.
Church History 9.9.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Constantine, praying to God and Christ for help, marched on Rome to free it.
Church History 10.4.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Besides the Father, the church should praise Jesus, the second cause of its blessings, teacher, destroyer of tyrants, and Savior.
Church History 10.4.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Christ, the only good Son, took on human nature like a devoted physician and rescued humanity even from death, as no heavenly being could.
Church History 10.4.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Christ alone bore our sufferings and penalties, raised us from spiritual death, and shares with us the Father's good gifts.
Church History 10.4.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · At his first coming Christ's light dissolved the bonds of sin in which demons held humanity.
Church History 10.4.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Christ, the Angel of Great Counsel and God's commander, suddenly destroyed the persecutors and glorified his faithful before heaven and earth.
Church History 10.4.16Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The emperors now reject idols, confess Christ as King and Savior on public monuments, and worship him as the true Son of God.
Church History 10.4.17Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · No king but Christ has had his name and laws spread to all the earth.
Church History 10.4.18Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Christ alone tamed savage nations by his gentle laws and keeps flourishing despite constant attack.
Church History 10.4.19Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Christ founded a new nation throughout the world and armed his soldiers with piety stronger than steel.
Church History 10.4.20Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Christ reigns even after death, filling the world with his churches, which he creates by his word, like this splendid church.
Church History 10.4.21Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · God looks rather on the living temple of believers built on the apostles and prophets, with Christ as cornerstone, whom the builders rejected.
Church History 10.4.22Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The true temple is the believers themselves; only Christ, the great High Priest, can see into its inner sanctuary, the soul.
Church History 10.4.46Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · As Christ passed from death to glorified, incorruptible flesh, so the church shares his renewal and longs for the resurrection and the kingdom of heaven.
Church History 10.4.49Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Christ the Bridegroom answers the church with Isaiah's words: God forsook her only briefly and will show her everlasting mercy.
Church History 10.4.56Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The Son created the soul in his own image, rational and incorruptible, to be his bride and the temple of the Father and himself.
Church History 10.4.59Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · After the soul had been punished for its sins, the saving Word, obeying the Father's love, restored it.
Church History 10.4.68Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The true altar is the pure soul of the priest; Christ the High Priest receives the people's prayers as bloodless sacrifices and offers them to the Father.
Church History 10.4.69Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The Word has built this spiritual temple throughout the world as an earthly image of heaven, so that the Father may be worshiped.
Acts of Archelaus 5Hegemonius · early to mid 4th century · Mani’s letter to Marcellus attacks belief in one principle and in Christ’s birth from Mary.
Acts of Archelaus 7Hegemonius · early to mid 4th century · Turbo’s summary of Mani’s myth: two gods, the First Man, the creation of the world, the docetic Christ, and the ferrying of souls by sun and moon.
Acta Archelai (Latin) 38Hegemonius · early to mid 4th century (Greek original) · Archelaus distinguishes senses of "father," argues that Christ did not delay in sending the Paraclete but sent him at once to the apostles and above all to Paul, and cites Paul's letters as his testament.
Acta Archelai (Latin) 41Hegemonius · early to mid 4th century (Greek original) · Archelaus argues that the "perfect" Paul awaited is Christ at his coming in glory, when prophecy, tongues, and knowledge will be done away, and that Manes has done away nothing.
Acta Archelai (Latin) 50Hegemonius · early to mid 4th century (Greek original) · Archelaus interprets the veil as the prophecy of Gen 49:10 and Deut 18:15, fulfilled in Christ, and then lists parallels between Moses and Jesus; the letter to Diodorus closes.
Acta Archelai (Latin) 54Hegemonius · early to mid 4th century (Greek original) · Manes, claiming the patience of an apostle, spars with Archelaus over who should debate, and denies that Christ was born of Mary, citing sayings that he "came" and was "sent."
Acta Archelai (Latin) 55Hegemonius · early to mid 4th century (Greek original) · Manes argues from "Who is my mother?" and Peter's confession that Jesus had no human mother or brothers, so that Mary cannot be his mother.
Acta Archelai (Latin) 56Hegemonius · early to mid 4th century (Greek original) · Archelaus answers that Jesus did not rebuke the messenger but simply would not leave his work of teaching and healing for his family, as he taught his disciples to put God first.
Acta Archelai (Latin) 57Hegemonius · early to mid 4th century (Greek original) · Archelaus contrasts Jesus' sharp rebuke of Peter and of the confessing demons with his gentle answer to the messenger, explaining the answer by a parable of a king interrupted in battle.
Acta Archelai (Latin) 58Hegemonius · early to mid 4th century (Greek original) · Archelaus argues that denying Christ's birth from Mary destroys his passion, resurrection, the resurrection of the dead, and the judgment, and asks Manes on whom the Spirit descended at the baptism.
Acta Archelai (Latin) 59Hegemonius · early to mid 4th century (Greek original) · Manes argues that the Son needed no mother or baptism, and that if Jesus was a real man the dove must be a real dove; Archelaus answers that a spirit dwells in a true man, as Manes himself claimed of the Paraclete.
Acta Archelai (Latin) 60Hegemonius · early to mid 4th century (Greek original) · Archelaus argues that a Christ who was man only in appearance could not have been seized, have suffered, or been baptized, and that he was baptized not for his own sin but to bear the Spirit in the body born of Mary.
Acta Archelai (Latin) 68Hegemonius · early to mid 4th century (Greek original) · Archelaus closes by tracing Manes's teaching through Basilides to Scythianus; the work ends with Hegemonius's signature and a short appended catalogue of heresies down to the Apollinarians, Novatians, Montenses, and Luciferians.
Fragment 2Peter of Alexandria · ca. 300–311 · From Peter's book On the Godhead: God the Word became flesh by God's will without leaving his Godhead, so that he might die for sinners, and was conceived by the Virgin through the power of God and the Holy Spirit without a man.
Fragment 3Peter of Alexandria · ca. 300–311 · Christ's words and miracles show that he is God made man, God by nature who became man by nature.
Fragment 4Peter of Alexandria · ca. 300–311 · The last sentence of Peter's fragment on the coming of Christ: he was God by nature and became man by nature.
Fragment 5Peter of Alexandria · ca. 300–311 · From the work on the Passover: the Hebrews kept the fourteenth of the first month after the spring equinox until the fall of Jerusalem, and Christ, the true lamb, did not eat the Passover in the year of his death but was sacrificed on the day of preparation.
Fragment 8Peter of Alexandria · ca. 300–311 · A later writer quotes Peter's comment on the Lord's words to Judas: Christ's signs show him to be God made man, God by nature and man by nature.
Homilies 1.19Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter teaches that only the true Prophet can give certainty, and that once tested he must be believed in everything.
Homilies 2.5Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter teaches that the highest goods can be gained only through knowledge that comes from the Prophet of the truth.
Homilies 2.6Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter defines the true Prophet as all-knowing and sinless, and says that apart from him people can know only the basic rule of not wronging others.
Homilies 2.10Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter argues that fulfilled predictions prove the Prophet's foreknowledge, so he must be believed above all.
Homilies 3.11Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Truth comes only from the true Prophet, whose foreknowledge, unlike that of physicians and diviners, needs no external means.
Homilies 3.12Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · The true Prophet’s innate foreknowledge reaches to the coming age and speaks plainly, unlike divination.
Homilies 3.13Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · The true Prophet always knows all things; intermittent inspiration belongs to frenzied pagan seers.
Homilies 3.15Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Jesus prophesied plainly, as in his prediction of the destruction of the Temple, now fulfilled before the hearers’ eyes.
Homilies 3.19Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · The true Prophet revealed secret teaching, extended mercy to the Gentiles, loved his enemies, and will reign as father-king of the coming age.
Homilies 3.20Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Adam had the Spirit of Christ; the true Prophet has passed through the ages in changing forms and names until his anointing.
Homilies 3.49Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · The key passage is Jacob’s prophecy of the ruler from Judah; Jesus, who fulfilled it, teaches which Scriptures are true.
Homilies 3.52Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · What has passed away, such as sacrifices, was not God’s command; Jesus alone is the gate to saving truth.
Homilies 3.53Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · The heavenly voice, Jesus’ word about the prophets, and Moses’ promise of a prophet like himself all point to Jesus as the one to be heard.
Homilies 12.7Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Clement weeps at Peter's offer; Peter cites the Lord who took the form of a slave, and Clement gives thanks to have Peter as a parent.
Homilies 16.14Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter grants that Scripture calls angels, Christ, Moses, and idols “gods,” but holds that for believers there is one God, the Father of Christ.
Homilies 16.15Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter denies that Jesus proclaimed himself God; he blessed Peter for calling him Son of God.
Homilies 16.16Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter argues that the begotten Son cannot bear every title of the unbegotten Father, as souls from God are not gods.
Homilies 18.13Anonymous · 4th century (reworking earlier material) · Peter offers another reading of 'No one knew the Father': it was aimed at the Jews who took Christ to be only David's son, while the righteous from Adam to Jacob did know God.
Recognitions 1.16Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter teaches that divine truth can be known only from the true Prophet, whose credentials must first be tested and who must then be believed in everything.
Recognitions 1.33Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · The true Prophet appears to Abraham and teaches him; Abraham's two elder sons become the ancestors of other nations, some of whom adopt circumcision.
Recognitions 1.40Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · The expected Prophet comes with signs, is rejected and slandered by the people, and chooses twelve apostles and seventy-two disciples after the pattern of Moses.
Recognitions 1.41Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter tells how the Prophet, despite his miracles, was crucified, and how creation mourned at his death while his people remained unmoved.
Recognitions 1.45Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter explains that Christ, ruler over men, is so called because the Father anointed him with oil from the tree of life, with which he will anoint the godly in his kingdom.
Recognitions 1.48Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter postpones Clement's question and teaches that Jesus, called Son at his baptism, ended the sacrificial fire and the old anointing by the grace of baptism.
Recognitions 1.49Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter teaches the two comings of Christ, the first in humility and the second in glory, both foretold by the prophets.
Recognitions 1.50Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter argues that prophecy is confirmed because the Gentiles, not the Jews who expected him, received Christ, the 'expectation of the nations'.
Recognitions 1.52Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter explains that Christ was present to the righteous of every generation; some were translated to paradise, and the souls of others await the resurrection in happy regions.
Recognitions 1.59Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Bartholomew argues that Jesus is greater than Moses, James son of Alphaeus that Christ authenticates the prophets, and Lebbaeus rebukes the people's ingratitude.
Recognitions 1.60Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Simon the Canaanite refutes a disciple of John who claims John was the Christ, and Barnabas, called Matthias, urges the people to love Jesus.
Recognitions 1.69Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · James proves from the law that Jesus is the Christ, teaches the necessity of baptism in the threefold name, and persuades the people and the high priest to seek baptism.
Recognitions 2.22Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter describes life as a journey whose gate is the true Prophet and whose goal is the kingdom of the Father, and invites discussion in peace.
Recognitions 2.42Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter explains that angels of the nations and holy men are called gods only in a derived sense, while Christ is God of the princes and the Creator alone is true God.
Recognitions 2.48Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter answers that the Son, always with the Father, revealed him to Moses and the prophets, but not to Simon, who rejects the Son.
Recognitions 3.2Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Aquila asks Peter to explain the first principle and in what sense Christ is called the Son of God.
Recognitions 3.8Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · In the bracketed passage, Peter teaches that the unbegotten God begot the Only-begotten without change or division, and calls the Son begotten, made, and created.
Recognitions 3.10Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · In the bracketed passage, Peter argues that the Son, born of the unborn, is truly distinct from the Father, as the Father's command 'Sit at my right hand' shows.
Recognitions 3.11Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · In the bracketed passage, Peter teaches that the Son is the image of the unbegotten power, like the sun shown in a mirror, and that the Holy Spirit was made through the Son and is numbered after Father and Son.
Recognitions 3.48Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter challenges Simon to let the crowd search his house; Simon tries to raise a riot.
Recognitions 4.9Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · In the beginning humanity, made in God's image and taught by the true Prophet, worshiped God with a pure mind, and creation kept covenant with them so that they lived a thousand years without decay.
Recognitions 5.10Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · The true Prophet who appeared in Judea is proved by his miracles, his knowledge of hearts, and the fulfillment of the law's prophecies and types in him.
Recognitions 5.11Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · The prophecy that the nations would await the Messiah is all the more remarkable because the Jews, who expected him, failed through envy to recognize him when he came.
Recognitions 6.8Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · As all things come from the waters made through the Only-begotten, so the Father wills that people be reborn through water, and baptism is necessary even for the just.
Recognitions 8.19Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Fiery atoms could not form the world's foundation, and insensible atoms could not produce the ordered forms of things, which show the work of reason, the Word and God.
Recognitions 8.50Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · After the flood, which pagans call Deucalion's, God promised no more floods but set evil angels over the nations with power only over those who sin, until the coming of the one who rejoices in good.
Recognitions 8.59Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter urges all to seek the true Prophet, who dwells within each mind but works only in those who seek him with a pure and patient desire for truth.
Recognitions 8.62Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · God made the world for the true Prophet, who is present everywhere to those who seek him but asleep to unbelievers; the old man declines to stay and leaves until the next day.
Recognitions 9.3Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Clement explains that God, through his Son, made a two-storied world and raises humans as a bride for the Son, while the prince of this world, like an adulterer, seduces them.
Recognitions 10.14Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter says no one should be ashamed of not knowing everything, since even Christ professed not to know the day and hour; his followers know what the true Prophet judged sufficient.
Recognitions 10.47Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter invites inquirers to learn of the true Prophet, warns against disputing for victory, and summarizes the preaching: honor God the Father and his Son, the sole lawgiver and judge, by a sober, chaste, just, and merciful life.
Recognitions 10.70Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter tells the sick that healing comes from Christ, not from him; when they confess Jesus Christ as the true God, a great light appears and all are healed.
Poem 5 (On Easter), lines 1–25Anonymous · 4th-5th cent. (disputed) · The cross, planted on Golgotha, is pictured as a tree whose fruit is buried and rises on the third day, grows to heaven after forty days, sends out twelve branches to the nations, and receives the Spirit's nectar after fifty days.
Lines 1–15Anonymous · 4th-5th century · Christ on the cross addresses the passer-by, calling him to remember the innocent one who came as messenger of peace, took flesh from a virgin, and found no rest on earth.
Lines 16–32Anonymous · 4th-5th century · Christ recalls his birth in a manger, his flight to Egypt, his life of poverty, teaching, and miracles, and how Jerusalem in envy sought his death on the cross.
Lines 33–46Anonymous · 4th-5th century · Christ asks the reader to recall the betrayer's kiss, the scourging, Pilate's judgment, and the carrying of the cross, and to look on his bloodied head, closed eyes, and gall-poisoned tongue.
Lines 47–63Anonymous · 4th-5th century · Christ shows his pierced hands, side, and feet, bids the reader kneel before the cross in tears, follow his footsteps, and use the memory of his passion as goad and shield.
On Jonah and Nineveh, lines 76–105Anonymous · 4th-5th century (disputed) · The sailors, unable to reach land, cast Jonah overboard; the sea calms, they sacrifice to God, and Jonah lives in the whale's belly as a sign of the Lord.
Kayser p. 370Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 303-312 · Eusebius quotes Hierocles' claim that Apollonius of Tyana, a man of Nero's time, worked many wonders greater than those told of Jesus.
Kayser p. 372Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 303-312 · Eusebius lists the proofs of Christ's superiority, prophecy, disciples, teaching, the conversion of the world, triumph over persecution and the expulsion of demons, which he will not even seek in Apollonius.
Kayser p. 375Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 303-312 · Eusebius argues that the divine nature may come down to men in its goodness, and that one sent from God would enlighten the world and leave lasting works.
Prophetic Extracts 1.1Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius explains that this collection of Old Testament prophecies about Christ follows his earlier demonstrations, likens it to the bee's gathering, and sets out the distinction between texts about the pre-existent Word and texts about Christ's two comings.
Prophetic Extracts 1.2Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · On the tower of Babel, Eusebius argues that the Lord who “came down” was neither an angel nor the Father but the divine Word.
Prophetic Extracts 1.3Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius lists God's appearances to Abraham and argues that the Lord who appeared at Mamre was neither an angel nor the unseen Father but the Word of God, against those who separate the God of the Old Testament from the Father of Christ.
Prophetic Extracts 1.4Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius argues that the Lord who spoke to Hagar through an angel was the Word, who appeared in person to the patriarchs but through angels to lesser persons.
Prophetic Extracts 1.5Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · From “the Lord rained from the Lord” on Sodom, Eusebius argues that Scripture names two Lords, the Father and his Word.
Prophetic Extracts 1.6Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius suggests that Isaac's blessing of Jacob, which does not fit Jacob himself, may refer to Christ.
Prophetic Extracts 1.7Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius traces the stages by which God appeared to Jacob and argues that the one who wrestled with him and named him Israel was the Word of God.
Prophetic Extracts 1.8Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius applies Jacob's blessing of Judah to Christ: the lion's whelp, the end of Jewish rulers with Herod, and the church's leaders, who will not fail even in the present persecution.
Prophetic Extracts 1.9Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius argues that at the burning bush and at Sinai the Lord, the Word, spoke to Moses through an angel and angels, whereas he had appeared in person to the patriarchs.
Prophetic Extracts 1.10Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius distinguishes the angel from the pillar of cloud, through which the Word himself spoke to Israel, and argues that the Lord of the Decalogue speaks of the Father as another Lord.
Prophetic Extracts 1.11Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius applies “my angel… my name is upon him” to Joshua, whom Moses renamed Jesus, and argues that Moses first gave the names Jesus and Christ, to Joshua and Aaron, as types of the Saviour.
Prophetic Extracts 1.12Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · On Moses' request to see God's glory, Eusebius argues that the Lord who spoke to Moses through the cloud was the Word, who in proclaiming “the Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and merciful” called upon his own Father as the only true God.
Prophetic Extracts 1.13Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius applies Balaam's oracle of the man from Israel's offspring to Christ, his worldwide rule, the return from Egypt, his victory over the devil, and the curse that fell on those who cried “Crucify him.”
Prophetic Extracts 1.14Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Balaam's star out of Jacob as the incarnate Word, who rose from Israel, shone on the nations, and took them from the hostile powers.
Prophetic Extracts 1.15Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius identifies the prophet like Moses as Jesus, lawgiver of the new covenant, and sees the promised vengeance in the fate of the generation that rejected him.
Prophetic Extracts 1.16Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads the Song of Moses' call for the angels to worship and the nations to rejoice as fulfilled in Christ and the Gentile church.
Prophetic Extracts 1.17Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius identifies the commander of the Lord's army who met Joshua as Christ, the one who spoke to Moses at the bush, also called Angel of Great Counsel and Angel of the covenant.
Prophetic Extracts 1.18Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Hannah's song as foretelling the ascension of the Word, the Gospel's spread, the judgment, and the exaltation of his anointed.
Prophetic Extracts 1.19Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius applies the oracle to Eli about a faithful priest to Christ the high priest, his house the church, and the humble who come to him.
Prophetic Extracts 1.20Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius argues that Nathan's oracle of an eternal throne for David's offspring cannot fit David or Solomon and is fulfilled in Christ, while its threatened rods refer to the persecutions of Christ's people.
Prophetic Extracts 1.21Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius briefly reads David's song as foretelling Christ's descent, the unbelief of the circumcision, the Gentile church, and the heresies.
Prophetic Extracts 1.22Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius takes Solomon's prayer that God would truly dwell with humans on earth as fulfilled in the incarnation.
Prophetic Extracts 1.23Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius notes that the Chronicles version of Nathan's oracle matches the one in 2 Samuel already discussed.
Prophetic Extracts 1.24Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius notes that Solomon's prayer in Chronicles repeats the passage from 1 Kings already discussed.
Prophetic Extracts 1.25Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius quotes the praise of truth from 1 Esdras, applying it to the Word who is the truth, and closes the extracts from the historical books.
Prophetic Extracts 2.1Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius argues that the blessed man of Psalm 1, wholly untouched by sin, can be only Christ.
Prophetic Extracts 2.2Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius applies Psalm 2 to the plots against Christ, his heavenly kingship on the spiritual Zion, and the spread of the faith to all nations, arguing it cannot fit David.
Prophetic Extracts 2.3Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Psalm 3 as foretelling Christ's resurrection, completing a sequence with Psalms 1 and 2.
Prophetic Extracts 2.4Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Psalm 8 as foretelling the churches of the nations and, with Hebrews, the Son made a little lower than the angels and then crowned with glory.
Prophetic Extracts 2.5Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads the ninth psalm, with its title about the death of the son, as foretelling Christ's passion and resurrection and his appointment as lawgiver of the nations.
Prophetic Extracts 2.6Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads “Now I will arise, says the Lord” in the eleventh psalm as Christ speaking of his resurrection for the sake of the nations.
Prophetic Extracts 2.7Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius cites Peter's Pentecost sermon to show that Psalm 16's “you will not abandon my soul to Hades” speaks of Christ's resurrection.
Prophetic Extracts 2.8Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius takes “no injustice was found in me” in the sixteenth psalm as words that only Christ could say.
Prophetic Extracts 2.9Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius argues that the seventeenth psalm's “head of nations” and “a people whom I did not know” cannot fit David and are fulfilled in Christ, head of the Gentile church.
Prophetic Extracts 2.10Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius applies “their sound has gone out into all the earth” to the apostles' preaching and the sun, bridegroom, and giant of the psalm to Christ.
Prophetic Extracts 2.11Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads “the Lord has saved his anointed” in the nineteenth psalm as Christ's deliverance from death.
Prophetic Extracts 2.12Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius argues that the king granted “length of days for ever” in the psalm is Christ, who asked life for those who believe in him.
Prophetic Extracts 2.13Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius applies the psalm beginning “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” point by point to the crucifixion and to the church of the nations, citing Aquila and Symmachus, and closes with a note on “hosanna.”
Prophetic Extracts 2.14Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius takes God's oath to set David's offspring on his throne as a promise about Christ, distinguishing literal, spiritual, and second-coming fulfilments.
Prophetic Extracts 2.15Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius notes that “his word will run swiftly” shows the Word as a distinct subsisting reality and foretells the rapid spread of the Gospel.
Prophetic Extracts 2.16Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads “he commanded, and they were created” in Psalm 148 as the Father commanding and the Word carrying out creation, and closes the extracts from the Psalms.
Prophetic Extracts 2.17Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads the psalm's prayer from prison and “the righteous will wait for me” as Christ's passion and resurrection, awaited by the righteous of old.
Prophetic Extracts 2.18Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads “bow the heavens and come down” as the Word's self-emptying descent in the incarnation so that he might be known by humans.
Prophetic Extracts 3.0Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Opening the third book of the Extracts (the eighth of the General Elementary Introduction), Eusebius argues that the prophecies and faith in Christ confirm each other, against both Jews and heretics who reject the prophets.
Prophetic Extracts 3.1Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius quotes Wisdom's speech in Proverbs 8 and identifies Wisdom with Christ, the Word through whom all things were made.
Prophetic Extracts 3.2Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Proverbs' “in the light of a king's son is life” as Christ, the true light, and the “late cloud” as the apostles watering the Gentile church.
Prophetic Extracts 3.3Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Agur's words in Proverbs, “who has gone up into heaven and come down… what is his name and the name of his children?”, as Christ, whose name is Jesus and whose children are called Christians.
Prophetic Extracts 3.4Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius interprets Ecclesiastes' poor and wise youth as Christ, the old and foolish king as the devil, and the second youth as the Antichrist.
Prophetic Extracts 3.5Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Ecclesiastes' poor wise man who saved the besieged small city as Christ rescuing the world, or the church, from the devil's siege.
Prophetic Extracts 3.6Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius explains that the Song of Songs, read beyond its literal sense, speaks of Christ and his bride the church, and refers to the commentaries of the most industrious interpreter of Scripture.
Prophetic Extracts 3.7Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Job's description of the one who walks on the sea and subdues the great sea-monster as the Word, who walked on the water and conquered death and the devil.
Prophetic Extracts 3.8Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius applies God's questions to Job about walking the deep and the gates of death to Christ's descent into Hades and resurrection, arguing they cannot fit the Father.
Prophetic Extracts 3.9Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads God's words to Job about the dragon prepared for him as Christ's victory over the devil and closes the extracts from the poetic books.
Prophetic Extracts 3.10Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · On Hosea's “I am like a panther,” Eusebius quotes Didymus on the panther's fragrance and turns the text against the Jewish slander that Jesus was born of “a panther.”
Prophetic Extracts 3.11Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Hosea's “out of Egypt I called my son,” with Aquila's version, as fulfilled in Christ's return from Egypt and the end of the Jewish kingdom.
Prophetic Extracts 3.12Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Hosea's “I am God… I will walk after the Lord” as the Word, who is God, following the Father.
Prophetic Extracts 3.13Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius notes that in Amos the Lord speaks of God as another, like “the Lord rained from the Lord” in Genesis, showing Father and Son.
Prophetic Extracts 3.14Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius notes that Amos's “announcing to humans his anointed” foretells Christ's coming.
Prophetic Extracts 3.16Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius includes the book of Jonah because Jesus called Jonah's three days in the sea-monster a sign of his own burial.
Prophetic Extracts 3.17Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius takes Micah's vision of the Lord coming down on the heights of the earth as Christ's second coming.
Prophetic Extracts 3.19Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius uses Micah's prophecy of Bethlehem against those who deny Christ's pre-existence (Artemon, Paul of Samosata, the Ebionites) and those who deny his real birth (Marcion); the section is badly damaged.
Prophetic Extracts 3.20Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Zephaniah's “wait for me for the day of my resurrection” as Christ's resurrection and the gathering of the Gentile churches.
Prophetic Extracts 3.21Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius notes that in Zechariah the Lord Almighty is sent by the Lord Almighty, showing that the Word too is called Lord Almighty.
Prophetic Extracts 3.22Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads “I am coming and will dwell in your midst… the Almighty has sent me” as the Word sent by the Father to the heavenly Zion and the church of the nations.
Prophetic Extracts 3.23Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius applies Zechariah's visions of Jesus the high priest, his filthy garments, and the man called Dayspring to Christ the great high priest, arguing they cannot fit Joshua son of Jehozadak; the section is damaged.
Prophetic Extracts 3.24Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Zechariah's meek king on a colt both spiritually, as Christ coming to faithful souls, and literally, as the entry into Jerusalem, and sees the destruction of chariots in the fall of Jerusalem; the end is damaged.
Prophetic Extracts 3.25Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius notes Zechariah's “I will strengthen them in the Lord their God” as the Word speaking of the Father.
Prophetic Extracts 3.26Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius applies Zechariah's thirty pieces of silver to Judas's betrayal and reads the broken staff as the end of the old covenant and its worship.
Prophetic Extracts 3.27Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius notes Zechariah's “strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered,” which the Gospel applies to the disciples' flight at the passion.
Prophetic Extracts 3.28Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius takes Zechariah's coming of the Lord with all his holy ones as Christ's second coming.
Prophetic Extracts 3.29Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Malachi's pure sacrifice offered among the nations as the Christian worship of prayer, offered through Christ, replacing the sacrifices of the former people.
Prophetic Extracts 3.30Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius applies Malachi's ideal priest, with the law of truth in his mouth and called the Lord's angel, to Christ the high priest and Angel of Great Counsel.
Prophetic Extracts 3.31Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Malachi's sudden coming of the Lord and the angel of the covenant, like a refiner's fire, as Christ's second coming in judgment.
Prophetic Extracts 3.32Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius identifies Malachi's sun of righteousness with Christ, the true light, and closes the extracts from the Twelve, reserving Isaiah for a separate book.
Prophetic Extracts 3.33Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Jeremiah's “innocent lamb led to slaughter” and “let us put wood into his bread” as Christ's crucifixion, his body being the bread.
Prophetic Extracts 3.34Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Jeremiah's “I have forsaken my house… I have given my beloved soul into the hands of her enemies” as Christ speaking of the temple, his passion, and the later desolation of Jerusalem.
Prophetic Extracts 3.35Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Jeremiah's nations abandoning idols as the Gentile conversion and the indelible “sin of Judah” as the Jewish people's sin against Christ, or Judas's.
Prophetic Extracts 3.36Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Jeremiah's righteous Dayspring for David, and the promises of an unfailing Davidic king and priesthood, as fulfilled spiritually in Christ and the church's leaders and priests, since the literal throne and priesthood have ceased.
Prophetic Extracts 3.37Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius applies Jeremiah's new covenant written on hearts to the Gospel, which makes the old covenant obsolete and forms a virtuous life even in the unlettered.
Prophetic Extracts 3.38Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Lamentations' “the Lord's anointed was taken in their corruptions” as the plot against Christ and his shadow as the shelter of the nations.
Prophetic Extracts 3.39Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius applies Baruch's “who has gone up into heaven… this is our God… after this he was seen on earth” to the Word who descended, ascended, and lived among humans.
Prophetic Extracts 3.40Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius applies Ezekiel's promise of “my servant David” as shepherd and a covenant of peace to Christ the good shepherd, ruling after the judgment when death is destroyed.
Prophetic Extracts 3.41Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius applies Ezekiel's promise of one shepherd, “David my servant,” ruling for ever over a reunited people to Christ and the spiritual Israel, not to a restored earthly kingdom.
Prophetic Extracts 3.42Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Daniel's stone cut without hands, which crushes the kingdoms, as the Word and his everlasting kingdom at the end of the ages.
Prophetic Extracts 3.43Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius notes that the fourth figure in Nebuchadnezzar's furnace is called “the likeness of a son of God,” another testimony to the title Son of God.
Prophetic Extracts 3.44Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius identifies Daniel's son of man coming on the clouds to the Ancient of Days with Christ, his ascension in a cloud, and his second coming.
Prophetic Extracts 3.45Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius quotes Gabriel's prophecy of the seventy weeks and introduces Julius Africanus's explanation of it from his Chronographies.
Prophetic Extracts 3.46Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius quotes Julius Africanus's calculation of Daniel's seventy weeks from Artaxerxes' twentieth year to Christ, then offers his own reckoning from Cyrus through the high priests to Herod, using Josephus, and explains the final week as Christ's ministry and its aftermath.
Prophetic Extracts 4.1Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius applies Isaiah's mountain of the Lord and the law going forth from Zion to Christ, the new covenant, and the church of the nations, contrasting it with the rejection of Jerusalem in Isaiah 1.
Prophetic Extracts 4.2Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius applies Isaiah's “let us bind the righteous one,” paralleled in Wisdom 2:12, to the plot against Christ and sees its punishment in the loss of prophets and rulers among the Jews.
Prophetic Extracts 4.3Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Isaiah's “the Lord will come into judgment with the elders of the people” as Christ, the Word, judging those who led the people astray against him.
Prophetic Extracts 4.4Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius defends the reading “the virgin shall conceive” in Isaiah 7:14 by the authority of the Seventy and by the sign's marvellousness, and refutes the Jewish view that it referred to Hezekiah.
Prophetic Extracts 4.5Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius interprets Isaiah's son “Plunder swiftly, spoil quickly,” born of the prophetess, not literally but as a further prophecy of the virgin birth by the Holy Spirit and of Christ's spoiling of the hostile powers.
Prophetic Extracts 4.6Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius, following Hebrews, reads “I and the children God has given me” as Christ speaking of his disciples, with the signs and wonders of his ministry.
Prophetic Extracts 4.7Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius identifies the child of Isaiah 9 with the virgin's son, comparing the Septuagint's “Angel of Great Counsel” with Aquila's and Symmachus's renderings of the titles.
Prophetic Extracts 4.8Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Isaiah's shoot from the root of Jesse, and the peace among wild beasts, as Christ and the taming of human natures in the churches, with Lebanon's fall as Jerusalem's.
Prophetic Extracts 4.9Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads the throne set right with mercy in the tent of David as Christ's judgment at his second coming in the church of the firstborn.
Prophetic Extracts 4.10Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads the Lord coming to Egypt on a light cloud as the Word incarnate, who came into this life and into Egypt as a child, shaking the demons in the idols.
Prophetic Extracts 4.11Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads the altar to the Lord in Egypt and the man sent to save the Egyptians as Christ and the worship and martyrs of the Gentile churches, including in Egypt itself.
Prophetic Extracts 4.12Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius notes Isaiah's “we have become to your beloved” because Scripture's “beloved” is Christ, as the heavenly voice declared.
Prophetic Extracts 4.13Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Isaiah's precious cornerstone laid in Zion, against the rulers' covenant with death, as Christ, the foundation of the church of the nations.
Prophetic Extracts 4.14Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads “the name of the Lord comes from afar with burning wrath” as the Word's second coming.
Prophetic Extracts 4.15Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Isaiah's righteous king and his rulers as Christ, his apostles and church leaders or angels, reigning over the heavenly Zion.
Prophetic Extracts 4.16Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Isaiah's blossoming wilderness and the healings at God's coming as Christ's miracles and the living water of his words given to the church of the nations.
Prophetic Extracts 4.17Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius notes Isaiah's voice in the wilderness, which John the Baptist applied to himself, as a symbol also of the apostolic preaching to the nations.
Prophetic Extracts 4.18Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads “Behold your God… his reward is with him” as the coming of the Word, especially his second coming as judge.
Prophetic Extracts 4.19Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Isaiah's “righteousness raised up from the east” as Christ, whose coming disarmed the hostile powers and led the nations to renounce their man-made idols.
Prophetic Extracts 4.20Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius argues, from Matthew and the Hebrew text, that Isaiah's servant who brings justice to the nations is Christ, not the Jewish people or the patriarch Jacob.
Prophetic Extracts 4.21Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius identifies the chosen servant who bears witness with God in Isaiah 43:10 as Christ.
Prophetic Extracts 4.22Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius applies Isaiah's “God is in you, and there is no God besides you” to Christ, raised as king, against Jews and those who hold him a mere man (the Ebionites, Artemon, Paul of Samosata).
Prophetic Extracts 4.23Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius argues that the speaker of Isaiah 48, Creator of heaven and earth yet sent by the Lord with his Spirit, is the Word of God, distinct from the Father who sends him.
Prophetic Extracts 4.24Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius applies the second Servant Song, “You are my servant, Israel… a light of nations,” to Christ, who sees God (Israel) and overcame the powers (Jacob), freeing the bound and becoming the light of the Gentiles.
Prophetic Extracts 4.25Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius applies the third Servant Song (Isa 50) to the Word, divine before the incarnation, who as man gave his back to scourges and his face to spitting, and reads the opening “bill of divorce” as God's rejection of the synagogue.
Prophetic Extracts 4.26Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius applies “I who speak am present… the feet of one who brings good news” to Christ's coming in person, after speaking through angels and prophets.
Prophetic Extracts 4.27Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius applies the fourth Servant Song (Isa 52:13–53:12) point by point to Christ's humiliation, passion, and atoning death for the people's sins, against those who reject him because he suffered, and reads “Rejoice, barren one” as the Gentile church.
Prophetic Extracts 4.28Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Isaiah's everlasting covenant of “the sure holy things of David” as the Gospel given through Christ to the nations who did not know him.
Prophetic Extracts 4.29Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Isaiah's righteous one taken away, whose burial is in peace, as Christ's death and burial, with the righteous men as his apostles and martyrs.
Prophetic Extracts 4.30Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius applies Isaiah's deliverer from Zion and the unfailing words in the mouth of his offspring to Christ, the nations' conversion, and the enduring Gospel of the church.
Prophetic Extracts 4.31Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius applies “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me,” which Jesus read in Nazareth, point by point to Christ's ministry of good news, healing, release, and comfort for those who mourn for the heavenly Zion.
Prophetic Extracts 4.32Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Isaiah's rejoicing soul clothed with salvation as Christ's human soul, rejoicing in the Father, bridegroom of the church and bride of the divinity.
Prophetic Extracts 4.33Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius applies Isaiah's signal for the nations to the apostles' preaching and the one coming from Edom in red garments to Christ, who bore our sins and alone trampled the hostile powers.
Prophetic Extracts 4.34Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads “he who brought up from the earth the great shepherd of the sheep” as the Father raising and exalting Christ, the good shepherd.
Prophetic Extracts 4.35Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius reads Isaiah's “I was found by those who did not seek me… I stretched out my hands to a disobedient people” as the calling of the nations, the rejection of Israel, and a figure of the cross, and closes the work.
Divine Institutes 2.8.3Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Before creating the world, God brought forth a Spirit like himself, endowed with the Father's powers.
Divine Institutes 2.8.5Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Envy of the first-born Son is the source of all evils.
Divine Institutes 2.8.7Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · God made his first and greatest Son counsellor and craftsman of creation.
Divine Institutes 4.2.5Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Providence reserved the truth for the gentiles through a great leader sent from heaven.
Divine Institutes 4.6.1Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Before creation God begot a holy Spirit whom he called Son.
Divine Institutes 4.6.2Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Among countless created spirits, only the firstborn Son bears the divine name.
Divine Institutes 4.6.3Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Prophets, Hermes Trismegistus and the Sibyls testify to the Son of God.
Divine Institutes 4.6.4Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Hermes speaks of a second, visible god made and loved by the Lord of all as his offspring.
Divine Institutes 4.6.5Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Sibylline verses speak of God's Son as leader of all and to be honoured.
Divine Institutes 4.6.6Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The Son speaks through Solomon in Proverbs 8 of being begotten before creation.
Divine Institutes 4.6.7Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Wisdom was with God at creation.
Divine Institutes 4.6.8Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Wisdom was God's daily delight.
Divine Institutes 4.6.9Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Hermes and the Sibyl call him God's craftsman and counsellor at creation.
Divine Institutes 4.7.1Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Who is this Son, and what is his name?
Divine Institutes 4.7.2Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · His true name is known only to him and the Father until God's plan is fulfilled.
Divine Institutes 4.7.4Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Among men he is called Jesus; 'Christ' is a royal title.
Divine Institutes 4.7.7Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · 'Christ' means 'anointed', the Greek for the Hebrew 'Messiah'.
Divine Institutes 4.7.8Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · His kingdom is heavenly and everlasting; now to his first birth.
Divine Institutes 4.8.1Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christ was born twice, in the spirit and in the flesh, as the prophets indicate.
Divine Institutes 4.8.2Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · His double birth has confused many, even believers.
Divine Institutes 4.8.3Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The Son was not begotten through union with a woman.
Divine Institutes 4.8.6Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Scripture calls the Son God's Word and the angels God's spirits.
Divine Institutes 4.8.7Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The angels came forth as silent breaths, created for service.
Divine Institutes 4.8.8Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The Son came forth as a spoken Word, to reveal God's will to people.
Divine Institutes 4.8.9Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · God gave the Word proceeding from his mouth a living form with its own mind and wisdom.
Divine Institutes 4.8.11Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · God's Word, unlike ours, endures forever with sense and power.
Divine Institutes 4.8.12Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The prophets explain how God was begotten from God.
Divine Institutes 4.8.14Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · David's psalms speak of God's Word as creator and king.
Divine Institutes 4.8.15Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Wisdom in Sirach speaks of coming from God's mouth before creation.
Divine Institutes 4.8.16Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · John's Gospel names the Word as God and creator.
Divine Institutes 4.9.1Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The Greek logos means both word and reason, fitting Christ as God's voice and wisdom.
Divine Institutes 4.9.2Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Zeno the Stoic spoke of the Logos as the world's craftsman.
Divine Institutes 4.9.3Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Hermes too described the ineffable Word.
Divine Institutes 4.9.4Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Having treated the first birth, he turns to the disputed second birth.
Divine Institutes 4.10.1Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · God's plan was that the Son should come as a mortal man, teach, die and rise to give hope of immortality.
Divine Institutes 4.10.2Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · He will show that everything fulfilled in Christ was foretold.
Divine Institutes 4.10.3Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The prophets foretold Christ's birth, miracles, mission, crucifixion and resurrection.
Divine Institutes 4.10.4Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Proving this from Jewish Scripture will show true wisdom is in Christianity alone.
Divine Institutes 4.10.18Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christ was crucified in the fifteenth year of Tiberius, on 23 March.
Divine Institutes 4.11.7Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · God sent his Son to bring true religion to the gentiles.
Divine Institutes 4.11.11Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · God sent his Son in humility, so that the ungrateful would stumble and be judged, as the prophets foretold.
Divine Institutes 4.11.14Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · God sent the teacher of virtue to be born as a man.
Divine Institutes 4.11.15Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · God still sent his Son to the Jews, offering them salvation; many accepted.
Divine Institutes 4.11.16Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · He was born a Jew, so that none could excuse themselves and no nation would be excluded.
Divine Institutes 4.12.1Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The Spirit of God entered a holy virgin, who conceived without a man.
Divine Institutes 4.12.2Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · If animals can conceive by the wind, the virgin conception is not incredible.
Divine Institutes 4.12.3Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The Odes of Solomon foretold the virgin birth.
Divine Institutes 4.12.4Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Isaiah foretold that a virgin would conceive.
Divine Institutes 4.12.6Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · He was called Jesus, 'Saviour'; 'Emmanuel' signified God coming in the flesh.
Divine Institutes 4.12.7Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · 'Emmanuel' means God with us; Psalm 85 foretells truth springing from the earth.
Divine Institutes 4.12.8Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Isaiah speaks of God raising up the shepherd of the sheep.
Divine Institutes 4.12.9Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Isaiah names the shepherd the Saviour, that is, Jesus.
Divine Institutes 4.12.10Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Isaiah foretold the child whose name is Messenger of Great Counsel.
Divine Institutes 4.12.11Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · He was sent to reveal God to all nations.
Divine Institutes 4.12.12Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Daniel's vision of the Son of Man receiving an eternal kingdom.
Divine Institutes 4.12.13Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The Jews await a Christ yet rejected him for being born of a woman.
Divine Institutes 4.12.14Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christ comes twice: first to proclaim God, then to reign.
Divine Institutes 4.12.15Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Daniel's 'son of man' points to the incarnation, death, descent, resurrection and ascension.
Divine Institutes 4.12.17Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Psalm 110 foretells Christ's ascension to the Father's right hand.
Divine Institutes 4.12.18Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Isaiah addresses God's anointed as Lord.
Divine Institutes 4.12.19Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · For his faithfulness he received an eternal kingdom.
Divine Institutes 4.12.20Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christ now reigns through the nations' worship and obedience.
Divine Institutes 4.12.21Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · At his return he will judge all and bring a just and peaceful golden age.
Divine Institutes 4.13.1Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · God sent a teacher from heaven with a new law, born as man.
Divine Institutes 4.13.2Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · God is fatherless and motherless; the Son's two births made him so too.
Divine Institutes 4.13.3Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · In his first birth he had no mother.
Divine Institutes 4.13.4Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · In his second birth he had no human father; as mediator he leads our nature to immortality.
Divine Institutes 4.13.5Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · He is both God and man: his works show divinity, his passion humanity.
Divine Institutes 4.13.6Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The prophets foretold that he would be both God and man.
Divine Institutes 4.13.7Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Isaiah addresses him as God.
Divine Institutes 4.13.8Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · A text ascribed to Jeremiah says God was seen on earth among men.
Divine Institutes 4.13.9Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Psalm 45 calls him God and anointed.
Divine Institutes 4.13.10Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Jeremiah, Isaiah and Moses foretold that he would be man.
Divine Institutes 4.13.11Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · An oracle of Apollo called Christ mortal in the flesh, a wise wonder-worker who was crucified.
Divine Institutes 4.13.12Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · 'Mortal according to the flesh' implies he was God according to the spirit.
Divine Institutes 4.13.18Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · David condemned those who did not understand the Lord's works; Christ was to be born of his house.
Divine Institutes 4.13.19Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Isaiah: the root of Jesse will rule the nations.
Divine Institutes 4.13.20Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Isaiah: a shoot from Jesse on whom the Spirit rests.
Divine Institutes 4.13.21Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Jesse was David's father; the Sibyl too speaks of a pure flower.
Divine Institutes 4.13.22Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Nathan's oracle: God will raise up David's seed.
Divine Institutes 4.13.23Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · David's son will build God's house and reign forever as God's son.
Divine Institutes 4.14.1Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The prophets foretold that Christ, of David's line, would found the church as God's eternal temple.
Divine Institutes 4.14.3Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christ, builder of the temple, holds an everlasting priesthood; access to God is through him.
Divine Institutes 4.14.4Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Psalm 110: a priest forever.
Divine Institutes 4.14.5Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · 1 Samuel: God will raise a faithful priest.
Divine Institutes 4.14.6Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Zechariah names the high priest Jesus.
Divine Institutes 4.14.7Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Jesus the priest, a brand from the fire, in filthy garments.
Divine Institutes 4.14.8Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · He is clothed in clean garments and a mitre.
Divine Institutes 4.14.9Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · If he keeps God's ways he will judge God's house.
Divine Institutes 4.14.14Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The filthy garment is his humble flesh; the brand signifies his sufferings and death.
Divine Institutes 4.14.15Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Having done the Father's will, he would receive everlasting dominion.
Divine Institutes 4.14.17Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · When idolatry prevailed, God sent his Son, prince of angels, to turn people to the true God.
Divine Institutes 4.14.18Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christ faithfully taught one God and did not proclaim himself a second god.
Divine Institutes 4.14.19Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · He did not separate himself from the Father he came to reveal.
Divine Institutes 4.14.20Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · For his faithfulness he received priesthood, kingship, judgment, and the name of God.
Divine Institutes 4.15.1Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · He turns to Christ's miracles, which the Jews called magic.
Divine Institutes 4.15.2Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christ was baptized by John, not for his own sins, but to save the gentiles by baptism.
Divine Institutes 4.15.3Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · At his baptism the heavenly voice and the dove came upon him.
Divine Institutes 4.15.4Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · His miracles were by heavenly power, as the prophets foretold.
Divine Institutes 4.15.6Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · He healed the sick and paralysed with a word.
Divine Institutes 4.15.9Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · He healed by his word, as the Sibyl foretold.
Divine Institutes 4.15.10Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · As the Word of God, he worked wonders by a word.
Divine Institutes 4.15.16Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · In a desert place Christ had the crowd sit down; there were five loaves and two fishes.
Divine Institutes 4.15.17Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Five thousand were fed and twelve baskets were left.
Divine Institutes 4.15.21Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christ walked on the sea, unlike Orion in the poets.
Divine Institutes 4.15.22Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · He calmed the storm with a word.
Divine Institutes 4.16.1Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · He will show that Christ's passion, a reproach to pagans, contains virtue, truth and wisdom.
Divine Institutes 4.16.4Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christ, himself virtue and justice, taught and practised it and so is believed God by all nations.
Divine Institutes 4.16.5Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The Jewish leaders, angered and envious, plotted his death, as the prophets foretold.
Divine Institutes 4.16.7Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Wisdom foretells the plot against the just man who calls himself God's son.
Divine Institutes 4.16.13Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · They expected glory and missed the humble first coming.
Divine Institutes 4.16.14Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Psalm 72 speaks of his silent coming like rain on a fleece.
Divine Institutes 4.16.15Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Isaiah's suffering servant, without form or beauty.
Divine Institutes 4.16.16Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The servant bore our sins; by his wounds we are healed.
Divine Institutes 4.16.17Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The Sibyl too foretold his humility; they plotted to kill the giver of life.
Divine Institutes 4.17.5Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Moses foretold a great prophet above the law.
Divine Institutes 4.17.6Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Deuteronomy 18: God will raise up a prophet like Moses.
Divine Institutes 4.17.7Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The Son is the living law replacing the old.
Divine Institutes 4.17.11Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · God's words 'to Jesus' point to Christ.
Divine Institutes 4.17.12Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Joshua, renamed from Hoshea, prefigured Christ by his name and deeds.
Divine Institutes 4.18.1Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · They conspired to condemn Christ.
Divine Institutes 4.18.4Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Before Pilate they accused him of claiming to be Son of God and king, and of the temple saying.
Divine Institutes 4.18.9Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Silent, he was crucified between two robbers.
Divine Institutes 4.18.12Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · No eloquence can lament the cross on which God was hung.
Divine Institutes 4.18.13Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Isaiah foretold the scourging and spitting.
Divine Institutes 4.18.22Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · A passage attributed to Ezra calls the passover our Saviour, to be humbled on a sign.
Divine Institutes 4.18.24Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Isaiah describes his unjust death and innocence.
Divine Institutes 4.18.25Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The servant was numbered with the wicked and bore the sins of many.
Divine Institutes 4.18.27Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Jeremiah foretells the plot: 'let us put wood into his bread'.
Divine Institutes 4.18.28Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The wood is the cross and the bread his body, the food of believers.
Divine Institutes 4.18.29Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Moses and Zechariah foretold the hanging and piercing.
Divine Institutes 4.18.30Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Psalm 22 foretells the piercing and the casting of lots.
Divine Institutes 4.18.31Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · David spoke of Christ, not himself, a thousand years before.
Divine Institutes 4.19.2Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · At his death came an earthquake, the torn veil, and darkness.
Divine Institutes 4.19.7Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · On the third day he rose and went to Galilee; only the grave-clothes were left.
Divine Institutes 4.19.8Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · David foretold the resurrection.
Divine Institutes 4.19.9Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Hosea foretold rescue from death on the third day.
Divine Institutes 4.19.10Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The Sibyl foretold his resurrection after three days.
Divine Institutes 4.19.11Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Immortality comes only by believing in Christ and taking up the cross.
Divine Institutes 4.20.12Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Isaiah: the Son is given as covenant and light of the gentiles.
Divine Institutes 4.21.1Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Forty days after the passion Christ ascended in a cloud, as Daniel foretold.
Divine Institutes 4.22.3Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Objectors deny that God could fittingly become man and suffer.
Divine Institutes 4.22.5Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Why did Christ come in weakness and not in divine power?
Divine Institutes 4.22.6Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · He will show that Christ's sufferings were necessary for him to be believed God.
Divine Institutes 4.23.10Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Only Christ united perfect teaching and perfect virtue.
Divine Institutes 4.24.5Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · A heavenly teacher must take a mortal body to be a perfect teacher.
Divine Institutes 4.24.6Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · God without a body could not practise what he taught.
Divine Institutes 4.24.10Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Only a teacher clothed in flesh can refute the excuse of the flesh.
Divine Institutes 4.24.12Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The teacher must be like man to show that sin can be conquered.
Divine Institutes 4.24.16Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The perfect teacher can answer every objection by his own example.
Divine Institutes 4.24.17Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christ, sharing our flesh, overcame sin, desire, pain and death and so removes every excuse.
Divine Institutes 4.24.18Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The perfect teacher must be both God and man.
Divine Institutes 4.24.19Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The teacher of justice had to be embodied and to suffer and die, to show that virtue can endure all.
Divine Institutes 4.25.1Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · This is why God willed his messenger to take flesh, suffer and die.
Divine Institutes 4.25.2Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · God sent Christ as a living law to spread true worship.
Divine Institutes 4.25.3Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · He was born without a human father, to show his heavenly origin.
Divine Institutes 4.25.4Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · God was father of his spirit without a mother; a virgin mother of his body without a father.
Divine Institutes 4.25.5Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christ, God and man, is the mediator who leads humanity to God.
Divine Institutes 4.25.8Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · God came in the flesh to rescue it from death and show that sin is a choice.
Divine Institutes 4.26.1Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · He turns to the meaning of the cross.
Divine Institutes 4.26.3Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · His sufferings and miracles had symbolic meaning; for example, he gave sight to the blind.
Divine Institutes 4.26.13Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · He raised the dead, a wonder fitting for God.
Divine Institutes 4.26.16Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · His miracles were figures of spiritual realities to come.
Divine Institutes 4.26.17Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · His passion too had meaning.
Divine Institutes 4.26.23Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Believers, once thorns, now crown Christ as King.
Divine Institutes 4.26.25Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · God sent the teacher of virtue to open the way to eternal life.
Divine Institutes 4.26.26Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · He took flesh to give examples of virtue.
Divine Institutes 4.26.27Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · He willingly suffered to teach patience in pain and contempt of death.
Divine Institutes 4.26.28Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · He died so that humanity might triumph over death.
Divine Institutes 4.26.39Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christ is the spotless lamb; the sign of the cross on the forehead saves.
Divine Institutes 4.26.40Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Pascha is derived from 'to suffer', as a figure of the passion.
Divine Institutes 4.27.19Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christ cannot be summoned, since he rose after two days.
Divine Institutes 4.29.1Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · How can Christians worship one God yet speak of Father and Son?
Divine Institutes 4.29.15Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Whoever receives the Son worships the Father; the Son is the way and the door.
Divine Institutes 4.30.6Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Others, unable to answer objections to the incarnation and cross,
Divine Institutes 5.3.4Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Hierocles called Christ a bandit chief.
Divine Institutes 5.3.7Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Hierocles set Apollonius's wonders against Christ's.
Divine Institutes 5.3.9Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · By Hierocles' logic, Apollonius would be the better magician.
Divine Institutes 5.3.10Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Hierocles charged Christ with arrogance for claiming divinity.
Divine Institutes 5.3.15Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christ was believed to be God because he truly was.
Divine Institutes 5.3.18Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christ is believed to be God because prophecy was fulfilled in him.
Divine Institutes 5.3.19Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Without prophecy his miracles might have seemed magic.
Divine Institutes 5.3.20Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The foretold cross is also evidence of his divinity.
Divine Institutes 5.3.21Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christ's divinity rests on the prophets' prior testimony.
Divine Institutes 5.7.1Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · God sent a messenger to bring justice back.
Divine Institutes 5.9.9Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The just suffer the fate of Christ, the author of justice.
Divine Institutes 6.24.21Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Confess our wounds to Christ, the only healer.
Divine Institutes 6.24.22Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christ heals the soul's passions.
Divine Institutes 6.25.12Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The highest worship is humble praise from a just man.
Divine Institutes 7.1.23Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The last theme is God's judgment at Christ's return.
Divine Institutes 7.1.24Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christ's second coming, which the Jews await in vain.
Divine Institutes 7.1.25Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Those who crucified Christ will face his judgment.
Divine Institutes 7.17.11Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · God will send a great King from heaven to rescue them.
Divine Institutes 7.18.5Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The Sibyls foretell the sending of the Son of God.
Divine Institutes 7.18.8Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · A Sibyl: a gentle one will lift the yoke of slavery.
Divine Institutes 7.19.2Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The deliverer descends at night like lightning.
Divine Institutes 7.19.3Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The Easter vigil anticipates Christ's return.
Divine Institutes 7.19.4Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christ is deliverer, judge, king, and God.
Divine Institutes 7.19.5Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christ descends with angels and destroys the Antichrist's army.
Divine Institutes 7.20.1Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The dead rise for Christ's judgment.
Divine Institutes 7.22.5Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The poets turned the Son of God as judge into Jupiter's sons.
Divine Institutes 7.24.1Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · The Son of God will come to judge the living and the dead.
Divine Institutes 7.24.2Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christ will reign among men for a thousand years.
Divine Institutes 7.27.5Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · God the Creator sent a guide to show the way of justice.
Divine Institutes 7.27.6Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christ alone, in Lucretius's words, showed the way to the highest good.
Divine Institutes 7.27.7Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christ went ahead on the road of virtue.
Acts of Phileas and Philoromus 2.3Anonymous · ca. 306-311
Acts of Phileas and Philoromus 2.4Anonymous · ca. 306-311
Apology for Origen 0Pamphilus of Caesarea · ca. 308–310 (Rufinus's Latin about 397) · An anonymous prologue, Rufinus's preface with his creed, and Pamphilus's preface, which defends Origen's humility as an inquirer and announces a defence from Origen's own words.
Apology for Origen 1.1Pamphilus of Caesarea · ca. 308–310 (Rufinus's Latin about 397) · Pamphilus quotes Origen's summary of the apostolic rule of faith (On First Principles, preface) and his definition of a heretic from the lost Commentary on Titus, to show that Origen held the Church's teaching as the test of truth.
Apology for Origen 3.1Pamphilus of Caesarea · ca. 308–310 (Rufinus's Latin about 397) · Pamphilus gathers Origen's statements that the Son is the image of God, born of the Father without beginning, the eternal radiance of the eternal light, Son by nature and not by adoption.
Apology for Origen 4.1Pamphilus of Caesarea · ca. 308–310 (Rufinus's Latin about 397) · Pamphilus quotes Origen on the Holy Spirit as unchangeable, never a creature, and always known within the Trinity; on the limits of every creature's knowledge of God; and on the spread of the faith as proof of Christ's divinity.
Apology for Origen 5.1Pamphilus of Caesarea · ca. 308–310 (Rufinus's Latin about 397) · Origen's argument from fulfilled prophecy (the end of Judah's rulers, the calling of the Gentiles, the spread of the gospel) closes Pamphilus's proof of his faith in the Trinity; Pamphilus then begins to list the charges against him.
Apology for Origen 5.4Pamphilus of Caesarea · ca. 308–310 (Rufinus's Latin about 397) · The fourth charge: that Origen taught that Christ's deeds happened only in appearance.
Apology for Origen 5.5Pamphilus of Caesarea · ca. 308–310 (Rufinus's Latin about 397) · The fifth charge: that Origen preached two Christs.
Apology for Origen 5.9Pamphilus of Caesarea · ca. 308–310 (Rufinus's Latin about 397) · Pamphilus lists the last charge (transmigration of souls) and answers the first five charges with Origen's own words: the Son is born of the Father by nature, not by emission; Christ is God and not a mere man; his body was real; and there is one Christ.
Apology for Origen 6.1Pamphilus of Caesarea · ca. 308–310 (Rufinus's Latin about 397) · After Origen's words on Christ as mediator before the incarnation, Pamphilus defends Christ's human soul from Scripture and answers the sixth charge with Origen's insistence that most of Scripture's history and commandments are to be taken literally.
Apology for Origen 7.1Pamphilus of Caesarea · ca. 308–310 (Rufinus's Latin about 397) · Pamphilus answers the charge that Origen denied the resurrection with passages from his books On the Resurrection and his commentaries: the same body will rise, transformed, and Christ carried his flesh into heaven.
On the Anger of God 2.2Lactantius · ca. 313–314 · The three steps are rejecting idols, knowing the one Creator God, and knowing his messenger, Christ, who teaches righteousness.
On the Anger of God 2.6Lactantius · ca. 313–314 · Some fall from the third step: they reject Christ or receive him wrongly, as the heretical sects do.
Martyrs of Palestine (shorter recension) 1.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 311–314 · Of the many tortured, only Alpheus and Zacchaeus were martyred, beheaded on 17 November for confessing one God and Christ as king.
Martyrs of Palestine (shorter recension) 11.19Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 311–314 · Porphyry went joyfully to the pyre and died in silence after calling on Jesus the Son of God.
Preparation for the Gospel 1.1.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · The Word of God announces friendship with God to all people of every nation, class, and condition.
Preparation for the Gospel 1.1.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Christ came to announce reconciliation and peace with God to the whole world.
Preparation for the Gospel 2.5.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Christ, like a sun for souls, brought the whole world out of superstition into true worship.
Preparation for the Gospel 3.13.25Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Only Christ taught all people the true worship of the one God, while the philosophers, as Paul says, became fools.
Preparation for the Gospel 3.14.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Eusebius notes that Greek gods themselves claim birth from women, which Greeks should remember before mocking Christ's birth.
Preparation for the Gospel 4.21.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Only Christ freed mankind from the demons, as Isaiah foretold.
Preparation for the Gospel 4.21.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · The Word of God dwells in pure souls and reveals what divination cannot.
Preparation for the Gospel 5.1.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Why would gods flee before a mortal, if Jesus were merely a man?
Preparation for the Gospel 5.1.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Christ, honored everywhere after his death, shows the reality of life beyond death.
Preparation for the Gospel 5.1.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Christ alone drives out the many gods, while his honor and the Father's grow everywhere.
Preparation for the Gospel 5.17.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · The death of Pan coincides with the time when Christ drove out demons.
Preparation for the Gospel 6.6.68Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · No fate explains why Christ is proclaimed everywhere and the old gods overthrown.
Preparation for the Gospel 6.11.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Fatalism would subject even Christ and the faith of believers to the stars.
Preparation for the Gospel 6.11.26Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Prophecies about Christ's birth, upbringing, and betrayal show God's foreknowledge.
Preparation for the Gospel 6.11.83Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Only Jesus redeemed humanity from this deception; the gospel alone healed the long work of demons.
Preparation for the Gospel 7.10.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · The Word is God's true image; the human mind is an image of that image.
Preparation for the Gospel 7.12.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · The Hebrews teach a second divine being, begotten of God, called Word, Wisdom, and Power.
Preparation for the Gospel 7.12.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Job teaches that God alone knows the way of Wisdom.
Preparation for the Gospel 7.12.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · David and Solomon speak of the creating Word and of personified Wisdom.
Preparation for the Gospel 7.12.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Proverbs 8: Wisdom was with God before and in creation.
Preparation for the Gospel 7.12.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · The Wisdom of Solomon describes Wisdom as an only-begotten, holy spirit.
Preparation for the Gospel 7.12.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Wisdom is the radiance of eternal light and image of God's goodness.
Preparation for the Gospel 7.12.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · The Word, sent by the Father, appeared to Abraham, Moses, and the prophets.
Preparation for the Gospel 7.12.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · The Psalms foretold the Word's saving mission, and John's Gospel renews this teaching.
Preparation for the Gospel 7.12.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Moses shows God speaking with his Word at the creation of man.
Preparation for the Gospel 7.12.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Psalm 148:5 implies the Father commanding the Son in creation.
Preparation for the Gospel 7.12.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Genesis 19:24 speaks of two Lords, Father and Son.
Preparation for the Gospel 7.12.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Psalm 110 speaks of the Lord and his Son begotten before the morning star.
Preparation for the Gospel 7.13.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Philo: man was made in the image of the second God, the Word.
Preparation for the Gospel 7.13.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Philo calls the Word God's firstborn Son, his viceroy.
Preparation for the Gospel 7.14.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Ascribing creation to God's Word and Wisdom is more fitting than to lifeless elements.
Preparation for the Gospel 7.15.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · The Hebrews teach a firstborn beginning begotten of the Father and like him.
Preparation for the Gospel 7.15.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · This firstborn is called Image, Power, Wisdom, and Word of God, captain of the Lord's host, angel of great counsel.
Preparation for the Gospel 7.15.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · In the spiritual world the Word stands second after the Father, like the sun.
Preparation for the Gospel 7.15.18Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Christians honor the angels but worship the one God, as the Son himself commands.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.14.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Eusebius turns to the second cause, the Word, God from God.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.14.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Gen 19:24 speaks of two Lords, both named with the Tetragrammaton.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.14.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Ps 110:1 speaks of the supreme God and the second Lord at his right hand.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.14.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Ps 33:6 shows the Word as Creator.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.14.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Ps 107:20 shows the Word as Saviour.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.14.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Solomon calls the Word Wisdom.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.14.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Proverbs 8: Wisdom was with God before creation.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.14.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Proverbs and Wisdom present Wisdom as maker of all.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.14.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Wisdom promises to reveal her origin.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.14.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · The Wisdom of Solomon describes Wisdom as radiance and image of God; Philo is introduced.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.15.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Philo: those who cannot see God should seek his image, the Word.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.15.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Philo: the Word is God’s firstborn, eldest of the angels.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.15.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Philo lists the names of the Word.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.15.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · The eldest Word is God’s image.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.15.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Philo: Zechariah’s “man named Dawn” is the incorporeal Word.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.15.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · The Word, God’s eldest son, shaped the forms after the Father’s patterns.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.16.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Plato’s Epinomis speaks of the cosmos ordered by the most divine Word.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.18.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Christ’s vine saying introduces Numenius’s farmer image.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.18.25Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Christ’s saying parallels Numenius; Numenius expounds Plato.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.19.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Amelius paraphrases John’s prologue on the Word.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.19.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · John’s prologue on the Word.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.19.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Paul in Colossians on the Son as image and firstborn.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.19.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · The Greeks agree with the Hebrews on the second cause.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.23.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · The incorporeal Word is called wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.23.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Scripture teaches incorporeal powers whose images are in sensible things.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.24.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Philo: the intelligible world is the Word of God creating.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.24.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · The Word of God is the archetypal Idea of Ideas.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.24.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · The intelligible light is an image of the Word, source of the stars’ light.
Preparation for the Gospel 11.25.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Clement: the Word is God’s image; the human mind is the image of the image.
Preparation for the Gospel 13.3.43Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · The Word’s appearances in human form are not deceptive transformations but a healing medicine.
Preparation for the Gospel 13.3.44Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · The Word came to heal humankind, which had fallen into a madness that forgot God and itself.
Preparation for the Gospel 13.3.45Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · The incarnate Word was truly man and truly the Word of God, without deception.
Preparation for the Gospel 13.3.46Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · The Word acted truly, not in mere appearance, through the man he assumed, to reconcile all to the Father.
Preparation for the Gospel 13.13.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Clement: the Word is God’s image, the human mind the image of the image; likeness means following God.
Preparation for the Gospel 13.13.32Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Clement: Plato’s “nightly day” and David’s sleep and waking point to the incarnation and resurrection.
Preparation for the Gospel 13.13.35Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Clement: Plato’s scourged just man foretells Christ; Antisthenes, Xenophon, and the Sibyl teach that God is invisible.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 37.1Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Before creation God begot a Son from his eternal Spirit.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 37.2Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · The Son is God's power, reason, Word, and wisdom, through whom the world was made.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 37.3Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Alone among the spirits the Son shares God's power and is called God; all was made through him.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 37.4Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Plato spoke of a first and second god, perhaps following Hermes.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 37.5Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Hermes says God made a second, visible God, whom he found most good.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 37.6Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · The Sibyls also speak of the Son of God.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 37.7Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Solomon and David also testified that the Son was born of God.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 37.8Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · His true name is known only to himself and the Father.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 37.9Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · He is called Jesus (Saviour) and Christ (King), who will return to judge and reign forever.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 38.1Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Why is the pre-existent Son the same as the man born 300 years ago?
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 38.2Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · He was born twice: of God before creation and in the flesh under Augustus.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 38.8Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · The Father sent the Son to take flesh and teach virtue by example.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 38.9Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Born of a virgin without a father, he became holy flesh to free the flesh from sin.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 39.2Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · A text ascribed to Solomon foretells the virgin birth.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 39.3Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Isaiah foretold the virgin birth of Emmanuel, God with us.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 39.4Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Isaiah foretold that he would be God.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 39.5Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · A prophecy says God himself would be seen on earth among people.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 39.6Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · The prophets also foretold that he would be a man.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 39.7Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · God took flesh to mediate between God and man and conquer death.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 40.1Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Some thought Jesus's miracles were magic, not knowing the prophets foretold them.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 40.2Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · By his word he healed every disease, drove out demons, and raised the dead.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 40.3Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · He fed five thousand, walked on water, and calmed the storm, as prophecy foretold.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 40.4Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Jealous of his following and angry at his rebukes, the leaders plotted his death.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 40.5Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · The book of Wisdom foretold the plot against the righteous one who called himself God's son.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 40.6Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · They incited the crowd to have him arrested and condemned.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 40.7Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · They charged him with claiming to be God's Son and healing on the sabbath.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 40.8Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Pilate sent him to Herod and left him to his accusers, who scourged, mocked, and crucified him while he stayed silent.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 40.9Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · The executioners cast lots for his clothes and crucified him on the eve of Passover.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 40.10Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · At his death there was an earthquake and the sun was darkened.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 41.1Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Isaiah foretold his scourging, the spitting, and his silence.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 41.2Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · The Psalms foretold the scourging and the gall and vinegar.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 41.3Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · The Psalm foretold the piercing of his hands and feet and the lots cast for his clothes.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 41.4Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Moses foretold the one hanging on the cross.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 41.5Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Zechariah foretold the piercing and Amos the darkening of the sun.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 41.6Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Jeremiah foretold that the sun would set at noon over Jerusalem.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 42.1Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Buried, he rose on the third day; only his grave-clothes were found.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 42.2Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · The Psalms and Hosea foretold the resurrection on the third day.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 42.3Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · The risen Christ commissioned his disciples, gave them the Spirit, and ascended on the fortieth day.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 42.4Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Daniel foresaw the Son of Man coming on the clouds to receive an eternal kingdom.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 42.5Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · The Psalm foretold his sitting at God's right hand.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 43.2Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · A saying ascribed to Ezra calls the Passover the Saviour.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 43.7Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Isaiah: the Father gives the Son as a light to the nations.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 44.1Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · The only hope for humanity is the true religion and wisdom found in Christ.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 44.2Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · No one knows the Father without the Son, through whom God is known and worshipped.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 44.3Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Prophecy fulfilled in him shows he is Son of God and God.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 44.4Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Father and Son are not two gods but one, sharing one substance, will, and faith.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 44.5Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · One honour is due to Father and Son; separating them loses both.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 45.1Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Why was it fitting for God to take a mortal body and suffer?
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 45.4Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Christ took a body so that he could practise the virtues he taught.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 45.5Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · He overcame the flesh himself so no one could excuse himself by its weakness.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 46.1Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Why did Christ die the shameful death of the cross?
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 46.2Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Christ humbled himself to open salvation to the lowly.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 46.3Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · He died as the lowly die, and his body stayed whole for the resurrection.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 46.4Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · The cross kept his body whole and lifted him up.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 46.5Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · On the cross Christ spread his arms like wings to gather all nations.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 67.1Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Christ will descend from heaven with his angels, destroy the wicked, and cast the Antichrist into fire.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 67.3Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Christ will judge, raise the righteous, and reign with them on earth for a thousand years.
Epitome of the Divine Institutes 68.2Lactantius · ca. 314–320 · Whoever does not receive Christ and keep God's law will be punished.
On the Deaths of the Persecutors 2.1Lactantius · ca. 314–315 · Christ was crucified late in Tiberius's reign, in the consulship of the two Gemini.
On the Deaths of the Persecutors 2.2Lactantius · ca. 314–315 · The risen Christ spent forty days with his disciples, opened the Scriptures to them, and commissioned them to preach.
On the Deaths of the Persecutors 2.3Lactantius · ca. 314–315 · Christ was taken up into heaven in a cloud.
On the Deaths of the Persecutors 44.5Lactantius · ca. 314–315 · In a dream Constantine was told to mark Christ's sign on his soldiers' shields.
On the Deaths of the Persecutors 49.6Lactantius · ca. 314–315 · He blamed others, then confessed and begged Christ for mercy.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.1.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The prophets foretold Christ’s divinity, his teaching to all nations, his virgin birth, his birthplace Bethlehem, and the time of his coming.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.1.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · They foretold his rejection, betrayal, trial, sufferings, and death, and his patient silence.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.1.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The same oracles foretold his resurrection, appearances, gift of the Spirit, ascension, enthronement, and second coming.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.3.43Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Moses foretold another prophet like himself, whom Eusebius identifies as Christ, the lawgiver of the nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.3.44Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Balaam’s oracle foretells a man from Jacob’s seed who will rule many nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.3.45Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Jacob’s blessing of Judah foretells the tribe and the time of Christ’s coming.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.5.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The patriarchs knew the Word of God and saw him in appearances.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.5.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Moses calls the one who appeared to the patriarchs both God and Angel of God, showing he was a second, distinct from the Father.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.5.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The same God is later called the Angel of God.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.5.16Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Angel says, “I am the God who appeared to you” at Bethel.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.5.17Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The same one appeared to Abraham as God and Lord and taught him about the Father.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.5.19Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Since the invisible Father cannot be seen, the one seen by the patriarchs was God the Word.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.5.20Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The patriarchs were called “christs” (anointed ones), just as believers are called Christians.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.6.52Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The man sent to save Egypt is the one Moses foretold would rule many nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.7.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ fulfills prophecies such as Moses’ promise of a prophet like himself.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.7.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The prophet “like Moses” must be a lawgiver equal to Moses.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.7.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Jesus is the awaited prophet-lawgiver like Moses.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.7.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ ends the old law and founds the new, as the cornerstone foretold by Isaiah.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.7.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ the cornerstone joins the Mosaic and gospel buildings into one.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.7.16Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The psalm speaks of the rejected stone that became the head of the corner.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.7.17Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The rejected stone is Christ, rejected by the Jewish leaders but made head of the new covenant.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.10.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Animal sacrifices were ransoms until the true victim came; they prefigured him and ceased when he arrived.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.10.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ is the foretold victim, led like a sheep to slaughter.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.10.16Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah describes the servant who bears our sins and heals us by his wounds.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.10.17Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Jeremiah foretold the innocent lamb, and John the Baptist identified Jesus as the Lamb of God.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.10.18Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Since Christ, the Lamb of God, is the true ransom, Christians celebrate daily the memorial of his body and blood and do not return to the old symbolic sacrifices.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.10.19Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Jewish believers are freed from the law’s curse, for the Lamb of God became sin and curse for all.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.10.20Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Paul teaches that Christ became a curse and was made sin for us.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.10.23Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The pre-existent Word, high priest of all creation, offered the humanity like ours as the lamb, bearing our sins and the law’s curse.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.10.24Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ bore all the punishments due to us, crowned by the cross.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.10.27Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The psalm contrasts sacrifices with the body God prepared.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.10.28Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ’s incarnate body replaced the old sacrifices; Christians, receiving the memorial of his body and blood, sing of the table and cup.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.1.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · In Christ, Isaac’s descendant, the nations are blessed; next heading: nations from Jacob.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.1.24Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah calls the islands and nations to hear, and appoints the servant as a light to the nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.1.27Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The cause is Christ’s coming; Eusebius will list bare testimonies now and interpret them later.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.2.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 2 foretells the plot against Christ and his proclamation as Son of God.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.2.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God gives the nations to his Son as an inheritance; next heading: Psalm 71.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.2.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The psalm foretells a king whose rule extends over all nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.2.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · All tribes are blessed in the king; next heading: Psalm 97, on God’s salvation, which is the Son’s name in Hebrew.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.2.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Jacob’s blessing foretells the one for whom the kingdom is reserved; next heading: Zephaniah.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.2.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Zechariah foretells the Lord dwelling in Zion and many nations becoming his people; next heading: Isaiah 11.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.2.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah foretells the root of Jesse, ruler and hope of the nations; next heading: Isaiah 42.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.2.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah’s servant brings judgment to the nations, who hope in his name.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.2.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The servant is given as a light to the nations; next heading: Isaiah.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.2.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The servant, called from the womb, speaks to the islands and nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.2.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The servant is a light to the nations; next heading: Isaiah 49:7.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.2.16Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Kings and rulers will worship the despised servant.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.2.17Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The servant is a covenant for the nations, freeing captives and leading them to pasture.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.2.19Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God makes an everlasting covenant and gives a ruler to the nations, who will call on him.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.3.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Zechariah foretells the gentle king riding a colt, who brings peace to the nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.3.35Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Once Israel was the Lord’s portion; now the nations are given to Christ as his inheritance.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.3.36Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God’s “salvation” made known to the nations is the name of Jesus.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.3.37Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Simeon, holding Jesus, called him God’s salvation for the nations, as the psalm foretold.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.3.40Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The root of Jesse, admitted to be the Christ, rises to rule the nations, who hope in him.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.3.41Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The servant brings judgment and salvation to all nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.3.42Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ is the Father’s covenant and witness to the nations, who will call on him.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.3.60Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah foretells a plot to bind the righteous one.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.3.61Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The righteous one plotted against is Christ; next heading: Isaiah 4.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.3.88Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The “day” of Isaiah 7 is the time of the virgin birth and Christ’s coming.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.3.98Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The countable remnant are the Jewish believers, written down by the child Christ foretold by Isaiah.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.3.107Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah foretells the root of Jesse ruling the nations and God gathering the remnant.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.3.109Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · This passage foretells both Christ’s birth from David’s line and Israel’s fall.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.3.110Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Lebanon’s fall means Jerusalem’s; then the rod from Jesse’s root appears.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.3.113Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The root of Jesse will rule the nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.3.148Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Micah foretells the eternal ruler born in Bethlehem.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.3.150Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Micah’s prophecy foretells Christ’s birth in Bethlehem, pre-existence, virgin birth, and the apostles’ preaching.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.3.151Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · At Christ’s birth only the remnant of Israel is saved, to become like dew to the nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.3.153Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The apostles hoped not in man but in their Lord, the Word of God.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.3.178Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Eusebius announces the next subject: the mystery of Christ, his divinity, the timing of his coming, and his incarnation.
Demonstration of the Gospel, Book 3, preface 2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Eusebius will treat Christ’s human dispensation and divinity from the prophets, beginning with how they spoke of the gospel.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.1.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah’s prophecy of the Spirit-anointed preacher was fulfilled by Jesus in the synagogue.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Moses foretells another prophet, since his own law served only Israel and God intended to provide for all nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God promises Moses a prophet like him with God’s word in his mouth.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Moses repeats the promise of a prophet like himself.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Only Jesus Christ is the prophet like Moses.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · As Moses first led Israel from idolatry to monotheism and gave its law, so Christ, far better, did this for all nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ taught the nations what Moses taught Israel and is the lawgiver foretold for the nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.27Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Moses’ unknown death and burial parallel the hidden change of Christ into divinity after his resurrection.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.28Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Since only Christ matches Moses, the prophecy of a prophet like Moses refers to him alone.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.32Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Balaam’s oracle foretold a man from Israel who would rule nations, as Christ is now confessed Lord everywhere.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.33Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Only Christ has ruled many nations; Moses also fixed the time of his coming in Genesis 49:10.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.39Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah, like Moses, foretells the shoot from Jesse’s root on whom the Spirit rests.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.41Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah explains that the one from Jesse will rule the nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.44Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah again foretells the servant in whose name the nations hope.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.45Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The nations’ hope is repeated; God promised David a descendant who would call him Father.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.46Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The psalm foretells his universal reign, and Micah his birthplace, Bethlehem.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.48Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah foretells the wonder of Christ’s birth, first in riddles.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.50Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The nursing child is Christ’s birth; the untrodden ground is the virgin who bore him.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.51Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah states the virgin birth plainly in the Emmanuel prophecy.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.53Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah foretold the Messiah’s humble, suffering appearance.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.55Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah foretells the servant bearing our sins and healing us by his wounds.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.56Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The servant goes silently to slaughter like a lamb.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.57Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The sinless Christ took on the sins of men and suffered for them.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.58Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ suffered for our sins; the prophet also blames his death on the people’s iniquities.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.60Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah goes on to foretell Christ’s restoration after death.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.65Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The inheritance agrees with Psalm 2, where the nations are given to the Son.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.68Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ inherits many because he was given up to death for their sins.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.69Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Father rewarded the Son’s obedience unto death with his inheritance.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.70Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah 53 implies the resurrection, which David also foretold.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.71Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · More psalms foretell the resurrection.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.76Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The prophets foretold Christ’s coming, lineage, birthplace, time, birth, death, resurrection, and rule.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.78Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Eusebius will now answer unbelievers who call Jesus a sorcerer, first treating him as a man and then showing his divine power.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.4.27Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Jesus did not die like others; he gave up his spirit freely to the Father.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.4.28Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · After his burial Jesus took back his body on the third day.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.4.29Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The risen Jesus appeared bodily to his disciples, ascended, and sent them to teach all nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.4.30Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · These wonders prove Christ’s divinity and have been accepted with tested judgment.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.5.97Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Would inventors of a glorious story also have invented his humiliating sufferings?
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.5.103Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Liars would have claimed Jesus escaped suffering; the evangelists did not.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.5.105Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Eusebius quotes Josephus’s passage on Jesus, the “Testimonium Flavianum.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.6.25Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · What Plato thought impossible, Jesus' disciples accomplished, so that multitudes of every class now know and worship the one Creator.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.6.26Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · If Jesus invented his wonders with no teacher, he must be divine, since no one learns even the alphabet without a teacher.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.6.27Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · No craft is self-taught; to claim Jesus' wonders were self-taught is to confess him divine.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.6.28Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Eusebius answers the charge that Jesus learned magic from Egyptian teachers by asking where these greater teachers are.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.6.29Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · No sorcerer ever had such disciples, laws, or healings as Jesus.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.6.31Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · No sorcerer ever founded a new nation under his name or established laws against idolatry that prevailed, as Jesus did.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.6.33Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Since no earlier sorcerer did anything similar, Jesus must be a divine nature who did what none had done.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.6.36Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Jesus could not have served demons, since to this day they flee in terror at his name.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.6.37Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Demons feared Jesus, and a sorcerer, being wicked, could never teach piety, self-control, and judgment as Jesus did.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.6.38Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Since Jesus' whole life called on God and taught virtue, his wonders must be by divine power, not sorcery.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.6.39Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Eusebius turns to the pagan oracles quoted by Porphyry, the Christians' enemy, as witnesses to Jesus' piety.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.7.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Eusebius quotes Porphyry's oracle of Hecate calling Christ most pious and his soul immortal in heaven.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.7.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Porphyry concludes that Christ was pious and went to heaven, and should not be blasphemed.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.7.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Even Porphyry's oracles acknowledge Jesus as pious and heavenly, not a sorcerer.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.7.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Jesus worked his wonders by divine power, as Scripture testifies that the Word of God dwelt in flesh.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.7.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Jesus' use of humble fishermen to accomplish an indescribable work shows his divine power.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.7.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Jesus filled the disciples with divine power, made them fishers of souls, and sent them to all nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.7.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The power of Jesus' name, which Paul says is above every name, is why he sent the disciples out “in my name.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.7.19Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Preaching both a divine Word and a crucified man would have seemed self-contradictory to hearers.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.7.20Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Who would believe humble men proclaiming a risen crucified man as the only Son of God and calling for rejection of ancestral gods?
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.7.27Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The apostles proved the resurrection not by words alone but by works showing that Jesus lives.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.7.28Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Seeing such works, hearers readily accepted that Jesus was God and the preexistent Son.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.7.40Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Having finished the defense of Jesus' works, Eusebius turns to the deeper theology of the divine Word.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.1.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Eusebius turns from the incarnation (Book 3) to the deeper theology of Christ.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.1.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Knowledge of the supreme God is common to all, but the doctrine of Christ belongs to Jews and Christians, and the Jews miss his divinity and the time of his coming.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.1.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christians hold that Christ has come once and will come again; his story has a recent part and an eternal part.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.1.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God, wishing to share his goodness with a free rational creation, foresaw that it would need a head and appointed one ruler over all creation.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.2.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God first begets his firstborn Wisdom, the foundation, guardian, and pilot of all creation.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.2.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Son is “begotten God” as the unique image of the Father, the living instrument through whom God orders and binds together all things.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.3.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Because the Father is one, the Son must be one, not many.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.3.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Son is to the Father as the single ray is to light, as Wisdom 7:26 says.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.3.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Hebrews calls the Son the Father’s radiance, but unlike a ray of light the Son has his own distinct existence.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.3.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Unlike radiance, which exists simultaneously with light, the Father exists before the Son as the only unbegotten one.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.3.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Father is first and the cause; the Son is second, receiving his being and nature from the Father.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.3.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Son exists by the Father’s will, as a second light like him in all things.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.3.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · As the image of the one light, the Son must be one in number as well as like the Father in substance.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.3.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Like a single fragrance from one source, the Son of the one Father is one.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.3.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Any second Son would be inferior, and the Son is the pure emanation of God’s glory.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.3.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Son was not made at some point in time but was begotten ineffably before all ages from the Father’s will and power, without division of the Father’s substance.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.4.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The one Son had to exist before creation to preside, under the Father, over the one world.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.4.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Son is the Father’s living instrument for every work of creation, providence, and salvation.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.5.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · There is one creative power, the Word who was with God in the beginning.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.5.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Word, through whom all things are made continually, must be worshiped.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.5.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Everything in creation, from life to order and quality, is held together by the one Word.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.5.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · One Wisdom, the Word of God, made all the elements.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.5.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Like fire with its many effects, the one Word gives light, life, and form to every part of creation.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.5.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Father, above even the creator Word, begot the Son first and placed in him the principles of all creation.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.6.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · As one sun lights the visible world, the one Word lights the spiritual world, preserving the image’s likeness to the one Father.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.6.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Created beings, weak and changeable, could not bear direct contact with the Father’s transcendent Godhead.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.6.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · So the Father placed his Son as a mediating power between himself and creation, as sunlight is softened for weak eyes.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.6.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Only the Son shares in the Father’s being; through him all creation is sustained, and humanity especially is cared for as made in his image.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.6.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God set angels as shepherds over humanity, with his Word over all.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.6.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Word’s own portion is the heavenly powers and the God-loving souls called Jacob and Israel.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.7.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Moses taught that the Most High divided the nations among the angels and took Jacob as the Lord’s portion.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.7.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · In Deuteronomy the Most High is the Father and the Lord is his Word, Christ, to whom the God-fearing are allotted while the nations are given to angels.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.7.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Word led his people to worship the unbegotten Father alone.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.10.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Since the angels could not help, the Word first sent faint rays of his light through Moses and the prophets and their laws.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.10.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · When neither Moses nor the prophets could cure humanity, the Savior himself came, as the Father had promised in Psalm 2.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.10.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ took all nations, not only Israel, under his rule and offered them forgiveness and knowledge of the Father.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.10.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The angels of the nations recognized Christ as their Lord and served him, as the Gospels record.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.10.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ defeated the demons by divine power, and they confessed him as Son of God.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.10.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ healed body and soul, freed people from idolatry and vice, opened heaven to the nations, and even raised the dead.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.10.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ went even to the realm of the dead to be Lord of the dead; with the Father he is called Word, Wisdom, Power, King, God, and Lord.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.10.16Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ’s titles, Sun of righteousness, light, creator, mediator, high priest, and Christ, correspond to his different works.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.10.17Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · He is Angel of great counsel and commander of the Lord’s host among angels, and shepherd, savior, and physician among humans.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.10.18Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Word took a human body so that people could see him, hear his teaching, and witness his miracles.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.10.19Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Word, called Son of Man and Jesus (“savior”), lived a human life without ceasing to be God.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.10.20Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · At his birth Christ was born like us yet as God, from a virgin, without sexual union.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.11.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Throughout his life Christ showed both his human suffering and his divinity, and his death matched his birth.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.12.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ’s love led him into death to recall the souls of the dead.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.12.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · In death Christ acted as both man and God, to destroy the devil’s power over death.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.12.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ gave up his spirit freely, pursued death, broke the gates of the underworld, and led the dead back to life.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.12.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · At Christ’s resurrection many saints rose with him, fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy that death would be swallowed up.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.12.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The prophets present the victorious Christ taunting death and freeing its captives.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.12.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ died first to be Lord of the dead and the living, second to take away our sins as a sacrifice and a curse for us.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.12.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Third, Christ died as a sacrifice for the world; fourth, to overthrow the demons.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.12.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Fifth, his death and resurrection gave his disciples visible proof of life after death and courage to preach.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.12.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ empowered his apostles to preach to all nations the one God, the flight of demons, forgiveness, and one hope of salvation.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.13.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Word’s birth, body, sufferings, and death do not harm his divine nature, just as sunlight is not defiled by what it touches.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.13.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Even apart from the incarnation, the Word pervades all matter, giving it life, form, and motion.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.13.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · As the Word touches all matter without harm, so he came among men, first to a few prophets and at last to all, as physician of sinners.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.13.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ called all to himself, healed through his human body as a musician plays a lyre, and taught by example the ancient piety of the patriarchs.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.13.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Through his assumed humanity Christ made his divinity perceptible to human senses.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.13.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · During the incarnation the Word remained unchanged, present everywhere and with the Father, giving to his humanity without receiving its weakness.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.13.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · As a musician is not hurt when his lyre is struck, the Word was not harmed by the sufferings of his body.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.13.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Whatever the Word touches receives life and light, and sickness flees from it.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.13.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Word’s touch raised the dead and clothed the mortal with immortality.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.14.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · In the resurrection the humanity was taken up into the Word’s divinity as the firstfruits of our hope of immortality.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Word became man to restore humanity to the knowledge and friendship of the Father.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Eusebius will prove his account of Christ from the prophets, beginning with the names Jesus and Christ.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Eusebius will first explain what the name Christ means.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Scripture calls the Father’s divine power “oil,” and so names the one who shares it “Christ,” the Anointed.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Word alone is anointed with the whole of the Father’s divinity, as Psalm 45 says, and so is Christ and God from God.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.16Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Oil signifies God’s simplicity, compound ointment his many attributes; both anoint the true high priest.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.19Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Only the Son reaches the Father directly; others receive good only through the Son, and the anointing symbolized the Spirit.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.28Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The patriarchs were called christs without oil; Isaiah too prophesies a Christ anointed by God to free captives and heal the blind.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.29Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah’s Christ is anointed by the Father’s divinity, not by human hands.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.30Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah 61:1 speaks in the person of the Anointed.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.31Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah, like David, speaks of the coming Christ as anointed by the Father’s power, using the prophetic past tense and first person.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.33Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 110 shows the Christ as David’s Lord, enthroned with God, begotten before the morning star, and an eternal priest.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.34Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · David, though king, called the Christ his Lord.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.35Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Since Hebrew priests were anointed and called christs, the eternal priest of Psalm 110 is also a Christ.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.36Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · An eternal priesthood cannot belong to a mere mortal.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.37Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The priest sworn in for ever is more than human.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.39Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Like Melchizedek, the priest of Psalm 110 is not anointed with oil; he is greater than all, enthroned with God, and eternal priest of the Father.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.40Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Hebrews explains that Christ’s priesthood, sworn by oath, is permanent because he lives for ever.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.41Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Scripture shows a divine power that serves God as priest, anointed with divine power rather than oil.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.42Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 110 shows the Christ as eternal priest, Son of the Most High, and co-regent.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.43Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah’s Christ is anointed by the Father with the Spirit and sent as redeemer.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.44Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Moses’ anointed priest was a symbol of the true Christ he had seen in the Spirit.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.46Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Moses’ high priest was likewise a copy of the heavenly Christ and high priest.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.47Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The true Christ is the Son of God, greater than all creatures, human or spiritual.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.48Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 45, “concerning the beloved,” calls one and the same person God, King, and Christ.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.49Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The psalm addresses the anointed king as God.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.51Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · “Those who shall be changed” are converts; the beloved is the Word, whom the psalm calls a “good word,” as John 1:1 confirms.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.52Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Spoken by the Father, the verse points to the Son’s generation, which involves no bodily emission or division.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.53Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Terms like “womb” and “heart” for the Son’s generation are figurative; the generation itself is beyond telling.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.54Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Read allegorically, the verse speaks of the first Word’s coming into being as the good offspring of the good Father.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.55Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The beloved of Psalm 45 is anointed by God himself.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.56Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The anointed beloved bears two names, Christ and Beloved.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.57Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Eusebius repeats Psalm 45:6–7.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.58Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The psalm addresses the anointed one as God, as Aquila’s literal translation of the Hebrew makes clearer.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.59Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Aquila shows that the psalm calls both the anointed and the anointer God, the Father being the greater and God even of the Son.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.62Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The psalm addresses God, anointed by God above all others called christs.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.63Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The psalm shows God himself anointed as Christ, unlike any human anointing.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.64Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The beloved, anointed, eternal priest is the firstborn Word of God.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.15.65Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Eusebius turns to prophecies that name the Christ explicitly.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 2 names the Christ, plotted against by kings and rulers.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 2 continues with the Lord’s decree to his Son.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The plot against Christ and the calling of the nations are fulfilled in Jesus, who is still opposed by rulers.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · If the Jews apply the psalm to a future Messiah, they must accept that he too will be persecuted, which they deny.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · No Israelite king fits the psalm; only Jesus, still opposed by rulers, is the Son to whom the nations are given.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 2, Proverbs 8, and Psalm 110 together speak of the Son’s generation.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 2 marks Christ by opposition and by the submission of the nations; the next heading introduces Psalm 20.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 20 names the Christ whom the Lord saves.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 20 is the prayer of the saints for Christ, who prays and fights for us.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ as high priest offered himself as a burnt offering, so the psalm prays that God remember his sacrifice.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · “Your salvation” in the psalm is Christ’s resurrection, which raises the fallen.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · We know that God saved his Christ once we grasp the resurrection; the next heading introduces Psalm 28.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 28 is Christ’s prayer at the time of his passion.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.16Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The psalm ends by foretelling Christ’s resurrection, “my flesh has flourished again.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.17Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · All Christ’s saving works were done by the Father’s power; the next heading introduces Psalm 84.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.18Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 84 asks God to look on the face of his Christ.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.19Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Those who know Christ as the divine Word marvel that he took the humble form foretold in Isaiah 53.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.20Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The psalmists long to see Christ’s face and the day of his resurrection, the one true Lord’s day, better than all the Mosaic feasts.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.21Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The courts of the Lord are the churches of Christ everywhere; the next heading introduces Psalm 89, which names the rejected Christ.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.22Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 89 names the Christ and his sufferings; Eusebius promises a full treatment later.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.23Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The “ransom” reproached is the church, mocked for Christ’s cross; the next heading introduces Psalm 132.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.24Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 132 promises a horn for David and a lamp for the Christ.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.25Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The horn is David’s descendant, and the lamp is prophecy, which preceded the sunlike Christ.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.26Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · David was the lamp; “there” refers to the Christ’s birthplace.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.27Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · David vowed not to rest until he found a place for the Lord, and the Spirit revealed Bethlehem.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.28Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 132 names Ephrathah, that is, Bethlehem, as the place.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.29Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The lamp may also be the body Christ took at Bethlehem; the next heading introduces Amos.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.30Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Amos foretells God announcing his Christ and laments the fall of Israel.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.31Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Thunder is the gospel, the wind is the Spirit given to the apostles, and dawn and mist are the light received or refused at Christ’s coming.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.34Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ turned to the nations after lamenting over Jerusalem; the next heading introduces Habakkuk 3:13.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.35Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Aquila’s translation of Habakkuk 3:13 reads “with your Christ,” singular.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.36Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · In the Septuagint the “christs” are believers anointed in Christ; the next heading introduces Lamentations 4:20.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.37Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The prophets foresaw that their words would live among the nations and that the Christ would be seized.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.38Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The seizure of the Christ fits his first coming, not his glorious second coming, which the Jews confuse with it.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.39Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The prophecies of glory and of humiliation cannot refer to the same coming.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.40Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The humble prophecies were fulfilled at Christ’s first coming; the glorious ones await his second.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.41Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The conversion of the nations proves the first coming; the next heading introduces 1 Samuel 2:10.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.42Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · 1 Samuel 2:10 foretells Christ’s ascension, preaching, and judgment; “our kings” are the apostles.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.43Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The exalted horn is Christ’s kingdom; the next heading introduces 1 Samuel 2 on the faithful priest.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.44Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God promises Eli a faithful priest who will walk before his Christ.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.45Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The promised priest from another family will serve before God’s Christ, as the versions of Aquila and Symmachus confirm.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.47Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Since most of these prophecies speak of suffering, Eusebius returns to Psalm 45 on the Christ’s divinity.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.48Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The anointed is himself God, anointed by the greater God, his Father.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.49Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The one anointed by God is both God and Christ, as Isaiah 61 also shows.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.50Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Human priests were anointed with oil, the prophesied one with divine power.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.51Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Jesus read Isaiah 61 in the synagogue and declared it fulfilled in himself.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.52Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Luke records Jesus declaring Isaiah’s prophecy fulfilled.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.53Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Moses, having seen the true Christ in the Spirit, gave Aaron the title “christ” as his image.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.55Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Mosaic high priest was a symbol of the true Christ, to whom God says, “Sit at my right hand.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.56Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 110 shows the true Christ as Son begotten before creation and eternal high priest.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.57Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Aaron played the type briefly and died; the true Christ, never anointed with oil, has filled the world with Christians named after him.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.59Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The true Christ, unchanging and eternal, was anointed by God with the unbegotten divinity itself.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.60Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Song of Songs 1:3, “your name is ointment poured out,” seals the argument about the name Christ.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.61Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Solomon, speaking of Christ as bridegroom and the church as bride, says the bridegroom’s name is ointment poured out.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.16.62Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · “Christ” means one on whom ointment is poured; Eusebius turns next to the name Jesus.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.17.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Moses first gave the name Jesus (Joshua) to his successor.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.17.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Joshua’s new name signified that after the Mosaic law ended, Jesus Christ alone would lead a better way of life.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.17.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Moses gave Aaron the title Christ and Joshua the name Jesus, the two names of the Savior.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.17.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Moses’ writings bear both names of the Savior; the next heading introduces Exodus 23:20–21, the angel who bears God’s name.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.17.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Since Joshua led the people into the land, the Lord’s own name, Jesus, was put on him.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.17.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Joshua could be called an angel, as John the Baptist was; the next heading introduces the high priest Joshua in Zechariah.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.17.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Zechariah sees the high priest Jesus (Joshua) accused by the devil, cleansed, and reclothed.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.17.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God announces to Joshua that he will bring his servant, the Dawn.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.17.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Zechariah is told to crown Joshua and announce a man named Dawn who will build the Lord’s house.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.17.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The high priest Joshua, bearing Jesus’ name and leading the return from Babylon, is an image of Christ.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.17.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Aaron (called Christ) and Joshua the priest (called Jesus) together symbolize Jesus Christ.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.17.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Aaron leading Israel out of Egypt prefigures Christ freeing the nations from idolatry.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.17.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Joshua leading the return from Babylon prefigures Jesus leading believers from the captivity of this life to the heavenly Jerusalem.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.17.16Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Joshua’s filthy garments signify Christ taking our sins and shame upon himself.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.17.17Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah 53 and John the Baptist show Christ bearing our sins.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.17.18Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Paul’s teaching that Christ became sin and a curse for us is what Joshua’s filthy garments foretold.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.17.19Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · At his ascension Christ was reclothed in divine glory; the devil opposed him then and opposes his church now.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.17.20Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The devil opposed Christ at the temptation and again at the passion.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.17.21Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Having defeated the devil, Christ built the house of God from believers as living stones, fulfilling Zechariah 6.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.17.22Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Zechariah speaks of the Dawn as both a future figure and the present Joshua, so Joshua is an image of the coming Christ.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.17.23Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Jesus (Joshua) means “salvation of God” in Hebrew, so “salvation of God” in the Greek Bible refers to Jesus.
Demonstration of the Gospel, Book 5, preface 1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Book 5 opens: Christ is to be understood both as the eternal Son and Word, “second cause of the universe,” and as the Word who appears to men.
Demonstration of the Gospel, Book 5, preface 2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Before proving Christ’s divinity from the prophets, Eusebius will examine how Hebrew prophets were inspired.
Demonstration of the Gospel, Book 5, preface 20Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Unlike the oracles, Moses taught true doctrine about God and the “second cause,” gave examples of virtue, divine law, true worship, and prophecy.
Demonstration of the Gospel, Book 5, preface 23Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Moses and the prophets taught worship of the Creator, theology of the second cause, and foretold that God, the second Lord, would come to spread the patriarchs’ piety to all nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel, Book 5, preface 32Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Having shown the prophets’ divine inspiration, Eusebius will confirm the Gospels’ theology of Christ from them.
Demonstration of the Gospel, Book 5, preface 33Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · John’s Gospel calls Christ the Word, God, light, and Lord.
Demonstration of the Gospel, Book 5, preface 34Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Paul’s Christology in Colossians agrees with John’s; Eusebius will show the same teaching in the Hebrew Scriptures.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.1.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Proverbs 8 begins: Wisdom speaks of her counsel and her rule over kings.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.1.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Wisdom says the Lord created her as the beginning of his ways before the world.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.1.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Wisdom was begotten before the hills and was with God, rejoicing, when he made the world.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.1.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Son, who has many names, is here called Wisdom.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.1.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Through Solomon the Son speaks of himself as Wisdom.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.1.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Proverbs 8 shows that Wisdom governs the world and is begotten, not identical with the unbegotten Father.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.1.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Paul’s “firstborn of all creation” corresponds to Wisdom’s “the Lord created me.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.1.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Wisdom is the Son, begotten in an ineffable way without emission or division.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.1.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Son’s generation cannot be compared to animal birth or described as a division of substance.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.1.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Nor may one say the Son came from nothing like other creatures; his generation differs from creation through him.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.1.16Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Scripture calls the Son both “created” as firstborn of creation and “begotten.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.1.17Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · We should confess the Son as the eternal creative Word, with the Father, begotten as his co-worker in creation.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.1.18Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Son’s generation is beyond thought; if one must use images, he is like fragrance from ointment or radiance from light, always with the Father, though the images fall short.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.1.19Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The images fail: radiance cannot exist apart from light, and fragrance is bodily, while the Son subsists in his own right as begotten.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.1.20Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Son was not divided from the Father’s substance, nor is he without beginning like the Father, who as Father precedes the Son.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.1.21Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Son is the living image of God, wholly form, made like the Father in his very being.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.1.23Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · As Paul calls believers the fragrance of Christ and the Song calls the bridegroom ointment poured out, all creation shares in the Word proportionately.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.1.24Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Father is the source of all good, and the Son, in second place, is the fragrance of his substance, as Wisdom 7 says.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.1.27Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Wisdom was present with the Father at creation and always rejoiced before him.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.1.28Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The mountains and depths of Proverbs 8 are either the physical world or spiritual powers, before all of which Wisdom, Christ, existed.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.2.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The text resumes in the discussion of Psalm 45: the divine King is anointed by the supreme God and so is Christ.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.2.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The anointing of Psalm 45 was not the Mosaic oil.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.2.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · He alone is both God and Christ, anointed by the Creator with divine joy.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.2.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · He alone is Christ properly; his companions are believers who share in him.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.2.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Eusebius asks who the enemies of the divine King are and how he won peoples by truth, not arms.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.2.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The psalm fits Jesus, who conquered the demons and won the nations, anointed with the Spirit, not with oil.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.2.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Only Jesus is called Christ throughout the world, and his followers bear his name; the anointing was treated in Book 4.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.2.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Grace poured on Christ’s lips spread his teaching quickly, so that he is honored everywhere as King, God, and Christ.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.2.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ’s enemies are all who fight his word, human or spiritual, whom he continually overcomes.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.2.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The queen of Psalm 45, who leaves her father’s house for the King, is the church of the nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.3.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 110:1–4 in full.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.3.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 110 calls the Son Lord, enthroned with the Father, his Son, and eternal priest.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.3.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Holy Spirit in the prophet calls the Son its own Lord, second after the Father, whom the Hebrews named with the unpronounced four-letter name.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.3.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Jesus himself used Psalm 110 to show that the Christ is David’s Lord, and, Eusebius adds, Lord of the prophetic Spirit.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.3.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · If the Holy Spirit calls the Son Lord, all rational powers and all creation must do so, since all things were created in him.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.3.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Only the Son, like the Father, may sit at the right hand of the almighty kingdom.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.3.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The same person is enthroned, begotten before the morning star, and sworn in as eternal priest.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.3.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Only Wisdom of Proverbs 8, begotten before creation, can be the eternal priest of Psalm 110.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.3.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 110 enthrones the second Lord, and Psalm 45 calls him God with an eternal throne.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.3.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalms 110 and 45 agree on the scepter and the enemies of the divine King.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.3.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The churches flourishing amid enemies everywhere fulfill “rule in the midst of your enemies.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.3.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 45’s anointing implies priesthood, which Psalm 110 declares eternal, beyond any human.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.3.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Unlike the Aaronic priests, anointed by men, mortal, serving Israel alone, and sometimes unworthy like Eli, Christ is priest after Melchizedek.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.3.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Levitical priest came only from Aaron’s line and offered animals; Melchizedek, king of righteousness and peace, had no recorded genealogy.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.3.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Melchizedek was not chosen by men, not anointed, not circumcised, did not offer animal sacrifice, yet blessed Abraham.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.3.16Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ did not become a priest; “you are a priest for ever” shows that he always is one.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.3.17Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · For all these reasons Christ is priest after Melchizedek, not after Aaron.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.3.18Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ still exercises his Melchizedek priesthood through his ministers.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.3.19Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · As Melchizedek blessed Abraham with bread and wine, Christ and the church’s priests celebrate the mysteries of his body and blood with bread and wine.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.3.20Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God confirmed Christ’s priesthood with an oath.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.3.21Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Hebrews explains the significance of God’s oath.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.3.22Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Hebrews contrasts the many mortal priests with Christ’s permanent priesthood.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.3.23Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Hebrews sums up: our high priest sits at God’s right hand and serves in the true sanctuary.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.3.24Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 110 hints at the passion: “He will drink from the brook.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.3.25Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The brook is the time of trial, and the drink is the cup of Christ’s passion.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.3.26Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Having drunk the cup of death, Christ was exalted above every power, and he now rules his believers in the midst of his enemies.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.4.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah 45 announces a righteous king who will build God’s city and free the captives.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.4.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah foretells a savior-king whom the nations will worship as God because the greater God, the Father, dwells in him.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.4.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah 45:14–16: the nations will worship the one in whom God is.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.4.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The passage clearly presents a Savior who is God and another God dwelling in him.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.4.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Where the Septuagint has “we did not know it,” Aquila has “a mighty God who hides himself.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.4.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Theodotion calls the Christ a hidden God; he is God because the Father dwells in him, as Colossians says.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.4.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Eusebius compares the readings of Theodotion, Aquila, and Symmachus on Isaiah 45:14–15.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.4.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · These readings show why Christ is God.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.4.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Father alone is God in the proper sense; the Son, the second, is God by participation, having his being and divinity from the Father who dwells in him.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.4.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · As honoring a king’s image honors the one king, so the Son, the natural image of the invisible God, is honored as God after the Father.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.4.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Son is God by nature, not by adoption, yet he is not the first God but the only-begotten Son, and so God.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.4.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Son is God because he is the only natural Son and the perfect image of God’s divinity.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.4.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · As the Father’s perfect image, the Son received from him the name of God along with his other titles.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.4.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Father gives and the Son receives: there is one God, unbegotten, seen in the Son as in a mirror, while the Son holds the second rank.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.4.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah teaches that the Son is worshiped as God because the Father dwells in him.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.4.18Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · This is fulfilled in the worship of Christ by all nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.4.19Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 72 also foretells the Ethiopians worshiping Christ; the next heading introduces Psalm 33 on the creating Word.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.5.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalms 33, 107, and 147 speak of God’s Word creating, healing, and running over the earth.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.5.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 33 agrees with John 1: the Word through whom all was made is God.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.5.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The psalm shows the Word as distinct from the Father, creating at the greater one’s command.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.5.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Speaking and commanding imply another person; and at the incarnation the nations came to fear the Lord Jesus instead of demons.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.5.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The world trembled at Christ’s name, as the psalm foretold.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.5.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 148 likewise says all creation came to be at God’s command.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.5.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The one who received God’s command to create was the Word, in whom God placed the principles of all things.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.5.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God’s Word is not like human speech made of syllables; they share only a name.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.5.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · A human word is only an activity of the mind with no existence of its own.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.5.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God’s Word subsists in his own right, like the Father in all things, and holds the ideas of all creation.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.6.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah 48: the one who is first, who founded earth and heaven, says, “The Lord has sent me, and his Spirit.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.6.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The creator who speaks confesses he was sent by “the Lord, the Lord,” that is, the Father.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.6.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Son is “first” among begotten things; the Father is above “first.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.6.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Father is not first of begotten things but above them; the Word is first of all begotten beings.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.6.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The one commanded to create is the one who founded earth and heaven and was sent by the greater Lord.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.6.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The speaker is the Word, who, though Lord himself, piously calls his greater Father “Lord, Lord.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.6.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Father is Lord of all, including the Son, while the Son is rightly called second Lord; the next heading introduces Genesis 1:26.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.8.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Genesis 19 shows two Lords; the Father is Lord and God even of the Son, while the Son, the second Lord, is master of those below him.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.8.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Son is not Lord of the Father, but the Father is God of the Son, so theology rests on one principle and one God; the next heading introduces the appearances to Abraham.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.9.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Genesis records the Lord appearing to Abraham.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.9.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God appeared to Abraham at Mamre as three men.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.9.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Lord decides not to hide his plans from Abraham.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.9.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Lord speaks of “the Lord” as if of another.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.9.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Lord at Mamre speaks of another Lord, his Father; Abraham intercedes with him as judge of all the earth.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.9.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The one addressed as judge of all the earth was not an angel but God and Lord, appearing with two angels.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.9.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The one who appeared at Mamre was not the Father but the Word; the site and its terebinth are still honored.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.9.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · A painting at Mamre shows the three guests with the greater one in the middle, the Savior; the next heading introduces Jacob.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.10.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Jacob’s dream at Bethel: the Lord stands above the ladder.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.10.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Later Jacob calls the God of Bethel “the angel of God.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.10.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The God of Bethel was God and Lord, but the second after the Father, who serves as his messenger.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.10.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The same one is called angel, God, and Lord, as Isaiah 9 calls him Angel of great counsel and mighty God.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.11.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Jacob wrestles with a man, is renamed Israel, and says he has seen God face to face.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.11.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Jacob saw God face to face, which Moses was told was impossible; so he saw not the invisible Father but the Word.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.11.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · He was not an angel: Scripture gives him the divine four-letter name and distinguishes him from the angels who went to Sodom.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.11.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Jacob and Scripture carefully distinguish angels from God himself.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.11.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Lord appeared to Israel in the pillar of fire and cloud.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.11.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Scripture names angels as angels; the one called Lord and God to Jacob was also called angel of God, so he is not the first cause.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.11.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · So there is a God and Lord after the Father: the Word, above the angels but less than the first cause.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.12.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God tells Jacob to build an altar to “the God who appeared to you.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.12.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The unseen Father tells Jacob to honor “the God who appeared,” the Word; the next heading introduces Exodus 3 and 6.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.13.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The burning bush: an angel appears, and the Lord says, “I am he who is.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.13.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God tells Moses he appeared to the patriarchs but did not reveal his name to them.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.13.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God showed Moses only an angel and his name, but appeared to the patriarchs, through the Word.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.13.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Aquila renders Exodus 6:3, “I was seen … in God Almighty.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.13.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Aquila’s wording shows that the Father appeared to the patriarchs through the Son, “God Almighty,” as Jesus said, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.13.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God appeared to save through the Son’s human form, and to punish Egypt through an angel in fire; the bush signifies Egypt’s wickedness and the fire its punishment.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.14.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God came to Israel in the pillar of cloud and fire.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.14.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The pillar of cloud spoke with Moses at the tent, and the people worshiped.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.14.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The one who spoke from the cloud was the Word, who appeared as cloud because the people could not bear his human form.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.14.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Only the perfect could foresee his incarnation; to the people he appeared veiled in fire and cloud.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.15.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God promises Moses that his angel, bearing his name, will lead the people.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.15.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The one sending the angel is God, the one seen by the patriarchs and called angel of God: the Word; the next heading introduces the Ten Commandments.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.16.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · In the Decalogue the Lord who speaks refers to “the name of the Lord your God,” the second Lord speaking of the Father.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.17.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Lord who came down called on another Lord, the Father; it was the Lord himself, not Moses, as he had announced.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.17.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Lord calls the Father “true,” as Jesus called him “the only true God”; the next heading introduces Numbers.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.18.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Numbers says the Lord is seen eye to eye among Israel.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.18.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Exodus 24 says the elders saw the God of Israel, as Aquila and Symmachus render more directly.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.18.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The God seen by Israel was not the invisible Father but the Word who wrestled with Jacob; the next heading introduces Joshua 5.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.19.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Joshua meets the commander of the Lord’s host at Jericho.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.19.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The same command was given to Moses at the bush.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.19.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The same God spoke to Moses and Joshua; the commander over all heavenly hosts can only be the Word.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.19.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Word appeared in different forms suited to each: peaceful to Abraham, a wrestler to Jacob, cloud and fire to Moses.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.19.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · To Joshua, about to fight, he appeared with a drawn sword as commander of the Lord’s host; the next heading introduces Job.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.20.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Lord speaks to Job from the whirlwind about creation.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.20.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Job answers that now his eye has seen the Lord.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.20.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The speech in Job belongs to the creator Word, and its lines about the gates of death foretell Christ’s descent to Hades.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.20.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Job testifies that he saw the Lord who spoke to him.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.20.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Job could not have seen the invisible Father, so the one he saw was the Word, who also speaks of the devil as a dragon.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.20.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Lord who masters the dragon is the Savior, who conquered the devil and death.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.20.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Job’s trial was a partial contest, the greater one reserved for Christ’s death; the next heading introduces Psalm 91.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.21.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 91 speaks of one whose refuge is the Most High.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.21.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The devil quoted this psalm to Jesus; it addresses the Lord whose refuge is the Most High, his greater Father.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.21.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · No divine punishment will touch Christ’s body, his “dwelling”; the next heading introduces Hosea.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.22.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · In Hosea the Word says, “I am God, and not a man,” answering those who call him only a holy man.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.22.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The speaker walks after the Lord, his Father, and refuses ordinary city life, as Jesus told his disciples; the next heading introduces Amos.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.26.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Zechariah foretells the Lord coming to dwell in Zion and nations turning to the Lord.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.26.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Lord will come and the nations will flee to the greater Lord, his God, and become God’s people in the church, the daughter of Zion.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.26.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Word dwells in the church, as Christ promised to be with his disciples always.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.26.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ’s presence in the church brings knowledge of the Father who sent him.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.28.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Malachi 3 promises the Lord and the angel of the covenant.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.28.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God Almighty speaks of another Lord, the Word, who is also angel of the covenant.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.28.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The angel and the Lord are the same, and his coming in glory is the second coming.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.29.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Word, called by many names, is the sun of righteousness, rising for those who fear God.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.29.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The spiritual sun rises only for the God-fearing and sets on false prophets; the next heading introduces Jeremiah.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.30.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Jeremiah foresees the nations abandoning their idols and coming to the Lord.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.30.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Lord prays to the Father, and the conversion of the nations he foretold followed Christ’s coming.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.30.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Having shown from thirty prophecies that the Word is a second God after the Father, Eusebius turns to prophecies of his coming among men.
Demonstration of the Gospel, Book 6, preface 1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Book 6 opens: since Book 5 showed a second divine being after the one God, prophecies of God coming among men must refer to the Word.
Demonstration of the Gospel, Book 6, preface 2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Eusebius will show prophecies of the Lord’s descent and ascent, some veiled and some plain.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.1.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 18 describes God bowing the heavens and coming down.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.1.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God bowing the heavens is Christ’s self-emptying; mounting the cherubim is his return to glory.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.1.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The darkness is the hidden dispensation of the incarnation, and the tent around him is the catholic church.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.2.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 47 calls the nations to praise God who went up with a shout.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.2.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God’s ascent implies a prior descent, followed by the joyful calling of the nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.2.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · His inheritance is the nations, promised in Psalm 2.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.2.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ subjected the nations to the apostles’ teaching and then ascended with a shout.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.2.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Paul explains the ascent as following a descent; the shout is the angels’ praise, and the trumpet the gospel.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.2.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The trumpet signifies the gospel’s loud proclamation calling all the earth to praise God as King.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.2.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God, not the demons, now reigns over the nations, and the Word sits on the throne given him by the Father.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.3.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 50 says God will come openly and call the whole earth.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.3.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The God who comes openly is the Word; his coming brings the calling of the nations and the end of Mosaic sacrifices.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.4.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 84: the God of gods will be seen in Zion.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.4.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The God of gods will be seen through the face of his Christ; the next heading introduces Psalm 96.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.5.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The coming Lord brings a new song, the new covenant, for all the earth.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.5.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The coming Lord is the Word, who calls all people equally to salvation; the next heading introduces Psalm 98.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.6.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Since Christ came, the new covenant is sung everywhere, and his resurrection has shown that God is God of the nations too.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.7.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 107: the Lord broke the gates of bronze and sent his Word to heal.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.7.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · “He sent his Word and healed them” announces the Word’s coming as Savior.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.7.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The psalm hints at Christ’s descent to the dead, breaking the gates of death to save those there.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.8.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The psalms call the nations to praise and bless the one who comes in the Lord’s name.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.8.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The crowds at Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem shouted the words of Psalm 118; “hosanna” means “save now.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.8.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The one who comes in the Lord’s name is God the Word, sent by the Father; the next heading introduces Psalm 144.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.9.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 144 marvels that God made himself known to man and prays that he bow the heavens and come down.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.9.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 144 prays for what Psalm 18 describes as done.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.9.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Word’s “descent” and “ascent” are figurative, not movements in space.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.10.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 147 distinguishes God who sends from the Word who is sent.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.11.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · David’s song in 2 Samuel 22 describes God bowing the heavens and coming down.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.11.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The God who came down rode on his assumed humanity as on cherubim; the song foretells the Jews’ opposition and the nations’ obedience. The next heading introduces 1 Kings.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.12.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Solomon asks whether God will truly dwell with men on earth.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.12.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God promised David a descendant who would be Son of God with an eternal throne.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.12.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Nathan promises David a son whom God will call his own Son.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.12.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 89 calls David’s heir God’s firstborn with an eternal throne.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.12.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God swore to establish David’s seed and throne for ever.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.12.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God’s oath to David is unbreakable.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.12.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 132 recalls God’s oath to David about the fruit of his body.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.12.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The psalm names the Christ as David’s descendant.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.12.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Solomon saw that the promises to David exceeded any man and prayed for the coming of God to dwell with men; the next heading introduces Micah.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.13.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Micah foretells the Lord coming down from his place to the heights of the earth because of Israel’s sin.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.13.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Lord who comes down is the Word, whose place is his heavenly throne at the Father’s right hand.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.13.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Micah prophesies the Word’s descent to earth.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.13.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The mountains beneath him may be those of Christ’s temptation.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.13.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The melting valleys are the demons, burned by Christ’s fire and driven from the possessed.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.13.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ punished the demons especially for corrupting God’s ancient people; that is why he came down.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.13.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Micah gives the reasons for the Word’s descent: Israel’s sin and its punishment, and the calling of the nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.13.18Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Word came to shake the hostile powers, drive out the demons, and free the nations to know God.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.13.21Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Micah hints at the Lord’s passion and names Bethlehem as the birthplace of the eternal ruler.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.13.22Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Only Jesus, born at Bethlehem, fits the ruler whose origins are from eternity.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.13.23Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Jesus from Bethlehem became leader of the spiritual Israel, and his eternal origins show he is more than human.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.14.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Habakkuk is told that the one who comes will come and not delay.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.14.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The coming one is the Lord who appears as light at the end of the ages, as Zechariah also says.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.14.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Zechariah says there will be light at evening; Aquila and Hebrews also quote Habakkuk’s promise of the coming one.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.15.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Habakkuk’s prayer: God will come from Teman and be known in the midst of two lives.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.15.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Habakkuk, foreseeing the second Lord’s incarnation, miracles, and sufferings, was afraid and amazed.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.15.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · “Two lives” comes from the word for “life,” not “living creature.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.15.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ is known between two lives, divine and human, in the Septuagint; Aquila reads differently.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.15.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Eusebius departs from earlier interpreters, reading the two lives as Christ’s divine and human lives.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.15.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The prophet was troubled at foreseeing the passion, yet at that very time the Lord remembered mercy.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.15.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ’s passion brought mercy to the world; “Teman” means “consummation,” so God came at the end of the age.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.15.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Theodotion reads “from the south”; the shaded mountain recalls Zechariah’s rider among the shaded mountains.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.15.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The rider in Zechariah is the Holy One of Habakkuk; the shaded mountains are paradise or the heavenly Jerusalem.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.15.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Zechariah’s rider on a red horse shows the incarnate Christ; Habakkuk calls him God and Holy One.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.15.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God comes from divine regions, and his excellence covers heaven and his praise fills the earth.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.15.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The verses describe Christ’s heavenly kingdom, the spread of his teaching, and his power over hostile spirits.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.15.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The word going before him is the gospel spreading everywhere; the second coming will fulfill the rest. The next heading introduces Zechariah.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.16.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Zechariah 2: the Lord Almighty has sent me to the nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.16.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The one sent “after glory” is the pre-existent Word, who through his Jewish disciples won over the nations that had once enslaved Israel.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.16.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The plundering nations may be hostile spiritual powers; the Word cares for souls as for the apple of his eye.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.17.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Zechariah 2:10–11: the Lord comes to dwell in Zion and nations join him.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.17.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The prophecy shows that the second cause would live among men, and why: to gather the nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.18.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The prophecy shows Christ’s coming, his passion, the siege and capture of Jerusalem, and the calling of the nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.18.23Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christian pilgrims now flock to the Mount of Olives, where Christ taught about the end and ascended, as Acts records.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.18.24Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Acts records the angels’ promise that Jesus will return as he ascended.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.18.44Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Symmachus's version points to the Passion: darkness from the sixth hour, and the cold night of Jesus' trial.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.19.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Baruch says God gave wisdom to Israel and afterward appeared on earth and lived among men, which Eusebius takes as plain prophecy.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.20.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah foretells that the Word of God, the second after God, will come to Egypt visibly, on a “light thickness.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.20.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The “light cloud” is Christ's body taken from the Virgin and the Holy Spirit, in which he came to Egypt.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.20.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The prophecy was literally fulfilled when Joseph fled with the child Jesus to Egypt.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.20.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · In his flesh from the Virgin, thick as matter yet light as formed by the Spirit, the Word visited Egypt.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.21.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah's promised healings of the blind, deaf, and lame were fulfilled by Christ's coming.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.22.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · In Isaiah the Lord who speaks says he has been sent by the Lord, showing one Lord sent and another sending.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.23.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The same prophecy has the speaker give his back to scourges and his face to spitting.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.23.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The prophecy is aimed at the Jewish people and foretells the scourging at the Passion.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.24.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Lord has another people who will know his name, and he who spoke in the prophets will come in person.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.24.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The revealed arm of God is Christ, the Word and Wisdom, made known to all nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.24.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The arm that saved Israel from Egypt is revealed to all nations, and “salvation” in Hebrew is the name Jesus.
Demonstration of the Gospel, Book 7, preface 1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Eusebius introduces Book 7: after showing that God would come among men, he now examines the manner of his coming.
Demonstration of the Gospel, Book 7, preface 2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The book will ask how, where, and from what family God's coming was foretold, beginning with Isaiah.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Chapter heading: Isaiah foretells Jewish unbelief and the sign of the virgin bearing God.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · John opens his Gospel by joining Christ's divinity to his incarnation.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah, before foretelling the virgin birth, sees the Lord enthroned among the seraphim.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Lord Isaiah saw is the same divine Word who appeared to the patriarchs.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The throne in Isaiah's vision is the throne of the Son in Psalms 45 and 110.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · John applies Isaiah's vision explicitly to Christ.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The seraphim's cry foretells that the whole earth will come to know and praise Christ.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The wings that cover face and feet signify the hidden beginning and end of the Word's mystery; the middle, his dispensation, is revealed.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The seraphim declare that the earth, not only heaven, will be filled with Christ's glory through his descent.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · “Lord Sabaoth” means Lord of the powers; Psalm 24 gives Christ the same title at his ascension.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Both Isaiah and Psalm 24 foretell that the whole earth will be filled with Christ's glory.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.18Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · John's application settles that Isaiah's vision was of Christ and that the unbelief foretold is that of his hearers.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.19Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah's account of the enemies of Ahaz symbolizes demonic foes, who could be defeated only by the Word's incarnation from a virgin.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.20Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Since death entered through a man, victory over death had to come through a man.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.21Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Victory over the enemies had to be won through a sinless flesh.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.22Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Word took a body because human senses can perceive only bodies and spoken sounds.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.23Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God the Word took a human rational nature so that through it he might reveal saving truth to eyewitnesses.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.24Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · In the incarnation the Word was not bound by the body or limited in his divine presence.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.25Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The incorporeal Word gave of his own to the flesh but took no defilement from it.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.26Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The impassible Word, like sunlight on corpses, was untouched by the flesh and made it holy; Isaiah prefaces the virgin birth with a call to faith.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.27Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah 7:9–16: the sign of the virgin who will bear Emmanuel.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.30Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Against the reading “young woman,” an ordinary birth would be no sign, and the child is called God with us.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.35Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah calls the wearied one “my God,” distinguishing him from the God over all whom the Jews already worshiped.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.36Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The struggle is God's entry into human birth; and Moses himself calls a virgin a “young woman.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.37Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Emmanuel shows more than human power, choosing the good as a child.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.38Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The child is wholly free of evil and bears a more than human name.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.39Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The sign's “depth and height” signify the incarnation and death, and the resurrection or pre-existence.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.40Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Emmanuel is the divine Lord seen by Abraham, not Hezekiah as some Jews claim.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.41Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Hezekiah was born before the prophecy, so it fits only Christ.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.48Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · When the two kingdoms ended, the virgin birth foretold with them must also have happened.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.51Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Spiritually, the two kings are the two forms of impiety—false belief and corrupt morals—that flee when Christ reigns in the soul.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.54Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Matthew's account of Jesus' conception confirms how Scripture foretold his birth.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.55Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Matthew applies Isaiah 7:14 to Jesus' birth.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.91Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · If all these fulfillments had not followed Jesus' coming, he would not be the one foretold.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.92Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The visible fulfillments, beginning with Jewish unbelief, should persuade one of the virgin birth.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.94Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The wonderful fulfillment makes the miraculous birth credible; Eusebius turns to Isaiah 8.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.96Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The prophetess of Isaiah 8 is the virgin of Isaiah 7.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.97Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The one who “went in to the prophetess” is the Holy Spirit, fulfilled at the Annunciation.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.98Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Gabriel explains that the Holy Spirit will come upon Mary.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.104Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Taking the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria means Christ's defeat of invisible enemies.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.109Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The child would accomplish these victories by divine power while still an infant.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.116Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The one sent is the Word, whom Genesis 49:10 also calls “Shiloh.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.125Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The prophecy was fulfilled only in Jesus' coming.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.134Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah 9:5–7: the child born to us, Angel of great counsel, on David's throne.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.135Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The child is prophesied three times: Emmanuel, the prophetess's son, and the Angel of great counsel.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.136Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Aquila's rendering of Isaiah 9:6–7.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.137Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Symmachus's rendering of Isaiah 9:6–7.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.138Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The titles fit the Word, already shown to be God, Lord, Angel of the Father, and Commander of the Lord's host.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.139Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · All the versions give the child titles no mere human could bear.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.140Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · At his birth those who envy the nations' salvation will wish they had been burned.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.142Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The titles surpass human nature; the restoring of David's kingdom is explained next.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.148Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Through Christ, born of David's line, David's throne is restored forever.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.149Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Gabriel's words to Mary confirm that Jesus receives David's throne.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.151Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The psalmist's plea for David's mercies is answered in the birth of the Angel of great counsel.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.1.154Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Having shown the manner of his coming, Eusebius turns to the place and lineage of his birth.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.2.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Micah 5:2–5: a ruler whose origins are from eternity will come forth from Bethlehem.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.2.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Micah names Bethlehem as the birthplace of one whose origin is eternal, which fits only Emmanuel.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.2.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Only David and Jesus are famous as coming from Bethlehem.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.2.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Micah's prophecy cannot refer to David, and so is fulfilled in Jesus, the pre-existent Word.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.2.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Luke's account of the census that brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.2.18Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Micah had earlier foretold the Lord's descent from heaven.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.2.36Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The “tent of the God of Jacob” is Christ's body, in which the Word who appeared to Jacob dwelt.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.2.38Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 132 and Micah agree in naming Bethlehem as the birthplace of the eternal Lord.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.2.39Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Only Christ came gloriously from Bethlehem after the prophecy, being both of David's seed and born there.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.2.40Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 132 names the Christ explicitly, confirming that it speaks of Jesus.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.2.41Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · “There” is Bethlehem, where Christ, David's horn, rose.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.2.42Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ's lamp is his human body, through which his divine light shone.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.2.43Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Bethlehem, still shown near Jerusalem, is attested as the birthplace of Jesus alone.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.2.44Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Bethlehem means “house of bread,” fitting Christ, the bread from heaven.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.2.46Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The title “Nazorean” is linked to the Hebrew nazir used of the high priest's anointing in Leviticus.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.2.49Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ is holy by nature, and was called Nazorean from Nazareth, where he grew up.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.2.51Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ received the fitting name Nazirite from Nazareth rather than from priestly oil.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.2.52Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Eusebius turns to Christ's descent, beginning with Matthew's genealogy.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.2.53Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Paul too affirms Christ's descent from David, which the prophecies confirm.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.3.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Nathan's oracle promises David an heir whose throne will last forever and who will be God's son.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.3.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 89 calls David's heir God's firstborn.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.3.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Only Jesus, son of David, has an unending, worldwide kingdom.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.3.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God's oath “by his holy one” is an oath by the Word, who assumed and deified the man from David's seed.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.3.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The son of David and the firstborn Son of God are one and the same.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.3.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Gabriel's words to Mary confirm the promise to David.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.3.16Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Zechariah's hymn celebrates the horn of salvation in David's house.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.3.17Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Gabriel and Zechariah confirm Jesus' Davidic descent and eternal throne.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.3.18Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Eusebius refers readers to his Questions on the genealogy for Joseph's genealogy and Mary's Davidic descent, then quotes Psalm 72.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.3.21Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 72's first verse refers to Solomon; the rest to Christ, his descendant.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.3.23Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · “The king's son” is not Rehoboam or his successors but Christ, descendant of Solomon and David.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.3.24Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Only Christ, the pre-existent Word, fits the psalm: his reign endures, he came down like dew, and righteousness lasts until the end.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.3.27Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 72 fits Christ alone, not Solomon or his successors.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.3.28Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah 11:1–4: a rod from the root of Jesse, filled with the Spirit.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.3.29Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah 11:5–10: peace among beasts and the root of Jesse ruling the nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.3.32Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The promise that the nations will hope in him points to Christ.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.3.33Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · After his resurrection Christ, “he who rises,” rules all nations, who hope in him.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.3.37Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Jeremiah foretells a righteous “dawn” raised up for David and the breaking of the yoke.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.3.38Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Jeremiah calls the coming king a “righteous dawn,” linked to Malachi's Sun of righteousness, a title of the Word.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.3.41Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Zechariah too calls him Dawn; no such figure arose among the Jews after these prophets.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.3.43Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Only Christ, the light of the world and of the nations, fits the prophecy.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.3.44Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ alone, the true “David,” proclaimed righteousness to the whole earth.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.3.52Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ's Davidic descent is established; his descent from Judah follows, and Genesis confirms it.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.3.53Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Jacob's blessing of Judah (Genesis 49:8–10).
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.3.57Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ is shown to be of the tribe of Judah.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.3.58Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Matthew's genealogy confirms descent from Judah; Eusebius turns next to the times of fulfillment.
Demonstration of the Gospel, Book 8, preface 1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Book 8 opens: having shown how and where Christ would come, Eusebius turns to the time of his coming.
Demonstration of the Gospel, Book 8, preface 11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · When humanity had been civilized by the law and the prophets, the Word appeared to offer salvation to all nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.1.52Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Read of Christ, the blessing of Judah fits, since Scripture calls Christ by many names, even Jacob.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.1.53Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Scripture also calls Christ Solomon, as in Psalm 72.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.1.54Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 72's universal dominion fits Christ alone.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.1.55Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 89 calls Christ David, since its promises fit him alone.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.1.56Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Among his many names, Christ can be called Judah.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.1.57Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ sprang from Judah, so the promises to Judah belong to him.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.1.58Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ was praised and worshiped by his disciples, whom he called brothers.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.1.59Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The disciples first praised Christ as a prophet, then, seeing his victory, worshiped him as God.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.1.60Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ's hands were on his enemies' backs in his miracles, on the cross, and in his descent to the dead, where the powers fled.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.1.62Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Angels, apostles, and gentile believers worship Christ as God, fulfilling “your father's sons shall bow down to you.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.1.63Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · “Lion's whelp” refers to Christ's royal descent.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.1.64Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · “From a shoot” refers to Christ's descent from Jacob as Son of Man, though first he is God the Word.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.1.65Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · “You slept” signifies Christ's death, which Scripture often calls sleep.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.1.66Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · “Who shall rouse him?” expresses wonder at the resurrection.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.1.67Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Father raised Christ; Aquila renders the verse “from the capture you went up.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.1.68Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Symmachus's “from the prey of beasts you went up” presents Christ's escape from Hades.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.1.69Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Crouching signifies Christ's death, being established that he was not held by death; until then the Jewish nation stood.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.1.70Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · All that was laid up for Judah was fulfilled in Christ's coming, death, resurrection, and worship.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.1.75Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The prophet foresaw that the Messiah would ride not in royal state but on a donkey like a poor man.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.1.76Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Zechariah’s prophecy of the king on a colt agrees with Genesis, and the washing of the robe in wine hints at the passion that cleanses believers.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.2.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Daniel 9:24: seventy weeks are decreed to end sin and to anoint a most holy one.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.2.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Daniel 9:25–27: the weeks until Christ the ruler, the cutting off of the anointing, and the desolation of city and temple.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.2.17Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The 490 years run from the rebuilding of Jerusalem under Darius to Augustus and Herod, when Christ was born.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.2.23Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Since animal blood could not take away sin, humanity needed a living propitiation, the Lamb of God.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.2.24Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ’s coming completes the sin of those who rejected him and brings cleansing and propitiation to believers.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.2.26Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Word is everlasting righteousness and by his coming brought righteousness to Jews and nations alike.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.2.40Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Since Scripture never calls the high priest “holy of holies,” the title belongs properly to the only-begotten Word.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.2.41Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Only the beloved Son, King of kings, is properly Holy of holies, anointed beyond his companions as the Psalm says.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.2.42Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Anointed with the Spirit and with divinity, Christ alone is holy of holies and high priest of high priests.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.2.87Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · From the 66th to the 186th Olympiad are 484 years, reaching Augustus and Herod and the birth of Christ; the rest of the oracle follows, with the last week set apart.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.2.108Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ’s ministry lasted three and a half years, half a week; the whole week is his time with the apostles before and after the resurrection.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.2.109Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Before his passion Christ taught and healed openly for three and a half years.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.2.118Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · As the lawful priesthood ended with Hyrcanus, so the lawful sacrifice ended with Christ’s own sacrifice, handed on in the new covenant’s mysteries.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.4.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Zechariah 9:9–10: the gentle king on a colt removes chariot and bow and rules from sea to sea.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.4.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Zechariah 12:10–14: they will look on him whom they pierced and mourn tribe by tribe.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.4.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · No king came on a colt and ended Judah’s military and royal power in Persian or Macedonian times.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.4.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 72 likewise speaks of peace and rule from sea to sea for Solomon’s son, the Christ.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.4.18Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Jewish interpreters also take Lebanon as the temple, and Isaiah links Lebanon’s fall with the rise of the root of Jesse.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.4.27Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Since all of Zechariah’s signs are visibly fulfilled, the prophesied king, Christ, must have come; next comes Isaiah.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.5.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Egypt’s visible conversion proves the Lord’s coming there, on a “light cloud” that signifies his coming in the flesh.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.5.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah calls the one sent to Egypt a man and savior, which makes plain the time of the Lord’s coming.
Demonstration of the Gospel, Book 9, preface 1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Having treated Christ’s divinity and the manner, name, and time of his coming, Eusebius turns to prophecies of the events of the incarnation.
Demonstration of the Gospel, Book 9, preface 2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The fulfilments will be confirmed from the Gospels, beginning with the new star at Christ’s birth foretold by Moses.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.1.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Numbers 24:15–19: Balaam foretells a star out of Jacob and a man out of Israel who will crush Moab.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.1.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The new star signified a new light for the whole world, Christ, whose image it bore.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.1.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Nothing was greater than the spiritual light of Christ, which the star signified.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.1.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Balaam’s prophecy names both a star, the divine Word, and a man, the same Christ, who is elsewhere called Rising and Sun of Righteousness.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.1.16Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · “Rise” marks both Christ’s coming into the world and his resurrection after the passion; his light rose from Jacob but shone on the nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.2.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Figuratively, Egypt is the whole world, the light cloud is Christ’s human nature, and the idols are those of all nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.3.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Numbers 24:3–9: Balaam foresees a man from Israel’s seed ruling many nations, led by God out of Egypt.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.3.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Only Christ, from Israel’s seed, has ruled many nations, fulfilling Balaam’s prophecy.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.3.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · No other Hebrew ruled many nations, but Christ’s divine power, through his human nature, still does.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.3.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Ezekiel’s Gog, ruler of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, signifies Rome; Christ, led out of Egypt, has the unicorn’s glory because the fullness of the Godhead dwells in him.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.4.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ did not stop Herod by a miracle because it was not yet time to display his divine power.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.4.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · It fitted Christ’s gentle, forbearing life to begin his miracles only at the right time.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.4.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Hosea cannot blame and praise the same people at once; “Israel” here, as elsewhere, is Christ.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.4.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God called his obedient Son back from Egypt, meaning the earthly world or Egypt itself, while ruin overtakes the addressees and their kingdom.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.5.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · John called Jesus the Lamb of God, and Simeon called him God’s salvation and a light to the nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.6.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ’s baptism revealed his glory, and every true candidate for baptism who receives the teaching of his divinity will see it; next comes Psalm 90.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.7.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Psalm speaks of Christ as man, who took refuge in the Father when tempted in the wilderness among wild beasts.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.7.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ was tempted so that, before healing humanity, he might openly defeat the devil and all demonic powers, who therefore recognized him.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.7.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · These things happen around Christ because he, the Psalmist’s hope, made the Most High his refuge.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.7.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Psalm distinguishes the Lord, Christ, from his Father, God Most High.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.7.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Tetragrammaton here refers to the Word, who, the Psalm implies, knows God Most High as greater than himself.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.7.17Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The “scourges” are demonic afflictions, which cannot approach Christ’s dwelling, his body.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.7.18Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ drove out demons by a word; David’s vow to find a dwelling for the Lord refers to this dwelling, his body.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.7.19Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Psalm’s promises of protection are said of Christ’s human dwelling.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.7.20Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · These promises fit Christ’s flesh, not God as such; Aquila’s version begins “you have made the Most High your dwelling.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.7.22Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Symmachus’s version confirms that the Lord is addressed as distinct from a greater one who commands the angels.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.8.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah 9:1–6 (Septuagint): Galilee of the nations sees a great light, and a child is born, the Angel of Great Counsel.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.8.16Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The child born to “us” is Christ, the great light of Galilee, whose titles belong to him alone; next comes Psalm 67.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.9.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The rulers of Naphtali are the apostles; the Psalm foretells the Word’s coming in the flesh.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.10.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah 61:1–2: the Spirit-anointed one proclaims good news to the poor and release to captives.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.10.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ was anointed not with oil by men but with the Father’s Spirit, sharing the unbegotten Godhead and so called God and Lord.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.11.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Deuteronomy 18:15–19: God will raise up a prophet like Moses, and whoever does not listen will be called to account.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.11.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · No prophet like Moses, a lawgiver, arose in Israel except Christ.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.11.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The promise is of one prophet, lawgiver and teacher, which only Christ has been.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.11.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Human weakness is why God would appear as a prophet.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.11.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Awaiting the prophet like Moses, the Jews asked John if he were the prophet; he said no, for he was sent before him.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.12.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Only Christ, the Word incarnate, walked on the sea, as Matthew 14 records.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.12.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Walking on the sea befits the incarnate Son, not the Father who fills all things; it also symbolizes his victory over the dragon in the spiritual sea.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.12.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God’s words to Job about walking the abyss and the gates of death point to Christ; his walking on the sea symbolized deeper mysteries. Next comes Isaiah.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.13.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ still heals countless souls by his teaching, and Isaiah here rightly calls him God.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.13.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ’s healings are works of God alone, testified by those who preached him everywhere.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.13.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ, God and the Word, not a prophet like Moses, both worked wonders and gave the apostles strength.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.13.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The strongest proof of Christ’s divine power is its continuing work in converting and healing souls throughout the world.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.13.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Having received judgment from the Father, Christ punished those who rejected him and saved all who came to him.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.14.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Hebrews applies Isaiah’s “I and the children” to Christ, who shared flesh and blood to destroy the power of death.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.15.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah 42:1–7 (Septuagint): God’s servant brings judgment to the nations, gently, and is a light to them.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.15.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Following the Hebrew, Matthew omits the names, and the prophecy fits Christ alone, who bound up the crushed reed.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.16.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · John shows that Isaiah’s vision of the Lord enthroned was a vision of Christ’s glory.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.17.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Zechariah 9:9–10: the gentle king comes on a colt and brings peace to the nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.17.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Riding on a donkey signifies Christ’s humble first coming; Daniel describes his glorious second coming with the clouds.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.18.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 118:22–27 (LXX 117): the rejected stone, the day the Lord has made, and “Blessed is he who comes.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.18.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ is “he who comes” in the Father’s name, and the Lord God who has appeared to us.
Demonstration of the Gospel 9.18.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ’s appearing is the day the Lord has made; next come the prophecies of the passion.
Demonstration of the Gospel, Book 10, preface 1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Book 10 turns to prophecies of Christ’s departure from life.
Demonstration of the Gospel, Book 10, preface 2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Eusebius will first treat those who plotted Christ’s death, keeping in mind the distinction between his divinity and humanity.
Demonstration of the Gospel, Book 10, preface 3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ is both the divine Word and high priest and the Lamb, his human body offered as firstfruits; through it he met human nature, which could not otherwise perceive him.
Demonstration of the Gospel, Book 10, preface 4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The humbler sayings refer to the Lamb, Christ’s human nature, as John the Baptist and Isaiah describe him.
Demonstration of the Gospel, Book 10, preface 5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Lamb, taken up by the great high priest for the whole human flock, had to be offered to God.
Demonstration of the Gospel, Book 10, preface 6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Paul: death and resurrection, condemnation and justification come through one man.
Demonstration of the Gospel, Book 10, preface 7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ taught his disciples his divinity but called himself a man to outsiders; now Eusebius turns to the human sufferings of the Lamb.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.1.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · As Asaph’s Psalms were fulfilled, so Psalm 41 (LXX 40) foretells the plot against Christ, the poor one who became poor for us.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.1.18Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Symmachus reads “even if I have sinned”; Christ speaks so because he makes our sins his own.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.1.19Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Isaiah 53 says the Lord handed him over for our sins and he bears them.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.1.20Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ became a curse and sin for us, and in the likeness of sinful flesh condemned sin; so he speaks these words.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.1.21Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ, innocent himself, takes our sins as his own because we are his body.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.1.22Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · As head of the body, Christ by sympathy takes on the sufferings and sicknesses of his members.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.1.23Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Lamb bore the punishment we owed, became a curse and ransom for us, and so, united with us, speaks our confession as his own.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.1.35Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Against his enemies’ hopes, Christ prays for resurrection: “Raise me up, and I will repay them.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.1.39Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · “I have sinned” refers to our sins, which Christ took upon himself, as Symmachus’s rendering shows.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.1.40Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ’s innocence shows his pure nature and secures his eternal life after the resurrection; next comes Psalm 54.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.2.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ’s sorrow in Gethsemane matches the Psalm’s fear and darkness, signifying the assaults of hostile powers.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.2.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Like a noble athlete, Christ, who is life, cast off the fear of death by the spirit of courage.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.2.16Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Spirit of strength rested on Christ and his light scattered darkness; Psalm 22 likewise describes beasts surrounding him.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.3.23Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Psalm teaches Christ’s deliverance after death.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.3.24Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Having foretold his death, the Psalm hints at his salvation after it; next comes Zechariah.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.6.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Amos’s noonday darkness was fulfilled at the crucifixion, from the sixth to the ninth hour.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 22:1–8 (LXX 21): “My God, why have you forsaken me?” and the mockery of the sufferer.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Psalm 22:16–21 (LXX 21): they pierced his hands and feet and cast lots for his clothing; he prays for rescue.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ’s cry from the cross quotes the opening of this Psalm in Hebrew.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Psalm fits Christ alone, as the dividing of his garments shows.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The piercing of hands and feet foretells the crucifixion; let anyone who applies the Psalm to another show how it fits.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · No one else from birth had such knowledge of God and hope in him as the Psalm describes.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · A series of questions shows that the Psalm’s sufferings, death, and worldwide sequel fit no ordinary person.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Only Christ fits the Psalm, and Mark too records him speaking its words from the cross.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.17Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The resurrection, the Father’s “help,” took place at dawn.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.22Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The title names the resurrection because the whole passion was directed to that end.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.23Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ in the Psalm foretells his abandonment, mockery, death, piercing, and the division of his garments.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.26Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · God’s hearing him means the resurrection, the “help at dawn” named in the title.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.31Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ was crucified in weakness because his “strong one” had left him, as Paul says.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.32Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · It befitted the Lamb to ascribe his strength to the Father, as in Psalm 18.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.33Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Father left him so that he might die on the cross as ransom and cleansing for the world.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.34Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Understanding the Father’s purpose, Christ willingly humbled himself to death, becoming a curse and sin for us.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.35Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ was crucified bearing our sins as our substitute, as Isaiah 53 says.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.36Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Handed over by the Father, Christ went like a sheep to slaughter, as Paul says.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.37Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Father forsook him to redeem humanity by his blood from slavery to the demons.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.38Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Father also left him so that Christ’s own love might appear in laying down his life freely.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.49Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · In humility Christ calls himself a worm, having descended to death and the corruption from which worms come.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.50Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · At the crucifixion he became a reproach and was mocked as the Psalm foretold.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.56Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Knowing his incarnation was a humbling like death, Christ recalls his birth when speaking of his death.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.57Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · As the Father protected Christ at his conception and birth, hiding them from hostile powers, so he consoles him now.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.58Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The power that overshadowed Christ’s conception and brought him to birth will draw him up from death.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.59Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ trusted the Father even as a nursing infant, for though his body was human he was not bound like other infants.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.60Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Even in the womb the Word saw the Father, and John leapt in Elizabeth’s womb at his presence.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.61Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Remembering the Father’s care, Christ, willingly obedient, endures the mockery of the cross.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.63Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The affliction near at hand is not the cross but death, the descent into Hades, and the hostile powers there.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.64Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ descended to free the souls in Hades, breaking its gates; many saints rose and entered the holy city with him.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.65Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The hostile powers grieved him; all this is said in the person of the Lamb, born of Mary.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.66Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Passion fits the one who was born, since only what is born can die.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.67Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ speaks these words as man, not as the bodiless Word and God.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.68Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Facing all the demonic powers without any helper, since even good angels dared not enter the realm of death, Christ says “there is no one to help.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.69Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Only Christ could enter death without fear; its gatekeepers cowered and the devil entreated him, as Job shows.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.70Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Even the Father, the only possible helper, left him, so that his own choice and victory might shine out.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.71Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Father helped at Christ’s conception and birth, but left him alone in the contest with death, hence the cry of abandonment.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.72Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The cry shows Christ as an athlete facing many foes, with the Father as judge of the contest, whom he calls to stand by him.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.73Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · On the cross Christ saw the demonic powers of air, earth, and underworld gathering around his body like beasts, and describes them in the Psalm.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.74Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The powers thought Christ’s soul was ordinary and opened their mouths to swallow it like others.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.75Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · “Poured out like water” was fulfilled literally when water and blood flowed from Christ’s side.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.76Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Psalm’s images also describe the complete death of his body.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.77Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · These images describe a corpse, and he foresaw his burial in the dust of death as near.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.79Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The soldiers’ mockery, the nailing, and the division of his clothes fulfilled the Psalm.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.88Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Left alone to fight death, Christ prays for the Father’s help, which would come through the resurrection.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.89Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The “support” is the resurrection at dawn, for which he prays to be rescued from sword, dog, lion, and unicorns.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.91Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The lion is death itself, which sought to swallow Christ’s soul as it had swallowed others.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.93Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Having humbled himself even to Hades and its powers, Christ prays for the Father’s help.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.94Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Father answers at once; Christ then begins the victory hymn: “I will tell your name to my brothers.”
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.101Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The Psalm shows he was heard and released from the evils described.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.102Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Since God heard his prayer for rescue, he was released from all those powers.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 1.1Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · Constantine opens his Good Friday speech to the assembly of the saints by celebrating the day of the passion as the prelude to the resurrection.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 1.3Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · Despite the prophets, impiety and persecution prevailed for generations, until Christ came, fulfilled the prophecies, ascended to the Father, and founded the church.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 1.5Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · Paganism tried to destroy the church and brought back strife and greed, but it now lies defeated; Constantine turns to speak of the Word.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 3.1Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · God, the Good beyond being, has no beginning; the Son, begotten from him without loss to the Father, was appointed Saviour over the world, and from him come life, soul and sense.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 5.1Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · Turning from pagan myths, Constantine resolves to praise Christ, to whom he owes thanks for many benefits.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 5.2Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · Christ made the world and humankind, placed the first humans in paradise ignorant of good and evil, then gave them the earth and told them to multiply.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 9.4Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · There is one God who orders all by his Word; the Word, himself God, is rightly called the Son of God.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 11.3Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · Constantine invokes Christ's help and disclaims rhetorical ornament.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 11.4Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · Constantine rebuts those who say Christ was justly condemned: God was not overcome by men; his forbearance is unmoved by insult.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 11.7Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · Christ, God and Son of God, forgave his foolish accusers; pagans, meanwhile, indulge their pleasures, ignorant that the Father appointed the Son to judge and give eternal life.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 11.8Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · The Son's birth is not physical but from an eternal cause; Christ, the cause of the world's preservation, must pre-exist it, as the Father is cause of the Son.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 11.9Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · The pre-existent Son came to earth out of care for creation, by a novel birth: conceived without marriage, born of a virgin, the mother of God.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 11.10Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · Christ's virginal conception was followed by his wisdom from infancy and his baptism in the Jordan.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 11.11Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · Christ was anointed, worked healings, answered prayers, and taught a wisdom that leads to the contemplation of God.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 11.12Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · Christ gave sight to the blind, strength to the paralysed, life to the dead, and fed multitudes in the desert.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 11.13Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · Constantine gives thanks to Christ, God and Saviour.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 11.14Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · Christ created all from nothing, and in love makes the virtuous share their goodness with others; human corruption made his descent necessary, since no other physician could cure it.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 11.15Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · Christ worked public miracles, raising the dead, healing the senses, calming the sea, and ascending to heaven, all works of God.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 11.16Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · At the passion darkness covered the sun and men feared the end of the world, until Christ in his forbearance restored the light.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 15.1Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · The Son of God went about the earth for human happiness, calling the best men of his time and teaching them, despite the devil's envy.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 15.2Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · Christ cared for the sick and poor, taught patience, generosity and that virtue alone matters, and trained his disciples by leading them through desert and over the raging sea.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 15.3Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · Christ rebuked the disciple who drew a sword at his arrest, teaching that whoever takes the sword will perish by it.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 15.4Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · Heavenly wisdom is to suffer wrong rather than do it; trusting God, who rescued his people at sea and conquered through the passion, the believer is unconquerable.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 16.1Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · The prophets foretold Christ's passion, birth and time; he became flesh to destroy vice and superstition, including the human sacrifices of Egypt and Assyria.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 17.6Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · The king saw Daniel praying to Christ unharmed among the submissive lions and threw the accusing magi to the beasts, who devoured them.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 18.1Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · Constantine will cite pagan witnesses to Christ's deity.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 18.3Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · Inspired, the Sibyl foretold Christ's coming in an acrostic poem spelling 'Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour, Cross,' beginning with the signs of the judgment.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 18.4Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · The acrostic continues with the resurrection, cosmic upheaval and the last judgment, ending with the cross as the sign of salvation and Christ the Saviour who suffered for us.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 19.6Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · Constantine interprets the virgin as the one who conceived by the Holy Spirit and remains ever a virgin, returning when Christ comes again.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 19.7Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · Virgil bids the moon worship the newborn child who brings a golden age and heals mortal wounds.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 19.8Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · The verses speak of Christ's deity both openly and in allegory.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 20.1Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · Virgil's child will share God's life, be seen with the righteous, rule the world with his father's virtues, and receive the earth's first gifts.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 20.3Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · The swaddling clothes signify the Spirit's power; the perishing serpent is the one who deceived Adam and Eve.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 20.4Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · Before Christ the serpent crushed human hope; through his passion and resurrection the resurrection was revealed, sins were washed away in baptism, and believers given hope.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 20.9Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · Virgil's Achilles signifies the Saviour, and Troy the world, where Christ fought the power of evil at the Father's command.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 20.10Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · When the child comes to manhood, the earth will yield all things without labour; he will receive the sceptre from his father, and all creation will rejoice, a theme the poet longs to sing.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 21.1Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · Virgil's prophecy cannot refer to a mere man: nature's response, the elements' joy, and the poet's prayer point to God's coming.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 21.2Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · The Sibyl longs to be kept until Christ's coming; Virgil's closing lines tell of the child who knew neither marriage bed nor feast.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 21.3Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · The child's Father is the formless God, and the Holy Spirit knows no marriage bed; divine wisdom has nothing to do with pleasure.
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints 26.2Constantine the Great · ca. 325 (dated variously 317–325) · Constantine's victories came through prayer, which never fails where faith is firm; all should thank Christ and pray to him, the invincible ally, judge and giver of eternal life.
Against the Heathen 40Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The one Maker is the Father of Christ, who orders all things through his own Word and Wisdom, not a seminal principle or a spoken word but the living God the Word.
Against the Heathen 41Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The Word, the unchanging image of the Father and not composite like a human word, holds creation in being, which by its own nature would dissolve into nothing.
Against the Heathen 42Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The Word pervades and holds all things together, blending opposite elements into one harmony, like a musician playing the universe as a lyre (John 1:1–3).
Against the Heathen 44Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · By the Word’s single nod the heavens, the elements, the seasons, all living things, and the invisible powers are moved and held together, to make the Father known.
Against the Heathen 46Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Scripture teaches the one God and his providence through the Word, to whom the Father spoke at creation (“Let us make man”); the Son is the Father’s own Wisdom, Word, and Power, not by participation.
Against the Heathen 47Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The Word, through whom the Father orders all things, is revealed daily in creation; those who honor creation instead of its Maker are senseless, while faith in Christ bears the fruit of immortality.
On the Incarnation 1.1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Athanasius links this work to the preceding one against the pagans and announces his subject: the Word's becoming man, which Jews slander, Greeks mock, and Christians worship.
On the Incarnation 1.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The mockery of unbelievers only magnifies the Word's divinity, since by the cross he overthrows idols and wins over scoffers.
On the Incarnation 1.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The Word, bodiless by nature, took a body not by necessity of his nature but out of the Father's love for humankind, for our salvation.
On the Incarnation 4.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Human transgression was the occasion of the Word's coming down in love.
On the Incarnation 4.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Humanity's salvation was the reason for the Word's embodiment.
On the Incarnation 7.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Since humanity had lost the grace of the image and fallen into corruption, only the creating Word could restore it.
On the Incarnation 7.5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Only the Word, above all things, could re-create all, suffer for all, and intercede for all with the Father.
On the Incarnation 8.1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The Word, who fills all things, comes into our world by stooping down in love.
On the Incarnation 8.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Seeing humanity's ruin and liability to death, the Word in mercy takes a body like ours.
On the Incarnation 8.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The Word took a real body from a pure virgin, making it his temple and instrument.
On the Incarnation 8.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The Word gave his body to death for all, so that the law of death was spent and humans might be brought back to incorruption.
On the Incarnation 9.1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The immortal Word took a mortal body so that, offered as a spotless sacrifice, it might die for all and abolish death.
On the Incarnation 9.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The Word paid humanity's debt by offering his body, and so clothed all with incorruption.
On the Incarnation 9.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The Son's dwelling in one human body ended the enemies' plots and the power of death over all.
On the Incarnation 10.1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Like a king defending his city, the Word blotted out death by offering his body and corrected human neglect by his teaching.
On the Incarnation 10.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Paul and Hebrews confirm that Christ died for all.
On the Incarnation 10.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Hebrews 2:10 shows that only the creating Word could restore humanity.
On the Incarnation 10.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Hebrews 2:14–15 shows that the Word took flesh to destroy the devil through death.
On the Incarnation 10.5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ's sacrifice ended the law of death and began new life; as in Adam all die, in Christ all will be made alive.
On the Incarnation 11.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · God made humans in his image, the Word, so that through the Word they might know the Father and live in blessedness.
On the Incarnation 13.7Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Only the Word, himself the image of the Father, could renew humanity made according to that image.
On the Incarnation 13.9Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The Word took a mortal body to abolish death and renew those made in the image.
On the Incarnation 14.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The Son, the Father's image, came to renew and find lost humanity, and spoke of rebirth of the soul.
On the Incarnation 14.6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Only the Word, who sees souls and reveals the Father through creation, could renew the knowledge of God.
On the Incarnation 14.8Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The Word came as a man so that those who ignored creation might know him through the works of his body.
On the Incarnation 15.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Because humans sought God in bodily things, the Word took a body so that through his bodily works they might find the truth and the Father.
On the Incarnation 15.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Creation confessed Christ, and his works showed him alone to be the Son of God among men.
On the Incarnation 15.6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ's resurrection showed the heroes and poets' gods to be false.
On the Incarnation 15.7Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ's birth, death, and resurrection eclipsed all human deeds so as to lead people from every error to the Father.
On the Incarnation 16.1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The Word appeared in a body to turn human senses to himself and show by his works that he is God.
On the Incarnation 16.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The Word has reached every dimension, creation, incarnation, Hades, and the world, filling all with the knowledge of God.
On the Incarnation 16.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The Word did not offer his sacrifice at once but first lived in the body, showing by his works that he is God.
On the Incarnation 16.5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · By becoming man the Savior both abolished death and revealed himself as the Word, the king of all.
On the Incarnation 17.1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The incarnate Word was not confined to the body: he contains all things, outside the universe in his being and present in all by his powers.
On the Incarnation 17.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Though in a human body, the Word continued to give life to and govern the whole universe.
On the Incarnation 17.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Unlike a soul, the Word was not bound to his body but was in it, in all things, beyond all, and at rest in the Father.
On the Incarnation 17.5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The Word lived as a man while giving life to all and remaining with the Father; he was not defiled by the body but sanctified it.
On the Incarnation 17.6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The Word is in all things without sharing their nature.
On the Incarnation 17.7Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · As the sun is not soiled by what it shines on, the Word was not soiled by his body but cleansed it.
On the Incarnation 18.1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Eating, birth, and suffering are said of the Word because the body was truly his own, not a mere appearance.
On the Incarnation 18.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ's works showed him to be the Son of God, as he told his unbelieving hearers.
On the Incarnation 18.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · As creation reveals the invisible Word, so his works in the body reveal him as God's Power and Word.
On the Incarnation 18.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ's power over demons and diseases, especially healing the man born blind, shows him to be Lord and Maker of human nature.
On the Incarnation 18.5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · His virgin birth was a sign that he is the Maker and Lord of all bodies.
On the Incarnation 18.6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Turning water to wine, walking on the sea, and feeding the five thousand show his lordship over creation.
On the Incarnation 19.1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ's bodily works were meant to lead those blind to creation to know the Father through him.
On the Incarnation 19.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · His authority over demons, which they themselves confess, shows he is the Son of God.
On the Incarnation 19.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · At the cross the darkened sun, the earthquake, and the split rocks confessed Christ as God and Savior.
On the Incarnation 19.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Athanasius turns to Christ's death, the chief point of the faith, which also shows him to be God.
On the Incarnation 20.1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Athanasius sums up: only the creating Word, the Image and Life itself, could restore incorruption, renew the image, and teach of the Father.
On the Incarnation 20.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Having shown his divinity, Christ paid the debt of death for all and showed his incorruptible body as the firstfruits of the resurrection.
On the Incarnation 20.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ's body, fully human, truly died, but because the Word dwelt in it, it did not see corruption.
On the Incarnation 20.5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · In Christ's body the death of all was fulfilled and death itself destroyed.
On the Incarnation 20.6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The immortal Word took a mortal body to offer it for all and to destroy the devil.
On the Incarnation 21.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · An objector asks why Christ did not die privately and honorably rather than by the shameful cross.
On the Incarnation 21.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Human death comes from natural weakness, but the Lord is not weak; he is God's Power, Word, and Life itself.
On the Incarnation 21.5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · A private death in bed would have made Christ seem merely human; as Life and Power he kept his body strong.
On the Incarnation 21.6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ received death from others rather than from sickness, since the healer could not be sick.
On the Incarnation 21.7Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ accepted death but not sickness; he hungered but did not perish, and his body rose whole without corruption.
On the Incarnation 22.1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ neither died of himself nor fled the plot against him, but met death to destroy it.
On the Incarnation 22.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Awaiting death to destroy it showed Christ as Savior and Life.
On the Incarnation 22.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ had no death of his own; he received humanity's death in order to destroy it.
On the Incarnation 22.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ's public death served his resurrection, a trophy over death and a pledge of the resurrection of all.
On the Incarnation 22.5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Had his body grown sick, Christ would have seemed powerless or unloving as a healer.
On the Incarnation 23.1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · A hidden death would have made his resurrection unwitnessed and incredible.
On the Incarnation 23.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Having done his miracles publicly, Christ had to die publicly to show himself Life itself.
On the Incarnation 23.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The apostles' preaching needed public witnesses of the death, since even so the Pharisees suppressed the resurrection.
On the Incarnation 23.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Only a public death could show death's defeat.
On the Incarnation 24.1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · An objector asks why, if the death had to be public, Christ did not choose a glorious death instead of the cross.
On the Incarnation 24.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · A self-chosen death would have suggested power over only one kind of death, so Christ accepted the death others inflicted.
On the Incarnation 24.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Like a wrestler who lets his enemies pick his opponent, Christ accepted the most shameful death to show his victory over every death.
On the Incarnation 24.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The cross became a trophy over death, and Christ's body stayed whole so that none could use it as a pretext for dividing the Church.
On the Incarnation 25.1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · For believers who ask why the cross, Athanasius answers that it alone served our salvation.
On the Incarnation 25.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ bore our curse by dying the accursed death of the cross.
On the Incarnation 25.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · On the cross Christ stretched out his hands to draw both Jews and Gentiles to himself.
On the Incarnation 25.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Jesus foretold his death on the cross as drawing all to himself.
On the Incarnation 25.5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Dying lifted up in the air, Christ cast down the devil, the ruler of the air, and opened the way to heaven.
On the Incarnation 25.6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Lifted up on the cross, Christ cleansed the air of demons and opened heaven's gates for us through his body.
On the Incarnation 26.1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The cross was the fitting death; creation bore witness to Christ there, and he raised his body on the third day, incorruptible.
On the Incarnation 26.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ did not rise immediately, lest people say he had not truly died.
On the Incarnation 26.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Waiting one day between death and resurrection proved both.
On the Incarnation 26.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The third-day resurrection showed that the body had truly died.
On the Incarnation 26.5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · He did not wait longer than three days, lest people doubt that the risen body was the same.
On the Incarnation 26.6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Rising on the third day, while witnesses of his death were still present, Christ showed his body immortal and death destroyed.
On the Incarnation 29.1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Since death is trampled by the cross and faith in Christ, it is Christ who has conquered it.
On the Incarnation 29.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Death, once feared and now despised since Christ's resurrection, has been conquered by him.
On the Incarnation 29.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · As sunrise shows the sun has driven off the night, the daily defeat of death in Christians shows that Christ has abolished it.
On the Incarnation 29.6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Let no one doubt that Christ has abolished death and its corruption.
On the Incarnation 30.1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The visible facts prove Christ's resurrection more clearly than words.
On the Incarnation 30.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · If believers trample death, Christ first trampled it in his own body, which must therefore have risen.
On the Incarnation 30.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ's daily work of converting multitudes everywhere shows that he is alive, indeed is Life itself.
On the Incarnation 30.5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · A dead man could not convert consciences, reform sinners, and drive out demons as Christ does.
On the Incarnation 30.6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Idols and demons flee at Christ's name, the work of a living God.
On the Incarnation 30.7Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · It is absurd to call the defeated demons alive and their conqueror dead.
On the Incarnation 31.1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · That Christ overcomes the pagan gods, not they him, refutes those who deny his resurrection.
On the Incarnation 31.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ daily works in souls while the pagan gods do nothing, so it is they who are dead, not he.
On the Incarnation 31.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ's daily saving work and death's evident weakness leave no doubt about his bodily resurrection.
On the Incarnation 31.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ's body, mortal, had to die, but as the temple of Life it could not stay dead.
On the Incarnation 32.1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · God is known not by sight but by his works, so Christ's invisibility is no argument against his resurrection.
On the Incarnation 32.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Since Christ's works plainly show his risen power, denial of the resurrection is willful.
On the Incarnation 32.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · As the blind know the sun by its warmth, unbelievers should recognize Christ's power in believers.
On the Incarnation 32.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The demons, who see the unseen, obey Christ's name, which shows he is not dead.
On the Incarnation 32.5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The demons confess what unbelievers deny, that Christ is God.
On the Incarnation 32.6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ raised his body and is the true Son of God, the Father's own Word, who took flesh, abolished death, and promised resurrection to all.
On the Incarnation 33.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The Jews' own Scriptures refute them, foretelling the virgin birth in Isaiah 7:14.
On the Incarnation 33.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Balaam's oracles in Numbers and Isaiah 8:4 foretell the coming of a man from Israel.
On the Incarnation 33.5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Isaiah 19:1 and Hosea 11:1 show that the one who comes is the Lord.
On the Incarnation 34.1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Scripture plainly foretells Christ's death, its purpose, and the plot against him.
On the Incarnation 34.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Isaiah 53 foretells the Word's suffering for our sins, his dishonor for our honor.
On the Incarnation 34.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Isaiah 53:8–10 shows that the sufferer is no ordinary man, since his generation cannot be told.
On the Incarnation 35.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Deuteronomy 28:66 foretells the life hanging before the people's eyes.
On the Incarnation 35.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Jeremiah 11:19 foretells wood put into his bread.
On the Incarnation 35.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Psalm 22 foretells the piercing of hands and feet.
On the Incarnation 35.5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Only crucifixion fits these prophecies.
On the Incarnation 35.7Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · No patriarch or prophet was born of a virgin, so the prophecy points to Christ alone.
On the Incarnation 35.8Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · A star from heaven marked Christ's birth, unlike those of Moses, David, or Abraham.
On the Incarnation 37.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The one foretold to suffer for all is called Life itself, and his generation cannot be told.
On the Incarnation 37.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The prophecies fit only Christ, born of a virgin, whose fleshly father no one can name.
On the Incarnation 37.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The heavenly star signaled the birth of the Word who came from heaven.
On the Incarnation 37.5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The magi from Persia worshiped the newborn Christ, and the nations now forsake idols for him.
On the Incarnation 37.6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Egypt's idolatry ended only when Christ came there in the body.
On the Incarnation 37.7Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ, crucified before the sun and creation, is the Life of all who gave his body as a ransom.
On the Incarnation 38.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Only the bodiless Word, appearing in a body and stretching out his hands on the cross, fits Isaiah 65.
On the Incarnation 38.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Isaiah's signs mark the time of God's coming, and they never happened in Israel before Christ.
On the Incarnation 38.6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The healing of the man born blind was unheard of, as those who saw it admitted.
On the Incarnation 39.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Daniel's prophecy names the anointed Holy of holies, after whose coming Jerusalem and prophecy end.
On the Incarnation 40.1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The end of Jerusalem and of prophecy shows that the Holy of holies has come.
On the Incarnation 40.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Prophecy and Jerusalem served until the truth they foreshadowed arrived.
On the Incarnation 40.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · With no king, prophet, or temple left, and the nations turning to Israel's God through Christ, denial of his coming is perverse.
On the Incarnation 40.5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The nations now worship Israel's God, showing that the Lord foretold in Scripture has appeared in the body.
On the Incarnation 40.6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Everything the expected Messiah was to do has already been done.
On the Incarnation 40.7Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · With Israel's institutions gone and the earth filled with the knowledge of God, Christ has plainly come.
On the Incarnation 41.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Athanasius will show the Greeks that the Word's manifestation in a body is not absurd.
On the Incarnation 41.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Greeks who admit a divine Word ruling the world undercut their own mockery.
On the Incarnation 41.5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · If the Word pervades the world, which philosophers call a great body, he can also enter a human body.
On the Incarnation 41.6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · If it were absurd for the Word to be in a body, it would be absurd for him to be in the universe.
On the Incarnation 41.7Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Humanity is part of the universe, so the Word can fittingly use a human body as he uses the whole.
On the Incarnation 42.1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · As a man's power reaches even his toe, the Word who moves the universe can move a single human body.
On the Incarnation 42.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · If creatureliness made the incarnation unfitting, the Word could not be in creation either.
On the Incarnation 42.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · What holds for the whole creation holds for man, a part of it.
On the Incarnation 42.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The pagans' own writers say that in the divine we live and move and have our being.
On the Incarnation 42.5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The Word, already present in all things, can reveal himself through what he indwells.
On the Incarnation 42.6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · As the Word could have spoken through sun or fire, he fittingly used a human body to reveal the truth and the Father.
On the Incarnation 42.7Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · As the mind speaks through the tongue without being diminished, the Word uses a human body without loss.
On the Incarnation 43.1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The Word came as a man, not as sun or star, because he came to heal and teach, not to make a display.
On the Incarnation 43.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · A healer adapts his coming to what the sick can bear, so that it profits them.
On the Incarnation 43.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Since humans could not know the Word in the whole, he took a part, a human body, so that they might know him there.
On the Incarnation 43.5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Through a body like theirs, humans can more readily know the Father from Christ's divine works.
On the Incarnation 43.6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · As the Word is in creation without sharing its limits, so in his body he sanctified it without being lessened.
On the Incarnation 43.7Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Plato himself pictures the maker taking the helm of the storm-tossed world; so the Word came to steer erring humanity.
On the Incarnation 44.1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Objectors ask why God did not save humanity by a mere command, as he created.
On the Incarnation 44.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Creation from nothing needed only a command, but healing an existing humanity required the physician to come among it.
On the Incarnation 44.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Since existing humanity was perishing, the Word had to take a human instrument to save it.
On the Incarnation 44.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Corruption was inside the body, so life had to be joined to the body to overcome it.
On the Incarnation 44.5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Life had to be joined to the body itself, or corruption would have remained in it even if death were defeated.
On the Incarnation 44.6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The Savior put on a body so as to find death there, blot it out, and clothe the body with immortality.
On the Incarnation 44.8Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · A command alone would have left the body mortal; clothed with the Word, it no longer fears death.
On the Incarnation 45.1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The Word took a body to give it life and to reveal himself everywhere.
On the Incarnation 45.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The Word filled all things with the knowledge of himself, as Isaiah 11:9 says.
On the Incarnation 45.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Wherever people look, heaven, humanity, demons, or water, they find the Word revealed as Lord.
On the Incarnation 45.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ's resurrection shows him, not the heroes in Hades, to be true Lord and God.
On the Incarnation 45.5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ touched every part of creation and triumphed over the powers, so that none might be deceived.
On the Incarnation 45.6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Seeing the Word's divinity everywhere, humanity is no longer deceived and knows the Father through him.
On the Incarnation 46.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Greek wisdom was made foolish when God's true Wisdom appeared, and the world is turning from idols to Christ.
On the Incarnation 46.5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Local idols could not win even their neighbors, but Christ is worshiped everywhere as the one Lord.
On the Incarnation 47.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ's coming exposed the poets' gods as mortals and revealed him alone as true God.
On the Incarnation 48.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Athanasius challenges the Greeks to say who Christ is, who has overcome all things.
On the Incarnation 48.5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ cannot be a mere man or a magician, since he has overcome all gods and all magic.
On the Incarnation 48.6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The cross's victory over all magic shows Christ is no magician.
On the Incarnation 48.7Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ cannot be a demon, since he drives demons out.
On the Incarnation 48.8Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Since all demons flee his name, Christ is not a demonic power, as some Jews once charged.
On the Incarnation 48.9Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ is neither man, magician, nor demon, but truly the Son of God, the Father's Word, Wisdom, and Power.
On the Incarnation 49.1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · No man but Christ was born of a virgin, healed as he did, or gave sight to the man born blind.
On the Incarnation 49.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Asclepius found healing herbs; Christ remade what was lacking from birth.
On the Incarnation 49.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Heracles and Dionysus are honored for lesser deeds, while Christ, who drove out disease, demons, and death and taught self-control, is mocked.
On the Incarnation 49.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · No other man's death darkened the sun and shook the earth.
On the Incarnation 49.5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · No teaching but Christ's has spread the same everywhere to the ends of the earth.
On the Incarnation 49.6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The pagan gods cannot keep Christ's worship out of their lands; his teaching ends theirs.
On the Incarnation 50.1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · No king, sage, or magician ever won the world from idols as Christ has.
On the Incarnation 50.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The Word, teaching simply and dying as a man, eclipsed the sophists and filled his churches.
On the Incarnation 50.6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The Greeks never claimed resurrection for their gods, leaving that power to Christ.
On the Incarnation 52.1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ has brought the peace foretold in Isaiah 2:4.
On the Incarnation 52.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The demons kept humans at war lest they turn against the demons; Christ's peace shows his divinity.
On the Incarnation 53.1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ alone has overcome idolatry, demons, magic, and Greek wisdom, so that magicians burn their books and the wise turn to the Gospels.
On the Incarnation 53.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Former worshipers abandon their gods and worship the crucified Christ as God.
On the Incarnation 53.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · If Christ's works are not human but divine, unbelievers are impious not to recognize him.
On the Incarnation 53.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Those who knew God from creation would recognize the Word in Christ's works.
On the Incarnation 54.1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · As the invisible God is known by his works, let people judge Christ's works to see whether they are human or divine.
On the Incarnation 54.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · If Christ's works are divine, one should marvel that through humble means immortality and God's providence have been revealed.
On the Incarnation 54.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · The Word became man that we might be made god, revealed the invisible Father, and suffered so that we might inherit incorruption.
On the Incarnation 54.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ's achievements are as countless as the waves of the sea.
On the Incarnation 55.2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ's teaching grows while all opposition declines; so worship him.
On the Incarnation 55.5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · When the Word appeared, the demons' false claims to divinity were exposed and people turned to the true God.
On the Incarnation 55.6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Human things pass while Christ's word remains, showing him to be God and the only-begotten Son.
On the Incarnation 56.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 318–325 · Christ will come again in glory to raise and judge all, giving the kingdom to the good and eternal fire to the wicked.
Letter 1.1Alexander of Alexandria · ca. 319–324 · Alexander warns his fellow bishop that Arius and Achillas, after forming a schism and denying Christ's divinity, have been expelled from the church of Alexandria.
Letter 1.2Alexander of Alexandria · ca. 319–324 · The Arians seek support from other bishops while hiding their teaching that the Son once did not exist, was made from nothing, and is changeable, chosen by God for his foreseen virtue.
Letter 1.3Alexander of Alexandria · ca. 319–324 · Against the Arian use of Psalm 45, Alexander argues from John's Gospel that the Word, through whom all things were made, cannot himself have been made or have once not existed.
Letter 1.4Alexander of Alexandria · ca. 319–324 · The Son's generation is beyond human inquiry, known only to the Father; and since all ages and times were made through him, there cannot have been a time when he was not.
Letter 1.5Alexander of Alexandria · ca. 319–324 · Since the Son is Wisdom, Power, Word, radiance, and image of the Father, the Father has always been Father and the Son's sonship is unique and unchangeable, unlike that of adopted sons.
Letter 1.6Alexander of Alexandria · ca. 319–324 · Christ's sonship is by nature and cannot be lost, unlike the adoptive sonship of creatures; the new teaching revives the errors of Ebion, Artemas, and Paul of Samosata.
Letter 1.7Alexander of Alexandria · ca. 319–324 · Arius's party quote the texts of Christ's humiliation but ignore those of his glory, such as “I and the Father are one,” and arrogantly claim to be the only wise teachers.
Letter 1.8Alexander of Alexandria · ca. 319–324 · Alexander rejects the charge that he teaches two unbegotten beings and sets out his creed: one unbegotten Father, and one Lord Jesus Christ ineffably begotten from the Father, unchangeable like him.
Letter 1.9Alexander of Alexandria · ca. 319–324 · The Son is eternally from the Father and his exact image, yet only the Father is unbegotten; Alexander also confesses one Holy Spirit who inspired both Testaments.
Letter 1.10Alexander of Alexandria · ca. 319–324 · Alexander completes his creed (the one church, the resurrection, Christ's true incarnation from Mary the God-bearer, his death, resurrection, and ascension) and asks his fellow bishops to reject Arius and his excommunicated followers.
Letter 2.1Alexander of Alexandria · ca. 319–324 · In an encyclical letter Alexander tells all bishops of the apostasy of Arius and his followers, warns them against Eusebius of Nicomedia, and begins to list the Arian propositions.
Letter 2.2Alexander of Alexandria · ca. 319–324 · The letter completes the Arian propositions (the Son a changeable creature, foreign to God's essence), reports their condemnation by about a hundred bishops, and begins to refute them from Scripture.
Letter 2.3Alexander of Alexandria · ca. 319–324 · Alexander refutes the claims that the Son is changeable and does not know the Father, noting that the Arians have been expelled like Hymenaeus, Philetus, and Judas before them.
Letter 2.2Antony the Great · before 356 · Antony tells how the law through Moses could not heal humanity's wound, and how at the saints' prayer the Son emptied himself and healed it by his wounds.
Letter 2.3Antony the Great · before 356 · Antony says that because Christ became weak and poor for us, we must pray without sleeping until God goes with us.
Letter 2.9Antony the Great · before 356 · Antony teaches that Christ, the true mind of the Father, is the head of the body, sent to heal the incurable wound, and that all are members of one another.
Letter 3.1Antony the Great · before 356 · Antony begins his third letter with Christ's poverty that makes us rich, and explains that the natural law grew cold through sin, so that God visited his creatures through the saints.
Letter 3.2Antony the Great · before 356 · Antony recalls the gifts of God, the sun, moon, and stars, the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and above all the Son given for us, and urges the brothers to hasten to their Creator.
Letter 3.3Antony the Great · before 356 · Antony explains that Christ, like us in all but sin, became a slave, poor, foolish, and weak so as to free, enrich, and strengthen us, and that his coming is a judgment on the world.
Letter 3.5Antony the Great · before 356 · Antony urges self-knowledge, recalls that God in his goodness turned us back from sin by handing over his Son, and confesses that he spends his life mourning over what he can render to God.
Letter 5.2Antony the Great · before 356 · Antony recounts how Moses and the prophets could not heal humanity's wound, so that the saints prayed and the Father gave his Only-begotten to heal it.
Letter 6.2Antony the Great · before 356 · Antony again recounts how Moses and the prophets could not heal the wound and prayed for the Only-begotten, who emptied himself and was exalted.
Letter 6.3Antony the Great · before 356 · Antony urges the brothers to know the great dispensation by which the Son became like us, freeing us as servants who are led on to the adoption of sons.
Letter 7.1Antony the Great · before 356 · Antony's seventh letter calls the brothers from servitude to sonship and self-knowledge, and condemns Arius for assigning a time, an end, and movement to the timeless Only-begotten.
Letter to Paulinus of Tyre 3Eusebius of Nicomedia · ca. 320–323 · Eusebius sets out his belief: one unbegotten God, and one who came into being from him, not from his essence, wholly other in nature though perfectly like him.
Letter to Paulinus of Tyre 4Eusebius of Nicomedia · ca. 320–323 · He claims Scripture as his source, citing Proverbs 8 to show that the Son is created, established, and begotten.
Letter to Paulinus of Tyre 5Eusebius of Nicomedia · ca. 320–323 · He argues that if the Son were from the Father's essence, he could not be called created or established.
Letter to Paulinus of Tyre 6Eusebius of Nicomedia · ca. 320–323 · He answers that 'begotten' in Scripture is used also of beings wholly unlike God.
Letter to Paulinus of Tyre 7Eusebius of Nicomedia · ca. 320–323 · He cites texts that call humans and even dew 'begotten' to show that the word means coming into being by God's will.
Letter to Paulinus of Tyre 8Eusebius of Nicomedia · ca. 320–323 · He concludes that all things are from God through the Son, and asks Paulinus to write to Alexander of Alexandria.
On the Witch of Endor 17Eustathius of Antioch · ca. 324–337 · Eustathius insists that the question is not whether Samuel was in Hades but whether a demon can summon righteous souls, and attacks Origen's claim that Christ in Hades was “above in purpose”, saying it treats Christ as a mere man, whereas the Word is everywhere by his Godhead and Christ's soul freed the souls in Hades.
On the Witch of Endor 18Eustathius of Antioch · ca. 324–337 · Eustathius argues that Christ's soul descended to Hades and on the same day brought the penitent thief into paradise, and that sayings in John about the Son of Man in heaven and the Son in the Father's bosom show him present everywhere as God while on earth in the body.
On the Witch of Endor 19Eustathius of Antioch · ca. 324–337 · Citing Wisdom's description of the Word who touched heaven while standing on earth, Eustathius argues that the Son, as God and creator, fills all things by his Godhead, so that Origen's notion of Christ being above only “in purpose” is ignorant.
On the Witch of Endor 20Eustathius of Antioch · ca. 324–337 · Eustathius ridicules Origen's suggestion that the souls of other prophets and angels came up with Samuel, arguing that this puts the saints under a demon's power and that angels stand before God, while only Christ descended to Hades and freed its captives.
On the Witch of Endor 23Eustathius of Antioch · ca. 324–337 · Answering Origen's claim that a demon could not know of David's coming kingship, Eustathius argues that David's anointing and victories were public and written in Scripture, which the devil knows, as the demons knew Christ and the devil quoted the Psalms to him.
Creed (with anathemas)Anonymous · 325 · The creed of the Council of Nicaea confesses the Son as true God of the same essence as the Father and condemns the Arian formulas.
Section 1Anonymous · 325 · The synod of Nicaea tells the church of Alexandria that Arius's teaching was anathematized and that Melitius may keep only the bare title of bishop in his own city.
On the Paschal Feast 1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337 · Eusebius recalls the Hebrew Passover, with its lamb, blood on the doorposts and unleavened bread, as a type fulfilled in Christ, the paschal Lamb who takes away the world's sin.
On the Paschal Feast 2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337 · Eusebius explains that Christians, fed by Christ's teaching and marked by faith in his blood, keep a spiritual Passover, and that the feast fittingly falls in spring, the head of the year, when nature renews itself.
On the Paschal Feast 3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337 · Eusebius argues that the spring season of the Passover, the season of creation itself, was also the season of Christ's saving Pascha, the sun of righteousness who brought the spring of the Spirit's gifts to all nations.
On the Paschal Feast 5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337 · Eusebius explains that during the fifty days of Pentecost Christians neither kneel nor fast, as an image of the rest of the resurrection ending with the Ascension, and that Christ suffered at Passover because the Jewish lamb was a type of him.
On the Paschal Feast 6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337 · Eusebius contrasts the yearly Jewish Passover with the Christian Pascha celebrated every Lord's day, when believers partake of the body of the true Lamb and keep a spiritual circumcision and unleavened bread.
On the Paschal Feast 9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337 · Eusebius argues from John and Luke that Jesus ate his Passover with the disciples on Thursday, a day before the Jews ate theirs on the day of his death, so that the Christian Pascha is new and distinct from the Jewish one.
Theophany 1.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337
Theophany 1.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337
Theophany 1.23Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337
Theophany 1.24Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337
Theophany 1.27Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337
Theophany 1.30Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337
Theophany 3.59Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337
Theophany 5.51Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337
Book 1, lines 50–75Juvencus · ca. 330 · The annunciation to Mary.
Book 1, lines 76–100Juvencus · ca. 330 · Mary visits Elisabeth; the child leaps; Mary begins her song of praise.
Book 1, lines 125–148Juvencus · ca. 330 · Zacharias's song ends; John grows up in the desert; Joseph is told in a dream to take Mary; the census of Augustus.
Book 1, lines 246–270Juvencus · ca. 330 · The Magi offer their gifts; the flight into Egypt; Herod's massacre of the infants.
Book 1, lines 348–372Juvencus · ca. 330 · Jesus is baptized; the Spirit descends and the Father speaks; Jesus fasts forty days in the wilderness.
Book 1, lines 743–770Juvencus · ca. 330 · The centurion's faith and his servant healed; Peter's mother-in-law healed.
Book 2, lines 76–100Juvencus · ca. 330 · The paralytic forgiven and healed; Matthew and Philip called.
Book 2, lines 101–123Juvencus · ca. 330 · Philip brings Nathanael, who confesses Jesus as Son of God and king.
Book 2, lines 202–226Juvencus · ca. 330 · Nicodemus fails to understand; the Son of man must be lifted up like the serpent; God so loved the world.
Book 2, lines 548–574Juvencus · ca. 330 · Jesus thanks the Father, invites the weary, and defends the disciples plucking grain on the sabbath by David's example.
Book 2, lines 623–647Juvencus · ca. 330 · Blasphemy against the Spirit is unforgivable; men are judged by their words; the Son does the Father's works and receives all judgment.
Book 2, lines 648–671Juvencus · ca. 330 · The believer passes from death to life; the dead will hear the Son's voice; the Father and the works bear witness to the Son.
Book 2, lines 672–699Juvencus · ca. 330 · The Scriptures and Moses bear witness to Christ; the scribes ask for a sign and are given the sign of Jonah.
Book 3, lines 125–149Juvencus · ca. 330 · The disciples worship; healings at Gennesaret; the dispute about washing hands and the tradition of the elders.
Book 3, lines 269–292Juvencus · ca. 330 · Peter confesses Jesus as the Christ; the rock, the church and the keys; the first prediction of the passion.
Book 3, lines 293–319Juvencus · ca. 330 · Peter rebuked; taking up the cross; the Son of man will come; Jesus takes three disciples up a mountain.
Book 3, lines 320–346Juvencus · ca. 330 · The Transfiguration; the Father's voice; the question about Elijah.
Book 3, lines 596–618Juvencus · ca. 330 · The places of honour belong to the Father to give; greatness is service; the Son of man redeems many; do not take the highest seat at a feast.
Book 4, lines 26–50Juvencus · ca. 330 · In the resurrection there is no marriage; God is God of the living; the two great commandments; David's son and Lord.
Book 4, lines 342–366Juvencus · ca. 330 · Jesus is the resurrection and the life; Martha confesses him as Christ, the Son of God; Mary comes.
Book 4, lines 539–565Juvencus · ca. 330 · False witnesses at the trial before Caiaphas; Jesus' answer about the Son of man; the high priest tears his garment and all condemn him.
Book 4, lines 690–713Juvencus · ca. 330 · Jesus' cry to the Father; the sour wine; his death; the veil torn, the earthquake, the saints raised; the soldiers confess him Son of God.
Book 4, lines 736–759Juvencus · ca. 330 · The guard and the sealed tomb; at dawn an earthquake and the angel; the guards stricken; the angel announces the resurrection.
Letter to Marcellinus 5Athanasius of Alexandria · uncertain, after 335 · The Psalms foretell the coming of God the Word, begotten of the Father, through whom all things were made.
Letter to Marcellinus 6Athanasius of Alexandria · uncertain, after 335 · The Psalms foretell Christ the anointed King, his becoming man, and his birth from a virgin of David's line.
Letter to Marcellinus 7Athanasius of Alexandria · uncertain, after 335 · The Psalms foretell Christ's sufferings—the plot of the rulers, the piercing of hands and feet, the dividing of his garments—borne for our sake.
Letter to Marcellinus 8Athanasius of Alexandria · uncertain, after 335 · The Psalms foretell Christ's ascension, session at God's right hand, judgment, and the calling of the nations.
Letter to Marcellinus 13Athanasius of Alexandria · uncertain, after 335 · Christ both taught and lived virtue, giving himself as a pattern; the Psalms likewise give a pattern for every movement of the soul.
Letter to Marcellinus 26Athanasius of Alexandria · uncertain, after 335 · The psalms most fully about Christ: his generation, cross, betrayal, kingdom and judgment, resurrection, ascension, and the benefits of his passion.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 1.3Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · Constantine, his sons, his armies and peoples praise the great King, and all nations by natural reason confess one God.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 1.6Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · The only-begotten Word, High Priest and light of the Father, rules the universe, and the emperor governs the earth as his image.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 2.1Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · As the Word reigns eternally with the Father, the emperor, his friend, rules the earth for many years.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 2.2Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · As the Saviour prepares the world for the Father, the emperor brings his subjects to the Word.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 2.3Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · Christ drives away the demonic powers; the emperor defeats the visible enemies of truth.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 2.4Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · The Word sows saving reason in his disciples; the emperor, as his interpreter, proclaims true godliness to all.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 3.6Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · As there is one God and one Word who governs his kingdom, so monarchy is the best rule; the Word bears many titles and has given humans a share in God's virtues.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 4.2Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · The Word of God is the source of all human reason, virtue and kingship; he made humans in God's image and came among them to call all to the heavenly kingdom.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 6.9Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · God handed the governance of the universe to his only-begotten Word, who teaches a blessed life beyond this age and a judgment according to deeds.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 6.19Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · In heaven life is endless and free of grief, lit not by sun or moon but by the Word himself.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 6.20Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · Scripture calls the Word the Sun of righteousness, who will receive pious souls into himself.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 9.17Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · Constantine built churches at three caves: of the birth, of the ascension, and of the tomb.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 10.6Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · East and West, North and South now praise one God and one Saviour, and acknowledge one emperor and his sons.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 11.4Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · A pagan objector argues that if Christ is worshipped despite his sufferings, the pagan heroes should be too, or neither.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 11.7Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · Eusebius will explain why the pre-existent Word came from heaven, became man, died, and rose again.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 11.10Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · The universe should lead us to worship the invisible Word, as we admire a sage's unseen mind rather than his body or cloak.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 11.11Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · Above creation we should marvel at the invisible Word, the only-begotten whom the Father begot from himself and set over the universe.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 11.12Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · Because created things could not approach the unbegotten God, God set his only-begotten Word as mediator, who governs the universe.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 11.14Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · The almighty Word spreads through all things and holds the universe together like a well-tuned instrument.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 11.15Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · The Word formed animals, plants and sea creatures, shapes life in the womb, and gives the rain.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 11.17Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · Philosophers have called the Word nature, world-soul or fate; others wrongly identified him with the supreme God himself bound up in matter.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 12.2Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · The Father rules by his will alone; the Word, through whom all things are, flows from him like a river for the salvation of all.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 12.4Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · Unlike a human word, the Word of God is a living, subsisting Son, the power and wisdom of God, who pours out life and every good from his fullness.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 12.5Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · The Word assigns every creature its place and lot, judges each life, and provides for rational and irrational creatures alike.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 12.6Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · The Word works all things, looking to the Father and mediating between him and creation.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 12.7Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · The Word is the bond, providence and guardian of the universe, the only-begotten God through whom all things were made.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 12.8Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · God gave the world his only-begotten Son as its soul; the Word, present in matter yet light from light, is one though he has many powers.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 12.11Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · The Father alone is the uncaused God; the one Word, his only-begotten, plays the many-stringed world like a lyre and pervades it like a soul.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 12.12Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · As one heaven and one sun suffice, so the one Father has one Word, who illumines all intelligible things.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 12.14Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · As one potter shapes all the parts of a figure, so one creative power, the Word, made and sustains the whole world.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 12.16Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · The one Word steers the universe, gives light to the heavenly bodies and life to angels and all creatures, making one harmonious world.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 13.1Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · Eusebius will explain why the Word came among men: humanity ignored him and worshipped the heavenly bodies.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 13.15Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · Taking pity on humanity, the Word first taught through patriarchs, prophets and laws; and when only a superhuman helper would serve, he came himself, sent by the Father.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 13.16Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · For these reasons the Word came among mortals in a new way, through a mortal instrument, to save the mortal by what is like it.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 14.1Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · The incorporeal Word took a body because people who sought God in visible things could see him only in human form.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 14.2Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · Since like loves like, the Word showed himself in a human body to those who looked for the divine in images and men.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 14.3Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · The Word's human body was a living, holy temple and statue, unlike the lifeless idols that house demons.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 14.4Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · The indwelling Word was not affected by the body, as sunlight is not defiled by what it touches.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 14.5Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · Like Orpheus taming beasts with his lyre, the Word used a human being as his instrument to tame and heal human souls, showing them God in a man.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 14.6Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · Through the man he assumed the Word worked visible miracles and taught, while remaining unchanged and present everywhere.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 14.8Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · Even during his earthly life the Word filled all things and was with the Father, giving to the human nature without receiving from it.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 14.9Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · The Word was not defiled by birth nor harmed by death, as a lyre-player is not hurt when his lyre is broken.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 14.10Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · As sunlight is not defiled by mud, the Word was not harmed by the body's sufferings.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 14.11Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · The Word, being life and light itself, sanctifies and heals whatever he touches.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 14.12Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · Throughout his life Christ showed now his shared human weakness, now his divinity in miracles, prophecy and teaching.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 15.1Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · Eusebius turns to explain Christ's death and resurrection, and then to prove them.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 15.2Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · Had the Word simply vanished and let his body perish, he would have seemed a phantom and acted unworthily of himself.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 15.3Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · Only by meeting and conquering death could the Word complete his victory and fulfil his promises; letting his body simply perish would have contradicted his nature as life.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 15.5Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · The victory over death had to be public, so Christ did not flee death but engaged it openly and made the mortal immortal for the salvation of all.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 15.6Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · As one proves a vessel fireproof by putting it in the fire, the Word let his body die for a short time and then raised it, proving eternal life stronger than death.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 15.7Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · The disciples had to see the resurrection with their own eyes, especially those who would preach it to all nations.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 15.8Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · To arm the apostles against fear of death, Christ taught them not by argument but by the deed of his resurrection.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 15.9Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · The first reason for the resurrection was to show death powerless; the second, to prove that Christ, unlike deified mortals, is the true God who conquered death.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 15.11Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · The third reason: Christ's body was a sacrifice offered to God for all humanity as a ransom, which broke the power of the demons.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 15.12Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · Christ's body was the sacrificial lamb foretold in Scripture, who bore our sins, as John the Baptist and Isaiah declared.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 15.13Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · The Word, the High Priest distinct from the victim, raised his body and presented it to the Father as the firstfruits of salvation.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 16.12Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · Christ's present works show that he lives, since the non-existent can do nothing.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 17.7Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · No other sage was foretold, as Christ was, by Hebrew prophets who described his birthplace, time, life and works.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 17.13Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · No god or hero of the nations ever taught eternal life, enlightened the whole earth, abolished all other gods, and was acknowledged by all nations as God alone, as Christ has.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 17.15Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · The facts themselves proclaim that the one true Son of God has appeared among men.
Against Marcellus 1.1.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · From slandering bishops Marcellus went on to blaspheme the Son of God himself.
Against Marcellus 1.1.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · The church knows the one God as Father of a truly living and subsisting Son.
Against Marcellus 1.1.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · To make the Son a mere word, like a human word now silent and now active, is to deny the true Son.
Against Marcellus 1.1.16Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Any Jew grants that God has a word, but not that he has a Son.
Against Marcellus 1.1.17Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · A bishop who makes Father and Son one in substance and hypostasis with different names is a Sabellian; the church confesses a begotten, subsisting Son.
Against Marcellus 1.1.21Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · The Son's generation is as unknowable as the Father; only the Father knows the Son.
Against Marcellus 1.1.22Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Eusebius sums up Marcellus: the Word only became Son at the incarnation and his kingdom will end.
Against Marcellus 1.1.23Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus makes Christ alone lose his kingdom and abandon his flesh at the end.
Against Marcellus 1.1.24Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Paul, as if foreseeing Marcellus, began Galatians by saying his apostleship was not from a man but from Jesus Christ.
Against Marcellus 1.1.25Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Paul's insistence that his gospel was not from a man shows Christ is not a mere man.
Against Marcellus 1.1.26Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Paul calls Christ the Son of God, and therefore God.
Against Marcellus 1.1.27Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Gal 4:4 shows the Son existed as Son before his birth from a woman.
Against Marcellus 1.1.28Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Paul calls Christ the mediator through whom the law was given, distinct from the one God.
Against Marcellus 1.1.29Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Paul calls Christ a man as mediator of God and men, but only mediator when the law was given through angels.
Against Marcellus 1.1.30Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · A mediator is not of one, so the one God and the mediator are not the same.
Against Marcellus 1.1.31Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · The Son was mediator between God and angels at Sinai before he became mediator between God and men.
Against Marcellus 1.1.32Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · The Son was a real, subsisting mediator, not a mere word of God.
Against Marcellus 1.1.33Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · As mediator the Son is neither the God over all nor an angel, nor merely a man like others.
Against Marcellus 1.1.34Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · The Son, now mediator of God and men, was mediator of God and angels in Moses' time.
Against Marcellus 1.1.35Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Christ is the one mediator of God and all creatures, already before the incarnation.
Against Marcellus 1.2.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says the rebuke came when the Word united a man to himself.
Against Marcellus 1.2.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus argues that Christ is called firstborn from the dead though others rose before him.
Against Marcellus 1.2.18Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus changes “declared” to “predestined” in Rom 1:4.
Against Marcellus 1.2.19Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says Christ's incarnation was predestined as the church was, citing his reading of Rom 1:4.
Against Marcellus 1.2.22Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus accuses Asterius of dropping a syllable of Ps 110:3 to make it mean an eternal generation.
Against Marcellus 1.4.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus rejects a truly existing Father, Son and Spirit, and makes Christ a mere word.
Against Marcellus 1.4.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Asterius defended Eusebius's letter as making the Son's generation an act of the Father's will, not a passion.
Against Marcellus 1.4.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus objects that Asterius calls the Word both only-begotten and firstborn.
Against Marcellus 1.4.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Scripture itself calls the Son both only-begotten and firstborn, so Marcellus blames Asterius in vain.
Against Marcellus 1.4.21Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus blames Origen for giving the Word a second hypostasis.
Against Marcellus 1.4.28Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus argues from Prov 8:23 that the Word was founded before the age, not begotten before the ages.
Against Marcellus 1.4.30Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says Asterius uses “image” to separate God from the Word.
Against Marcellus 1.4.31Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus argues the Word became the image of God only in the flesh, since an image must be visible.
Against Marcellus 1.4.32Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says an invisible Word cannot be an image, and that the verse refers to the birth in the flesh.
Against Marcellus 1.4.33Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus quotes Asterius's credal phrases and calls them proof of his bad opinion.
Against Marcellus 1.4.34Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus argues that an image of God cannot itself be God.
Against Marcellus 1.4.35Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · A son can be his father's living image, as Seth was Adam's.
Against Marcellus 1.4.36Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Scripture calls the Son the form, radiance and image of God.
Against Marcellus 1.4.40Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus accuses Eusebius of making the Word another God, separate in substance and power.
Against Marcellus 1.4.46Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus accuses Eusebius both of teaching two gods and, later, of making Christ a mere man.
Against Marcellus 1.4.49Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says Paulinus called Christ a second God and a creature.
Against Marcellus 1.4.55Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says Asterius makes Father and Son one only by agreement, and Eusebius makes the Saviour a man.
Against Marcellus 1.4.57Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus quotes Eusebius citing 1 Tim 2:5.
Against Marcellus 1.4.58Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus argues that if Christ were only a man, hope in him would be cursed.
Against Marcellus 1.4.59Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus contradicts himself, first accusing Eusebius of two gods, then of a merely human Christ.
Against Marcellus 1.4.60Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says Eusebius forgot Phil 2:6–7.
Against Marcellus 1.4.61Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says Paul wrote “likeness of man” to stop such blasphemy, and accuses Eusebius again.
Against Marcellus 1.4.62Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus's charge contradicts his earlier charge that Eusebius made the Word another God.
Against Marcellus 1.4.64Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus slanders Eusebius merely for quoting 1 Tim 2:5.
Against Marcellus 1.4.66Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Eusebius leaves the other letters aside to expose Marcellus's own teaching on the Son.
Against Marcellus 2.1.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Eusebius begins Book 2: Marcellus denied that the Son existed before his birth from the Virgin.
Against Marcellus 2.1.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus compares the Word to a human word, at rest or active, and says this non-subsisting Word took flesh.
Against Marcellus 2.1.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus's Christ begins at the incarnation and ceases after the judgment.
Against Marcellus 2.1.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Gabriel and Daniel both foretold that Christ's kingdom would have no end.
Against Marcellus 2.1.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Daniel and Isaiah foretell an eternal kingdom for the Son of Man.
Against Marcellus 2.1.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Isaiah names the child Mighty God and Prince of peace.
Against Marcellus 2.1.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Isaiah promises the endless reign of David's son.
Against Marcellus 2.1.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus contradicts Gabriel by denying both Christ's divinity and the permanence of his humanity.
Against Marcellus 2.1.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Unlike earlier heretics, Marcellus denies both Christ's pre-existence and his eternal kingdom.
Against Marcellus 2.1.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus deprives Christ, the high priest, of the kingdom the saints will share.
Against Marcellus 2.1.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus makes the author of life lose life itself, ignoring angel and prophets.
Against Marcellus 2.1.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Even the Jews expect an eternal Messiah; Paul promises that we shall reign with Christ.
Against Marcellus 2.1.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Paul says Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more.
Against Marcellus 2.1.16Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Christ remains a priest for ever and always lives to intercede.
Against Marcellus 2.1.17Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Eusebius turns to Marcellus's denial of the Son's existence before the incarnation.
Against Marcellus 2.2.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says that before the incarnation the Son was only Word.
Against Marcellus 2.2.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says the Spirit through many persons testifies to the Word's eternity.
Against Marcellus 2.2.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus reads John 1:1 as three testimonies to the Word's eternity.
Against Marcellus 2.2.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says the Word was not the image before the incarnation, and that what came down was spirit, that is, God.
Against Marcellus 2.2.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus's argument implies that the Father himself became man.
Against Marcellus 2.2.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says the Godhead, an indivisible monad, is expanded only by activity in the incarnation.
Against Marcellus 2.2.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus grants a sending forth before the ages but rejects Asterius's further claim.
Against Marcellus 2.2.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus rejects “Son” for an impression of human generation and makes the Word a mere commanding word.
Against Marcellus 2.2.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus cites psalms, Proverbs and Isaiah on the word of the Lord.
Against Marcellus 2.2.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus treats the Word of John 1:1 as like the commanding word of the prophets.
Against Marcellus 2.2.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus reads “in the beginning” as the Word in God in power, and “with God” as the Word active in creation.
Against Marcellus 2.2.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says “the Word was God” keeps the Godhead undivided.
Against Marcellus 2.2.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says John mentions no generation of the Word; the flesh belongs to the man, the spirit is one with the Father.
Against Marcellus 2.2.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus argues from John that the Word is in God and is the Father's power.
Against Marcellus 2.2.16Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus argues that “I and the Father are one” means inseparability of God and his Word, not agreement.
Against Marcellus 2.2.17Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus points to Gethsemane as showing an apparent disagreement of wills.
Against Marcellus 2.2.18Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says the Father willed the passion while the Son asked to be spared.
Against Marcellus 2.2.19Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus argues that “All that the Father has is mine” cannot express mere agreement.
Against Marcellus 2.2.23Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says “I and the Father are one” refers to the Word, not to the assumed man.
Against Marcellus 2.2.24Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus refers disagreement to the flesh and unity to the Word.
Against Marcellus 2.2.25Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus reads Christ's words to Philip as about spiritual sight of the Father in the Word.
Against Marcellus 2.2.26Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says that before creation there was quiet, the Word being in God, and only God was eternal.
Against Marcellus 2.2.27Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says the Word had his glory by being in the Father.
Against Marcellus 2.2.28Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus rejects Asterius's talk of the Son's glory before the world.
Against Marcellus 2.2.29Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says the Word is called an angel at the bush because he announced the one God to Moses.
Against Marcellus 2.2.31Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says God's Word is no more separable from him than a man's word, and creation was prepared in God's mind.
Against Marcellus 2.2.32Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus reads Prov 8:27 and Exod 3:14 as God speaking through his inseparable Word.
Against Marcellus 2.2.33Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus compares God speaking through his Word to our speaking through our word.
Against Marcellus 2.2.35Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says the mystery once hidden in God is the truth about the Word, now revealed.
Against Marcellus 2.2.36Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus asks who but the Word could undo the punishment set on man.
Against Marcellus 2.2.37Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says the Word to whom God said “Let us make” was no second God.
Against Marcellus 2.2.38Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus likens God's “Let us make” to a sculptor speaking to his own reason.
Against Marcellus 2.2.39Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says the Word came forth for creation and after the judgment will be in God as before.
Against Marcellus 2.2.40Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says the Word, within the Father before the world, came forth to make it.
Against Marcellus 2.2.41Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says Christ calls himself Son of Man so that humans may become sons by adoption, and the Word will return into God.
Against Marcellus 2.2.43Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus's own words refute his Jewish-like dogma of a mere word in God.
Against Marcellus 2.2.44Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Eusebius turns to how Marcellus applies to the flesh what Scripture says of the Son.
Against Marcellus 2.3.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says the names Jesus and Christ belong to the Word with flesh, used of the Word before only prophetically.
Against Marcellus 2.3.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus applies the titles of Christ to the flesh, which implies their loss when the flesh is laid aside.
Against Marcellus 2.3.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says the Word made the man he assumed firstborn of creation and beginning of all things.
Against Marcellus 2.3.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus applies Col 1:15–17 to the flesh, yet says the flesh profits nothing and will not remain with the Word.
Against Marcellus 2.3.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says the servant's form cannot remain with the Word, yet calls it the image and firstborn.
Against Marcellus 2.3.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says Christ is firstborn of creation by his birth in the flesh.
Against Marcellus 2.3.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus applies “firstborn” to the new man in whom God sums up all things.
Against Marcellus 2.3.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus also applies Prov 8:22 to the flesh, ignoring that Wisdom speaks there.
Against Marcellus 2.3.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus, intent on denying the Son, applies Prov 8:22–23 to the flesh.
Against Marcellus 2.3.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says Prov 8:22 speaks of the creation of Christ's flesh, not his Godhead.
Against Marcellus 2.3.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says “created me” means through the Virgin Mary.
Against Marcellus 2.3.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says God truly created the previously non-existent flesh of the Word.
Against Marcellus 2.3.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus reads “founded me” as the predestined incarnation, citing 1 Cor 3:11.
Against Marcellus 2.3.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus interprets “the earth” of Prov 8:23 as human flesh, citing Gen 3:19.
Against Marcellus 2.3.16Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus contradicts himself, making the flesh created before the flesh.
Against Marcellus 2.3.18Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · The saints' hearts existed before Christ's flesh, so Marcellus's reading fails.
Against Marcellus 2.3.20Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus applies Prov 8:24 to the birth in the flesh.
Against Marcellus 2.3.22Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus applies Col 1:15–17 to the flesh, against the apostle's meaning.
Against Marcellus 2.3.23Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says the Word became the image of God when he assumed the flesh.
Against Marcellus 2.3.24Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus repeats that an invisible Word cannot be an image.
Against Marcellus 2.3.25Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · If the flesh were God's image, all human bodies would be, and Marcellus forgets his own words on the servant's form.
Against Marcellus 2.3.26Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus makes the flesh God's image now, though it will not remain with the Word.
Against Marcellus 2.3.27Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says the flesh added to the Word is the image of the invisible God.
Against Marcellus 2.3.28Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says the Word and Father are known only through the image of the flesh.
Against Marcellus 2.3.29Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus calls the servant's form the human flesh, made in God's image to become the Word's image.
Against Marcellus 2.3.30Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus identifies the morning star of Ps 110:3 with the star of the magi.
Against Marcellus 2.3.31Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says Ps 110:3 refers to the virgin birth, which preceded the star.
Against Marcellus 2.3.32Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says the man assumed by the Word received authority and glory for others' sake.
Against Marcellus 2.3.33Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus reads John 12:28 as the glorification of the assumed man at the resurrection.
Against Marcellus 2.3.34Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says the assumed man conquers the devil and is the beloved Son of the baptism.
Against Marcellus 2.3.35Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says the Word took flesh to make man immortal and enthroned with God.
Against Marcellus 2.3.36Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Eusebius notes Marcellus's exaltation of the flesh before showing the end he gives it.
Against Marcellus 2.3.37Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says the Word with flesh was made king so that fallen man might regain the kingdom.
Against Marcellus 2.3.38Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says Christ's kingdom had a beginning and is for abolishing the devil's power.
Against Marcellus 2.3.39Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Eusebius turns to the end Marcellus assigns to the flesh he has exalted.
Against Marcellus 2.4.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says Paul teaches an end to Christ's kingdom when all are subjected to him.
Against Marcellus 2.4.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus repeats that Christ's kingdom had a beginning, citing Psalm 2.
Against Marcellus 2.4.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says a kingdom begun four hundred years ago will be handed back to God.
Against Marcellus 2.4.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says the Word is separated from the Father by activity only until the judgment.
Against Marcellus 2.4.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus asks whether the Word will keep the flesh after the judgment.
Against Marcellus 2.4.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus argues from John 6:63 that the flesh will not remain with the Word.
Against Marcellus 2.4.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus reads “until” in Ps 110:1 as fixing a limit to Christ's session at God's right hand.
Against Marcellus 2.4.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says 1 Cor 15:25 shows a limit to Christ's human kingdom.
Against Marcellus 2.4.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says Christ's partial kingdom ends when the Word reigns with the Father.
Against Marcellus 2.4.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus reads Acts 3:21 as a time limit for the union of the man with the Word.
Against Marcellus 2.4.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus concludes that the incarnation has a beginning and an end.
Against Marcellus 2.4.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says the partial kingdom ends, and that immortality does not make the flesh worthy of God.
Against Marcellus 2.4.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus notes that angels are immortal yet not united to God.
Against Marcellus 2.4.18Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus repeats his creed: the Word, having come forth, returns into God after the judgment.
Against Marcellus 2.4.19Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Eusebius notes the end Marcellus assigns to Christ's flesh.
Against Marcellus 2.4.21Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Eusebius rebukes Marcellus for innovating against the fathers and denying the Son.
Against Marcellus 2.4.22Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · A non-subsisting word cannot be a son; Marcellus makes all Christ's titles begin and end in time.
Against Marcellus 2.4.23Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Eusebius asks where Marcellus learned this and what becomes of the immortal body.
Against Marcellus 2.4.24Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · If the Word dwelt in the body like a soul, he had his own hypostasis apart from the Father.
Against Marcellus 2.4.25Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus would answer that the Word was in the body by activity only, united to God in substance.
Against Marcellus 2.4.26Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · If the Word acted in Christ only by activity, he acts so in all creation too.
Against Marcellus 2.4.27Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · On Marcellus's view Christ would be no more than a prophet moved by the Word.
Against Marcellus 2.4.28Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus leaves Christ worse off than the prophets, who will live and reign for ever.
Against Marcellus 2.4.31Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · The synod rejected Marcellus's book because it denied both the Son's beginning and his endless reign.
Demonstration 2.19Aphrahat · 337-345 · Christ first perfected love in himself, becoming poor and dying for us, and in his love gave the Beatitudes and called us salt and light.
Demonstration 3.16Aphrahat · 337-345 · Christ, greater than every angel, fasted for us and defeated the adversary, and commands us to fast and watch so as to reach his rest.
Demonstration 4.5Aphrahat · 337-345 · Jacob's vision at Bethel prefigured Christ as the gate of heaven, the cross as the ladder, and the anointed nations as the anointed stone.
Demonstration 4.11Aphrahat · 337-345 · Christ's presence with 'two or three' is explained as the person, Christ dwelling in him, and God in Christ, so that one who prays alone is not alone.
Demonstration 6.12Aphrahat · 337-345
Demonstration 7.1Aphrahat · 337-345 · Christ alone is sinless; he took up sin and nailed it to the cross, but its sting still wounds many until the end.
Demonstration 9.6Aphrahat · 337-345 · Christ, born to angelic praise, taught humility; glory belongs to God alone, and humans should keep to their humble condition and let God exalt them.
Demonstration 9.14Aphrahat · 337-345 · Adam exalted himself and was humbled; Christ humbled himself and was exalted; the lover of God should remain in humility, whose fruits reach God's presence.
Demonstration 12.5Aphrahat · 337-345 · Christ is the true Passover lamb, without blemish and sinless like a child.
Demonstration 12.6Aphrahat · 337-345 · Christ ate the Passover with his disciples and gave his Body and Blood; Aphrahat counts his three days and nights among the dead from the Supper and sets out the Christian Pascha as the fulfilment of Israel's.
Demonstration 14.11Aphrahat · 337-345 · God has made peace through wise people, including women such as the woman of Tekoa, the wise woman of Abel, Deborah, Jael, and Rebecca, and above all through Christ, who reconciled the world to the Father.
Demonstration 14.31Aphrahat · 337-345 · Christ, who owed nothing to death, died to reconcile rebels, conquered Sheol, and was exalted as Lord; peacemakers share his reward, while strife makes prayer and alms worthless.
Demonstration 14.39Aphrahat · 337-345 · Christ is the Chief Shepherd and, in a series of Gospel images, the pearl, the treasure, the fountain, the true vine, the bridegroom, the ladder, and the judge; the only fitting return is thanksgiving and love.
Demonstration 17.1Aphrahat · 337-345
Demonstration 17.2Aphrahat · 337-345
Demonstration 17.8Aphrahat · 337-345
Demonstration 17.9Aphrahat · 337-345
Demonstration 19.9Aphrahat · 337-345 · Gabriel answers Daniel's prayer with the prophecy of the seventy weeks, ending in the coming and killing of the Christ and the desolation of Jerusalem.
Demonstration 19.10Aphrahat · 337-345 · Gabriel's word meant first the return from Babylon, then, because Daniel was beloved, what would happen to the people at the end of days, the seventy weeks.
Demonstration 20.9Aphrahat · 337-345 · The deaths of the rich man and Lazarus are told; the rich man is the people and the poor man is the Savior, who became poor for us.
Demonstration 20.10Aphrahat · 337-345 · The death of the rich man is Israel's end and the giving of a new name, Christians; the poor man borne by angels is Christ, whom angels served from his birth to his resurrection.
On Ecclesiastical Theology, Book 1, preface 2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Eusebius will refute Marcellus's scriptural arguments and set out the church's received theology of the Saviour.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.1.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus calls the Word God's son only in name, insisting he is properly a word.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.1.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus's view makes God himself incarnate, which the church condemned in Sabellius.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.2.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The church knows one God as Father of an only Son, who is God by receiving the fullness of the Father's divinity.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.3.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Eusebius lists three errors about the Son and the church's confession of one God and one only-begotten Son.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.6.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Believers know three: the man born of David's line, the pre-existing Son who dwelt in him, and the Father.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.6.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Body, Son and Father are distinct; denying any one puts one outside the church.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.7.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Docetists deny the flesh; adoptionists and Sabellians deny the pre-existing Son.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.7.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Sabellius and Marcellus accept God and the flesh but deny the Son, who is light and truth.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.7.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son must be truly subsisting, distinct both from his body and from the Father.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.8.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The church confesses one Father Almighty and the only-begotten Son, God from God, begotten before all ages, distinct from the Father.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.8.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · God begot the Son before all things as the foundation of creation.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.8.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son is life, light, Word and Wisdom itself, and alone is the only-begotten.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.9.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Those who call the Son a creature from nothing make him a brother of creatures, not the Son.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.9.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Scripture says all things came into being through the Son.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.9.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Scripture's titles mark the Son off from creatures and show his unique relation to the Father.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.9.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · At the Jordan and the transfiguration the Father named him alone his beloved Son.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.9.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Father, the evangelist and the Saviour all testify that he is the only-begotten Son.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.9.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · To call the Son a creature from nothing is to deny that he is truly Son.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.10.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · God is Father of the Son but maker of the world, as a king begets a son but founds a city.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.10.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Prov 8:22 must be read in context, not used to overturn the church's doctrine as Marcellus used “Word.”
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.10.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The titles Son and only-begotten show a natural, unique relation to the Father, not creaturehood.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.10.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus denies the Son's hypostasis; those who make him a creature deny his divinity.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.10.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The church worships the Son as truly God, not as one of those called gods by grace.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.11.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Confessing the Son as God does not make two gods, since the Father alone is unbegotten and the Son's source.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.11.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son calls the Father his God, and Paul calls God the head of Christ.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.11.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Father, as the one unbegotten source and head, is the one God who sends, commands and exalts the Son.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.11.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son obeys, prays to and thanks the Father, whom he calls the only true God and greater than himself.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.11.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The church knows the Son alone as God besides the Father, the one whom the Father begot.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.11.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Prov 8:25 shows the Son begotten before all heavenly powers.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.12.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The manner of the Son's begetting is beyond inquiry, as Sirach and Paul warn.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.12.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · If creation from nothing is beyond us, the Son's generation is far more so.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.12.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Creatures of yesterday cannot pry into the Son's generation, when they do not know even themselves.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.12.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Father's own testimony to his beloved Son is enough.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.12.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Faith in the only-begotten Son, not knowledge of his generation, gives eternal life.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.12.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Faith in the Father and the only Son suffices for salvation; what is born of Spirit is spirit.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.12.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · What is begotten of God is God, and the begetting involves no emission, change or passion.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.12.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son's begetting is bodiless and beyond every analogy, even that of light and ray.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.12.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Against the poets' “father of men and gods,” the church proclaims one God and one only Son.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.13.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Creation could not approach God directly, so the Father set his Son over all as helper.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.13.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Father entrusted the governing of all things to the Son alone.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.13.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son, like a pilot and physician, governs and cares for all things.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.13.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Before the incarnation the Son appeared to the patriarchs, gave the law, and spoke through the prophets.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.13.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · In the fullness of time the Son lived among men, using his body as an instrument.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.13.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The pre-existing Son emptied himself and died so that eternal life might reign through his grace.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.14.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The church rejected Sabellius, and the first preachers named the Ebionites, for denying the Son's divinity.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.14.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Paul of Samosata was condemned for denying Christ's pre-existence as Son and God.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.16.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Christ calls himself Son of God throughout the Gospels, yet Marcellus says he calls himself only Son of Man.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.16.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus avoids calling Christ Son of God and calls him only Word and Son of Man.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.16.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus substitutes “Word” for “Son” in quoting Christ.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.16.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Saviour pairs Son with Father; Marcellus, avoiding “Son,” blames Sabellius for what he does himself.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.17.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus introduces a Jewish dogma, insisting that before the world there was only God.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.17.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Christians too confess one God, Father of a true Son who bore many titles before the incarnation.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.18.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus says “Word” is the only eternal name; all other titles come from the incarnation.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.18.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus repeats that before the incarnation the Son was only Word.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.18.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus says John mentions only the Word because the man came into being later.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.18.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus applies the names Jesus and Christ only to the incarnate Word, denying the living Son.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.19.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus claims the Son bore no name but Word before the incarnation.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · John calls the Word not “God's” but “God,” to mark him off from a human word.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · John next names the Word light, existing before the incarnation.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · John 1:8–11 shows the light was in the world and made the world.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The light, like the Word, pre-existed and made the world.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · “Through him” shows that the Son serves the Father, the author of creation.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The world knows God by nature, so the one it did not know is another, the Son.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son is the rational light that enlightens human beings, not sensory light.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son, light for rational souls, is distinct from the Father, the unapproachable light.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · John begins by giving the Son three titles: Word, God and light.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · John calls the Word only-begotten, whose glory was seen by the mind, not in the flesh.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · John says “glory as of the only-begotten,” not “of a word,” since a mere word cannot become flesh.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son's glory is received from the Father and existed before the world.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Father's answer and the Baptist's witness confirm the Son's prior existence.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · John the Baptist, born first, says Christ was before him, so Christ pre-existed.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Baptist's words fit neither the Father nor a non-subsisting word, but the pre-existing Son.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.16Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son pre-existed as God, light and only-begotten, as the Son himself revealed.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.17Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son, distinct from the invisible Father, was in his bosom, as the saints will be in Abraham's.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.18Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · After the prologue John never again calls the Son “Word”; Christ calls himself Son and only-begotten.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.19Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son sent by the Father is other than the Father, and Christ answers those who begrudge him the title Son.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.20Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Christ calls himself Son of God, whom the Father sanctified and sent.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.21Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · If mortals are called gods, it is not blasphemy to confess the sanctified and sent one as Son and God.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.22Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus's claim that Christ never calls himself Son of God cannot face the evidence.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.23Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Christ calls himself the light of the world.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.24Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The one who came from heaven saw and heard the Father before coming to earth.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.25Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son, who saw and heard the Father, is a living Son to whom the Father gave all things.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.26Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · “All things” shows the vastness of the Son's power.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.27Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son's one hand holds all visible and invisible creation.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.28Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · No creature, human or angelic, can fully comprehend the Son.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.29Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Only the Father knows the Son; we must rest on the Son's own teaching in faith.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.30Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Father handed all things to the Son, who holds them as a true Son.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.31Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Christ calls himself the living bread from heaven, living because of the Father.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.32Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son was the bread of life in heaven before the incarnation, having life in himself.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.33Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son alone shares the Father's kind of life, but as received from the Father.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.34Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son received from the Father a self-springing life, from which all others live.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.35Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · In heaven the Son was already the bread of angels, living because of the Father.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.36Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son subsists with his own life given by the Father.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.37Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Christ says he speaks as the Father taught him and always does what pleases him.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.38Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · “Always” and “taught me” show the Son is distinct from the Father, his teacher.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.39Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · A word inseparable from God could not be taught, sent, or pleasing to him.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.40Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · If the Word lived in the flesh apart from the Father, there were two hypostases.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.41Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus must make either the Father, a subsisting Son, a human soul, or nothing at all move Christ's flesh.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.42Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Saying the Father was incarnate is Sabellianism; so the Son must be confessed.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.43Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Denying the Son's subsistence leaves Christ a mere man, as the Ebionites and Paulianists held.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.44Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The flesh alone could not speak of being taught and sent; the speaker was the subsisting Son.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.45Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · If Marcellus posits a human soul, he becomes a Paulianist; if a mere word, the next objections follow.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.46Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Christ's prayers, his glorifying of the Father, and his double testimony show a subsisting Son.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.47Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Christ never calls himself Word, but Son, light, only-begotten, and bread of life.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.48Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Christ speaks of having a word, not of being one; Eusebius repeats Marcellus's claim.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.49Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus says all newer names come from the incarnation.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.50Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus repeats that before the incarnation he was only Word.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.51Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · John himself would answer that he called the Son God, light and only-begotten, not only Word.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.52Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · John's Word is God and creator; the Saviour never calls himself Word.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.53Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · “In the beginning was the Word” is as much from the New Testament as the other titles.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.54Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Paul names the pre-existent creator Son “Lord Jesus Christ,” distinct from the one God the Father.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.56Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son is Lord of all after God because all things came into being through him.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.57Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · “Through whom are all things” refers to the pre-existent Word, not the flesh.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.58Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Paul calls the pre-existent Son “Christ” in the wilderness.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.59Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Hebrews and Philippians speak of Christ before his human birth.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.60Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Jesus Christ existed in the form of God before emptying himself.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.61Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Paul explains who Christ Jesus is: the one in the form of God who emptied himself.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.62Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Phil 2:6–7 cannot refer to the flesh, nor to a word without existence of its own.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.63Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Obedience to the Father shows two persons, not a word identical with God.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.64Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Applied to a human word, Phil 2 is absurd; it fits only the pre-existent Son.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.65Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Paul calls the Son the mediator of the law in Moses' time.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.66Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Paul calls the Son a great high priest.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.67Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Hebrews calls the Son heir, radiance and imprint, through whom the ages were made.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.68Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · “Radiance” is a godlike image of the Son's generation, unlike animal birth.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.69Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son is the radiance of the Father's unapproachable light and therefore his image.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.70Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Col 1:15–17 describes the Son as image and agent of all creation.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.71Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Col 1:15–17 speaks of the Son's divinity; “who” could not refer to the flesh.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.72Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · 2 Cor 4:4 also calls Christ the image of God.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.73Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Calling Christ God's image guards against two gods: the one God is known through his image.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.74Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son is God as the Father's image, and was so before the incarnation.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.75Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The prophets call the Son Spirit of God, as Isaiah and Lamentations show.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.76Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The psalms call the Son the fountain of life and light, and Zerubbabel praises truth.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.77Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Zerubbabel's living, ruling truth points to the subsisting Son, who called himself truth.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.78Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The psalm calls the Son a river that gladdens God's city.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.79Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Daniel's mountain and stone signify the Son's divinity and humanity.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.80Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The prophets call the Son righteousness and sun of righteousness.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.81Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Solomon calls the Son Wisdom, who lived before the world.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.82Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Solomon calls Wisdom the tree of life and Lord.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.83Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · David calls the Son Lord and eternal priest.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.84Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Psalm 45 calls the Son God, anointed by God, and so Christ.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.85Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The psalm's title calls the Son the beloved.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.86Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Isaiah calls the Son God's arm; David calls him salvation and righteousness.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.87Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The prophets knew the Son under veiled titles; the full proclamation was kept for the church.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.88Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Paul calls Christ the mystery hidden for ages and now revealed.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.89Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Israel was taught one God; the Father of the only Son was revealed to the church of the nations.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.90Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Scripture gives the pre-existent Son many titles, not only “Word.”
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.91Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus clings to “Word” alone because he Sabellianizes and denies the Son.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.92Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus's “hidden mystery” of a word in God is something every Jew already grants.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.93Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · That God is rational and wise is universally known; the mystery is the Son, who is all these.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.94Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · As only Son and heir, the Son has all that the Father has and is his form and image.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.95Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The hidden mystery is not that God is rational, but Christ.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.20.96Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Christ is the mystery the prophets veiled; Marcellus is ignorant of Scripture, and Eusebius turns to his Sabellianism.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.1.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Book 2: Marcellus's reasoning makes the Father himself born of the Virgin.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.1.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus applies Bar 3:38 to the Father in the Word.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.1.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus applies Lam 4:20 to the Word and then identifies that spirit with God the Father.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.1.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus says that before the world there was only God, abolishing the Son's hypostasis.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.2.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus agrees with the Jew that only God existed before the world; the church confesses the Lord through whom all things exist.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.2.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son, through whom all things and ages were made, existed with the Father before the world.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.2.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Proverbs and John show the Son present at creation and existing before the world.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.2.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Wisdom rejoiced with the Father before the world, so God was not alone.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.3.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus says the Word rested in God before creation and had glory only by being in the Father.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.3.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus calls the Word eternal, which Eusebius takes to mean unbegotten.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.3.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus says the Word's eternity is united to the Father.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.4.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · If God and his Word are one, the God over all was born and died, as Sabellius taught.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.6.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The church confesses one unbegotten principle and a subsisting Son who has the Father as his source.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.6.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · God begot the Son without division, change or passion.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.6.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · As God creates beyond our understanding, he begets the Son without passion in a way known only to him.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.7.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The two hypostases are not equal in honour; the Father is the Son's God.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.7.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son, compared with the Father, is his image who worships and obeys him as his God.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.7.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son lives because of the Father and does the will of the one who sent him.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.7.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Father bears witness to the Son and is greater than he.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.7.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The one who came down from heaven to do the sender's will is other than the Father, and not the flesh.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.7.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · God's internal thought could not come down and speak of doing another's will.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.7.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Toward creation the Son is proclaimed God, Lord and King.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.7.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The church worships the Son as God, as he taught.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.7.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son is to be honoured as the Father is honoured.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.7.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Thomas confessed Christ as Lord and God; we give the Son alone divine honour, and so honour the Father.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.7.16Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Honouring the Son honours the Father, as honouring the king's image honours the king.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.7.17Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son mirrors the Father and has received all from him; the Father, receiving from none, is the one God.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.8.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus allows a going forth before the ages but rejects a true Son as too human.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.8.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus denies the Word's generation and says he goes forth from God and returns.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.8.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus's creed: the Word went forth for creation and returns into God after the judgment.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.8.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus says the Word came forth from the Father to make the world.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.8.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus makes God's Word go out of God and return into him, a grave difficulty.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.9.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Eusebius asks what Marcellus's Word was while outside God: either a separate hypostasis or never outside at all.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.9.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus's view makes both God and his Word change.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.9.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus's quiet in God before creation resembles Valentinus's “God and Silence.”
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.9.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus implies that the Word went forth like a spoken human word.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.9.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus repeats his analogy of the human word.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.9.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus's view implies the Word will again be idle after the end.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.9.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Why should the Word fall silent when the saints live for ever?
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.9.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus built his heresy on John 1:1 alone, a word of the evangelist, not of Christ.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.10.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · John gives the Son many titles, and Christ never calls himself Word.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.10.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus reads only “Word” literally and all other titles figuratively.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.10.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Eusebius gathers Marcellus's statements that the Son was only Word.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.10.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Scripture never says the Son was “only” Word.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.10.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · One could as well say he is only Son, only God or only light.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.10.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The one Son is all these things together, under different aspects.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.10.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · It is absurd to make the evangelist's one title exclusive while ignoring Christ's own titles.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.10.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · If “Word” is proper, so are “God,” “light” and “only-begotten Son,” given by the same evangelist.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.11.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus treats “light” as spiritual but “Word” as like a human word.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.11.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Eusebius again quotes Marcellus's analogy and his account of the Word's going forth.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.11.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Eusebius quotes Marcellus's exposition of John 1:1.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.11.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus reads the clauses of John 1:1 as power and activity.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.11.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus enlists John for his denial of the Son's hypostasis.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.12.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · John never says “Word of God” in his prologue, to keep us from thinking of a mere activity of God.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.13.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Eusebius distinguishes the senses of logos: reason, speech and writing.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.13.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Logos also means the seminal principle and the principle of an art or science.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.14.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · John's Word is unlike any known logos, since “the Word was God.”
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.14.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The divine Word does not exist in another substance but subsists by himself as God.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.14.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · John says “the Word was God” without the article and “with God,” not “in God.”
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.14.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · “In God” would make the Word an accident and God composite.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.14.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son, image of the Father and most like him, is God, Word and Wisdom, but begotten.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.14.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · “Through him” signifies service, as the law came through Moses, so the Word is the Father's agent.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.14.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · If all came through the Word, there is a maker other than he, which Marcellus cannot name.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.14.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The God of whom John speaks is the subsisting only Son, not the Father.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.14.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · John 1:1 can rightly be read with “Son” in place of “Word.”
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.14.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · “In the beginning” refers to the Son's generation; “with God” shows his nearness to the Father.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.14.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Proverbs too shows the begotten Son always present with the Father.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.14.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · What is begotten of God is God, so “the Word was God.”
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.14.16Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son is creator; the law through Moses taught only that God made the world.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.14.18Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Grace through Christ revealed what Moses kept silent: creation through the Word.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.14.19Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · John's prologue teaches the Son's life and light; Marcellus Judaizes or Sabellianizes.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.14.21Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · John's Word is not any human logos but the only Son, Word as creator and God as Son.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.14.22Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son is truly light, life and truth, each title showing one of his divine powers.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.15.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Eusebius again quotes Marcellus's analogy of the human word.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.15.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus uses both the uttered and the internal human word as images of God's Word.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.15.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus says only the Word, who helped fashion man, could undo man's punishment.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.15.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus's sculptor image attaches to God an internal and an uttered word like ours.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.16.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Every man has a word, but not every man has a son; so a word is not a son.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.16.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus pretends to confess the Son while making him a mere internal word.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.17.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · John wrote “the Word was God” without the article, not identifying the Word with the God over all.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.17.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · John teaches that the Father is God and that the Word, distinct from him, is also God.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.17.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Word is God as the living image of the Father's divinity.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.17.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · A better human image: the hidden mind is father of the word that makes it known.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.17.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The living Word goes forth to supply all creation, while the Father remains beyond, like the hidden mind.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.17.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Father is unapproachable; the Son pervades and governs creation.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.18.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · John called the Son “Word” because of the prophets' formula “the word of the Lord came to.”
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.18.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Word that once “came to” the prophets now himself became flesh, so John begins with who he was.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.18.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · John proclaims the Word's divine beginning, which no prophet revealed so openly.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.18.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · John proclaims the hidden mystery of the Word in his prologue.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.18.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · John announces not how the Word came, but that he was in the beginning, was God, and became flesh.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.18.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · John's message is not that God is rational, which deniers of the Son also grant.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.19.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus cites Baruch's “this is our God” as prophecy of the Saviour.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.19.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus reads Isa 45:14–15 as showing the Father in the Word.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.20.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The church should receive the teaching on the Son from the New Testament, kept back from Israel until its time.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.20.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · “He who is” can be said of the Father and, as his image, of the Son.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.21.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Lord who appeared to Abraham in human form was the Son, as Christ himself says.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.21.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · “Before Abraham was, I am” shows that the Son spoke “I am he who is” to Moses.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.21.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The one who spoke to Moses was the mediator, the Son, before the incarnation.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.21.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Whether the Son spoke in his own person or the Father through him, “I am he who is” is true.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.21.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son, as the Father's image and mediator, gave the commandment against idols.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.21.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Paul calls the giver of the law a mediator distinct from the one God.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.21.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · As God speaks through Isaiah, the Father spoke through the Son to idolatrous Israel.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.22.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Father spoke the prophets' “none besides me” through the Son, who teaches the one true God.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.23.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The church teaches one God and one image, his Son, not two unbegotten substances.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.23.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son is the living image of the Father's attributes and true God as image; “only” fits the Father as archetype.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.23.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · As a king's image does not make two kings, the Son as image does not make two gods.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.23.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus makes the flesh, not the Son, the image of God.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.23.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · John unveiled the mystery hidden in Moses and the prophets.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.23.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · John showed the Son's sonship by distinguishing him from the unseen Father.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.24.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus defines the Word from Old Testament texts about God's commanding word.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.24.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus thinks these prophetic texts support his view of the Word.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.24.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus mixes the healing Word with commanding words, avoiding the living Son.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 2.25.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus contradicts himself, calling the Word a hidden mystery yet proclaimed in all the prophets.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.1.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Book 3: Eusebius quotes Wisdom's speech in Proverbs 8 to refute Marcellus's interpretation.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.1.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Wisdom tells how the Lord created and begot her before creation and she was with him at creation.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · One person speaks throughout Proverbs 8, and “Wisdom,” like John's “Word,” is named absolutely as subsisting.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Proverbs always names Wisdom absolutely.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Wisdom in Proverbs is a living, subsisting Wisdom, the Son of God.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Wisdom cannot be a mere property of God, for she is called the righteous man's sister.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Read of Christ, Wisdom's sayings make sense; read of God himself, they would not.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Reading Wisdom as God would make Prov 7:4 absurd.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Read of the Son, the Wisdom passages fit, as Paul calls Christ God's wisdom.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · In Prov 8:22 “created” means “appointed” to rule, not made from nothing.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Peter calls human rulers a “creation,” showing that the word can mean appointment.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · “Create” is often metaphorical in Scripture, as “confess” in Matt 11:25 means “thank.”
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Prov 8:22 means the Son was appointed to rule God's works.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Hebrew and the other Greek versions read “acquired,” not “created.”
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.16Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son is the “head” of creation, appointed by the Father to govern and save all.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.17Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Wisdom's rule over kings shows the Son's government of all.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.18Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son governs all things and calls men to love him and avoid evil ways.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.19Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Wisdom, the Son, then reveals the knowledge of himself.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.20Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Wisdom recalls being appointed by the Father to rule his works.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.21Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son is the Father's most precious possession, as Eve “acquired” a son.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.22Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The same Hebrew verb qānâ, “acquire,” stands in Prov 8:22.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.23Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · “Created” means coming into being; “acquired” means belonging of what already exists.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.24Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · “Acquired” shows the Son's pre-existence, his belonging to the Father, and his rule.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.25Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Wisdom's words show the Son existed before creation and that the abyss and waters, which Moses did not call created, were made through him.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.26Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Wisdom names earth, abyss and water, then heaven, as made after her.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.27Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Eusebius turns to Marcellus's reading of Prov 8 as referring to the flesh.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.28Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus applies Prov 8:22–23 to the flesh, created and predestined.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.29Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus reads “earth” as the flesh, a crooked road.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.30Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus will say anything rather than confess that Wisdom is the Son.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.31Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus admits that Christ speaks Prov 8:22.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.32Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Since one person speaks throughout Proverbs 8, Marcellus's reading makes the flesh Wisdom.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.33Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · On Marcellus's view the flesh would be Wisdom ruling kings and remembering eternity.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.2.34Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus explains “beginning of ways” as the apostles' teaching.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · As beginning of God's ways, the Son is older than the patriarchs, so Prov 8:22 cannot mean the flesh.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son leads all God's ways travelled by the saints of old.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son is the beginning also of God's providential ways, not the flesh.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus refers “his works” to the works of Christ's earthly ministry.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus reads Prov 8:22 as the incarnation, the Godhead displayed bodily.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son existed before all God's works; Marcellus again reads “founded” as the flesh.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus speaks of one age, though Scripture says God exists before the ages.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus makes the flesh both created before the earth and the earth itself.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · If “earth” is the flesh, the speaker existed before the flesh.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Even “one age” means the Son, not his flesh, existed before this age.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · If the depths are the saints' hearts, the speaker is older than the prophets.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.19Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Even on Marcellus's reading, the speaker existed before the saints.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.23Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son existed before the prophets; Marcellus refers the words to the birth in the flesh.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.25Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son existed before the natural springs Moses and Job mention.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.26Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son existed even before the springs of the waters above the heavens.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.29Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus's reading is forced, and “he begets me” cannot fit the flesh.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.30Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The flesh could be called created, but not begotten of God.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.31Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The flesh was born of a woman, not begotten of God.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.32Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Taken literally, the words fit the Son, who existed before earth, springs and mountains.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.39Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Paul's teaching that the powers were made through the Son agrees with Prov 8:25.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.40Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son, existing before the heavenly Zion, hinted at his generation in Proverbs.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.41Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus stopped at Prov 8:27, unable to fit it to the flesh.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.43Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Elsewhere Marcellus admits that the Word speaks Prov 8:27–30.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.44Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Having admitted the Word speaks, Marcellus must apply the whole passage to him.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.45Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · One speaker says both “created me” and “I was present with him.”
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.46Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · A Word one with God and unbegotten could not say he was created and begotten.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.47Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · If the flesh speaks Prov 8:22–25, it must also say it was present when the heavens were made.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.49Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Prov 8:27 shows the living Son present with the Father before heaven existed.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.50Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Father designed heaven; the Son, seeing his plans, carried them out.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.53Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son, present at the Father's planning, made creation like a painter from the Father's ideas.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.54Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son does only what he sees the Father doing.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.55Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son does the Father's works “likewise.”
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.56Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son made creation by imitating the archetypes the Father lovingly showed him.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.57Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Father and Son rejoiced in each other before the world existed.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.58Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The true sense concerns creation through the Son; Marcellus misreads it of the flesh.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.59Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus says the Word prepared heaven within the Father as his thought.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.60Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Eusebius again quotes Marcellus on the Word preparing the world within God.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.61Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · “I was present with him” shows the Son with the Father before creation, against Marcellus.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.62Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The prefix “with” and “rejoiced in me” show two persons present together.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.63Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · “Glad before him” shows the Son's hypostasis; inside and outside imply a body in God.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.64Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · If the Word was a spoken word, to whom did God speak before creation?
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.3.65Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Craftsmen work silently; Marcellus's sculptor image lays bare his denial of the Son.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.4.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son “came out” from the Father's inner kingdom when sent for our salvation.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.6.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Eusebius quotes Col 1:15–17 before showing Marcellus's misreading.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.7.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus applies the masculine “who” and “he” of Col 1 to the flesh.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.7.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus's reading of Col 1 as the flesh is obviously forced.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.8.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus says the flesh will be abandoned by the Word at the end.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.9.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus repeats that the servant's form cannot remain with the Word.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.10.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The transfiguration showed the glory of Christ's flesh even before the passion.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.10.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Christ's glorified body and ours, conformed to it, refute Marcellus's view of the flesh.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.10.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Eusebius quotes Marcellus's refusal to say what becomes of the flesh.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.10.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus calls the flesh a crown of victory, yet says it will be left lifeless.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.10.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus misuses John 6:61–63.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.11.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus misreads John 6:63 as a rejection of Christ's own flesh.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.12.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus says Jesus touched his own body when saying the flesh profits nothing.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.12.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus added to the Gospel that Jesus touched his body, to support his view.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.13.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus reads Acts 3:21 as limiting Christ's kingdom.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.13.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus takes “until” in Ps 110:1 and 1 Cor 15:25 as a limit.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.13.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Eusebius quotes Marcellus's argument for a limited kingdom.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.13.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus says the incarnation will end when the kingdom is handed over.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.14.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · “Until” in Scripture does not imply an end, as Matt 28:20 shows.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.14.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · “Until” refers to Christ's session before his second coming, after which the saints will be with him for ever.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.14.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus wrongly reads the Son's subjection as the Word's reunion with God.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.15.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son's subjection means honour and willing obedience, not union.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.15.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Meanwhile the Son reigns, correcting and healing, until his enemies are subdued.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.15.8Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The saints, subjected to the Son, will share his life, wisdom, holiness, and even divinity.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.15.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Christ's power to subject all things will transform our bodies to his glorious body.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.15.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · If our bodies are glorified, Christ's body even more will share his kingdom and divinity.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.15.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son's subjection is his offering of all the saved to the Father in glory.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.16.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · God will be all in all the saints, and the Son will reign for ever as Gabriel foretold.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.16.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Handing over the kingdom means presenting his subjects to the Father, not ceasing to reign.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.16.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son, like a high priest, will present the perfected saints to the Father.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.16.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · God will be all to each by capacity, but the Son alone will keep the unique fatherly glory.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.17.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Ezekiel foretells David as shepherd and God as their God.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.17.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · In Ezekiel God is their God and “David,” meaning Christ, their eternal shepherd and ruler.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.17.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Daniel foretells the Son of Man receiving an eternal kingdom from the Ancient of Days.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.17.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The Son of Man, distinct from the Ancient of Days, receives an unending kingdom.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.17.6Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus makes Father and Son one hypostasis and limits Christ's kingdom.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.17.7Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Marcellus says Christ's kingdom began and will end.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.17.9Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Against Marcellus, the prophets give Christ an unending rule after the judgment.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.17.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · After the judgment in Daniel 7 the Son of Man receives the incorruptible kingdom.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.17.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Matthew 25 matches Ezekiel: the Son of Man as King after judgment, God as his Father.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.17.12Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · The King of Matthew 25 is the “David” of Ezekiel, shepherding under God.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.17.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · In the new age the Son of Man is King and shepherd, while God is God over both sheep and shepherd.
On Ecclesiastical Theology 3.21.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Seeing the Son, the perfect image, the pure in heart see the Father as one sees a king in his portrait.
Life of Constantine 1.32.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Christian teachers explained to Constantine that the sign was the cross of Christ, the only-begotten Son, and he began to read Scripture and consult the clergy.
Life of Constantine 2.57.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · True religion is as old as creation; when mankind strayed, God sent his Son as a light.
Life of Constantine 3.53.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Mamre is holy because there God, the Savior with two angels, appeared to Abraham and promised him descendants.
Oration I Against the Arians 5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius quotes the opening of Arius's “Thalia” and its main claims: the Son was not always, came to be from nothing, and is changeable by nature.
Oration I Against the Arians 6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius continues quoting Arius: the Word is not true God, does not know the Father or his own substance, and is unlike the Father and the Spirit.
Oration I Against the Arians 7Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius says that Arius's blasphemies should horrify all, recalls his condemnation at Nicaea, and proposes to question those who think the heresy harmless.
Oration I Against the Arians 8Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius argues that quoting Scripture does not make Arius orthodox, since the devil too uses Scripture, and that his teaching is new and not from the fathers.
Oration I Against the Arians 9Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius sets the church's confession of the Son, true God of one substance with the Father, beside the claims of the “Thalia” and asks which is fitting for God.
Oration I Against the Arians 10Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius contrasts the Scriptural confession with the Arian “Thalia,” says the Arians hide their views behind imperial patronage, and traces the heresy to the devil.
Oration I Against the Arians 11Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius attacks the Arian claim “there was once when the Son was not,” showing that it implies a time before the Word, and argues from Scripture that the Son is eternal, the “eternal power” of Rom 1:20.
Oration I Against the Arians 12Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius argues from creation and from many texts (Isaiah, Baruch, Hebrews, the Psalms, the “I am” sayings) that the Son is eternal, as radiance is never without light.
Oration I Against the Arians 13Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius shows that Scripture uses “before” and “when” of creatures, but “always” of the Son, so that the Arian phrases imply a time before the Word, through whom time itself was made.
Oration I Against the Arians 14Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius answers the objection that an eternal Son would be the Father's brother: the Son is begotten from the Father, and God's offspring is eternal because God's nature is always complete.
Oration I Against the Arians 15Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius argues that if the Son were Son only by participation, he would have to participate in something between himself and the Father, which is absurd.
Oration I Against the Arians 16Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius concludes that the Son is not a participant in God but is himself what is participated from the Father's substance, begotten without passion or division.
Oration I Against the Arians 17Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius argues that if the Son was once not, the Trinity was not eternal but grew by addition, and could as well be diminished.
Oration I Against the Arians 18Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius affirms one eternal Godhead in the Trinity, which neither grows nor lessens, and says an originated triad is a pagan idea.
Oration I Against the Arians 19Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius argues that God is an eternal fountain of wisdom and life, so that his Wisdom and Word, the Son, must be eternal and cannot be counted among the things made through him.
Oration I Against the Arians 20Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius argues that the Son, as image, radiance, and truth of the Father, must exist whenever the Father exists, since the Father always delights in his image.
Oration I Against the Arians 21Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius answers the Arian argument that a true image of the Father would have to beget a son in turn: in God alone the Father is always Father and the Son always Son.
Oration I Against the Arians 22Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius shows that the Son remains always Son, as the Father is always Father, and then reports the catch-questions the Arians put to boys and women.
Oration I Against the Arians 23Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius replies that God begets as God, not as humans do, just as he creates and exists as God, and that human fatherhood is named from his.
Oration I Against the Arians 24Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius shows that the Arian question “Did he who is make one who was not?” is confused, and restates it properly about God and his Word.
Oration I Against the Arians 25Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius turns the Arian question back on them, answering that God and his Word both eternally are, and that the one sense in which the Son was “made” is his becoming man.
Oration I Against the Arians 26Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius rejects the idea of the Son as God's instrument and turns the Arians' question to mothers against them: a child is from the parent's own substance, and only human nature makes it later in time.
Oration I Against the Arians 27Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius concludes that since nothing hinders God as nature hinders human parents, the Son, who is from the Father by nature, always coexists with him.
Oration I Against the Arians 28Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius explains that God begets without passion or division, as the titles Word, Wisdom, and radiance show, and that he is always Father.
Oration I Against the Arians 29Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius answers that God's being always a maker does not make creatures eternal, since a work depends on will but the Son belongs to the Father's substance.
Oration I Against the Arians 31Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius shows that in any of its senses the word “unoriginate” gives the Arians no ground for making the Son originated.
Oration I Against the Arians 32Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius shows that Asterius himself spoke of an unoriginate wisdom coexisting with God, and says the Arians use “unoriginate” to smuggle in their old slogans.
Oration I Against the Arians 33Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius argues that “unoriginate,” like “Almighty,” names God in relation to creatures, whereas “Father” names him in relation to the Son and is the better title.
Oration I Against the Arians 35Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius rejects the Arian claim that the Word is changeable by free choice, arguing that a changeable Son could not be the image of the unchangeable Father.
Oration I Against the Arians 36Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius argues from Heb 13:8, Ps 102, and Malachi that the Son, as the Father's image, is unchangeable, unlike created things.
Oration I Against the Arians 37Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius introduces the Arian use of Phil 2:9–10 and Ps 45:7, which they take to show that Christ was rewarded for his choice and is therefore changeable.
Oration I Against the Arians 38Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius argues that if Christ became Son and was exalted only as man, he would have been improved by the flesh, contrary to Scripture's witness to his glory and worship before the incarnation.
Oration I Against the Arians 39Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius concludes that the Son was God and became man to deify us, and that all who are called sons and gods are so through him.
Oration I Against the Arians 40Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius quotes Phil 2:5–11 in full and argues that the Son, being God, humbled himself and did not need to be exalted, since he was worshipped before the incarnation.
Oration I Against the Arians 41Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius explains that the exaltation of Phil 2:9 belongs to Christ's humanity and is for our sake, so that we may be raised and exalted in him.
Oration I Against the Arians 42Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius explains that Christ “received” the name as man, so that the grace given might pass to us and we might be brought, in him, into the heavenly realms.
Oration I Against the Arians 43Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius says the cross, thought foolish, has brought resurrection and the worship of the true God to all nations, and that the “therefore” of Phil 2:9 names the cause of our exaltation, not a reward to Christ.
Oration I Against the Arians 44Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius offers a second reading of Phil 2:9: the exaltation is the resurrection, which happened because the one who died was God in a body.
Oration I Against the Arians 45Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius explains that the Word is said to be exalted and to receive grace because the body that was raised and exalted was his own; as Word he gives what, as man, he receives.
Oration I Against the Arians 46Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius turns to Ps 45:6–7 and argues that the Son is anointed with the Spirit as man, for our sake, since he is himself the giver of the Spirit.
Oration I Against the Arians 47Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius explains that Christ's anointing with the Spirit at the Jordan was for us, so that in him we too are washed, anointed, and sealed; the Word himself gives the Spirit.
Oration I Against the Arians 48Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius concludes that Christ gives as the Word and receives as man, so that what he receives, including his anointing and baptism, is for us.
Oration I Against the Arians 49Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius explains that the “therefore” of Ps 45:7 means that the Son was anointed because he is God and King, since only the Father's image could join humanity to the Spirit.
Oration I Against the Arians 50Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius compares the anointing with Christ's saying that he casts out demons by the Spirit: both are said of him as man, so that we might receive the Spirit through his flesh.
Oration I Against the Arians 51Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius argues that “You have loved righteousness” shows the Son's unchangeableness: as second Adam he could not fall, and so he frees changeable human flesh from sin.
Oration I Against the Arians 52Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius shows that Scripture says the same of the Father, that he loves righteousness and hates iniquity, so the words imply no changeableness in the Son.
Oration I Against the Arians 53Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius introduces the texts the Arians use to call the Word a creature (Prov 8:22; Heb 1:4; 3:1–2; Acts 2:36) and insists they be read of the incarnation.
Oration I Against the Arians 55Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius reads Heb 1:1–4 as referring to the time of the incarnation and argues that “better” marks a difference of nature between the Son and the angels, not a comparison within one kind.
Oration I Against the Arians 56Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius argues that “having become” in Heb 1:4 is joined to “better” and to the title Son, so it does not make the Son originated, and that making him of the angels' kind repeats Gnostic teaching.
Oration I Against the Arians 57Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius argues that “better” is used between things of different kinds, and that Hebrews sets the Son, the maker of all, apart from the angels in nature.
Oration I Against the Arians 58Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius contrasts what Hebrews says of creatures (made, perishing) with what it says of the Son (eternal, reigning, creator), and explains “the Father is greater than I” as referring to the Son's begetting.
Oration I Against the Arians 59Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius explains that Hebrews calls the Son “better” because the grace and covenant brought by him differ in kind from the ministry of angels and the law, as he differs in nature from creatures.
Oration I Against the Arians 60Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius explains that Christ “became guarantor” of a better covenant as man, bearing the judgment in his body and freeing the flesh from sin.
Oration I Against the Arians 61Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius argues that the Son's sitting at the Father's right hand shows that he shares the Father's Godhead and kingdom, unlike the angels who minister.
Oration I Against the Arians 62Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius shows that “having become” refers to the Son's ministry as man, and points out that Scripture also says of God “become for me a refuge,” without implying that God came into being.
Oration I Against the Arians 63Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius explains that when Scripture says God “became” a refuge, it means his help to people in need, not that he came into being, as human usage also shows.
Oration I Against the Arians 64Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius concludes the first oration: every “became” said of the Son refers to what he became for us in the incarnation, not to any origin of his substance.
Oration II Against the Arians 1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius opens the second oration by naming the two texts the Arians now press, Prov 8:22 and Heb 3:2, and says that such sayings refer to the Word become man.
Oration II Against the Arians 2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · If the Son were only a work, God would be a barren creator without Word or Wisdom; his begetting by nature must come before his creating by will.
Oration II Against the Arians 3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Words follow natures, not the reverse: Scripture calls sons “servants” and servants “children” without changing what they are, as with Solomon.
Oration II Against the Arians 4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Scripture regularly speaks of natural children as “made,” “acquired,” or “come to be,” so such words applied to the Son do not make him a work.
Oration II Against the Arians 5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · The first question is whether the Lord is Son, Word, and Wisdom; if he is, he cannot be a work, since all works were made through him.
Oration II Against the Arians 6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · A “work” is judged, but the Son is the judge; and “faithful” in Heb 3:2 means trustworthy, as it does of God, not believing, as it does of human beings.
Oration II Against the Arians 7Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Heb 3:1–2 speaks not of the Word's divine generation but of his becoming high priest in the flesh, as Aaron became high priest by putting on the priestly robes.
Oration II Against the Arians 8Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · As Aaron remained the same man when he put on the priestly robes, so the Word remained the same when he put on flesh; Heb 2:14–3:2 shows that “made” refers to his becoming man and high priest.
Oration II Against the Arians 9Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · He became apostle and high priest when he shared our flesh; he is “faithful” because his once-for-all sacrifice abides and his high priesthood has no successor.
Oration II Against the Arians 10Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Unlike the perishing gods of the Greeks, God and his Son are faithful because unchanging; Hebrews at once sets the Son above Moses as builder and Lord of the house.
Oration II Against the Arians 11Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Words like “made,” “created,” “servant,” or “brother” describe the Word's humanity; Scripture never says God made himself a Son or created a Word.
Oration II Against the Arians 12Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · In Acts 2:36 “made” refers to the crucified humanity and means “displayed,” as Acts 2:22 shows; so too the Son “made himself equal to God” by displaying it in his works.
Oration II Against the Arians 13Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · The Word was eternally Lord and King, as the Old Testament shows; Acts 2:36 speaks of the lordship over us that he acquired when he became man and redeemed all by the cross.
Oration II Against the Arians 14Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · The eternal Lord became our Lord when he took flesh and redeemed us; as God “becomes” a protector without beginning to be God, so the Son was “made Lord” without beginning to be Lord.
Oration II Against the Arians 15Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Peter's words answer the Jewish expectation of a merely human Christ who would not suffer; Christ himself had taught both his suffering and his divinity.
Oration II Against the Arians 16Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius paraphrases Peter's argument to the Jews: the Scriptures announce a divine, life-giving Christ, fulfilled in the crucified and risen Jesus, and God made the Word become man so that we would not worship a mere man.
Oration II Against the Arians 17Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Isaac's words “I have made him your lord” show that “made” can denote a later authority rather than a creature's origin, as in Acts 2:36.
Oration II Against the Arians 18Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Peter who calls Christ “made Lord” also says that he pours out the Spirit, which no creature can give; Athanasius reviews the Arian questions already refuted and turns to Prov 8:22.
Oration II Against the Arians 19Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · The Arian formula “a creature, but not as one of the creatures” is a pretense: every creature differs from every other, so the phrase leaves the Son one creature among many.
Oration II Against the Arians 20Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Creatures differ in glory but share the nature of creatures and praise their creator; the Word is that creator, the truth whom all creation hymns, and works eternally with the Father.
Oration II Against the Arians 21Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · If the Son were a creature he could not create, for no creature brings being out of nothing; only God fashions, while human beings merely rework existing matter.
Oration II Against the Arians 22Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · God calls things into being through his Word, so the Word cannot be one of them; only the Son knows and sees the Father, which no creature can do.
Oration II Against the Arians 23Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Scripture never ranks the Son above other creatures by degree but calls him the only Son; creatures refuse worship, but the Son receives it from angels, nations, and disciples.
Oration II Against the Arians 24Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Only the true Son is worshipped and has all that is the Father's; the Arian claim that God made the Son alone as a go-between because creation could not bear his direct hand is absurd.
Oration II Against the Arians 25Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · God neither tires nor disdains to make lesser things, since his providence reaches even sparrows and grass; so he did not need a created Son as a helper.
Oration II Against the Arians 26Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · If the created nature needed a mediator to receive God's working, the created Word would need one too, and so on without end; nothing could ever have been made.
Oration II Against the Arians 27Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Moses only ministered, which many creatures do; creating belongs to God's one Word alone, and even the unique sun is not sufficient by itself for its task.
Oration II Against the Arians 28Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Creatures share their tasks and need one another, which cannot be said of the Word; and Asterius's claim that the Son learned to create would make Wisdom something acquired and losable.
Oration II Against the Arians 29Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · A taught creator would imply envy and weakness in God; the Father still works, his will suffices, and the Son was not made merely as a tool for creating us.
Oration II Against the Arians 30Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · If the Son were made for our sake as an instrument, we would be prior to him in God's purpose, which is absurd; rather, he is the Son whom God wills first.
Oration II Against the Arians 31Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · We exist for the Word, not he for us; the Father creates through his own Word as light shines by its radiance, and the Word needs no instruction, unlike the creatures who question God.
Oration II Against the Arians 32Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · The Arians fight not with the church but with God's own testimony; Scripture's images of radiance and impress show the Word's eternity, and they suffice without prying into how.
Oration II Against the Arians 33Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · A word from a mind and radiance from the sun are proper to their source, eternal with it, and do not divide it; so the Son is from the Father without division or beginning.
Oration II Against the Arians 35Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · God's Word is not like a passing human word: as God is eternal, so is his Word, living, active, and creative, perfect offspring of the perfect.
Oration II Against the Arians 36Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · The manner of the Son's begetting is ineffable and should not be pried into; when at a loss one should believe in silence, and the one Word of the one God abides unchanging.
Oration II Against the Arians 37Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · The Arians posit a second, true Word and Wisdom in God, making the Son only notionally Word and Wisdom; Athanasius quotes Asterius's argument from 1 Cor 1:24 and Rom 1:20.
Oration II Against the Arians 38Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · If the Son were Word, Wisdom, and Son only in name, he would be nothing in himself; and an unoriginate Wisdom coexisting with God is either the Son or makes God composite.
Oration II Against the Arians 39Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Scripture speaks of God's “words” only as commandments given through the one Word; it knows no second Word or Wisdom, which the Arians invent as the Manichees invent another god.
Oration II Against the Arians 40Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · The only unoriginate Wisdom coexisting with God is the Son; even Asterius, writing against pagans, confessed one Word and one Wisdom, contradicting himself.
Oration II Against the Arians 43Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Heretical baptism with the right names but wrong faith is profitless; the Arians, backed by human patronage, are worse than heresies that err about Christ's body, since they blaspheme the Father's own Godhead in the Son.
Oration II Against the Arians 44Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Prov 8:22 is a proverb and must be interpreted by asking who speaks; Wisdom, the creator, speaks of the “house” she built, the body the Word took.
Oration II Against the Arians 45Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · “He created” said of Wisdom does not mean “I am a creature”; Scripture uses “creature” for things created in their very substance, and “created” can refer to something that happens to someone.
Oration II Against the Arians 46Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Scripture often uses “create” for renewal (a clean heart, the new man, a new people), so “the Lord created me” refers to the humanity of the Word, not his substance.
Oration II Against the Arians 47Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · As the Word “became flesh,” “a curse,” and “sin” without being changed into them, so he was “created” by taking a created body for our salvation and deification.
Oration II Against the Arians 48Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · A “beginning” shares the nature of what follows it, as Reuben with his brothers or the first part of a city with the rest; creatures come to be together by kinds, so a created Word could be neither alone nor first.
Oration II Against the Arians 49Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Creatures, even the angelic powers, come into being together by kinds; the Word, who is “before all” and alone Son, is therefore not the first of creatures but their creator, like none of them.
Oration II Against the Arians 50Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Prov 8:22 says “for the works,” so it cannot describe a Word who is before all things; the Son calls the Father “Lord” only as having taken the form of a servant.
Oration II Against the Arians 51Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · As adopted children call their Lord “Father” by grace, the Son calls his Father “Lord” in his humanity; and “created for the works” refers to a task given after being, as with Adam, Noah, and Moses.
Oration II Against the Arians 52Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · “Formed to gather Israel” (Isa 49:5) and “created for the works” refer to a mission to things that already existed; like a son disguised to recover his father's property, the Word put on our flesh.
Oration II Against the Arians 53Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Scripture gives a reason (“for the works”) only when it speaks of the Word's becoming flesh; of his Godhead it speaks absolutely, since the Father's radiance has no cause beyond the Father.
Oration II Against the Arians 54Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Christ speaks of his divinity without giving any reason, but of his incarnation he gives the reason: the need of human beings for life, light, truth, and deliverance from the devil.
Oration II Against the Arians 55Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · The Word came for our sake, to die, raise us, and condemn sin; as he creates in himself the “one new man,” he can say “he created me” of himself, as he is said to become sin and a curse for us.
Oration II Against the Arians 56Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · “He created me” is said for our sake, since we are created in Christ; but Prov 8:25, “he begets me,” speaks of the Son's generation without giving any reason, showing that he is Son, not creature.
Oration II Against the Arians 57Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Scripture says “made” of creatures and “begot” of the Son, and “in the beginning was” of the Word; creatures began to be, but the Word has his being without beginning in the Father.
Oration II Against the Arians 58Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · John's “was” excludes any interval before the Son; in Deut 32, Moses puts “made” before “begot,” showing that human beings are made by nature and only afterwards called begotten by grace.
Oration II Against the Arians 59Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Human beings are made by nature and become sons by grace, through receiving the Spirit of the true Son; the Word became flesh so that humanity could receive Godhead.
Oration II Against the Arians 60Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · The “but” joining Prov 8:22 and 8:25 shows that the begetting before all things precedes and differs from the creating as “beginning of ways,” which refers to the incarnation.
Oration II Against the Arians 61Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · God is first creator, then Father of human beings by grace; but he is first Father of the Word and afterwards his creator in the flesh; so Christ is our brother and “firstborn,” his flesh saved first.
Oration II Against the Arians 62Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · “Only-begotten” describes the Son's relation to the Father; “firstborn” describes his condescension to creation and his making many his brothers.
Oration II Against the Arians 63Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · “Firstborn of all creation” sets the Son apart from creation; he is firstborn among brothers by the flesh, from the dead by the resurrection, and of creation by the Father's love that will set creation free.
Oration II Against the Arians 64Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · If “firstborn” meant a creature among creatures, the Son would be brother to beasts and stones; he is firstborn because he condescended to creation both in making it and in entering the world to make all sons.
Oration II Against the Arians 65Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · The way through Adam was lost; the Word put on created flesh to open a new and living way, becoming the beginning of the new creation.
Oration II Against the Arians 66Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · As “beginning” of the resurrection the Word was created in the flesh, taking an incomplete body to pay our debt and complete what man lacked: immortality and the way to paradise.
Oration II Against the Arians 67Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · The Word received the works to complete when he became man; only one who is God, not a creature, could join humanity to God and undo God's own sentence of death.
Oration II Against the Arians 68Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · God could have undone the curse by a word, but what he does is chosen for what profits us; a mere command would have left grace external and humanity ever falling again.
Oration II Against the Arians 69Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · No creature could save creation; the Son took flesh, died for all, and in his flesh destroyed sin and death, so that we, joined to him, shall be free of the serpent and of death.
Oration II Against the Arians 70Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Only if the Word is true God and his flesh truly human could humanity be freed and deified; Arians who deny the first are as wrong as Valentinians who deny the second.
Oration II Against the Arians 71Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · “For works” shows the Word to be other than the works, as one who enters a house is not the house; he is God's hand and wisdom, and the three youths call on all works to praise but never the Word.
Oration II Against the Arians 72Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Scripture distinguishes the Word from all works: he judges and sets free, while all creation groans for freedom; Athanasius then turns to Prov 8:23, “before the age he founded me.”
Oration II Against the Arians 73Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Wisdom, by whom the earth was founded, was “founded” for us as the foundation of the new creation; the decisive question, which even the devil asked, is whether he is the Son.
Oration II Against the Arians 74Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · “He founded me” (Prov 8:23) refers to the Word's taking flesh, so that, like a stone set as foundation, he might bear us who are built on him as living stones.
Oration II Against the Arians 75Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · “Before the age” refers to God's eternal purpose of salvation prepared in the Word before creation, since God foreknew the fall, as 2 Tim 1:9–10 and Eph 1:3–5 teach.
Oration II Against the Arians 76Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Our election, adoption, and inheritance “before the foundation of the world” were founded in the Word, so that when the world passes away our life, prepared in Christ, will endure.
Oration II Against the Arians 77Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Like an architect who provides for repairs before building, God founded our renewal in Christ before creation; Athanasius then introduces a further sense of Prov 8:22.
Oration II Against the Arians 78Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · A second reading of Prov 8:22: the Wisdom that is “created” is the image of divine Wisdom stamped on creation and on us, which the true Wisdom speaks of as its own.
Oration II Against the Arians 79Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Scripture speaks of a wisdom poured out on creation and on human beings; the true Wisdom calls this impress of itself “created,” as a prince might say his name was built into his father's city.
Oration II Against the Arians 80Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · As Christ said “Why are you persecuting me?” of his church, so Wisdom speaks of her created impress as herself; the words “before all the hills he begets me” guard her uncreated nature.
Oration II Against the Arians 81Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Wisdom harmonized her impress with creation so that the world might know God; when the world failed, the same Wisdom became flesh and died on the cross to reveal the Father more fully.
Oration II Against the Arians 82Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · The Father's eternal delight in his Son, his image, shows the Son to be proper to his substance; Prov 8 thus proves the Son is not a creature but the Father's own offspring.
Oration III Against the Arians 9Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · “The only true God” excludes false gods, not the Son, whom Christ joins with the Father (John 17:3); “I alone,” “one,” and “first” include the Word, through whom God made all things.
Oration III Against the Arians 12Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · No one prays for gifts from God and an angel together, but from the Father and the Son; the “angel” Jacob invoked with God (Gen 48:16) was the Word, the “angel of great counsel.”
Oration III Against the Arians 14Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Angels only minister and announce; those who saw angels knew they had not seen God; but whoever sees and hears the Son sees and hears the Father.
Oration III Against the Arians 22Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · In John 17:23 Christ asks that believers be perfected into one through his body, “one body and one spirit”; the word “as” still marks the distance in nature between them and him.
Oration III Against the Arians 23Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · As Christ was in the earth “as” Jonah was in the fish without being Jonah, so believers are one “as” the Father and Son without being equal to them; their perfection comes from the Word made flesh and the gift of the Spirit.
Oration III Against the Arians 26Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · The Arians cite the Gospels' human sayings of Christ—receiving authority, being troubled, praying, advancing in wisdom, not knowing the day, being forsaken—as proof that he is a needy creature.
Oration III Against the Arians 27Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · The Arians, stumbling at Christ's human experiences, repeat the objections of those who rejected him in the Gospels, and both deny the Word's Godhead because of his flesh.
Oration III Against the Arians 28Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius urges the Arians to stop echoing Christ's opponents and to read the Gospels by the rule of the church's faith: the Son is eternal as the Father's own offspring.
Oration III Against the Arians 29Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Scripture's scope is a twofold account of the Saviour: eternally God and Son, and later made man from the Virgin Mary for us; John 1 and Phil 2 show both.
Oration III Against the Arians 30Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · The Word became man; he did not merely come into a man as the word of God came to the prophets, and “flesh” in John 1:14 means a human being.
Oration III Against the Arians 31Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Unlike his visits to the saints, the Word truly became man from Mary; so the flesh's weaknesses are called his, while his divine works were done through his own body.
Oration III Against the Arians 32Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · The Word was never outside his flesh: he healed with human gestures and divine power, and the sufferings of his body are rightly called his, so that salvation and worship are directed to the Son himself.
Oration III Against the Arians 33Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Because the Word made the flesh's weaknesses his own, they are destroyed in him; even holy people before Christ remained mortal, but now we are reborn in him and raised to incorruption.
Oration III Against the Arians 34Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Following 1 Pet 4:1, every human weakness of Christ—hunger, ignorance, fear, asking that the cup pass—is to be said of him “for us in the flesh,” while the Word remains impassible and frees our flesh from these passions.
Oration III Against the Arians 35Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Knowing what is proper to Godhead and to flesh, and that both belong to one Christ, keeps faith right; texts where the Son “receives” all things mean that he has eternally from the Father what the Father has.
Oration III Against the Arians 36Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Sayings like “was given to me” guard against Sabellius by showing that the Son is not the Father, while “as the Father has life … so the Son” shows that he has it eternally from the Father.
Oration III Against the Arians 37Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Christ's questions in the Gospels do not prove ignorance, since one may ask what one knows (John 6:6); ignorance belongs to the flesh, not to the Godhead, and he knew Lazarus had died while far away.
Oration III Against the Arians 38Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Ignorance, receiving, and being glorified belong to Christ's flesh; the Word bore our ignorance and received gifts as man so that grace, resting in him, might be secure for us, unlike Adam's.
Oration III Against the Arians 39Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · If the Word himself needed and received glory and authority, he would have been improved by the body and humanity would have no hope; he already had what he asked for, and received it as man for us.
Oration III Against the Arians 40Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Christ had authority over Satan, sin, and death before his resurrection; he says he “received” it in human fashion so that human beings, sharing in the divine nature, might have it through him.
Oration III Against the Arians 41Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Human weaknesses in the Gospels belong to Christ's humanity, divine works to his Godhead, both in one Lord: true God in the flesh and true flesh in the Word.
Oration III Against the Arians 42Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Athanasius turns to Mark 13:32; the creator of times cannot be ignorant of a day, and Christ, who foretold the signs before the end, must know the end itself.
Oration III Against the Arians 43Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Christ said “nor the Son” of the last day as man, because of his flesh: as Word he knows the end of all things, as man he does not, and he did not say “the Son of God,” lest the Godhead seem ignorant.
Oration III Against the Arians 44Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Christ does not say “nor the Spirit,” showing that his not knowing is human; as the one who knows the Father, creates and determines all things, and has all that is the Father's, the Son knows the day.
Oration III Against the Arians 45Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Christ tells the disciples “you do not know,” never “I do not know” as God; and as the one who brought the flood and foretold it to Noah, he knows the day of his own coming.
Oration III Against the Arians 46Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · In the parable of the virgins the ignorance is the disciples'; Christ, the coming judge and bridegroom, knows the hour, as he knew where Lazarus lay and what Peter would confess, though he asked in human fashion.
Oration III Against the Arians 47Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Paul says “I do not know” of his own vision though he knew, as Elisha kept silent about Elijah's ascent; if the Arians grant that Paul knew, much more must Christ know when he says “I do not know.”
Oration III Against the Arians 48Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Christ said “I do not know” for our profit, to end fruitless questions without lying, since he spoke as man; after the resurrection, with his flesh deified, he said instead, “It is not for you to know” (Acts 1:7).
Oration III Against the Arians 49Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Christ's “not even the Son knows” protects believers against demons and the Antichrist who claim to know the end, and keeps them watchful, since neither the world's end nor one's own death is known.
Oration III Against the Arians 50Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · God asked Adam and Cain questions without being ignorant; so the same Son, now in the flesh, asks his disciples as man; Athanasius turns next to Luke 2:52.
Oration III Against the Arians 51Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Luke 2:52 cannot mean that the Word as God advanced, since he is equal to God, always in the Father, and himself the source of wisdom and grace to all.
Oration III Against the Arians 52Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Creatures advance in virtue, but the perfect Son has nowhere to advance; “advanced in wisdom and stature” refers to his body and to the growing manifestation of his Godhead through it.
Oration III Against the Arians 53Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · The “advance” was the growing manifestation of the Godhead in the body and the deification of the human nature; Luke says “Jesus,” the name of the incarnate Lord, not “the Word.”
Oration III Against the Arians 54Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Christ's weeping, trouble, prayer about the cup, and cry of dereliction cannot mean that the Word feared death, since he gives courage to others, came to destroy death, and laid down his life freely.
Oration III Against the Arians 55Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · The one who wept and hungered also raised Lazarus and gave sight to the blind; his sufferings show that the impassible God took passible flesh, and his works show that he is the Word.
Oration III Against the Arians 56Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Weeping, trouble, and the prayer about the cup belong to Christ's humanity, taken from mortal Mary; even his cry of abandonment was answered by signs showing that the Father was in him.
Oration III Against the Arians 57Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Christ willed the cup as God while his flesh shrank from it; by bearing this shrinking he took away our fear of death, as the courage of apostles and martyrs shows, and he laid down his life by his own authority.
Oration III Against the Arians 58Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Christ's suffering should cause wonder that the Word let his body suffer to make the flesh immortal; the heretics, like the hydra, keep producing new objections.
Oration IV Against the Arians 1Athanasius of Alexandria · 4th century (disputed) · The author argues that there is one origin of the Godhead, from which the Word is by nature Son, a Word with real substance and not a mere sound.
Oration IV Against the Arians 2Athanasius of Alexandria · 4th century (disputed) · The author argues that the Son is neither a quality in God nor a mere name, but a real offspring from the Father, two with him yet one.
Oration IV Against the Arians 4Athanasius of Alexandria · 4th century (disputed) · The author argues against the Arians that God's own Word and Wisdom cannot be something other than Christ, who is the only-begotten Son through whom God works.
Oration IV Against the Arians 5Athanasius of Alexandria · 4th century (disputed) · The author contrasts creatures, who are “attached” and “joined” to God from outside, with the Son, who is one with the Father and in him.
Oration IV Against the Arians 6Athanasius of Alexandria · 4th century (disputed) · The author explains that Christ, as mediator, takes our weaknesses to the Father and receives God's gifts as man, so that they pass to us.
Oration IV Against the Arians 7Athanasius of Alexandria · 4th century (disputed) · The author explains that Christ receives the Father's gifts and exaltation as man for us, and gives thanks for them as his own.
Oration IV Against the Arians 8Athanasius of Alexandria · 4th century (disputed) · The author shows that the Arians and their opponents who deny the Son's subsistence each contradict themselves.
Oration IV Against the Arians 15Athanasius of Alexandria · 4th century (disputed) · The author reports three views that separate the Word from the Son and argues that the Word, being from God, must always be the Son of the Father.
Oration IV Against the Arians 16Athanasius of Alexandria · 4th century (disputed) · The author argues that if the Word and the Son were different, the Son, who alone is in the Father's bosom and knows the Father, would be greater than the Word; and John 10 shows that the Son speaks of oneness with the Father.
Oration IV Against the Arians 17Athanasius of Alexandria · 4th century (disputed) · The author explains that in John 10:30–38 Jesus refutes both Sabellius and Arius, and that the sayings of unity with the Father are spoken by the Son.
Oration IV Against the Arians 18Athanasius of Alexandria · 4th century (disputed) · The author shows from John 3:16–19 and John 12 that the one who came to save the world and who is the light is the only-begotten Son.
Oration IV Against the Arians 19Athanasius of Alexandria · 4th century (disputed) · The author argues from John 1 and John 14 that the world was made through the Son as through the Word, so the Son and the Word are one and the same, existing before the world.
Oration IV Against the Arians 20Athanasius of Alexandria · 4th century (disputed) · The author refutes the view that the man Jesus, not the Word, is the Son, showing that the Son existed before Abraham and made the world.
Oration IV Against the Arians 21Athanasius of Alexandria · 4th century (disputed) · The author argues from the command to believe in the Son and from baptism into Father, Son, and Spirit that the Word is the Son, and refutes the view that Word and man together are the Son.
Oration IV Against the Arians 22Athanasius of Alexandria · 4th century (disputed) · The author argues that God is our Father only because his own Son dwells in us, and that the Word was Son before the incarnation, since the ancients were already called sons.
Oration IV Against the Arians 23Athanasius of Alexandria · 4th century (disputed) · The author argues that if the Word became Son only at the incarnation, no one could have known the Father before, and rejects the claim that the Son is later because the Old Testament speaks of the Word.
Oration IV Against the Arians 24Athanasius of Alexandria · 4th century (disputed) · The author lists Old Testament texts about the Son (Ps 2, 9, 45, 110; Isa 5; Prov 8; Dan 3) and argues that “beloved” means “only-begotten,” so that the Word is always Son.
Oration IV Against the Arians 26Athanasius of Alexandria · 4th century (disputed) · The author argues from 1 John and the Gospel that the Son is the eternal life and Word that was with the Father, and identifies the “hand” of God in the Psalms with the Son.
Oration IV Against the Arians 27Athanasius of Alexandria · 4th century (disputed) · The author answers those who refer Ps 110:3 (“from the womb”) to Mary: like “heart,” “womb” is used of God figuratively and signifies the Son's genuine birth from the Father.
Oration IV Against the Arians 28Athanasius of Alexandria · 4th century (disputed) · The author argues that “before the morning star” cannot refer to Christ's birth from Mary, and, from Rev 22:16, takes the morning star to be the incarnate Christ, so the begetting precedes the incarnation.
Oration IV Against the Arians 29Athanasius of Alexandria · 4th century (disputed) · The author argues that, as the Holy Spirit and the Paraclete are one though “Paraclete” is not in the Old Testament, so the Word and the Son are one; and he shows from Homer that “beloved” means “only son.”
Oration IV Against the Arians 30Athanasius of Alexandria · 4th century (disputed) · The author answers followers of Paul of Samosata who used Acts 10:36 to separate the Word from Christ, arguing that the Word himself, made flesh, preached.
Oration IV Against the Arians 31Athanasius of Alexandria · 4th century (disputed) · The author uses Moses' speaking of himself in the third person (Lev 9:7) to show that Peter's words do not make the Word and Christ two, and says that separating them betrays a pagan idea of the incarnation as change.
Oration IV Against the Arians 32Athanasius of Alexandria · 4th century (disputed) · The author appeals to the annunciation (Luke 1:35) to show that the Word is united to the man born of Mary, so that the Word was not sent through another but himself sent the apostles.
Oration IV Against the Arians 33Athanasius of Alexandria · 4th century (disputed) · The author argues that Scripture speaks simply, as when Moses is named twice in one sentence, and that the Word, united to our humanity, rightly bears the names Christ and Son, and is not a prophet sent through a man.
Oration IV Against the Arians 34Athanasius of Alexandria · 4th century (disputed) · The author teaches that Christ is the divine Word united with the humanity formed in Mary, the true temple of which Solomon's was an image, and calls Paul of Samosata a disciple of those who objected that Jesus made himself God.
Oration IV Against the Arians 35Athanasius of Alexandria · 4th century (disputed) · The author shows that Scripture calls the man from Mary “Christ” because of his union with the Word, and that the risen Lord's words “touch me” prove that the Word and his body are one subject.
Oration IV Against the Arians 36Athanasius of Alexandria · 4th century (disputed) · The author concludes that the “sending” of the Word means his union with the man Jesus: God the Word is himself the Christ from Mary, one and the same, God and man.
Sermon text 2.1Eusebius of Emesa · ca. 340-359 · text not on this site
Sermon text 6.3Eusebius of Emesa · ca. 340-359 · text not on this site
Sermon text 10.1Eusebius of Emesa · ca. 340-359 · text not on this site
Sermon text 14.8Eusebius of Emesa · ca. 340-359 · text not on this site
Historical Fragments 1.1.3.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 343–367 · The Son's obedience and the saying "the Father is greater" belong to his assumed humanity.
Historical Fragments 1.3.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 343–367 · Germinius confesses the Son like the Father in all things.
Historical Fragments 1.3.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 343–367 · Germinius confesses the incarnation, passion, resurrection, ascension, and return.
Historical Fragments 1.4.1.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 343–367 · The Easterners denounce Marcellus of Ancyra for teaching that Christ's kingdom had a beginning and will end.
Historical Fragments 1.4.2.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 343–367 · The creed of the Eastern bishops at Serdica confesses the Son, begotten before the ages, incarnate, crucified, risen, seated at the Father’s right hand and coming to judge.
Historical Fragments 1.4.2.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 343–367 · The anathemas of the Eastern creed of Serdica condemn Arian formulas, tritheism, the denial of Christ’s Godhead or pre-existence, and the identification of Father, Son and Spirit.
Historical Fragments 2.2.9.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 343–367 · Hilary summarizes Arius's teaching that the Son was made from nothing, condemned at Nicaea.
Historical Fragments 2.2.10.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 343–367 · The Nicene Creed on the Son.
Historical Fragments 2.2.10.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 343–367 · The Nicene Creed's conclusion and anathemas.
Historical Fragments 2.2.11.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 343–367 · Hilary shows how "God from God" and "firstborn" in the Eastern creed are made to imply a created, temporal Son.
Historical Fragments 2.2.11.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 343–367 · Hilary explains Col 1:15–17: the Son is "firstborn" because all creation was founded in him, not as the first creature.
Historical Fragments 2.2.11.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 343–367 · Hilary expounds the Nicene Creed clause by clause, explaining "true God from true God", "born not made", and homoousion.
Historical Fragments 2.6.1.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 343–367 · Germinius confesses the Son like the Father in all things except unbegottenness.
Historical Fragments 2.6.1.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 343–367 · Germinius supports his confession from the sayings of Jesus in John.
Historical Fragments 2.6.1.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 343–367 · Germinius argues from Gen 1:26, John 1:14, and Paul that the Son is like the Father in all things.
Historical Fragments 2.6.1.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 343–367 · Germinius cites Col 1:15 and Phil 2:5–7: the Son's divinity is as true as his humanity.
Historical Fragments 2.6.1.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 343–367 · Since all the fullness of God dwells in Christ, the Son cannot be partly like and partly unlike the Father.
Historical Fragments 2.6.2.1Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 343–367 · Germinius answers that Scripture's many titles of Christ, like "creature", describe his works, not his nature.
Historical Fragments 2.6.2.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 343–367 · The Son's titles describe his works; he himself was begotten from the Father, not made from nothing.
Historical Fragments 2.8.2.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 343–367 · Hilary exposes the evasions of the homoean Western envoys about "creature", "from God", eternity, and "like according to the Scriptures".
Catechetical Lecture 3.11Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ, though sinless, was baptized to give grace to the baptized; going down into the waters he bound the dragon and broke death’s sting.
Catechetical Lecture 3.13Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · After baptism the believer may wrestle with evil powers; as Christ began preaching only after his baptism, so the baptized become sons by adoption, while Christ is Son by nature.
Catechetical Lecture 4.6Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Belief in the one God roots out idolatry and heresy; Cyril then sets out faith in the eternally begotten Son, who reigns with the Father from all eternity.
Catechetical Lecture 4.7Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Son is neither separated from the Father nor merged with him; he is the eternal Word, a living person, not a spoken word.
Catechetical Lecture 4.9Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Son truly became human from the Virgin, not in appearance only; he acted both as man and as God.
Catechetical Lecture 4.10Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ was truly crucified, as Golgotha itself and the relics of the cross attest, and creation recognized him as God.
Catechetical Lecture 4.11Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ was truly buried and went down to the dead to free the righteous of old, the prophets and John among them.
Catechetical Lecture 4.12Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ truly rose on the third day, as Jonah and Elisha’s bones foreshadow, and twelve witnesses testified to it even to death.
Catechetical Lecture 4.13Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Twelve witnesses more than satisfy the law’s requirement; the resurrection should be believed.
Catechetical Lecture 4.14Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ ascended, and the worldwide power of the cross proves it; believers should seal themselves with the sign of the cross in every action.
Catechetical Lecture 4.15Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ will come again from heaven, not as the antichrists from the earth, and his kingdom has no end; the Holy Spirit, one and indivisible, is honored with the Father and the Son.
Catechetical Lecture 5.13Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Creed is a deposit to be kept spotless until Christ’s appearing; the edition then prints the Creed of Jerusalem as reconstructed from the lectures.
Catechetical Lecture 6.11Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Greek gods are shown to be no gods by their adulteries and deaths; the Son came down to heal this error and make the Father known.
Catechetical Lecture 6.18Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Valentinus degrades Christ, the Wisdom of God, into a fallen female Aeon; Cyril then turns to Manes, who gathered other men’s errors into one heresy.
Catechetical Lecture 7.2Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Unlike the Jews, Christians confess the one God as Father of Christ, as the Psalms foretold; faith in the Father prepares for faith in the Son.
Catechetical Lecture 7.3Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · “Father” implies “Son”; the Creed names God as Father before heaven and earth so that the Son is not thought to rank below creation.
Catechetical Lecture 7.4Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · God is Father of many by extension but of the Son by nature, eternally, and without passion or change.
Catechetical Lecture 7.7Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ distinguishes “my Father” (by nature) from “your Father” (by adoption); believers call God Father by grace.
Catechetical Lecture 7.9Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Scripture calls people “father” for teaching or care, as Paul, Job, and Joseph; God is father of men in this sense, but Father of Christ by nature.
Catechetical Lecture 7.10Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · God is Father of men in time, but of Christ before all time.
Catechetical Lecture 10.1Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Whoever denies the Son, the door and revealer of the Father, is shut out from knowing the Father and incurs his anger.
Catechetical Lecture 10.2Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Worship of God must include the Son, whom the Father acknowledged at the baptism and the Psalms announced, against the Jewish appeal to God's oneness.
Catechetical Lecture 10.3Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Creed says “one” Lord so that Christ's many titles (door, way, sheep, shepherd, lion, stone) are not divided among many sons.
Catechetical Lecture 10.4Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Each of Christ's titles is explained, and the Creed's “one Lord” guards against heretics who divide Christ, Jesus and the Door into different beings.
Catechetical Lecture 10.5Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ adapts himself to each person's need while remaining unchanged, and is Lord by nature as Maker of all; Genesis shows him at work with the Father in creation and at Sodom.
Catechetical Lecture 10.6Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Lord who appeared to Moses showed himself only as far as Moses could bear.
Catechetical Lecture 10.7Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The one who appeared to Moses was Christ, who later took a human face so that we could see him and live; in Exodus the Lord calls on the name of the Lord, revealing Father and Son.
Catechetical Lecture 10.8Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Psalm 110 shows the Lord speaking to the Lord, his Son.
Catechetical Lecture 10.9Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Son is Lord of all, not by seizing lordship but by receiving it from the Father, who gave it freely.
Catechetical Lecture 10.10Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Son born in Bethlehem is Lord of all, served by the angels at his birth, flight into Egypt and resurrection, as the day's reading from 1 Corinthians 8 says.
Catechetical Lecture 10.11Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Moses gave the names Jesus and Christ to Joshua and Aaron as types of the coming Jesus Christ, king and high priest; Joshua's deeds prefigure Christ's.
Catechetical Lecture 10.12Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The name Jesus, Saviour, was veiled by the prophets but given openly by the angel, and his having a people before birth shows he existed before he was born.
Catechetical Lecture 10.13Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The name Jesus means Saviour in Hebrew and suggests Healer in Greek, for he heals souls and bodies.
Catechetical Lecture 10.14Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Jesus heals body and soul; he is also the Christ, an eternal high priest after the order of Melchizedek, confirmed by the Father's oath.
Catechetical Lecture 10.15Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · David and the prophets knew the Christ, and even demons and a Samaritan woman confessed him, while the chief priests did not.
Catechetical Lecture 10.16Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ shares his own name with believers; the new name “Christian,” foretold by Isaiah, has spread over the whole world.
Catechetical Lecture 10.17Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Paul, the former persecutor who became a preacher of Christ within days, is a witness beyond suspicion.
Catechetical Lecture 10.18Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Spirit gave Paul, the former persecutor, the most letters, and countless witnesses, from the Father and the Virgin to the holy places of Jerusalem and the martyrs, testify to Christ; believers must honour the name they bear.
Catechetical Lecture 11.1Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ is not one of the many anointed figures of the Old Testament but the true Christ, priest from the Father, as the Creed's next clause shows.
Catechetical Lecture 11.2Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ is Son of God by nature and only-begotten, without brothers, named Son by the Father himself.
Catechetical Lecture 11.3Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Peter's confession, revealed by the Father, shows that Christ is Son of God by nature; he is firstborn and Son in a sense unlike Israel or others called sons.
Catechetical Lecture 11.4Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Unlike those who were given the name of sons, the Son was begotten eternally, like the Father in all things: light from light, God from God.
Catechetical Lecture 11.5Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ is son of David in time according to the flesh, but Son of God eternally and spiritually, in a begetting no one can describe.
Catechetical Lecture 11.6Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Scripture calls Christ the only-begotten Son, Son by nature, whose spiritual begetting involves no time, change or growth toward perfection.
Catechetical Lecture 11.8Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Father's begetting of the Son, unlike Abraham's of Isaac, involves no ignorance or deliberation in time: the Father always has the Son.
Catechetical Lecture 11.9Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ is Son by nature, not as disciples are begotten by teachers or as the baptized become sons by adoption; the Father's voice at the baptism declares an existing sonship.
Catechetical Lecture 11.10Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Son is not like a spoken word that vanishes but a living, subsisting Word, eternally begotten, who creates, descends, ascends and reigns.
Catechetical Lecture 11.11Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · No creature, neither earth, sun, heavens nor the highest angels, knows how the Father begot the Son.
Catechetical Lecture 11.12Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Those who cannot explain the angels should not pry into the Son's begetting, which even Scripture does not describe; it is enough to confess one unbegotten Father and one Son eternally begotten, true God.
Catechetical Lecture 11.13Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Baruch and Psalm 45 testify that Christ, who became man, is God, anointed by God the Father.
Catechetical Lecture 11.14Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Isaiah and Christ's own sayings show that Father and Son are one in Godhead, kingdom, will and work, without being confused with each other.
Catechetical Lecture 11.15Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Son, not the Father, became man and suffered; Christians must avoid both the Arian denial of the Son's eternity and the Sabellian confusion of Son and Father.
Catechetical Lecture 11.16Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Son must not be reckoned a creature; the one Father is worshipped through the one Son.
Catechetical Lecture 11.17Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Son sits at the Father's right hand eternally, not as a reward received after the passion.
Catechetical Lecture 11.18Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Son is like the Father in all things, so that whoever sees him sees the Father; the Father lost nothing in begetting him, and the Son lacks nothing.
Catechetical Lecture 11.19Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · God is Father of the Son by nature and of creatures by adoption; believers must believe that God has a Son without prying into how he was begotten.
Catechetical Lecture 11.20Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Son did not begin at Bethlehem: Micah and Christ's own words show that he exists eternally, the Father being his timeless source.
Catechetical Lecture 11.21Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · All things, visible and invisible, were made through the Son, against heretics who teach other creators, identify Christ with the sun, or ascribe the world to angels.
Catechetical Lecture 11.22Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · As a king's son builds the city his father plans, the Son made all things at the Father's assent, so that both rule over creation.
Catechetical Lecture 11.23Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Father made all things through the Son not from weakness but so that the Son might reign over his own works; the one who descended to Hades is the one who formed man from clay.
Catechetical Lecture 11.24Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ is Maker of the visible and invisible world and even of the ages, as John, Colossians and Hebrews teach.
Catechetical Lecture 12.1Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ must be confessed as both God and man, for salvation depends on both; the King and Physician took humanity to heal us.
Catechetical Lecture 12.2Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Cyril challenges the Jews: if Isaiah's prophecy of a virgin-born Emmanuel is true, why reject its fulfilment in Jesus?
Catechetical Lecture 12.3Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Church confesses God the Word truly made man of the Virgin and the Spirit, against heretics who deny the virgin birth, the reality of the incarnation, or the divinity of Christ.
Catechetical Lecture 12.4Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The eternal Word took flesh recently for our sake; Cyril undertakes to answer the objections to the incarnation and the virgin birth.
Catechetical Lecture 12.9Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · God answered the prophets by sending his Son as physician, as Malachi, Isaiah and Zechariah foretold; rejected by his own, he gathers the nations.
Catechetical Lecture 12.11Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Solomon, David and Zechariah foretold the quiet coming of the King, his entry into Jerusalem on a colt, and his standing on the Mount of Olives.
Catechetical Lecture 12.12Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Isaiah foretold Christ's healing miracles and his submission to judgment by the elders of the people.
Catechetical Lecture 12.13Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · God became man because we could not bear to see him as he is: even his voice at Sinai terrified Israel and Moses.
Catechetical Lecture 12.14Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Daniel could not bear even an angel until it took human likeness; so the Lord took our nature, so that we might be taught without being destroyed.
Catechetical Lecture 12.15Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ became man to sanctify baptism, to bring life through a virgin as death came through Eve, to overthrow idolatry, and to defeat the devil with his own weapon: the flesh became the bait that made death give up its prey.
Catechetical Lecture 12.16Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · God's appearing to Abraham, Jacob, Moses and Elijah shows the Jews that the incarnation is nothing strange.
Catechetical Lecture 12.17Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Jacob's prophecy to Judah fixes the time of Christ's coming: when Jewish rule ceased; and the colt bound to the vine points to Zechariah's King.
Catechetical Lecture 12.18Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Psalm 2's rod of iron is Rome, and Daniel's stone cut without hands is the everlasting kingdom set up in the days of those kingdoms.
Catechetical Lecture 12.19Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Daniel's seventy weeks, reckoned in Olympiads, fix the time of Christ's coming under Herod; Micah, the Psalms and Habakkuk name the place, Bethlehem, south of Jerusalem.
Catechetical Lecture 12.20Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Against the Jewish objection that Isaiah wrote “young woman,” not “virgin,” Cyril argues that even on their reading the truth holds.
Catechetical Lecture 12.22Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Isaiah's sign cannot refer to Hezekiah, who by the chronology of Kings was already born before the prophecy; it speaks of a future virgin birth.
Catechetical Lecture 12.23Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Psalms' oath to David points to Christ, whose Davidic descent and kingdom the crowds, the blind men, Gabriel and Paul confirm.
Catechetical Lecture 12.24Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Isaiah's child born to us reigns on David's throne in a kingdom without bounds; so the Virgin was of David's line.
Catechetical Lecture 12.25Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The teacher of purity fittingly came from a virgin, as Psalm 22 hints in “who drew me out of the womb.”
Catechetical Lecture 12.26Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Creator, who fashions every child in the womb, was not ashamed to take flesh; nothing in the body as God made it is defiled.
Catechetical Lecture 12.27Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Greeks who believe myths of men born from stones, Athena from Zeus' head and Dionysus from his thigh cannot call the virgin birth impossible.
Catechetical Lecture 12.28Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · To the Jews: if Sarah bore in old age, Moses' hand and rod were changed, and Aaron's dry rod blossomed, God can also give a virgin a child.
Catechetical Lecture 12.29Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · As Eve came from Adam without a mother, Christ came from Mary without a father, repaying the debt of womankind.
Catechetical Lecture 12.30Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Adam's creation from dust is a greater wonder than a virgin birth; Scripture calls Mary Joseph's wife only as his betrothed, against those who make Joseph Christ's father.
Catechetical Lecture 12.31Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Mary herself wondered at the virgin birth, but the Spirit, Gabriel, the manger, the shepherds, the angels, and Symeon and Anna all bear witness to it.
Catechetical Lecture 12.33Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ's own words prove his real humanity; virgins and monks alike may glory in the chastity of the Virgin-born Lord.
Catechetical Lecture 13.1Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The cross is the Church's greatest boast, for unlike Christ's single miracles it brought light, freedom and redemption to the whole world.
Catechetical Lecture 13.2Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Because the one who died was the Son of God, his death redeemed the whole world; the sign of the cross puts demons to flight, and prophets and Pilate bear witness to his sinlessness.
Catechetical Lecture 13.3Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The penitent robber bears witness that Jesus was innocent.
Catechetical Lecture 13.4Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ's crucifixion was real, not a semblance, and Cyril confesses it without shame because the resurrection followed.
Catechetical Lecture 13.5Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ was crucified though sinless, and went to his passion willingly, regarding the cross as his glory.
Catechetical Lecture 13.6Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ chose his passion freely and joyfully, as God made man winning the prize of endurance.
Catechetical Lecture 13.7Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Jews' unbelief was foretold; Cyril promises scriptural testimonies for every detail of the passion and begins with the betrayal of Judas, foretold in the Psalms.
Catechetical Lecture 13.8Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The end of the quotation of Psalm 59 on the arrest of Jesus.
Catechetical Lecture 13.9Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Zechariah foretold the exact price of the betrayal and its return to the house of the Lord.
Catechetical Lecture 13.10Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Zechariah's “foundry” and the Gospel's “potter's field” agree, for potters also have foundries for their clay.
Catechetical Lecture 13.11Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Isaiah foretold the binding of the righteous one; Christ, who freed Lazarus and Peter, let himself be bound and judged by the elders.
Catechetical Lecture 13.12Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ endured blows and spitting, as Isaiah foretold, to strengthen his disciples for martyrdom by his example.
Catechetical Lecture 13.14Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Hosea's prophecy of one bound and sent as a present to a king was fulfilled when Pilate sent Jesus to Herod, and the two were reconciled.
Catechetical Lecture 13.15Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The people Christ had redeemed and healed cried out for his crucifixion, as Isaiah and Jeremiah foretold.
Catechetical Lecture 13.16Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ's silence before Pilate was foretold in the Psalms.
Catechetical Lecture 13.17Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The soldiers' mockery unknowingly proclaimed Christ king, and the crown of thorns signified the release from sin's sentence.
Catechetical Lecture 13.18Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The crown of thorns and the cursing of the fig tree undo the curse of Adam, who was sentenced to thorns and covered himself with fig leaves.
Catechetical Lecture 13.19Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The garden, the tree and the evening of the passion answer to paradise lost; Jeremiah and Moses foretold the wood of the cross and the Life that hung on it.
Catechetical Lecture 13.20Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The bronze serpent, Noah's ark, Moses' rod and the wood that sweetened the waters of Marah all prefigure the saving cross.
Catechetical Lecture 13.21Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The blood and water from Christ's side answer to Moses' first sign, signify judgment and salvation, and point to the two baptisms, of water and of martyrdom.
Catechetical Lecture 13.22Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · On Golgotha itself the hearers should never tire of the cross, but defend it, make its sign, and confess it as the angels did.
Catechetical Lecture 13.23Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The candidates must hold to the cross in persecution as in peace; the name Golgotha, “Place of a Skull,” points to Christ, the head of all things, who suffered there.
Catechetical Lecture 13.24Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Zechariah's day that is “neither day nor night,” with cold and light at evening, was fulfilled in the darkness and cold of the crucifixion.
Catechetical Lecture 13.25Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Amos foretold the darkness at noon during the Passover feast, and the Psalms foretold the soldiers dividing Christ's garments and casting lots for his tunic.
Catechetical Lecture 13.27Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Isaiah's figure in red garments foretold the scarlet cloak put on Christ before Pilate.
Catechetical Lecture 13.28Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ stretched out his hands on Golgotha, the centre of the earth, so that sin might die with his crucified humanity and we might rise.
Catechetical Lecture 13.29Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Israel, the vine Christ had planted, gave him vinegar and gall as Isaiah and the Psalms foretold; therefore prophecy passed from Israel to the Church.
Catechetical Lecture 13.30Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Of the two robbers numbered with Christ, one blasphemed to the end, while the other repented and asked to be remembered in his kingdom.
Catechetical Lecture 13.31Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ swiftly pardoned the repentant robber and opened paradise to him; on the cross he fulfilled the mystery as high priest, tore the veil, and reconciled sinners to God, keeping both God's sentence and his love.
Catechetical Lecture 13.32Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The eclipse, the split rocks and the opened tombs answer to Christ, who bore our sins as Isaiah foretold and died and rose according to the Scriptures.
Catechetical Lecture 13.33Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Isaiah and Lamentations foretold the rock-hewn tomb and the stone at its door, where the chief cornerstone lay for a short time.
Catechetical Lecture 13.34Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Believers should make the sign of the cross in all things, answer Jews, pagans and Docetists, and build their faith on the cross, which a host of witnesses would confirm against any who deny it.
Catechetical Lecture 13.35Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Creation, the soldiers, the women, the holy places of Jerusalem, the angels and the apostles all bear witness to the crucifixion and the resurrection.
Catechetical Lecture 13.36Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The cross that has gathered believers from all nations and still heals and drives out demons will appear again before Christ at his return.
Catechetical Lecture 14.1Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Cyril invites the candidates, saddened by the account of the cross, to rejoice at the resurrection of Christ, victor over death.
Catechetical Lecture 14.2Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Since Paul appeals to the Scriptures, Cyril will show that they foretold the season, place and circumstances of the resurrection.
Catechetical Lecture 14.3Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · After recalling the prophecies of the burial, Cyril shows from Psalms 12, 16 and 30 that Christ's soul was not left in Hades and that he rose in the morning.
Catechetical Lecture 14.4Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Song's enclosed garden and sealed fountain foretold the garden tomb sealed by the Jews, and Christ, the fountain of life.
Catechetical Lecture 14.5Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Zephaniah told the disciples to expect the resurrection at dawn and named its place, the Martyrium (“Testimony”) built over Golgotha.
Catechetical Lecture 14.7Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Zephaniah's gift of tongues and offerings from Ethiopia were fulfilled at Pentecost and in the Ethiopian eunuch, confirming the resurrection.
Catechetical Lecture 14.8Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Psalm 88 shows that Christ died willingly and rose in the morning; the Song of Songs foretold the shelter before the rock tomb, near the outer wall of Jerusalem.
Catechetical Lecture 14.10Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The resurrection took place in spring, at Passover and near the equinox, the season of creation, so that humanity was restored at the season in which it fell.
Catechetical Lecture 14.11Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ, the true vine planted in the garden, undid Adam's curse; the Song foretold his burial spices and his eating with the disciples after the resurrection.
Catechetical Lecture 14.12Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The women's search for the risen Christ, and Mary's meeting with him, were foretold in the Song of Songs.
Catechetical Lecture 14.13Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The risen Christ met the women, whose love was stronger than death; their joy mixed with fear fulfilled Psalm 2.
Catechetical Lecture 14.14Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Though the chief priests bribed the guards, the women saw the risen Christ; the emperors have now adorned the church of the Resurrection, and the world has believed.
Catechetical Lecture 14.15Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · If the Jews accept the written accounts of Elijah and Elisha raising the dead, they should accept the resurrection, attested by Hebrew apostles and Jerusalem's Hebrew bishops.
Catechetical Lecture 14.16Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · If a dead man rose at the touch of Elisha's bones, Christ's resurrection, which raised many and conquered the world, is no less credible.
Catechetical Lecture 14.17Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Jonah, three days in the sea monster, is the sign of Christ's three days in the earth; if God preserved Jonah alive, he could raise his own Son.
Catechetical Lecture 14.19Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · When Christ descended into Hades, death fled, and the prophets and righteous ran to him and were redeemed.
Catechetical Lecture 14.20Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Jonah's prayer from the belly of the sea monster foretold Christ's descent into Hades, his burial in the rock, and the lie about the stolen body.
Catechetical Lecture 14.21Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Against the Manichaean claim that the resurrection was only apparent, Paul's testimony and the list of witnesses in 1 Corinthians 15, including James, Jerusalem's first bishop, establish it.
Catechetical Lecture 14.22Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Many witnesses attest the resurrection: the full moon, the tomb and its stone, the angels, the apostles, the women, the bribed soldiers, and Constantine's church on the site.
Catechetical Lecture 14.23Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Tabitha, the miraculous catch, Peter's restoration and the Mount of Olives all bear witness to the risen and ascended Christ.
Catechetical Lecture 14.24Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The ascension had been expounded in the Sunday sermon on the day's readings; Cyril recalls the psalms and prophets cited there.
Catechetical Lecture 14.25Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Habakkuk, Enoch and Elijah were carried up, but Christ ascended by his own power, and gave his disciples the Spirit to impart to others.
Catechetical Lecture 14.26Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ's servants surpass the prophets: Paul was caught up to the third heaven and Peter holds the keys of the kingdom.
Catechetical Lecture 14.27Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Son did not begin to sit at the Father's right hand after the ascension: he has shared the throne eternally, as Isaiah's vision shows.
Catechetical Lecture 14.28Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Psalm 110, confirmed by Christ and cited by Peter at Pentecost, speaks of the Son's sitting at the Father's right hand.
Catechetical Lecture 14.29Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Gospels, Peter and Paul all testify that Christ sits at the right hand of God.
Catechetical Lecture 14.30Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ has always held the throne at the Father's right hand; Cyril prays that the candidates may hold fast, be written in the book of life, and be presented by the present Christ to the Father.
Catechetical Lecture 15.1Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ has two comings: the first in humility to suffer, the second in glory to judge those who judged him.
Catechetical Lecture 15.10Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The true Christ will come not from the earth but openly from heaven, like lightning, with his angels.
Catechetical Lecture 15.21Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · At his coming Christ will appear in fire and glory to judge, preceded by the luminous sign of the cross, and his angels will gather the elect.
Catechetical Lecture 15.27Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Against the recent Galatian heresy that Christ's kingdom will end and the Word be resolved into the Father, Gabriel and Daniel proclaim his everlasting kingdom.
Catechetical Lecture 15.28Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Daniel's stone and the Psalms, as Paul interprets them, show that the Son's reign is endless; the heretics misread 1 Corinthians 15:25.
Catechetical Lecture 15.29Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The subjection of the Son in 1 Corinthians 15:28 cannot mean his dissolution, for then the creatures would outlast their Creator.
Catechetical Lecture 15.30Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Son's subjection to the Father is the free obedience of a loving Son, not the forced submission of a slave.
Catechetical Lecture 15.31Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · “Until” does not mark an end: death did not stop reigning after Moses, as Romans 5:14 shows.
Catechetical Lecture 15.32Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Paul's other uses of “until” show that the word does not imply an end; Christ's kingdom has no end, as he had no beginning.
Catechetical Lecture 15.33Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Cyril concludes: worship Christ as the everlasting King, flee the Antichrist, and keep the faith by good works to inherit the kingdom.
Catechetical Lecture 17.5Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Spirit has many names but is one, living and subsistent, the same in both Testaments; he came upon the Virgin Mary.
Catechetical Lecture 17.6Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Gabriel announced the virgin birth but left its working to the Holy Spirit.
Catechetical Lecture 17.8Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · John baptized the Lord, on whom the Spirit descended as a dove, a figure of the pure church.
Catechetical Lecture 19.3Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Moses and the lamb's blood are types of Christ and his blood; as Pharaoh drowned in the sea, the devil vanishes in the waters of baptism.
Catechetical Lecture 20.5Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The baptized die and rise with Christ in image, but receive salvation in reality, because Christ really suffered, died, and rose.
Catechetical Lecture 20.6Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Baptism not only forgives sins and gives adoption but is the antitype of Christ's sufferings: we share his death in likeness, while his death and burial were real.
Catechetical Lecture 21.1Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The baptized are called "christs" (anointed ones) because the chrism they received after baptism is the antitype of the Holy Spirit with whom Christ was anointed at the Jordan.
Catechetical Lecture 21.2Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ was anointed by the Father with the Holy Spirit, the oil of gladness; the baptized are anointed with ointment as his fellows.
Catechetical Lecture 23.19Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · "Holy things for the holy": the gifts are holy through the Spirit, the communicants by participation; Christ alone is holy by nature.
Homily on the Paralytic 5Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350-387 · Like the blind men, the paralytic is led by Christ's question to knowledge; Christ, true God and true man, is the spring of life who walks on the waters.
Homily on the Paralytic 6Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350-387 · Christ heals by his word; the litter of the Song of Songs is read as a figure of the cross and passion, and the Song is to be heard chastely.
Defence against the Arians 32Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 349–357 · Julius reports that Marcellus of Ancyra confessed an orthodox faith at Rome and was therefore kept in communion.
Defence against the Arians 47Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 349–357 · The synod reports that Marcellus’s book was found orthodox when read in context, that Asclepas proved his innocence, and that the Eastern bishops promoted deposed Arians.
Defence against the Arians 49Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 349–357 · The synod declares Athanasius, Marcellus, and Asclepas innocent, rejects the bishops intruded into their sees, deposes and excommunicates the Arian leaders, and asks all bishops to sign.
Defence against the Arians 58Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 349–357 · Athanasius quotes the recantation of Ursacius and Valens to Julius, with their anathema of Arius, and their letter of peace to himself, and prepares to recount the affair from its beginning.
On the Decrees of Nicaea 1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Athanasius praises his correspondent for refuting the Arians, who, like the Pharisees with Jesus, invent pretexts such as the complaint that Nicaea used unscriptural terms.
On the Decrees of Nicaea 3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · The Arians at Nicaea were silenced, and Eusebius of Nicomedia’s party and even Eusebius of Caesarea signed the creed with “from the essence” and “of the same essence.”
On the Decrees of Nicaea 6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Athanasius quotes the Arian claims that the Son is a creature, and asks in which of Scripture’s two senses of “son” they take him: by adoption for virtue, or by nature.
On the Decrees of Nicaea 7Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Athanasius refutes the Arian claim that the Son alone was made by God directly and everything else through him, showing that it leads to an infinite regress of mediators.
On the Decrees of Nicaea 9Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Even Adam, though formed by God’s hand, does not differ in nature from other men; so on Arian premises the Son would not differ from creatures.
On the Decrees of Nicaea 10Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · If the Son were Son only by adoption he would differ from us only in degree; but he is Son by nature, though not with a human, bodily kind of generation.
On the Decrees of Nicaea 11Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · God creates and begets in a way unlike men: the Son is begotten without division or passion, eternally, as radiance from light and a stream from a fountain.
On the Decrees of Nicaea 12Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Radiance cannot be separated from the sun, so the Son cannot have had a beginning or be foreign to the Father’s essence.
On the Decrees of Nicaea 13Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · The Arians appeal to Prov 8:22, “The Lord created me,” but Scripture distinguishes making a creature, like a house, from begetting a son.
On the Decrees of Nicaea 14Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Prov 8:22 speaks of the Word as man, after he took flesh to free us from death and to make us divine, without ceasing to be God.
On the Decrees of Nicaea 15Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Since Scripture calls the Son God’s Word and Wisdom, saying he once was not means saying God was once without Word and Wisdom.
On the Decrees of Nicaea 16Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · If Word and Wisdom were mere names of the Son, or God had many words, the Son would be either lesser than his titles or one word among many, which is impious.
On the Decrees of Nicaea 17Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · God has one Word, who is also called Son, Wisdom, Image, Hand, and Power; Scripture shows that all things were made through and in him.
On the Decrees of Nicaea 18Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · The Arians’ own catchwords are unscriptural, while the council’s unscriptural terms express a pious meaning; Athanasius now explains the reason for them.
On the Decrees of Nicaea 19Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · The council wrote “from the essence” because the Arians claimed that “from God” applied to all creatures alike.
On the Decrees of Nicaea 20Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Because the Arians claimed that “like,” “always,” “power,” and “in him” applied to us too, the council wrote “of the same essence” and added its anathemas.
On the Decrees of Nicaea 21Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · The council’s terms are not in Scripture word for word but express its sense: the Son is from the Father, as Scripture itself teaches.
On the Decrees of Nicaea 22Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Since God is simple, “God” signifies his very essence, so “from the essence of God” means the same as “from God,” said of the true Son.
On the Decrees of Nicaea 23Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · The image of light and radiance shows that the Son is of the same essence as the Father, not merely like him as one metal resembles another.
On the Decrees of Nicaea 24Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · The Son is of the same essence as the Father, as radiance with light; and the council’s terms were already used by Theognostus and by Dionysius of Alexandria.
On the Decrees of Nicaea 26Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Dionysius of Rome condemned both those who divide the Godhead into three gods and those who call the Son a thing made, upholding the Triad and the one monarchy.
On the Decrees of Nicaea 27Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Origen too taught that the Son is eternal, and the council’s faith is the tradition of the catholic church handed down from the apostles.
On the Decrees of Nicaea 28Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · The Arians borrowed the non-scriptural term “unoriginate” from the Greek philosophers to reintroduce their condemned claims about the Son.
On the Decrees of Nicaea 29Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Even in the sense “without cause of being,” calling God unoriginate names him in relation to his works, not to the Son, as a builder is maker of houses but father of his son.
On the Decrees of Nicaea 30Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Calling God “Father,” as Christ taught in prayer and baptism, is truer than calling him “unoriginate,” because it names the Son as well.
On the Opinion of Dionysius 2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · The Arians can find support neither in Scripture nor in pious human reasoning for calling the Son a creature.
On the Opinion of Dionysius 3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Dionysius died in the communion of the church; the Arians cite one letter of his, but his other letters and the occasion of that letter must be considered.
On the Opinion of Dionysius 5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Dionysius wrote the disputed letter against Sabellian bishops in the Pentapolis, stressing the Son’s human traits to show that the Son, not the Father, became man.
On the Opinion of Dionysius 7Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · If Dionysius is blamed for speaking of Christ’s humanity, the apostles in Acts must be blamed too, since they also spoke of him as a man.
On the Opinion of Dionysius 8Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · The apostles first spoke of Christ’s humanity to persuade the Jews he had come, and then taught his divinity.
On the Opinion of Dionysius 9Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Like the apostles, Dionysius stressed Christ’s human traits against Sabellius, while elsewhere calling him Word, Wisdom, and Radiance of the Father; the one Christ is spoken of both as God and as man.
On the Opinion of Dionysius 10Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Dionysius’s image of the vine and the vinedresser refers to Christ’s humanity, of which we are the branches, not to his divinity.
On the Opinion of Dionysius 11Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Texts such as “faithful to him who made him” and “better than the angels” refer to Christ’s humanity and his ministry compared with that of Moses.
On the Opinion of Dionysius 12Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Dionysius’s other letters show that he did not mean Christ to be a mere man; Athanasius will quote them.
On the Opinion of Dionysius 14Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Dionysius entitled his reply a Refutation and Defense, and in it he taught that the Son is eternal, as radiance from eternal light.
On the Opinion of Dionysius 16Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Dionysius taught that the Father was always Father, and that the names Father, Son, and Spirit are inseparable: the Monad is expanded into the Triad and the Triad gathered into the Monad.
On the Opinion of Dionysius 18Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Dionysius explained that his lowly examples were used in passing and that he held the Son to be of the same essence as the Father; the Arians cannot both claim him and reject “of the same essence.”
On the Opinion of Dionysius 20Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Dionysius asked to be judged by his meaning: he called the Son of the same essence as the Father in sense, and called God “maker” only in a broad sense of the word.
On the Opinion of Dionysius 21Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Dionysius explained that he called God “maker” in relation to Christ’s flesh, or in the loose sense in which an author “makes” his words.
On the Opinion of Dionysius 22Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Dionysius did not mean that Father and Son are joined only in name, for he taught that God was always Father and the radiance eternally with him.
On the Opinion of Dionysius 23Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Against Arius’s claim of two Words, Dionysius compared the Son to the word that springs from the mind, distinct yet inseparable.
On the Opinion of Dionysius 24Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Dionysius’s teaching on the true Word, inseparable from the Father as river from spring, overthrows both Arius and Sabellius.
On the Opinion of Dionysius 26Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Against the Sabellians one should begin from Christ’s human traits, which show that the Son, not the Father, became flesh, and then teach his divinity.
On the Opinion of Dionysius 27Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Against Sabellius, Christ’s human traits are decisive; against the Arians, his divine titles; the Arians, having no support in the fathers, follow only the devil.
Commentary on Psalms 2Diodore of Tarsus · 4th century (if Diodore, before ca. 390) · text not on this site
Commentary on Psalms 8Diodore of Tarsus · 4th century (if Diodore, before ca. 390) · text not on this site
Commentary on Psalms 21Diodore of Tarsus · 4th century (if Diodore, before ca. 390) · text not on this site
Commentary on Psalms 44Diodore of Tarsus · 4th century (if Diodore, before ca. 390) · text not on this site
Twelve Chapters on the Faith 0Gregory Thaumaturgus · 4th–5th century (disputed) · The title says that each of the twelve chapters gives an anathema and an explanation.
Twelve Chapters on the Faith 1Gregory Thaumaturgus · 4th–5th century (disputed) · The first anathema condemns calling Christ's body uncreated, since the risen Christ showed the marks of the nails and the lance and let his body be touched.
Twelve Chapters on the Faith 2Gregory Thaumaturgus · 4th–5th century (disputed) · The second anathema condemns calling Christ's flesh of the same essence as the Godhead, since the eternal God took the form of a servant in time.
Twelve Chapters on the Faith 3Gregory Thaumaturgus · 4th–5th century (disputed) · The third anathema condemns saying that Christ assumed a complete man, as if he were one of the prophets; the explanation contrasts the first, earthly Adam with the second, heavenly one.
Twelve Chapters on the Faith 4Gregory Thaumaturgus · 4th–5th century (disputed) · The fourth anathema condemns saying Christ was born of a man's seed, since the Gospel says he was conceived of the Holy Spirit from the Virgin Mary.
Twelve Chapters on the Faith 5Gregory Thaumaturgus · 4th–5th century (disputed) · The fifth anathema condemns dividing the Son before the ages from the Son in the last times, since Christ said, “Before Abraham came to be, I am.”
Twelve Chapters on the Faith 6Gregory Thaumaturgus · 4th–5th century (disputed) · The sixth anathema condemns separating the one who suffered from the one who did not, since the impassible Word suffered in his own flesh.
Twelve Chapters on the Faith 7Gregory Thaumaturgus · 4th–5th century (disputed) · The seventh anathema condemns saying that Christ is saved, since he is the Savior and the life.
Twelve Chapters on the Faith 8Gregory Thaumaturgus · 4th–5th century (disputed) · The eighth anathema condemns separating the perfect man from God the Word, since the one Lord Jesus Christ, God the Word made man, gave himself for us.
Twelve Chapters on the Faith 9Gregory Thaumaturgus · 4th–5th century (disputed) · The ninth anathema condemns calling Christ changeable or alterable, since the Lord says, “I am, and I do not change.”
Twelve Chapters on the Faith 10Gregory Thaumaturgus · 4th–5th century (disputed) · The tenth anathema condemns saying that Christ assumed only part of a man, since he lays down his life and gives his flesh and blood as true food and drink.
Twelve Chapters on the Faith 11Gregory Thaumaturgus · 4th–5th century (disputed) · The eleventh anathema condemns calling the Lord's body soulless or mindless, since his trouble, grief and distress show a human soul and mind.
Twelve Chapters on the Faith 12Gregory Thaumaturgus · 4th–5th century (disputed) · The twelfth anathema condemns saying that Christ appeared only in seeming; the explanation recounts his human life and passions, and an epilogue urges believers to glorify Father and Spirit, avoid disputes, and believe the mystery of the incarnation without prying into it.
Long recension, Ephesians 7Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius warns against false teachers and presents God and Christ, the Word made flesh, as the physicians of souls.
Long recension, Ephesians 18Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius proclaims the cross, the virgin birth of the eternal Son, and the star that announced the hidden mysteries and overthrew the powers of darkness.
Long recension, Magnesians 5Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius sets life and death before the Magnesians, describes the true and counterfeit coin of godly and ungodly, and urges them to act in concord under bishop, presbyters and deacons.
Long recension, Magnesians 8Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius warns against Jewish practices and teaches that the prophets lived according to Christ, the substantial Word of God.
Long recension, Magnesians 11Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius sets out the faith in Christ, from his eternal begetting to his coming in judgment, to guard the Magnesians against error.
Long recension, Trallians 6Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius warns against heretical teachers who mix poison with sweet words and deny the Father, the virgin birth, the passion and the resurrection.
Long recension, Trallians 9Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius tells the Trallians to stop their ears to any teaching apart from Jesus Christ, truly born.
Long recension, Trallians 11Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Against docetism Ignatius affirms the reality of Christ's conception, birth, baptism, passion, death and resurrection, and warns against heresies as the devil's inventions.
Long recension, Philadelphians 6Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius lists the errors of those who deny Christ's sonship, the God of the law, Christ's divinity, marriage, the reality of the incarnation, or chastity, and urges unity.
Long recension, Philadelphians 9Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Christ the high priest and Word is the door through which patriarchs, prophets, apostles and church enter; the Gospel fulfils the prophets.
Long recension, Smyrnaeans 1Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius praises the Smyrnaeans' firm faith in Christ, truly born, baptized and crucified in the flesh.
Long recension, Smyrnaeans 2Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Against docetists Ignatius affirms that the Word truly took flesh, suffered and rose.
Long recension, Smyrnaeans 3Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius affirms that Christ was in the flesh even after his resurrection.
Long recension, Smyrnaeans 4Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius cites the risen Christ's invitation to touch him, his eating with the disciples and his bodily ascension and return, and argues that if Christ only seemed to suffer, his own chains would be a mere seeming.
Long recension, Smyrnaeans 6Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius insists that eternal life depends on believing in Christ's life in the flesh and his saving blood, and describes the lovelessness of those who teach otherwise.
Long recension, Polycarp 3Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius urges Polycarp to pray, to stand firm like an anvil against false teachers, and to look for Christ, timeless, invisible and impassible, yet for us born and suffering.
Long recension, Tarsians 2Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius lists the errors that false teachers have brought to Tarsus and praises the Tarsians, Paul's fellow citizens, for resisting them.
Long recension, Tarsians 3Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Opening of Ignatius's affirmation that Jesus was truly born.
Long recension, Tarsians 4Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius argues from the apostles' sufferings that Christ truly suffered, and from Paul that the crucified one is the firstborn of creation and God the Word.
Long recension, Tarsians 5Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius argues that the Son is distinct from the Father and subject to him, yet not a mere man but the Word through whom all things were made.
Long recension, Antiochians 2Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius shows from Moses, the prophets, the evangelists and the apostles that the one God has a Son who became man and suffered, condemns those who deny either, and reminds the Antiochians of Paul, Peter and Evodius.
Long recension, Hero 2Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius tells Hero to treat as wolves and antichrists any who teach contrary to the faith, however impressive their lives.
Long recension, Hero 3Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius instructs Hero on widows, orphans, his service to the bishops, slaves and women, and explains the virgin birth without disparaging marriage.
Long recension, Philippians 3Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius sets out the one God, one Son and one Paraclete, the true incarnation and passion of the Son alone, and addresses the devil, who fears the cross, works through heresies, and could not recognize the Son of God in his lowly birth and life.
Long recension, Philippians 9Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · The devil, confused by Christ's lowly birth and fast, tempts him to turn stones into bread; but Christ's hunger shows that he truly took a body.
Long recension, Philippians 10Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · The devil, fallen like lightning, tempts Christ to throw himself down, quoting the psalm but suppressing its prophecy of his own defeat.
Long recension, Philippians 11Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · The devil dares to claim the world as his own and to ask Christ to worship him.
Long recension, Philippians 12Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Christ answers the devil meekly, confessing the one God and the Father who begot him.
Long recension, Mary 5Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius warns Mary against those who deny Christ's passion and birth, and sends greetings.
Two Tractates and a Letter 3Potamius of Lisbon · ca. 350-360 · Potamius praises Athanasius for condemning the Arian heresy and argues from Scripture for the Son's unity of substance with the Father.
Cento, lines 319–345Proba · ca. 360 · Proba passes over the Exodus and the rest of Old Testament history and turns to the greater theme foretold by the prophets: the Son's coming down from heaven and his birth from a virgin.
Cento, lines 346–371Proba · ca. 360 · Christ is born, the star appears and the Magi worship him; the king, enraged, orders the slaughter of the infants while the mother keeps her child safe.
Cento, lines 372–396Proba · ca. 360 · The mother hides the child in a manger; when the danger is past the child grows up admired by all, and the prophet John recognizes him at the river and baptizes him.
Cento, lines 422–445Proba · ca. 360 · Proba declares her devotion to Christ; then the serpent confronts him in the wilderness, questions who he is, and tempts him to throw himself from the height of the temple.
Cento, lines 446–468Proba · ca. 360 · Christ rebukes and defeats the serpent; crowds gather to follow him, and on a mountain he begins to teach them.
Cento, lines 539–561Proba · ca. 360 · As the disciples despair in the storm, Christ comes to them walking on the water, calms the sea, and brings the boat safely to land.
Cento, lines 562–585Proba · ca. 360 · Christ rides into the city on an ass, drives the money changers out of the temple with a whip, and at evening, at supper with his disciples, gives thanks to the Father.
Cento, lines 586–612Proba · ca. 360 · At the supper Christ gives bread and wine and teaches the sacred rite, foretells his betrayal and his death for many; at dawn the priests and people demand his death, question him, and mock him.
Cento, lines 613–637Proba · ca. 360 · Christ is seized and fastened to a tree; he warns his executioners of judgment, and at his death darkness falls, the earth quakes, the dead come forth and the sun is darkened.
Cento, lines 638–663Proba · ca. 360 · The disciples scatter in grief and Peter laments; on the third day the tomb is broken open and Christ rises and comes, bearing his wounds, to his followers.
Cento, lines 664–694Proba · ca. 360 · The risen Christ comforts his followers, promises peace and resurrection, shows his wounds, and ascends to heaven; Proba ends with a prayer that her husband and descendants keep the faith.
On Humility and Obedience 1Anonymous · uncertain (4th-6th century?) · Addressing monks, the preacher says the enemy within is overcome only by humility and love, after the example of Christ who humbled himself for love of us; humility makes one obedient to God.
On Humility and Obedience 3Anonymous · uncertain (4th-6th century?) · Love, humility and obedience imitate Christ; the soul must side with Christ the physician and God's command against the sickness of sinful habit.
Commentary on Matthew 1Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · Hilary reconciles the genealogies, explains the omitted kings, defends Mary’s perpetual virginity, and interprets the Magi, the flight to Egypt, and the slaughter of the innocents.
Commentary on Matthew 2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · Hilary reads Joseph’s return as a figure of the apostles turning to the Gentiles, interprets John the Baptist’s desert, clothing, food, and preaching, and explains Christ’s baptism as the pattern of ours.
Commentary on Matthew 3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · Hilary interprets Christ’s temptation: the devil, unsure of who he was, was defeated by the flesh he could see; then the call of the four fishermen and the Galilean ministry.
Commentary on Matthew 8Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · The calming of the storm shows Christ watching over the church; the Gadarene demoniacs and the pigs figure the nations freed and the heretical Sadducees; the healing of the paralytic shows Christ as God forgiving sins and promising resurrection.
Commentary on Matthew 11Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · John’s question from prison is for his disciples; Jesus praises John, rebukes the unbelieving generation, affirms that he is Wisdom by nature, reproaches the unrepentant cities, and reveals the Father in mutual knowledge, offering his easy yoke.
Commentary on Matthew 12Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · The grain fields, David’s loaves, the withered hand, Isaiah’s servant, the Beelzebub charge, blasphemy against the Spirit, the good and bad tree, the returning unclean spirit, and Jesus’ true family are expounded as figures of the apostles’ mission, Christ’s divinity, and Israel’s unbelief.
Commentary on Matthew 14Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · Hilary treats the scribe of the kingdom, Jesus rejected at Nazareth, John’s death as the law silenced by Israel’s pleasure and unbelief, the feeding of the five thousand as the law and prophets turned into gospel food, and the walking on the water as Christ’s return to the storm-tossed church, with Peter’s faith and fall.
Commentary on Matthew 16Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · Jesus refuses a sign except that of Jonah, warns against the Pharisees’ leaven, receives Peter’s confession (with Hilary’s statement of the Son’s eternal generation and incarnation and his praise of Peter as foundation and doorkeeper), rebukes the devil’s suggestion through Peter, and calls disciples to take up the cross.
Commentary on Matthew 17Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · Hilary expounds the transfiguration (six days as six thousand years, Moses and Elijah as law and prophets), Elijah and John, the epileptic boy and the mustard-seed faith, the second passion prediction, and the temple tax as a figure of Stephen, the first martyr.
Commentary on Matthew 23Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · Hilary treats the tribute to Caesar (we owe God body, soul, and will), the Sadducees’ question (in the resurrection women will be like angels; God of the living), the great commandment (the neighbor is Christ; love of Father and Son equal), and David’s Lord as showing unity of substance.
Commentary on Matthew 31Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · In Gethsemane, Hilary argues against those (who deny the Son’s eternity) who say Christ feared death: his sorrow “even to death” was for the disciples, lest they deny his divinity, and his prayer that the cup pass from him asks that his strength in suffering pass to them.
Commentary on Matthew 32Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · Hilary treats Judas’s kiss (love of enemies), the sword and the servant’s ear, the trial before the high priest, Peter’s denials, Judas’s remorse and the potter’s field as the world bought by Christ’s blood for strangers, and Jesus’ answers to the priest and to Pilate.
Commentary on Matthew 33Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 353–355 · Hilary expounds the passion and resurrection: Pilate’s wife as the believing nations, Barabbas as Antichrist, the mocking robes as martyrs and prophets, the cross at the center of the earth, the cry of dereliction as the voice of the body, the vinegar as Adam’s soured immortality, the burial as Christ entering the hearts of the nations, and the women as first witnesses of the resurrection.
Letter to Marius Victorinus 1Candidus the Arian · ca. 355–360 · Candidus opens his reply to Victorinus by appending Arius's letter to Eusebius of Nicomedia, in which Arius complains of persecution by Bishop Alexander and states that the Son has a beginning and came from nothing.
Letter to Marius Victorinus 2Candidus the Arian · ca. 355–360 · Candidus appends Eusebius of Nicomedia's letter to Paulinus, which argues from Proverbs 8 and other uses of “begot” that the Son was created by God's will and is not from the Father's substance.
On the Divine Generation 1Candidus the Arian · ca. 355–360 · Candidus argues that begetting is change, that God is unchangeable and nothing preceded him, and that God is therefore unbegotten.
On the Divine Generation 4Candidus the Arian · ca. 355–360 · Candidus lists the proposed modes of divine begetting and argues that effulgence, the first of them, implies alteration and a second, different substance.
On the Divine Generation 8Candidus the Arian · ca. 355–360 · Candidus argues that a work made by will and action is not consubstantial with its maker, and that God, being simple, is beyond substance, so nothing can be consubstantial with him.
On the Divine Generation 9Candidus the Arian · ca. 355–360 · Candidus rejects the theory that the Son arose from a self-directed motion of the divine Spirit, concluding that what is second was made, not born.
On the Divine Generation 10Candidus the Arian · ca. 355–360 · Candidus concludes that Christ the Word is God's first and chief work, made from nothing by God's operation, and points to his submission, ignorance of the day, and sufferings as marks of a creature.
On the Divine Generation 11Candidus the Arian · ca. 355–360 · Candidus cites Acts 2:36, Proverbs, and John 1:3–4 for the claim that God made Christ, and ends by praising Christ as the first substance and the maker of all things.
To the Bishops of Egypt 11Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 356 · Athanasius argues that the Arians must answer the charges actually brought against them, and then sets out the statements of Arius for which Alexander cast him out of the Church.
To the Bishops of Egypt 13Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 356 · Athanasius recalls Nicaea's unanimous condemnation of Arius and sets the Arian statements against John, Paul, and the words of Christ.
To the Bishops of Egypt 14Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 356 · Athanasius argues that Scripture, the angels and even the demons know only one Son and Word, and that a created Word would need another Word through whom to be made.
To the Bishops of Egypt 15Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 356 · Athanasius argues from John, Paul and the order of creation that the Word through whom all things were made is the one true Word, and that the Arians can show no work of their other “word.”
To the Bishops of Egypt 16Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 356 · Athanasius likens the Arians to the Manichees, who name a God without works, and rejects their claims that the Son is one power among many and does not know the Father or himself perfectly.
To the Bishops of Egypt 17Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 356 · Athanasius answers the Arian appeal to “The Lord created me” by referring such expressions to Christ's human flesh, and judges Arianism worse than other heresies because it attacks the Godhead itself.
Life of Antony 69Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · When the Arians claimed him, Antony came to Alexandria and denounced Arianism, teaching that the Son is the eternal Word and Wisdom of the Father’s being, not a creature.
Life of Antony 74Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · Antony answered Greek sages who mocked the cross: the cross shows courage, the Incarnation shows the unchanged Word sharing human birth, while their myths and doctrine of the soul’s fall and transmigration dishonor the divine.
Life of Antony 75Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · Antony contrasts the honorable death of the cross with pagan myths, and points to the resurrection and Christ’s miracles as proof that he is God.
Hymns 1.1Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · An alphabetical hymn to Christ, eternally begotten of the Father and born of the Virgin, celebrating the Son's full equality and mutual indwelling with the Father; it breaks off at the letter T.
Hymns 1.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · A hymn on Christ, the heavenly Adam, battling Satan: the devil, gloating over a world lost to idolatry, hears the angels' song at the nativity and the Father's voice at the baptism, and, seeing only a mortal body, prepares the temptation; the rest is lost.
On the Trinity 1.10Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The prologue of John's Gospel taught Hilary that the Word is God from God, became flesh, and makes believers sons of God.
On the Trinity 1.11Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Son shares the Father's eternity and nature, and became true flesh so that believers might become sons of God.
On the Trinity 1.12Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Hilary received the mystery of the incarnation by faith, not by the measure of human reason, believing in order to understand.
On the Trinity 1.13Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Colossians 2 warns against philosophy and teaches that in Christ, fully God, believers are buried and raised in baptism and freed from the curse.
On the Trinity 1.16Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Hilary describes two errors: those who make the Son merely an extension of the Father, and those who call him a creature rather than born.
On the Trinity 1.24Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Book 5 will show from the Prophets that Christ is true God by birth, without denying the one true God.
On the Trinity 1.25Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Book 6 will expose how the Arians condemned other heretics to cloak their own error, and prove from many witnesses that Christ is Son of God.
On the Trinity 1.26Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Book 7 will set Sabellius, Ebion, and the Arians against one another, each refuting the others, while the church confesses Christ as true God born before the ages and made man.
On the Trinity 1.27Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · After the Old Testament proofs, Hilary will prove from the Gospels that the Son of God is true God by name, birth, nature, power, and his own words.
On the Trinity 1.29Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Book 9 will answer the Arian use of texts such as “No one is good but God,” “the only true God,” “the Father is greater than I,” and the Son's not knowing the day.
On the Trinity 1.30Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Hilary resolves the seemingly contradictory sayings of Christ by distinguishing what belongs to his dispensation as man from what declares his divine nature.
On the Trinity 1.31Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Book 10 will answer the Arian use of Christ's sorrow, his prayer in Gethsemane, and his words on the cross.
On the Trinity 1.32Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ's words of fear and of confidence do not contradict each other; read together, they show a confident and willing Savior.
On the Trinity 1.33Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Book 11 will answer the Arian use of “my God and your God” and of the Son's final subjection in 1 Corinthians 15.
On the Trinity 1.34Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Book 12 will refute the Arian slogans “there was when he was not” and “he was made from nothing,” teaching an eternal birth of the Son.
On the Trinity 1.35Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Book 12 will also explain Proverbs 8:22, “The Lord created me,” distinguishing Wisdom's eternal birth from her being “created” for God's works.
On the Trinity 2.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Hilary surveys the errors of Sabellius, Ebion, and the Arians of his day, and how they also corrupt the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.
On the Trinity 2.8Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Son is the true, perfect offspring of the unbegotten Father, not a part, an adoption, or a creature, and has all that the Father has.
On the Trinity 2.10Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Hilary sets out the Lord's sayings about the Father and the Son and invites the reader to press on into the mystery, knowing it cannot be fully reached.
On the Trinity 2.11Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Son is God from God, one from one, differing from the Father in nothing; faith knows that this lies beyond comprehension.
On the Trinity 2.12Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Neither Greek philosophy nor Jewish learning can explain the Son's generation, and confessing his miracles is not enough, since heretics confess them too.
On the Trinity 2.13Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · John the fisherman, unlearned, declares “In the beginning was the Word,” placing the Word beyond every beginning and all time.
On the Trinity 2.14Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · John's “the Word was with God” shows that the Word, existing before time, is with the Father.
On the Trinity 2.15Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Word of John 1 is not a spoken or mental word, for it is “with God” and “was God”: a living reality, not a sound.
On the Trinity 2.16Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · “He was in the beginning with God” shows that the Word is eternal, truly God, and distinct from the Father without breaking God's unity.
On the Trinity 2.17Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Since all things, time included, were made through the Word, he is not bounded by time.
On the Trinity 2.18Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · “Without him nothing was made” implies that the Word works together with another, the Father, and so is not alone.
On the Trinity 2.19Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Hilary raises a difficulty about “without him nothing was made” and answers from Paul that all things are through and in the Son.
On the Trinity 2.20Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · What was made in the Word is life, for he was born as living God, perfect from the first; from this follow the sayings of his oneness with the Father.
On the Trinity 2.21Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · John, who reclined on the Lord's breast, taught what human language cannot reach; believers should adore the Father and the Son as he did.
On the Trinity 2.23Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Gospels answer Sabellius, Ebion, and the Arians alike; Peter's confession, “You are the Son of the living God,” is the rock of faith.
On the Trinity 2.24Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · For our salvation the Son was born of the Virgin by his own divine power, taking human flesh so that all humanity might be sanctified in him.
On the Trinity 2.25Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The eternal God became a helpless infant for our sake; his humiliation is our exaltation.
On the Trinity 2.26Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The miracles surrounding Christ's conception show the divine dignity behind his lowly human beginning.
On the Trinity 2.27Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · At Christ's birth angels, prophecy, a star, and the Magi bear witness that the wailing infant is God with us.
On the Trinity 2.28Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Throughout his life Christ was man by the flesh he took and God by the works he did.
On the Trinity 3.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Father begot the Son from himself before all time, without division or change, giving him all that God is; the Son's bodily state was assumed for our salvation.
On the Trinity 3.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The changing of water into wine at Cana shows a divine power whose working is incomprehensible though its effect is certain.
On the Trinity 3.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The feeding of the five thousand likewise shows a visible miracle whose manner cannot be understood, calling for faith in God's power.
On the Trinity 3.7Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ worked miracles not for display but to overcome human unbelief, since he who made all things needs no praise from us.
On the Trinity 3.9Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Son became man to witness to the Father, freely doing the Father's will, as his prayer in John 17 shows.
On the Trinity 3.10Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Son's glorification at the hour of the passion is shown in the darkened sun, the quaking earth, and the split rocks.
On the Trinity 3.11Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The centurion's confession at the cross fulfils the prayer “glorify your Son” and shows that Christ is the true and proper Son of God.
On the Trinity 3.12Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The mutual glorification of Father and Son shows not weakness in the Son but the same divine power in both.
On the Trinity 3.13Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Father, who cannot gain glory, is glorified when the Son makes him known and gives eternal life; all the Son's glory is the Father's.
On the Trinity 3.14Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Eternal life is knowing both the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he sent; the Son is joined to the Father, not separated from his true divinity.
On the Trinity 3.15Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Father is glorified when the Son accomplishes his work on earth; all praise of Christ redounds to the Father.
On the Trinity 3.16Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Son prays that the flesh he assumed may be raised into the eternal glory he always had with the Father.
On the Trinity 3.18Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ's miracles, real but beyond explanation, teach us to accept his indescribable birth from the Father.
On the Trinity 3.19Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · If the Virgin could bear a child without loss to herself, we should not think the Father's begetting of the Son impossible.
On the Trinity 3.20Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The risen Lord's bodily entry through shut doors is a fact beyond explanation; so too the Son's birth from the Father must be believed though not understood.
On the Trinity 3.25Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The cross seems foolish to Greeks and a stumbling block to Jews, yet God saves believers through it; what seems weak in God surpasses human wisdom.
On the Trinity 4.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Arians teach that Christ is a son and god by adoption and appointment, a creature made from nothing, though the highest of creatures.
On the Trinity 4.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Arians place the Son's birth in time, claiming that to call him eternal would make him unbegotten.
On the Trinity 4.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The church rejects the errors the Arians attribute to the homoousion: it confesses one Father from whom, one Son through whom, the Son born from eternity of the Father's substance without loss to him.
On the Trinity 4.11Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Arians call the Son a perfect creature made from nothing, citing Proverbs 8:22, Hebrews, and “the Father is greater than I.”
On the Trinity 4.12Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Arian creed (the letter of Arius to Alexander) confesses one unbegotten God and calls the Son a perfect creature made by God's will before the ages.
On the Trinity 4.16Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · In Genesis 1 God speaks and God makes: the Father commands and the Son, through whom all things were made, carries it out.
On the Trinity 4.21Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Wisdom in Proverbs 8, whom even the Arians identify as Christ, says she was with God arranging creation and rejoicing in it.
On the Trinity 4.23Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The angel of the Lord who spoke to Hagar is also called Lord and God: he is the Son, “the angel of great counsel.”
On the Trinity 4.24Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The same one who spoke to Hagar as angel speaks to Abraham as God about Ishmael, showing that the angel is God born from God.
On the Trinity 4.25Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Hilary sets out the Genesis narratives of the three visitors to Abraham, Sodom, Isaac's birth, and Hagar in the desert.
On the Trinity 4.26Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The angel who spoke to Hagar is shown by her confession and by God's words to Abraham to be God himself.
On the Trinity 4.27Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The man whom Abraham worshipped promised Isaac's birth, and Scripture calls the one who fulfilled it Lord and God; he is also the judge of all the earth.
On the Trinity 4.28Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Lot addressed the two angels in the plural, while Abraham worshipped the one Lord; Scripture keeps the angels distinct from God.
On the Trinity 4.31Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The angel and the man who appeared to Abraham are God and Lord; God also came to Jacob as a man and wrestled with him.
On the Trinity 4.32Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The angel of the Lord in the burning bush speaks as the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
On the Trinity 4.33Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Moses' song calls the angels and sons of God to worship God, and his blessing of Joseph names him who appeared in the bush; the Son is God, distinct from the Father.
On the Trinity 4.35Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · “God, your God, has anointed you” distinguishes two persons, the Father and the Son, both named God, without a difference of nature.
On the Trinity 4.36Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · “Before me there is no God, and after me there will be none” is spoken together with the chosen Servant, and does not deny that God was born from God.
On the Trinity 4.37Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · In Hosea the Father promises to save Judah “in the Lord their God,” naming the Son God.
On the Trinity 4.38Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · In Isaiah 45 God addresses the king he raised up as God; the Magi with their gifts fulfil the prophecy of Egypt's toil and the Sabaeans' merchandise.
On the Trinity 4.39Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The “men of stature in chains” are the apostles, Peter and Paul, whose preaching that God was in Christ fulfils Isaiah's prophecy.
On the Trinity 4.42Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · A passage Hilary cites as Jeremiah (Baruch 3:35–37) speaks of God seen on earth among men: this is the Son, one God with the Father by unity of substance, not of person.
On the Trinity 5.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Book 5 asks whether the Son is true God; truth is shown by nature and power, as true wheat proves itself by becoming bread.
On the Trinity 5.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Son, through whom all things were made from nothing, has the nature and power of God and so is true God.
On the Trinity 5.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · In creation God speaks and God makes; the Son who carries out the Father's word has the same power and nature and so is true God.
On the Trinity 5.11Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · “Angel” names an office, not a nature; the Son is called angel as sent by the Father, yet is true God by birth from him.
On the Trinity 5.13Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The angel who promised Ishmael a great nation did the work of God, and so is true God.
On the Trinity 5.14Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · There is no such thing as a God who is not true God, any more than fire that is not true fire; if the Son is God, he is true God.
On the Trinity 5.15Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Abraham worshipped as God the man who spoke to him, to whom nothing is impossible; the Arians who deny him are not Abraham's children.
On the Trinity 5.16Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Lord who rained fire from the Lord is the just judge of all the earth; by the Arians' own creed, the only just judge is true God.
On the Trinity 5.17Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The appearances of God in human form to the patriarchs foreshadowed the incarnation; the one seen as a man was true God.
On the Trinity 5.18Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Arians cannot see God in Christ's birth and sufferings, yet only almighty God could become what he was not while remaining what he was.
On the Trinity 5.19Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Jacob wrestled with a man yet saw God face to face and sought his blessing; the one who blessed and renamed him is true God.
On the Trinity 5.22Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The angel in the bush is the God of the patriarchs and “He who is,” and so true God.
On the Trinity 5.23Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The God who gave the Law through a Mediator at Sinai, whose voice Israel could not bear, is true God, as Moses' whole witness shows.
On the Trinity 5.27Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Isaiah 65 foretells a time when “the true God” will be blessed; the new phrase anticipates the denial of the incarnate Son's true divinity.
On the Trinity 5.29Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The “new name” Isaiah foretells for God's servants is the name Christian, given by the Lord who speaks and judges.
On the Trinity 5.30Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Those who bear Christ's new name bless and swear by him as true God.
On the Trinity 5.31Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The context of Isaiah 65, God appearing to those who did not seek him and stretching out his hands to a rebellious people, shows that the true God spoken of is Christ.
On the Trinity 5.32Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Paul in Romans 10 applies these prophecies to Christ; no heretic is a better interpreter than the apostle caught up to the third heaven.
On the Trinity 5.33Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Isaiah, who said he had seen no God but this one, saw the glory of the only-begotten God, as John's Gospel confirms.
On the Trinity 5.34Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The God who was seen is the Son, true God; the Arian creed, by reserving every divine attribute to the Father alone, strips the Son of them.
On the Trinity 5.36Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Paul's use of Deuteronomy 32 shows that “there is no God besides me” was spoken by the Son.
On the Trinity 6.13Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · In rejecting “one who existed before and was afterward born,” the Arians prepare to deny the Son's true birth from God and to say he came from nothing.
On the Trinity 6.14Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Arian phrase “he was not before he was born” is meant to make the Son come from nothing; but his birth is from the abiding God.
On the Trinity 6.16Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · “From him,” “from the womb,” and “I came forth from the Father” are God's own words and show a true birth of the Son from the Father's nature, not from nothing.
On the Trinity 6.18Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · For the Arians the Son is a creature: son by adoption, god in name only, as the Psalm calls men “gods.”
On the Trinity 6.22Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Hilary now proves from the Gospels that Christ is truly Son of God by nature, by the witness of the Father, himself, the apostles, believers, demons, Jews, and Gentiles.
On the Trinity 6.23Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · At the baptism the Father's voice, “This is my beloved Son,” marks Christ as his own Son, unlike those called sons by adoption.
On the Trinity 6.24Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · At the transfiguration the Father again declares “This is my beloved Son; hear him,” directing us to the Son's own testimony.
On the Trinity 6.25Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ, who constantly speaks of his own lowliness, also calls God “my Father” and himself the Son of God; to make these names adoptive is to accuse God of lying.
On the Trinity 6.27Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Father's witness at the baptism and transfiguration, together with the Son's works, show a true sonship, unlike the adopted sonship of the saints.
On the Trinity 6.28Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ alone knows the Father because he alone is “from him”; this unique knowledge shows a unique birth, not creation.
On the Trinity 6.29Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · If the Son came from nothing, his origin would be known; that the impious do not know where he is from shows that he is born from the unknown Father.
On the Trinity 6.30Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came forth from God”: love for the Father requires believing that the Son is born from him, not merely sent.
On the Trinity 6.31Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · “I came forth from God” refers to the Son's birth, “I have come from the Father into the world” to his incarnation; the two must not be confused.
On the Trinity 6.32Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Hilary turns to the apostles' faith to show they understood “I came forth from God” as a true birth.
On the Trinity 6.33Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Though the apostles had seen Christ's miracles, they confessed only when he said he came forth from God, recognizing in his divine knowledge a divine birth.
On the Trinity 6.34Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The apostles' confession answered “I came forth from God,” not “I came from the Father into the world”: they now grasped his birth from God.
On the Trinity 6.35Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Son's “coming forth” from God is a perfect, living birth without division or loss, not the beginning of a creature.
On the Trinity 6.36Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Peter's confession, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” revealed by the Father, recognized Christ's divine nature, not merely a title; on this confession the church is built.
On the Trinity 6.37Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Peter's confession of Christ as Son of God is the foundation of the church and the key of the kingdom; to call Christ a creature denies Peter's whole apostleship.
On the Trinity 6.38Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Peter was rebuked even for a lesser fault; had he called Christ a creature he would not have been blessed. A faith that calls Christ a creature is not the church's.
On the Trinity 6.39Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · John's “the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father” excludes any idea of adoption.
On the Trinity 6.40Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · God's love in giving his only-begotten Son would be cheap if the Son were a creature; the gift shows a true, proper Son.
On the Trinity 6.41Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · John wrote so that we might believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; since salvation depends on confessing the Son, the name must be true.
On the Trinity 6.42Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · John's letters teach that love for the Father includes love for the one born from him, and that whoever denies the Son is antichrist and lacks the Father.
On the Trinity 6.43Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · John, who lay on Jesus' breast, stood at the cross, ran to the tomb, and saw the Revelation, calls Christ the true Son; the Arians have no such authority for their teaching.
On the Trinity 6.44Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Paul calls Christ God's own Son, while distinguishing believers, who are sons by adoption through the Spirit.
On the Trinity 6.45Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · In Romans 8:32 Paul says God did not spare his “own” (ἴδιος) Son, a word marking a true Son, unlike the adopted sons he has just described.
On the Trinity 6.46Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Denying the Son, whom the Father, the Son himself, Peter, John, and Paul proclaim, is not ignorance but hatred, preparing the way for the Antichrist.
On the Trinity 6.47Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Martha's confession, “You are the Christ, the Son of God,” shows that eternal life depends on this faith.
On the Trinity 6.48Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ asked the healed blind man, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”; faith in the Son, not merely in “Christ,” brings eternal life.
On the Trinity 6.49Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Even the demons cry out that Jesus is Son of the most high God; they say nothing of a creature or adoption.
On the Trinity 6.50Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The high priest's question shows that even unbelieving Jews held the Christ to be the Son of God; the Arians, who know he was born of Mary, deny it with less excuse.
On the Trinity 6.51Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The disciples in the boat confessed, “Truly he is the Son of God”; the Arian is shipwrecked by a storm of the mind.
On the Trinity 6.52Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Roman centurion at the cross, seeing the signs at Christ's death, confessed, “Truly this was the Son of God.”
On the Trinity 7.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Having proved the Son a true Son, Hilary now proves from the Gospels that he is true God, neither solitary nor a second God.
On the Trinity 7.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Arians and Sabellius refute each other: Sabellius shows God in Christ's works, the Arians that the Son is distinct; the church holds both.
On the Trinity 7.7Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Photinus, Sabellius, and the Arians each refute part of the others' errors; the church holds the whole truth: the Son exists, is God by nature, and is the Creator before the ages.
On the Trinity 7.9Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ is shown to be God by name, birth, nature, power, and profession; first by name, since “the Word was God” without qualification.
On the Trinity 7.10Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Moses was made a “god to Pharaoh” and men are called “gods,” but these names are granted; they are not names of nature.
On the Trinity 7.11Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The names Word, Wisdom, and Power express the Son's true birth from the Father, who is never without them; “the Word was God” signifies God's very being, not a granted title.
On the Trinity 7.12Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Thomas's confession, “My Lord and my God,” after the resurrection was a confession of Christ's divine nature, which Christ accepted and blessed.
On the Trinity 7.14Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Birth transmits the parent's nature; the Son, born of God who is spirit, is God, not a creature that began or developed.
On the Trinity 7.15Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · John 5:18 shows that Jesus, calling God his own Father, made himself equal to God; such equality comes from birth and excludes both solitude and difference.
On the Trinity 7.16Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · John 5:19–23 confirms the Son's equality; the birth includes name, nature, power, and profession, so these cannot be treated separately.
On the Trinity 7.17Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · “The Son can do nothing of himself but what he sees the Father doing” expresses not weakness but the Son's birth and his possession of the Father's power.
On the Trinity 7.19Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Father “showing” the Son his works teaches us the Son's birth, not ignorance in the Son, who gives life to whom he wills.
On the Trinity 7.20Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Father has given all judgment to the Son so that all may honor the Son as the Father; equal honor shows one nature, given by birth.
On the Trinity 7.21Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · In John 5 the Son is shown to be Son, since he does nothing of himself; God, since he does all the Father does; one with the Father in honor; and distinct, since he is sent.
On the Trinity 7.22Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · In John 10:27–30 the Son's hand and the Father's hand are one: the Son received the Father's power by birth, and “I and the Father are one.”
On the Trinity 7.23Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Arians, unable to stone Christ like the Jews of John 10, attack him with words, denying that “I and the Father are one” means one nature.
On the Trinity 7.24Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ answered the charge of blasphemy from Psalm 82: if men are called gods, the one sanctified and sent by the Father may call himself Son of God.
On the Trinity 7.26Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ asks to be believed Son of God because he does the Father's works; only a Son by nature can be equal to God without dishonoring him.
On the Trinity 7.27Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The works prove that “the Father is in me and I in him”: God is undivided life, and the Son born living from the living Father has life in himself.
On the Trinity 7.33Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · John 14:6–11, “I am the way… he who has seen me has seen the Father,” reveals the whole faith; the way to the Father is through the Son.
On the Trinity 7.34Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Through the Son, already seen in the flesh, the Father who is in him is to be known; Jesus separates the time of seeing from that of knowing.
On the Trinity 7.35Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Philip's “Show us the Father” was not unbelief but a request to understand how the Father had been seen in the Son.
On the Trinity 7.36Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ's divine works should have revealed the Father's nature in him; hence his complaint that he was not known.
On the Trinity 7.37Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · “He who has seen me has seen the Father” refers to spiritual sight: the Son is the living image of the living Father, of the same nature and power.
On the Trinity 8.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Hilary sets out the heretics' three questions and the argument by which they use the oneness of God to deny that Christ is God by nature.
On the Trinity 8.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Hilary recalls how Christ's own sayings about his unity with the Father exclude both two gods and a solitary God.
On the Trinity 8.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Those who make the Son a creature are foolish, and must be refuted from their own proof-texts.
On the Trinity 8.13Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Because Christ took our flesh and we truly receive his flesh in the Eucharist, he is in us by nature, as the Father is in him.
On the Trinity 8.14Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · John 6:55–56 teaches that receiving Christ's true flesh and blood makes Christ dwell in us and us in him.
On the Trinity 8.15Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · John 14:19–20 shows a graded unity: the Son in the Father by nature, we in the Son through his birth, and he in us through the sacraments.
On the Trinity 8.18Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Father and Son are one not by will or the dispensation but by birth and nature, as the Gospel sayings show.
On the Trinity 8.25Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · "Spirit of God" signifies the Father at Christ's anointing, the Son in casting out demons, and the Paraclete at Pentecost.
On the Trinity 8.27Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · John 14:23 and Paul's teaching show one indwelling Spirit of God and of Christ, so Christ is God, one Spirit with God.
On the Trinity 8.28Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · 1 Cor 12:3 shows that calling Christ a creature, and Lord only by an adoptive name, is not speaking in the Holy Spirit.
On the Trinity 8.37Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Rom 9:5 shows that Paul calls Christ God over all, not a creature.
On the Trinity 8.41Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The one faith confesses Father and Son in each other by one inseparable nature, and Paul's teaching agrees with Christ's own words.
On the Trinity 8.42Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Hilary asks what John 6:27–29 means in saying that the Son of Man, who gives eternal food, was sealed by God the Father.
On the Trinity 8.43Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ's sayings in John 5 claim equality with the Father, and the life given to him is the same life the Father has.
On the Trinity 8.44Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The image of a seal shows that the Son bears the whole form of the Father, though the comparison falls short of the divine birth.
On the Trinity 8.45Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Phil 2:6–7 shows that he whom God sealed is God in the form of God, who emptied himself to take the form of a servant.
On the Trinity 8.46Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Since Jesus, after his humiliation, is confessed in the glory of God the Father, in the form of God he was in God's nature.
On the Trinity 8.47Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · "Form of God" and "glory of God the Father" exclude both two gods and a solitary God.
On the Trinity 8.48Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Col 1:15 calls the Son the image of the invisible God, which cannot be a bodily, bounded likeness.
On the Trinity 8.49Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ is the image of the invisible God by the power of his works, as Col 1:15–20 describes, not by a visible shape.
On the Trinity 8.50Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Col 1:15–20 makes the Son the firstborn both of creation and from the dead, head of creation and of the church.
On the Trinity 8.51Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Creation and reconciliation in and through the Son, by God who was in Christ (2 Cor 5:18–19), show the Father's nature in him.
On the Trinity 8.52Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ's sayings that the Father speaks and works in him explain how they are one: whole from whole, by a perfect birth.
On the Trinity 8.53Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Col 2:8–9 contrasts the elements of the world with Christ, in whom the whole fullness of divinity dwells bodily.
On the Trinity 8.54Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The fullness that dwells bodily in Christ is the Father's divinity, present by generation, not by will or condescension.
On the Trinity 8.55Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · "Bodily" fullness excludes both a single undistinguished God and a divinity of another nature in Christ.
On the Trinity 8.56Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The bodily fullness in Christ is the Father's whole divinity (Rom 1:20), present in the Son by a perfect birth.
On the Trinity 9.1Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Hilary recalls Book 8: the fullness of divinity dwelling bodily in Christ refutes a unity of will and proves natural unity.
On the Trinity 9.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Hilary lists the heretics' proof-texts: Mark 10:18, John 17:3, John 5:19, John 14:28, and Mark 13:32.
On the Trinity 9.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Saving faith confesses Christ as both true God and true man, the one Mediator who unites both natures.
On the Trinity 9.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · God's being born as man, against nature, grounds the hope that man, whose nature tends to growth, may advance into God.
On the Trinity 9.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ spoke both as God and as man; the heretics take his human sayings as weakness of his divine nature.
On the Trinity 9.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ's sayings must be distinguished by the three times: God before the incarnation, God and man in the flesh, and wholly God and man after the resurrection.
On the Trinity 9.7Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ spoke and acted as man for our sake, yet did all by the power of his divine nature, according to a plan fixed before the world.
On the Trinity 9.8Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Col 2:8–10 teaches that we are filled in Christ, in whom the fullness of divinity dwells, and who is confessed in the Father's glory.
On the Trinity 9.9Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Col 2:11–12 describes the circumcision of Christ as dying and rising with him in baptism.
On the Trinity 9.10Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · In Col 2:13–15 the same divine working raises Christ and is done by Christ, so Christ is both God who works and man who dies.
On the Trinity 9.11Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The one who stripped off the flesh and the flesh stripped off are one Christ: death belongs to the man, raising to God.
On the Trinity 9.12Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ raised himself (John 10:17–18; 2:19) and was raised by the Father, since he is the power and wisdom of God.
On the Trinity 9.13Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Paul's language in 2 Cor 13:4 and Rom 6:10–11 assigns death to Christ's human weakness and life to God's power.
On the Trinity 9.14Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The emptying of Phil 2:6–8 did not abolish the divine nature: one and the same Christ is in the form of God and took the form of a servant.
On the Trinity 9.15Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Turning to the heretics' texts, Hilary shows that in Mark 10:18 Christ cannot be rejecting the name "good," since he calls himself gentle and humble.
On the Trinity 9.16Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ rebuked the young man for treating him as a mere teacher of the law, not for calling him good.
On the Trinity 9.17Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · By promising heavenly treasure and offering himself as guide, Christ showed himself good as God, while rejecting a merely human estimate.
On the Trinity 9.18Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ accepts the title Teacher when given in faith (John 13:13; Matt 23:10), so he rejected only the young man's view of him.
On the Trinity 9.19Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · "Believe in God, believe also in me" (John 14:1) joins Christ to God in faith and nature, while excluding a solitary God.
On the Trinity 9.20Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · In John 5:36–38 the Father's testimony is the Son's own works, showing that Father and Son work by one inseparable nature.
On the Trinity 9.21Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Unbelief in the Son is why the Father's voice, form, and word were not received, since the Father is heard and seen in the Son.
On the Trinity 9.22Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · In John 5:40–44 Christ comes in the Father's name and gives life, while the one coming in his own name is the antichrist.
On the Trinity 9.23Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Rejecting Christ is failing to seek God's glory, since the Son is honoured as the Father (John 5:23) and God's glory is the Son's (John 11:4).
On the Trinity 9.24Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ's answer to the scribe on the greatest commandment (Mark 12:28–33) seems to exclude him from the one God, but the sequel shows otherwise.
On the Trinity 9.26Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ's question about David's Lord (Mark 12:35–37; Ps 110:1) shows the scribe that the Son is Lord within the confession of one Lord.
On the Trinity 9.27Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ proves from David that he is Lord as Son of God, without breaking the confession of one Lord.
On the Trinity 9.28Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The heretics cite John 17:3 to deny that Christ is true God; Hilary agrees there are not two true gods but will show the Son is true God by birth.
On the Trinity 9.29Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Before John 17:3, Christ's sayings and the disciples' confession (John 16:30) show he came forth from God with God's nature.
On the Trinity 9.30Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · "I came forth from God" (John 16:27–33) means birth, not estrangement: the Father remains with the Son, who has overcome the world.
On the Trinity 9.31Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · In John 17:1–2 asking for glory and receiving power do not show weakness: they signify the birth by which the Son has all that is the Father's.
On the Trinity 9.32Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Since eternal life in John 17:3 requires knowing both the only true God and Jesus Christ, Christ cannot be separated from the true God.
On the Trinity 9.33Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · In John 17:3 Christ uses no title of humility but only "Jesus Christ," placed beside the only true God as giver of eternal life.
On the Trinity 9.34Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · As "one God the Father" does not stop Christ being the one Lord, so "the only true God" does not stop him being true God.
On the Trinity 9.35Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Since eternal life requires believing in Christ with the only true God, the heretic who calls him a creature believes what is not written.
On the Trinity 9.36Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Confessing the Father as the only true God includes confessing the Son, born with the same nature, as true God.
On the Trinity 9.38Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The incarnation changed the Son's condition, so the man he assumed had to be glorified into the unity of the Father's nature.
On the Trinity 9.39Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · "Glorify me with yourself" (John 17:4–5) asks that the servant's form be glorified into the Father's own nature, which the Son had before the world.
On the Trinity 9.40Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · John 13:31–32 shows the Son of Man glorified, God glorified in him, and God glorifying him in himself.
On the Trinity 9.41Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · God glorifying in himself the Son glorified as man (John 13:32) shows that the Son is taken back into the glory of the Father's own nature.
On the Trinity 9.42Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Phil 2:11 confesses Jesus in the glory of God the Father, so the Son glorified in the only true God is not outside him.
On the Trinity 9.43Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Hilary turns to John 5:19, "The Son can do nothing of himself," which answered two charges of the Jews.
On the Trinity 9.44Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · In John 5:16–19 Christ answers the charge of sabbath-breaking and of making himself equal to God: the Father works in the Son's work.
On the Trinity 9.45Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · "Cannot do of himself" in John 5:19 refers to the Father's authority working in the Son, not weakness; the Son does all the Father does and shares his honour.
On the Trinity 9.46Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · John 5:19 answers the sabbath charge, while "whatever the Father does" proves equality, so no weakness remains.
On the Trinity 9.47Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · John 8:28–29 sets "I do nothing of myself" beside "I always do what pleases him," a puzzle for the heretics.
On the Trinity 9.48Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Son acts through himself yet not of himself, because the Father abides in him: this is unity of nature.
On the Trinity 9.49Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Doing the will of the one who sent him (John 6:37–47) shows not lack of freedom but that the Father is heard and teaches in the Son.
On the Trinity 9.50Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Son gives life to whom he wills (John 5:21) and wills what the Father wills, so his freedom and his unity with the Father coincide.
On the Trinity 9.51Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · "The Father is greater than I" (John 14:28) must be read within the dispensation in which the Son, still God, emptied himself and took the form of a servant.
On the Trinity 9.52Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · In the same discourse (John 14:9–11) Christ declared that the Father is seen in him and known through his works, by unity of nature.
On the Trinity 9.53Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · "The Father is greater than I" (John 14:28) honours the Father as unbegotten source of the Son's birth without denying equality of nature.
On the Trinity 9.54Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Father is greater as giver of the name above every name (Phil 2:9–11), yet the gift is equality, being confessed in the Father's glory.
On the Trinity 9.55Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ's sinless obedience (John 14:30–31) and the vine image (John 15) show that the Father is greater as the one who restores the Son's former glory.
On the Trinity 9.56Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Father is greater as Father and as glorifier of the incarnate Son, while the Son, glorified in the Father, is not less.
On the Trinity 9.58Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The heretics use Mark 13:32 on the Son's not knowing the day and hour to deny his perfect divinity.
On the Trinity 9.59Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · It is incredible that Christ, through whom and in whom all things are and who knows hearts, should be ignorant of the day of his own coming.
On the Trinity 9.60Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Ignorance of the day would make the Son imperfect and the Father envious, both of which are impious.
On the Trinity 9.61Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · God is love and wholly Father, so the Son has all that is the Father's, including the divine foreknowledge of the future.
On the Trinity 9.62Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Col 2:2–3 places all treasures of knowledge in Christ, hidden but present, so his not knowing is a dispensation, not ignorance.
On the Trinity 9.63Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · God's not knowing at Sodom (Gen 18:20–21) is a matter of the time for acting, not ignorance.
On the Trinity 9.64Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · "Now I know" to Abraham (Gen 22:12) marks the time of testimony, not the beginning of God's knowledge.
On the Trinity 9.65Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ's "I do not know you" to evildoers and foolish virgins (Matt 7:23; 25:12) is a refusal of the will, not ignorance.
On the Trinity 9.66Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ's questions about things he knew (the woman, the disciples' dispute, Lazarus's tomb) belong to the dispensation of his humanity, not ignorance.
On the Trinity 9.67Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The knowledge of the day is hidden in Christ so that believers will keep watch (Col 2:3; Matt 24:43–46).
On the Trinity 9.68Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Hilary states the objection that the Son, as weaker, could know human hearts but not penetrate the Father's thoughts.
On the Trinity 9.69Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · As the Spirit searches the depths of God (1 Cor 2:10–11), the Son, one with the Father, is not shut out from the Father's knowledge.
On the Trinity 9.71Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · "Only the Father knows" means the Father does not keep the day hidden from the Son, while the Son keeps silent about it.
On the Trinity 9.72Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · God, being simple and almighty, has no speech after silence or change; the Son shares this omnipotence (John 5:19).
On the Trinity 9.73Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Son's not knowing and the Father's knowing are ways of speaking to us; "All that is the Father's is mine" (John 16:15) refers to one divine nature.
On the Trinity 9.74Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Having all that is the Father's, the Son knows and wills as the Father does; the will is distinguished only to signify the birth.
On the Trinity 9.75Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · After the resurrection Christ does not say he is ignorant of the times, but that knowing them is not for the apostles (Acts 1:6–7).
On the Trinity 10.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Hilary sees Paul's prophecy fulfilled in his own day, when teachers who preach the Son as a creature are welcomed and sound teaching is exiled.
On the Trinity 10.7Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The incarnation did not weaken God's nature but raised man toward God, as the name Emmanuel and the prayer of John 17:5 show.
On the Trinity 10.8Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Even on the heretics' reading, not knowing the hour would not dishonour the Son; Hilary now turns to their remaining arguments.
On the Trinity 10.9Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The heretics cite Christ's sorrow, prayer about the cup, cry of desolation, and commending of his spirit to deny his divine impassibility.
On the Trinity 10.10Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ, who urged his disciples to martyrdom and not to fear those who kill the body, cannot have feared death.
On the Trinity 10.11Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ died by his own power, giving up his spirit (John 10:18; 19:30), so he could not fear death.
On the Trinity 10.12Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Neither Christ's body, raised in three days, nor his Spirit, which could not fear the underworld, gave cause for fear of death.
On the Trinity 10.13Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Hilary turns to whether Christ feared the pains of the cross, asking what kind of body he had.
On the Trinity 10.14Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Bodies feel pain through the soul that animates them, as shown by dead tissue, nail clippings, and drugged surgery.
On the Trinity 10.15Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Word himself took flesh from the Virgin and gave it a soul, so the nature of his body and soul came from his own power, not human conception.
On the Trinity 10.16Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · John 3:13 shows the Word made flesh came down from heaven, is Son of Man, and remains in heaven at once.
On the Trinity 10.17Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · 1 Cor 15:47 shows the second man born of the Virgin yet from heaven, conceived by the Spirit.
On the Trinity 10.18Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Calling himself the living bread from heaven (John 6:51, 53), Christ shows that his flesh, born of the Virgin, has a heavenly origin.
On the Trinity 10.19Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The one Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Man, is wholly and truly man and wholly and truly God.
On the Trinity 10.20Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Hilary rejects the view that Christ took Adam's sinful soul and flesh from Mary: every soul is God's work.
On the Trinity 10.21Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Some make the Word a mere uttered word that dwelt in Jesus as in a prophet; Hilary preaches the subsisting Word who became true man.
On the Trinity 10.22Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ took his soul as well as his body from God; one and the same Christ, truly God and truly man, was born, died, rose, and is in heaven.
On the Trinity 10.23Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Hilary holds that Christ truly suffered the blows of the passion, but his body, conceived of the Spirit and able to walk on water, did not have the nature to feel pain.
On the Trinity 10.24Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ's weeping, thirst, and hunger were real habits of a true body, yet not the needs of a body overcome by suffering.
On the Trinity 10.25Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ had a true body born of the Virgin, but in the likeness of sinful flesh, free from its defects (Phil 2:7–8; Rom 8:3).
On the Trinity 10.26Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Before treating the sayings, Hilary will examine the events of the passion to see whether they show fear or bodily weakness in Christ.
On the Trinity 10.27Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ rebuked Peter for shrinking from the passion and made the arresting soldiers fall back, so he did not fear it.
On the Trinity 10.28Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · He who restored the servant's ear by a touch at his arrest cannot have feared the pain of nails.
On the Trinity 10.29Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ's sorrow cannot be fear of the passion, which he said would glorify him (John 13:31).
On the Trinity 10.30Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ, who said he would drink the cup the Father gave him (John 18:11), did not pray from fear to escape suffering.
On the Trinity 10.31Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The cry of desolation must be read with Christ's promise to be seen at the right hand of power (Matt 26:64).
On the Trinity 10.32Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The passion shows no fear, weakness, pain, or shame in Christ: he willed to suffer, overawed his captors, and healed the ear.
On the Trinity 10.33Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The cross, through which Christ sits at God's right hand, is no shame, and none of the marks of fear, weakness, or pain apply to him.
On the Trinity 10.34Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ's commending of his spirit was not fear of the underworld, since he promised the thief paradise that very day (Luke 23:42–43, 46).
On the Trinity 10.35Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ's body, a true body conceived of the Spirit, had the form of ours without its weakness, so the passion did not bring it pain.
On the Trinity 10.36Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · "Sorrowful even to death" (Matt 26:38) makes death the end of Christ's sorrow, not its cause.
On the Trinity 10.37Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ's sorrow and prayer in Gethsemane were for his disciples, who would be offended and needed to watch and pray (Matt 26:31–41).
On the Trinity 10.38Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · "If it is possible" refers to men's weakness under trial; Christ prayed that Peter's faith would not fail (Luke 22:31–32).
On the Trinity 10.39Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ's sorrow lasted until his death, after which the signs at the cross would confirm the apostles' shaken faith (Matt 26:42).
On the Trinity 10.40Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Luke's account of the strengthening angel explains why Christ, after praying, let the disciples sleep (Matt 26:45; Luke 22:43–44).
On the Trinity 10.41Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Hilary notes that many manuscripts lack Luke's angel and bloody sweat; even if genuine, they concern us, and the bloody sweat proves a real body.
On the Trinity 10.42Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · John 17:11–12 shows the content of Christ's prayer: that the Father would keep the disciples, and none of them was lost (John 18:9).
On the Trinity 10.43Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Taken together, the four Gospels show that Christ's Gethsemane prayer was for the protection of his apostles.
On the Trinity 10.44Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ's body, begun by the Spirit and the power of the Most High, was outside the evils of earthly bodies, which themselves can sometimes rise above pain.
On the Trinity 10.45Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The three youths in the furnace (Dan 3) neither feared nor felt the fire; much less did Christ fear the cross.
On the Trinity 10.46Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Daniel, the apostles, Paul, and the martyrs overcame fear and pain by faith; still less can weakness be ascribed to the Lord of glory.
On the Trinity 10.47Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ suffered our weaknesses by the power of his own nature, bearing our sins without sin (Isa 53:4–5; 2 Cor 5:20–21).
On the Trinity 10.48Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Paul presents Christ's death as a triumph (Col 2:13–15), and every event of the passion pairs suffering with divine power.
On the Trinity 10.49Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The cry of desolation (Matt 27:46) cannot mean fear of death in one who hastened to the death that would glorify him.
On the Trinity 10.50Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Hilary describes two errors: that the Word turned into Christ's soul, or that the Word dwelt in a mere man as in a prophet.
On the Trinity 10.51Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · On either error, the cry of desolation would mean weakness in the Word or a mere man abandoned by a withdrawn power of God.
On the Trinity 10.52Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The church's faith knows Christ's birth without a beginning and his dispensation without division: one undivided Jesus Christ, wholly God and wholly man.
On the Trinity 10.54Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The incarnation, the Son of Man ascending where he was before and in heaven while on earth, surpasses human reason (John 6:62; 3:13; 1:14).
On the Trinity 10.55Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ truly wept over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41; Matt 23:37), yet it is a mystery what in him wept.
On the Trinity 10.56Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ wept for Lazarus though his death was for God's glory and Christ would raise him (John 11:4, 14–15, 35).
On the Trinity 10.57Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ said he lays down his life and takes it again (John 10:17–18): neither the body nor God the Word can be the one who does so.
On the Trinity 10.59Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Neither God, who does not die, nor the body, which is raised by God, can be the one who lays down and takes up the soul; yet Christ speaks of his burial (John 2:19; Matt 26:12).
On the Trinity 10.60Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The one Christ who cried out as forsaken also promised paradise and commended his spirit to the Father.
On the Trinity 10.61Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Hilary challenges those who divide Christ or make him a mere man to explain who complained, who commended his spirit, and who was in paradise.
On the Trinity 10.62Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · One and the same Christ dies as man and reigns as God, so the cry of desolation cannot be set against his promise of paradise.
On the Trinity 10.63Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ wept and died not for himself but for us; the one who died and the one who reigns are not different.
On the Trinity 10.64Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Paul preaches the one crucified Christ as God's power and wisdom, and the Lord of glory as the one crucified (1 Cor 1:22–24; 2:2, 7–8).
On the Trinity 10.65Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Paul's confession in Rom 8:33–34 and Eph 4:9–10 shows one Christ who died, rose, descended, ascended, and intercedes, undivided God and man.
On the Trinity 10.66Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · 2 Cor 13:4 shows one Christ crucified in weakness and living by God's power.
On the Trinity 10.67Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Paul's "according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor 15:3–4) sets the limit of faith: Christ's birth, tears, hunger, suffering, and death are to be confessed as Scripture presents them.
On the Trinity 10.68Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Romans 10:6–9 forbids anxious questions and makes salvation the confession of Jesus as Lord, as Abraham's faith was reckoned as righteousness.
On the Trinity 10.69Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ needed no one to bring him down from heaven or up from the dead; he descended and rose by his own freedom (Rom 10:6–7).
On the Trinity 10.70Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Salvation is the simple confession that Jesus is Lord and belief that God raised him (Rom 10:8–9), not curious questioning.
On the Trinity 10.71Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Like his prayer at Lazarus's tomb and the voice from heaven, Christ's cry on the cross was for our instruction, not from weakness.
On the Trinity 11.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Faith is not one if Christ is preached as weak, created, or God and Son only in name; such preaching proclaims another Christ.
On the Trinity 11.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · All creation bears witness to Christ, but faith must confess him as he truly is, the one Lord beside the one God the Father.
On the Trinity 11.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · As image and form of the invisible God (Col 1:15; Phil 2:6), the Son must have all the Father's perfections, or he is no true image.
On the Trinity 11.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The heretics turn the incarnation into an insult to the divinity, but Christ did all things as God and was perfect man.
On the Trinity 11.7Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Hilary now turns to the heretics' texts about Christ after the resurrection, explaining each from its own context.
On the Trinity 11.8Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The heretics cite John 20:17 and 1 Cor 15:27–28 to argue that the Son is a creature subject to the Father.
On the Trinity 11.9Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · 1 Tim 3:16 calls the incarnation the great mystery of piety, manifested in the flesh and taken up in glory, not a weakness of divinity.
On the Trinity 11.10Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The heretics argue from John 20:17 and Ps 45:7 that the Son shares our creaturely servitude and has God as his God.
On the Trinity 11.12Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ's sayings pair acknowledgment of the Father as source with claims of equal nature, honour, and power (John 14:9–10; 10:29–30; 5:19, 22–23; 14:28).
On the Trinity 11.13Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Father became Lord over the Son only in the form of a servant he took up, since there is no lord where there is no servant.
On the Trinity 11.14Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ spoke John 20:17 as a servant to servants, so the Father is his Father and God in the same way as ours only in his human nature.
On the Trinity 11.15Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ's "brothers" in John 20:17 are his through the flesh, as Ps 22:6, 22 and Paul's "firstborn among many brothers" show.
On the Trinity 11.16Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · God is the Son's Father both by eternal birth and, since the Word became flesh, as Father of all flesh; the shared Father and God of John 20:17 belong to the latter.
On the Trinity 11.17Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Eph 1:17 distinguishes the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, his God as man, from the Father of glory, his Father as God; the Greek articles make this clear.
On the Trinity 11.18Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The anointing of Ps 45:7 concerns Christ's assumed humanity, anointed at his baptism with the Spirit (Acts 4:27; 10:37–38).
On the Trinity 11.19Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The anointing of Ps 45:7, given for a merit and later in time, applies to Christ's assumed humanity, not to God the Word born in the beginning.
On the Trinity 11.20Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ is our brother and fellow in the flesh, sharing our Father and God as man, while remaining true God from God.
On the Trinity 11.21Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Some take the subjection, handing over of the kingdom, and end in 1 Cor 15:24–28 as loss of the Son's divinity or rule.
On the Trinity 11.22Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Hilary quotes 1 Cor 15:21–28 in full.
On the Trinity 11.25Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Hilary names the three points in dispute: the end, the handing over of the kingdom, and the subjection.
On the Trinity 11.26Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · In Paul's order the kingdom is handed over, then the Son is subjected, and the end is that God may be all in all.
On the Trinity 11.27Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Hilary asks whether the end means failure, handing over means loss, and subjection means weakness.
On the Trinity 11.29Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Handing over the kingdom is no loss, just as the Father lost nothing in handing all things to the Son (Matt 11:27; 28:18).
On the Trinity 11.30Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Since the Son already obeys the Father (John 6:38; Phil 2:8), the future subjection of 1 Cor 15:28 is not a new obedience but part of the dispensation.
On the Trinity 11.31Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Eph 1:19–22 speaks of all things already subjected to Christ, since what is future is already secure in him, though still to be worked out in time.
On the Trinity 11.32Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Making the hostile powers void, as with the devil's destruction (Matt 25:41), differs from subjection, which is obedience.
On the Trinity 11.33Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · As the Father draws people to the Son and the Son leads them to the Father (John 6:44; 14:6), so the Son subjects his enemies and God subjects them to him.
On the Trinity 11.36Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · As we are subjected to the glory of Christ's body, so he, reigning in that body, will be subjected to the Father (1 Cor 15:27–28).
On the Trinity 11.37Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The transfiguration (Matt 16:28–17:2) showed the apostles the glory of Christ's body coming in his kingdom.
On the Trinity 11.39Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ hands over the kingdom by presenting to the Father the redeemed, glorified like him, who are themselves the kingdom (Matt 25:34; Luke 17:21).
On the Trinity 11.40Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ reigns in his glorified body until all enemies are subdued; then his humanity, not cast off but glorified, will be wholly taken into God, so that God is all in all.
On the Trinity 11.41Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Hilary will confirm from the Lord's own words in the Gospels what he has drawn from Paul.
On the Trinity 11.42Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · John 13:31–32 distinguishes the Son of Man's glory at the resurrection from the later glory in which God glorifies him in himself, the final subjection.
On the Trinity 11.43Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · If Christ will glorify us, he can glorify his own humanity into God; the heretics wrongly read 1 Cor 15:28 as the Father gaining perfection through the Son's subjection.
On the Trinity 11.48Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Son's being God all in all is a mystery, not a necessity; his self-emptying in the form of a servant cost his power nothing.
On the Trinity 11.49Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · God being all in all is the advance of the humanity Christ took up, and through it we are renewed as the image of our Creator (Col 3:9–10).
On the Trinity 12.1Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · In his final book Hilary faces the heretics' strongest text, Prov 8:22, "The Lord created me the beginning of his ways."
On the Trinity 12.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The faith confesses Christ not as a creature or something made but as the true Son, born and not adopted.
On the Trinity 12.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Solomon and Paul speak by one Spirit, and Paul condemns serving the creature (Rom 1:25); so Prov 8:22 cannot call us to worship a created Christ.
On the Trinity 12.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Scripture calls God, and so Christ through whom all was made, Creator (Gen 14:19; 1 Pet 4:19); the maker does not bear the name of what he made.
On the Trinity 12.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · If Christ were a creature, he would share creation's subjection to vanity and corruption and its waiting for liberty (Rom 8:19–21), which is absurd.
On the Trinity 12.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · If the one in the form of God were a creature, God's nature itself would be creaturely; Christ's self-emptying (Phil 2:6–7) was an act of divine power, not loss.
On the Trinity 12.7Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Son, in the form of God, receives equal honour with the Father (John 5:23), which would be impossible for a creature.
On the Trinity 12.8Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · "From the womb I begot you" (Ps 110:3 LXX) uses a human image to signify a true birth from God, not creation.
On the Trinity 12.9Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · As God's hands, eyes, and heart signify his working, knowledge, and will, so "womb" signifies a true spiritual birth.
On the Trinity 12.10Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · "From the womb" shows a true birth from God himself, as hand, eye, and heart show God's real acts without bodily parts.
On the Trinity 12.11Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Disciples must not presume above their Master, who never called himself a creature but always the Son born of the Father.
On the Trinity 12.12Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Things made, like heaven and earth or a painting or house, are works, not sons; only one born of a father is his son.
On the Trinity 12.13Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · We are God's sons by adoption, made and acquired, not begotten; Scripture never calls them "my own" begotten sons (Isa 1:2).
On the Trinity 12.14Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Calling Israel "my firstborn son" (Exod 4:22) does not weaken "my beloved Son," since Israel was a people made, though said to be born (Ps 22:31).
On the Trinity 12.15Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Israel is God's son by adoption, not by birth; the only-begotten God was always and only Son, never not existing.
On the Trinity 12.17Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The Son, preceded by no time and born from him who is, was neither born from nothing nor non-existent before his birth.
On the Trinity 12.24Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · As "He who is" (Exod 3:14) belongs to God, the Gospels give the Son the same eternal "was" and "is" (John 1:1, 9, 18; Rom 9:5).
On the Trinity 12.34Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · God was always Father: Paul places the Son before eternal times, Wisdom before the ages (Prov 8:23, 27), and David before sun and moon (Ps 72:17, 5).
On the Trinity 12.35Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The heretics oppose the eternal birth with Wisdom's words, "The Lord created me for the beginning of his ways" (Prov 8:22).
On the Trinity 12.36Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Prov 8:22–23 distinguishes Wisdom's creation "for the beginning of his ways" in time from her founding before the ages; it is a text against the Jews' denial of Christ's pre-existence.
On the Trinity 12.37Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Wisdom was begotten before earth, mountains, and hills (Prov 8:25), but such temporal comparisons cannot by themselves express eternity.
On the Trinity 12.38Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Wisdom's presence at the preparing of heaven and earth (Prov 8:26–30) is not merely being earlier than created things, which would still be in time.
On the Trinity 12.39Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · God's preparation of creation is eternal, nothing being new to him (Ps 33:6); Wisdom, present at that preparing, is co-eternal with it.
On the Trinity 12.40Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · God did not plan creation piece by piece; its preparation is co-eternal with him, though Genesis sets out its execution in order.
On the Trinity 12.42Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Creation "for the beginning of his ways" is not the same as birth before all things: birth is before every cause, creation for a cause in time.
On the Trinity 12.43Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Wisdom was not created as a tool for making the world: Prov 8:30 presents the Father as maker, with Wisdom present at his eternal preparing and setting creation in order.
On the Trinity 12.44Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · The context of Prov 8 shows that "created for the beginning of his ways" belongs to the things "from the age" Wisdom promised to recount: a dispensation in time, not her birth.
On the Trinity 12.45Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ, Wisdom, is the Way to the Father (John 14:6); he was "created" for God's ways when he took a visible creaturely form in the dispensation.
On the Trinity 12.46Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · In Old Testament appearances the Son took created forms, walking in Eden, as angel to Hagar, man to Abraham and Jacob, and fire to Moses.
On the Trinity 12.47Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ's appearances to Joshua, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and others in created forms were the "creation" for God's ways, distinct from his eternal birth.
On the Trinity 12.48Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Paul calls Christ's birth in the flesh "made of a woman" (Gal 4:4) and the new man "created according to God" (Eph 4:21–24); this refers to his humanity.
On the Trinity 12.49Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Wisdom's "begotten before all things," "founded before the ages," and "created from the ages" are distinct, so creation cannot be confused with her birth.
On the Trinity 12.50Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Paul's "made of a woman" marks the virgin birth; the heretics instead substitute creation for birth to deny that the Son subsists by natural birth from God.
On the Trinity 12.51Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Faith distinguishes Christ's creation in time from his eternal birth from God; it is enough to know the Father and the Son born of him.
On Saint Athanasius 1.33Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · From Wisdom on keeping God's law Lucifer argues that the Arians, denying the Son, serve the Antichrist, and expounds Philippians 2: the Son, equal to the Father, took a perfect man from the virgin without change in his divinity.
On Saint Athanasius 1.40Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Lucifer sets out the church's faith (the Father unbegotten, the Son begotten of the true Father and alone incarnate, one Godhead of the Trinity) and compares the emperor's taunt that God cannot rescue the Nicene bishops to Rabshakeh's taunt against Hezekiah.
On Saint Athanasius 2.11Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Lucifer applies Daniel's sentence on Susanna's accusers to the emperor, sets out the Nicene faith (homoousion) against his Arianism, and recalls that as papal legate he had already called him the forerunner of the Antichrist.
On Saint Athanasius 2.20Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Lucifer argues that if the Son were a creature the prophets would have died for a creature, places the emperor among the killers of the prophets, and applies the parable of the wedding feast and the guest without a wedding garment.
On Saint Athanasius 2.34Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Lucifer ends by holding up Paul, once a persecutor who acted in ignorance and found mercy, and promises the emperor a place among the saints if he confesses the Son's eternity and the one Godhead of Father, Son and Spirit.
That One Must Die for the Son of God 4Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Recalling his defiance before the emperor at Milan, Lucifer restates the Nicene faith in the Son as homoousios, claims that Christians everywhere hold it while Arianism has withered, and says that Christ present in his martyrs makes torture their glory.
That One Must Die for the Son of God 7Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Lucifer says no inducements of the emperor's agents, such as Epictetus, can draw the Nicene Christians from their faith in the Son of one substance with the Father, and that they triumph in their torments.
That One Must Die for the Son of God 10Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Lucifer defends the equality of the Son with the Father from Philippians 2:6 and Jesus' sayings in John, says that whatever has a beginning can have an end, and applies Paul's warnings about apostates of the last times to the Arians.
That One Must Die for the Son of God 11Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Lucifer mocks Constantius's shifting creeds and his promotion of Eudoxius, contrasts the polished but unpersuasive speech of the Arians with the plain truth of the Scriptures, and says that religion is defended not by killing but by dying, as the apostles did.
That One Must Die for the Son of God 12Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Lucifer says the demons persecute the bishops through Constantius but are conquered in the martyrs, refers the emperor to his book On Apostate Kings, and argues from Philippians 2 that the Arians read only the texts of Christ's humiliation and ignore those of his eternal divinity.
That One Must Die for the Son of God 14Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Lucifer tells Constantius that whatever death he inflicts will bring the martyr immortality and bodily resurrection, while the emperor, unless he confesses the eternal Son and the one Godhead of the Trinity, faces the undying worm and outer darkness.
On Not Agreeing with Heretics 9Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Lucifer argues that heretics such as Sabellius, Marcion, Paul of Samosata and Arius have been cut off from the church like an offending member, and contrasts the Arian creed with the apostolic faith in Father, Son and Spirit.
On Not Agreeing with Heretics 14Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Lucifer argues that though Constantius confesses Christ come in the flesh, by calling the Son a creature he lacks both Father and Son, and that the faithful must avoid such heretics as children of darkness.
On Not Sparing Those Who Sin against God 2Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Applying Deuteronomy's law against prophets and kinsmen who entice to other gods, Lucifer argues that the patriarchs and apostles shared one faith in the Son and that Constantius, urging the bishops to abandon it, is an enemy of God.
On Not Sparing Those Who Sin against God 17Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · From the apostles' miracles, imprisonment, angelic release and answer that God must be obeyed rather than men, Lucifer argues that the bishops, imprisoned for preaching the Son, are no more insolent than the apostles.
On Not Sparing Those Who Sin against God 18Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Lucifer argues that Constantius's Arianism differs from Photinus's and Paul of Samosata's denial of the Son only in words, quotes the Nicene Creed with its anathemas, and warns him from John the Baptist's imprisonment and the parable of the pounds.
On Not Sparing Those Who Sin against God 24Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · From John's command to test the spirits, Lucifer argues that, as those who deny Christ's incarnation are antichrists, so the Arians, who deny that the Son is truly born of the Father's substance, carry the spirit of Antichrist.
On Not Sparing Those Who Sin against God 25Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Lucifer argues that the Arian denial of the true Son shows that the Spirit who spoke in the prophets and apostles is not in Constantius, calls him a wolf and a brood of vipers, and warns him from Jesus' words to Peter that those who take the sword perish by it.
On Not Sparing Those Who Sin against God 26Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Lucifer compares Constantius with Judas Iscariot, arguing that the emperor, who has had the Nicene faith condemned and bought support with money, is worse than Judas, who at least repented and betrayed Christ only to unbelievers.
On Not Sparing Those Who Sin against God 28Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Lucifer argues that, as the spirit of divination stirred up Philippi against Paul and Silas, so unclean spirits drive Constantius, who cannot have the Holy Spirit without faith in the Son, and that like Saul he persecutes Christ in his servants.
On Not Sparing Those Who Sin against God 31Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Lucifer explains that he quoted Daniel's whole vision to show that persecuting tyrants are called beasts, and argues that Constantius, speaking against God by calling the Son a creature, is either Antichrist or his forerunner.
On Not Sparing Those Who Sin against God 34Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · From Paul's anathema on any other gospel and his rebuke of the “foolish Galatians”, and from Isaiah and Psalm 22's names for God's enemies, Lucifer justifies calling Constantius anathema, foolish, and one of the dogs that surround Christ.
On Apostate Kings 9Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Lucifer calls Constantius a second Manasseh who has brought heresy into the church, and says that denying the Son of God is the sacrifice the devil now prefers to the burning of children.
On Apostate Kings 12Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · Lucifer ends by urging Constantius to repent, confess the true Son of God, and receive pardon, citing the prophets, Sirach, the Psalms and Romans on God's patience.
Defence of His Flight 12Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357 · Athanasius shows that Christ himself, as man, hid and fled from those who sought his life: in his infancy, after healing the withered hand, after raising Lazarus, and in the temple.
Defence of His Flight 13Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357 · Athanasius explains that Christ fled before his hour but gave himself up when it came, showing that each person has an appointed time known only to God, which the saints respected by fleeing and by facing death when it came.
Letters to Serapion 1.9Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · Amos’s “creates spirit,” beside the announcing of Christ, refers to the renewal of the human spirit through the incarnation, not to the Holy Spirit, in whom we are renewed.
Letters to Serapion 1.31Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · The Triad has one activity: the Father works through the Word in the Spirit, so that the prophets, the apostles, and Paul spoke in the Spirit with Christ speaking in them.
Letters to Serapion 2.3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · Nothing in creation is almighty or unchangeable, as the Son is; so the Son, unlike creatures, is not of the same essence as they but is like the Father.
Letters to Serapion 2.4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · Creatures have a beginning and are gods only by participation, but the Son is the Creator, true God in whom the Father is.
Letters to Serapion 2.5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · Since all that is the Father’s is the Son’s, and no creature could have the Father’s properties, the Son is of the same essence as the Father, as Nicaea confessed.
Letters to Serapion 2.6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · A father begets, not makes, a son of the same essence; so God’s Son is of the same essence, and texts such as “he created” refer to his becoming man.
Letters to Serapion 2.9Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · “Not even the Son knows the day” is said of Christ as man, who took our ignorance to redeem it, while as the Word he knows all things, that day included.
Letters to Serapion 4.14Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · Christ as God worked miracles and as man suffered, yet the one Lord did all things conjointly, as when his human spittle healed the blind man.
Letters to Serapion 4.15Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · Those who doubt Christ’s divinity because of his body, or his body because of his miracles, can be pardoned; but those who ascribe his divine works to the devil cannot.
Letters to Serapion 4.16Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · The Pharisees, like Israel with the golden calf, ascribed God’s works to another and so passed from pardonable weakness to unpardonable blasphemy.
Letters to Serapion 4.17Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · Both blasphemies were against Christ himself: the lesser against his humanity, the greater, unpardonable one against his divinity, not against a Spirit greater than the Son.
Letters to Serapion 4.18Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · The unpardonable blasphemy, as Mark says, was the Pharisees’ claim that Christ’s divine works came from an unclean spirit.
Letters to Serapion 4.19Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · In Matt 12 “Son of Man” names Christ’s humanity and “Spirit” his Godhead, as in John 6, where the flesh he gives as food is given spiritually.
Letters to Serapion 4.20Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · Doubting Christ because of his body sins against the Son of Man; ascribing his Spirit-worked miracles to Beelzebul blasphemes his Godhead.
Letters to Serapion 4.21Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · Ascribing Christ’s healings to Beelzebul would make Beelzebul the author of the messianic signs foretold by Isaiah and even the creator of human nature.
Letters to Serapion 4.22Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · The Pharisees, worse than Pharaoh’s magicians, and the Arians alike deny Christ’s Godhead and incur the unpardonable sin; the pious, confessing him God and man, will reign with him.
History of the Arians 38Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357 · Athanasius describes the terror at Rome before Liberius’s exile and attacks the influence of the court eunuchs who, he says, championed a heresy that denies the Son.
Letters 8, 9Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · Basil explains his withdrawal to the Caesareans and defends the Trinity against Anomoean arguments from Scripture; a damaged second letter to Maximus judges Dionysius of Alexandria and accepts “like in essence” only with “without difference.”
Letter 38Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · A treatise in letter form distinguishing essence (what is common) from hypostasis (what is particular), applied to the Trinity, with the rainbow as an illustration and an explanation of Heb 1:3.
Letter 236Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · Basil answers several questions of Amphilochius: how Christ's not knowing the day and hour (Mark 13:32) is to be understood without making the Son unlike the Father, the prophecy against Jeconiah, Encratite food rules, triple immersion in baptism, the difference between essence and hypostasis, and providence over health, wealth, and sickness.
Letter 258Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · Basil thanks Epiphanius for his concern about the divided monks on the Mount of Olives, says he will add nothing to the Nicene creed but the glorifying of the Spirit, explains his loyalty to Meletius in the Antiochene schism, welcomes Epiphanius's confession of three hypostases, and describes the Magusaeans of Cappadocia.
Letter 260Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · Basil answers Optimus's questions on Gen 4:15 (the seven vengeances on Cain, interpreted both as seven sins and seven punishments), on Lamech's seventy-sevenfold vengeance, and on Simeon's words to Mary in Luke 2:34–35, including the sword that will pierce her soul.
Letters 261, 262Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · Basil warns the church of Sozopolis against those who say Christ had a heavenly body or that the Godhead itself suffered, setting out why the Lord took real human flesh from Mary; in a second letter he warns the monk Urbicius against the idea that God was changed into flesh.
Letter 263Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · Basil asks the Western bishops to denounce publicly to the Eastern Churches three men who are disturbing them while claiming orthodoxy: Eustathius of Sebaste, Apollinarius, and Paulinus of Antioch, whose teachings and careers he describes.
Letters 265, 266Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · Basil writes to exiled Egyptian bishops denouncing the innovations of Apollinarius and warning them not to admit the followers of Marcellus without an anathema of his heresy; a second letter, to Peter of Alexandria, explains his silence about recent disorders, accepts Peter's approach to the Marcellians, and defends Meletius and Eusebius against the charge of Arianism.
Letter 360Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · A confession of faith in the Trinity and the incarnation, with the invocation of saints and the veneration of their images, presented as an extract from a letter of Basil to Julian.
Letter 361Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · Basil asks Apollinarius to explain the scriptural and patristic use of 'essence' and the meaning of homoousios, suggesting that 'invariably like in essence' may express the Son's relation to the Father better.
Letter 362Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · Apollinarius replies that 'one essence' can be said of things one in genus, as all men are Adam, and that the Son is homoousios with the Father uniquely, as the only offspring of the one principle, the same in otherness and other in sameness.
Letters 365, 366Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · Basil asks the emperor Theodosius to build a bridge over the flooding river Halys, which cuts Cappadocia off from its food supplies; the second half of a letter to the monk Urbicius praises continence as the health of the soul, likening it to God, who desires nothing.
Against the Arians 2Phoebadius of Agen · ca. 357-358 · Phoebadius outlines the errors of the Sirmian creed: its veiled denial of one God, its banning of the word “substance,” and its making the Son lesser, temporal, and subject like a slave.
Against the Arians 3Phoebadius of Agen · ca. 357-358 · Phoebadius argues that the creed’s “one God, the almighty Father” is a trap: it confesses one Father, not one God, and calls the Son God only as men may be called gods.
Against the Arians 4Phoebadius of Agen · ca. 357-358 · Phoebadius answers the creed’s denial of “two gods” by showing that it uses Christ’s words in his humanity to make the Son a creature, failing to distinguish his two states.
Against the Arians 5Phoebadius of Agen · ca. 357-358 · Phoebadius rejects Potamius’s teaching that Christ’s spirit and flesh were fused so that God became passible, arguing that Christ’s divine and human substances each kept their own properties.
Against the Arians 9Phoebadius of Agen · ca. 357-358 · Phoebadius argues that the Arians cannot both assign the Son a beginning and declare his birth unknown, and explains “Who will declare his generation?” as pointing to an eternal and indescribable birth.
Against the Arians 10Phoebadius of Agen · ca. 357-358 · Phoebadius explains “from, with, and in” the Father, compares the Arian claim that the Son’s origin is unknown to the unbelief of the Jews in John 9, and notes that the Son reveals the Father to whom he wills.
Against the Arians 11Phoebadius of Agen · ca. 357-358 · Phoebadius argues that the Son’s birth has been revealed through the Spirit and Scripture, and describes it as an eternal birth of whole from whole, one from one, true from true.
Against the Arians 12Phoebadius of Agen · ca. 357-358 · Phoebadius answers the Arian use of “The Father is greater than I” by showing from John that the Son shares the Father’s honour, works, and divinity.
Against the Arians 13Phoebadius of Agen · ca. 357-358 · Phoebadius explains “The Father is greater than I” as referring to the Father as unoriginate source, and shows that “I in the Father and the Father in me” rules out both Sabellius and Arius.
Against the Arians 14Phoebadius of Agen · ca. 357-358 · Phoebadius argues from John that the Son does all the Father’s works, is one with him by nature, and knows him perfectly, which would be impossible if the Son had a beginning.
Against the Arians 15Phoebadius of Agen · ca. 357-358 · Phoebadius argues that making the Son subject to the Father along with creation numbers him among creatures, contradicting the Scriptures that God is one and that the Son bears the Father’s name.
Against the Arians 16Phoebadius of Agen · ca. 357-358 · Phoebadius argues that the Father’s having no beginning does not imply that the Son has one, since the Father was never without his Word and Wisdom, and he explains Prov 8:22 of Wisdom’s eternal birth.
Against the Arians 17Phoebadius of Agen · ca. 357-358 · Phoebadius argues that the Son, like the Father, is invisible in his divine nature, since the Old Testament appearances of God were seen only in dreams, mirrors, and visions.
Against the Arians 18Phoebadius of Agen · ca. 357-358 · Phoebadius argues that the Son, as God, is neither visible, mortal, nor passible; the sufferings belonged to the human nature, to which the Son was united without leaving heaven.
Against the Arians 19Phoebadius of Agen · ca. 357-358 · Phoebadius warns that the Arians use “God from God, light from light” to make the Son a second, separate God, and rejects their claim that the Son “suffered with” the man he took, since as God he is impassible.
Against the Arians 20Phoebadius of Agen · ca. 357-358 · Phoebadius argues that Father and Son are one God in two persons, distinct but not divided, and that the Son is the Word, Wisdom, and Spirit of God, a real substance, not an empty sound.
Against the Arians 21Phoebadius of Agen · ca. 357-358 · Phoebadius explains Phil 2 of the Word’s self-humbling and Rom 11:36 (“from him, through him, in him”) of the distinct but inseparable Father and Son.
Against Arius 1.1Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus begins his reply by comparing the letters of Arius and Eusebius of Nicomedia with the Nicene faith, accepting their denials but rejecting the claim that the Son was made from nothing.
Against Arius 1.2Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus argues from Ephesians 3, John 1:18 and John 8:19 that God can be known through the Son, who reveals the Father because he is of the same substance.
Against Arius 1.3Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus argues from John 1:1–3 that the Word, who was in the beginning and made all things, cannot be from nothing and is equal to the Father, though he differs as the one who acts outwardly.
Against Arius 1.4Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus explains that the Father is being at rest and the Word is the same being in outward operation, and applies this to the true light of John 1.
Against Arius 1.5Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus gathers texts from John 1–5 showing that the Son is God, life, light, Christ and Saviour, and true Son of the Father.
Against Arius 1.6Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus cites John 5–6 to show that the Son, the bread from heaven, is life from the living Father, so that each is in the other.
Against Arius 1.7Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus argues that Christ's sayings in John would be blasphemy from a mere man, and that “I am in the Father” means unity of substance, not of dignity alone.
Against Arius 1.8Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus reads John 7:37–39 to show the Spirit flowing from the Son as the Son from the Father's bosom, so that the three are homoousios, and adds further texts from John 8–10.
Against Arius 1.9Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus argues from Philippians 2:6 that the Son is equal to the Father in power and therefore in substance, against Arius.
Against Arius 1.10Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus distinguishes Christ's natural sonship from our adoption, against Photinus, and explains his prayers and fear as part of the mystery of the incarnation.
Against Arius 1.11Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus cites John 12 and 14 to show that Father and Son are two from one substance, and that the Spirit, “another Paraclete”, is the power of Christ.
Against Arius 1.13Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus explains how the Son is both equal to the Father and lower, and how the Spirit, the hidden power of the Word, receives from Christ as Christ from the Father.
Against Arius 1.14Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus explains the order of Christ's sayings about coming from the Father in John 16–17, and shows from them that Christ existed before the world and is God in a man.
Against Arius 1.15Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus adds texts from John and Matthew, including the confessions of Satan and the demons, and argues from Matthew 11:27 that only one who shares God's substance can know him.
Against Arius 1.17Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus cites Matthew 22 and Romans 2, 4 and 8 to show that Christ is God and that the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ and Christ are one substance in three.
Against Arius 1.18Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus reads Romans 11:36 of Father, Son and Spirit, admits that the generation is beyond understanding, and argues from 1 Corinthians 2 and 12 that the one Spirit is God, Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Against Arius 1.19Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus explains in what sense Christ is the image of God: not a shadow but the living, self-subsisting form and action of the Father's being, homoousios with him.
Against Arius 1.20Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus reads Genesis 1:26 to show that Christ is the image of God and one image with the Father, while man's rational soul is made according to the image and is to reach the likeness through faith.
Against Arius 1.21Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus gathers texts from 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Galatians and Philippians to show that Christ existed before the incarnation and, being “equal with God” (Phil 2:6), shares God's substance.
Against Arius 1.22Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus argues from Philippians 2 that Christ is the form of God, homoousios with him, who emptied himself and became man rather than taking up a man, as Marcellus and Photinus held.
Against Arius 1.23Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus rejects the Photinian, Arian and homoiousian positions, arguing that substance as such cannot be “like” another substance, so that the Son must be homoousios, not homoiousios.
Against Arius 1.24Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus expounds Colossians 1:13–20 to show that Christ, the image of the invisible God and firstborn before all creation, is begotten, not created, and is the cause and fullness of all things.
Against Arius 1.25Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus argues that the Son, the fountain of life and the fullness in whom the Godhead dwells bodily, must be homoousios with the Father, through whom all things are gathered into one like a chain.
Against Arius 1.26Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus applies 1 Timothy 3:16 to the incarnation of the pre-existent Word, who gives life to all things, and reads Isaiah 45:14–15 as a prophecy that God is in Christ.
Against Arius 1.27Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus reads Isaiah 45:14 against Jews, Photinians and Arians, and explains that the Word, God's power and wisdom, always proceeds from the Father as action from being.
Against Arius 1.28Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus attacks the new “homoiousion” party, arguing that its claim to antiquity is empty since Nicaea confirmed the homoousion, and that heretics were condemned for their own errors, not for saying homoousion.
Against Arius 1.30Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus argues that the Word is God's image, not a likeness, defines substance, and answers the objection that “substance” is unscriptural by appealing to epiousios (Matt 6:11), periousios (Titus 2:14) and Jeremiah 23.
Against Arius 1.31Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus argues that God, called light and spirit in Scripture, is substance, and that the Son is his image, form, will and Word, light from light, always with him.
Against Arius 1.34Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus describes the Son as the image and effulgence of the Father, eternally begotten, the universal being that proceeds from the Father above the universal yet remains in him.
Against Arius 1.35Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus argues from Colossians 1:13–15 and John 1 that the Son born of Mary, who redeemed us, is the same as the eternal image and Word, the firstborn before all creation.
Against Arius 1.36Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus argues that the Son of Colossians 1, through whom all things were created, is the Word of John 1, since both texts ascribe creation “through him”.
Against Arius 1.37Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus compares Colossians 1:16 with Romans 11:36 and 1 Corinthians 8:6 to show that Paul gives the same prepositions, and so the same power and substance, to the Father and the Son.
Against Arius 1.38Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus expounds 1 Corinthians 15:24–28, arguing that the Son subjects all things by the Father's power and the Father subjects them to the Son, which shows that both are one action and one substance.
Against Arius 1.39Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus explains that the Word, acting by the Father's power, made and governs all things from creation to the final abolition of death, after which his activity rests and God is all in all.
Against Arius 1.40Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus argues from 1 Corinthians 1:24 that Christ, God's power and wisdom, is one substance with God, as sight is one with the power of sight.
Against Arius 1.41Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus argues from John 1:4 and 5:26 that Father and Son both have life in themselves, rejecting “like substance” and explaining that their substance is in a certain way both “itself” and “the same”.
Against Arius 1.42Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus explains that the Father is life at rest within and the Son is the same life as motion made manifest, so that the two are homoousion, each in the other.
Against Arius 1.44Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus distinguishes his teaching from Patripassianism: the Father is impassible, and the Son suffered only according to the flesh, while divine “emotions” are not passions but nature.
Against Arius 1.45Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus dismisses the Patripassians, Arians, Marcellians and Photinians, and the homoiousian followers of Basil, whose image of a spark struck from stone and iron he calls hidden Arianism.
Against Arius 1.46Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus closes his treatment of the homoousion by listing questions still to be answered and stressing that the Scriptures speak above all of the incarnate Word crucified and risen.
Against Arius 1.47Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus sets out his creed: the Father almighty, the only-begotten Son homoousios with him, the Word incarnate, crucified and risen, and the Holy Spirit, three who are one God.
Against Arius 1.51Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus describes the Son as infinite life going forth from the Father and returning as wisdom, and reads the incarnation from the virgin as the earthly type of this descent and return.
Against Arius 1.53Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus explains that the Son is the form in which the hidden Father is seen, life in which being appears, and calls for faith in the incarnate Christ as the way to eternal life.
Against Arius 1.56Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus calls the three one light, Word, voice and utterance; the soul is only an echo, like John the Baptist, while the Son is the life that became flesh by the Spirit and the power of the Most High.
Against Arius 1.57Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus says Christ is at once flesh, Spirit, power and Word, and describes the eternal generation as the divine life going out to know itself and at once returning into identity, like faces looking at each other.
Against Arius 1.58Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus calls the Holy Spirit the “mother” of Jesus above and below, and reads Luke 1:35 as the Spirit and the Word together bringing about the incarnation for the liberation of soul and flesh.
Against Arius 1.64Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus ends Book 1 by suggesting that man was made in the image of God even in the body, since the Word was to take flesh, rise and ascend, and our bodies will become spiritual.
Against Arius 2.1Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus opens Book 2 by arguing that God is not without substance but above it, and that Christ, the Only-begotten, is from the Father's substance, not from nothing.
Against Arius 2.2Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus rejects the claim that the Son came from nothing, distinguishes Marcellus and Photinus, and argues against those who say “like substance” that substance in two is the same, not like, so that Father and Son are homoousion.
Against Arius 2.3Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus answers the objection that “substance” is not in Scripture by arguing that God, though above substance, may be called substance, and by citing Jeremiah 23, Psalm 139 and Hebrews 1:3.
Against Arius 3.1Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus explains that the Word is the image of God, light from light and of the same substance, and that to see the hidden Father one must die to outward life and understanding.
Against Arius 3.2Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus explains the generation as God's inner motion looking outward to see and know himself, so that the Son, the one motion and act, is only-begotten and consubstantial with the Father.
Against Arius 3.3Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus argues that the Son is life from himself, in whom all things were made, and that in the incarnation the Word took the universal principle of flesh and of soul, so that the whole man was assumed and freed.
Against Arius 3.8Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus argues that the Son is the one motion from the Father, life and knowledge, and that the Spirit exists as the knowledge within that one motion, receiving all from the Son as the Son from the Father.
Against Arius 3.10Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus shows from Romans, Ephesians and John that Father, Son and Spirit are knowledge and life, one substance and one will, and that to believe in Christ, the Word of life, is to know God and have the Spirit.
Against Arius 3.11Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus argues from John 8 and 10 that the Father is known in the Son as substance in life, and that the Word and Spirit, which lay down and take up the soul, are of a higher substance than the soul.
Against Arius 3.12Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus explains that the soul is the image of the Word, of like substance, which the Word, as life, takes up in the incarnation and lays down in death, and identifies the Spirit who came after Christ's departure as the one motion of the Word.
Against Arius 3.14Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus reads John 14:15–26 to show that Christ and the Holy Spirit are two Paracletes but one motion, Christ the Spirit made open in the flesh and the Holy Spirit the same Spirit hidden.
Against Arius 3.15Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus explains Christ's “going to the Father” as the sanctifying of the risen humanity, and reads John 15:26 and 16:8–11 to show the Father, Son and Spirit joined in sending and in convicting the world.
Against Arius 3.18Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus ends Book 3 by explaining how Father and Son are two as one, Christ and Spirit two in one motion, and the Trinity one God, recalling the Spirit's role in Christ's conception and baptism.
Against Arius 4.6Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus argues that the Father is living itself and the Son is life begotten from that living, citing John 1:4, 14:6, 7:37–38 and the Samaritan woman to show that Christ is life and eternal life.
Against Arius 4.7Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus reads John 6:53–62 to show that the whole Christ, spirit, soul and flesh, is eternal life, and that Father and Son are consubstantial, distinguished only as cause and caused.
Against Arius 4.8Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus explains the Son as life, the form in which the Father's hidden living is seen, citing John 1:18, 14:9, Philippians 2:6, Colossians 1:15 and Exodus 33.
Against Arius 4.10Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus argues that the Father is living and the Son life, begotten from living, so that they are two only as begetter and begotten, one substance and one God, homoousion.
Against Arius 4.13Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus contrasts the soul, a made substance with self-originated motion, with the Son, life eternally made by the Father's living without beginning, so that maker and made are in each other and of one substance.
Against Arius 4.14Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus answers the objection that two living ones would both be unbegotten: the Son lives “because of the Father”, receiving the same substance from him, and so is homoousios in both senses, the same and together.
Against Arius 4.17Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus explains that life and understanding go forth from God's inner motion as Christ and the Spirit, and that Christ gives life through faith while the Spirit adds the knowledge that completes salvation.
Against Arius 4.18Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus argues from John 16, Matthew 28 and Sirach 1 that the Spirit, the wisdom and knowledge of God, completes the faith Christ sowed, and that Father, Son and Spirit are homoousia; he then raises the question of how inner life and understanding appear outwardly.
Against Arius 4.28Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus explains that the Son is the form and image through which God is known, the intelligence that, understanding itself, came forth outward from the inner intelligence which is the Father.
Against Arius 4.29Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus argues that the Son, the outer intelligence understanding the Father's inner intelligence, received the Father's whole fullness and is homoousion with him in every respect, equal with God.
Against Arius 4.30Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus argues from Philippians 2 and the resurrection that the Son, the form of God, is other than the Father though having all that the Father has by the Father's gift: God's hidden being made manifest.
Against Arius 4.31Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus explains that the Son, the Father's image and the Logos through which all things are made, acts both by the Father's power and by his own will, and, like a river from a fountain, suffers only in act and operation, not in substance.
Against Arius 4.32Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus sums up: Father and Son are homoousion; the Son, the Logos of all things, became incarnate from the Virgin, and Philippians 2:5–8 shows that he who existed in the form of God emptied himself even to the cross.
Against Arius 4.33Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus ends the work by restating that the pre-existent Word became flesh, that the Holy Spirit is the hidden, inward Christ, and that Father, Son and Spirit, each with his own existence, are one substance, a faith on which salvation rests.
On the Generation of the Divine Word 1Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus answers Candidus by reminding him that God is beyond human speech and that the Scriptures call Christ the only-begotten Son, one with the Father.
On the Generation of the Divine Word 2Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus argues that we are sons by adoption only because Christ is the true Son, and that God, above being, begot Jesus as the perfect existent, not from nothing.
On the Generation of the Divine Word 12Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus says God is not one of the things he causes, and recalls the four senses of non-being against Candidus's claim that the Son came from nothing by election.
On the Generation of the Divine Word 14Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus argues that God begot the existent from himself, as a hidden child is brought to light at birth, and that this begotten existent is Jesus Christ, He who is.
On the Generation of the Divine Word 15Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus calls the Son the one perfect existent begotten by the Pre-existent before all things, the image in operation of the Father who is existent in power.
On the Generation of the Divine Word 16Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus argues from John 1 that the Word was in the beginning, with God, and in the Father's bosom, and so was not made from nothing but manifested from the Father's hidden power.
On the Generation of the Divine Word 17Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus defines the Word as the Father's unmoved, ever-working active power, which was in the beginning with God and is God, not made from nothing.
On the Generation of the Divine Word 18Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus explains that the Word is the maker of all things, yet God, as first cause and cause of himself, is the source even of the Word.
On the Generation of the Divine Word 19Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus argues that in God being and acting are one, the Father being and the Son acting, so that the Son is in the Father and the Father in the Son.
On the Generation of the Divine Word 20Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus reads John 1:1 and 1:18 to mean that the Word is within God's existence, as acting within being, so that Father and Son are two in power but one in simplicity.
On the Generation of the Divine Word 22Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus says the Word, God's will and action, proceeded from the Father's being by a self-begotten motion outside time, so that being and acting are one and simple.
On the Generation of the Divine Word 23Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus concludes that the Son, as the action of the Father's being, is not from nothing but homoousios with the Father, God in God.
On the Generation of the Divine Word 24Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus rejects the claim that the Son came from nothing, since what truly is not cannot even be thought by God, and God's power begets only what has the power to be.
On the Generation of the Divine Word 25Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus explains that all things existed potentially in God, the Word being their seed, and appeared in action through the Son.
On the Generation of the Divine Word 26Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus answers the objection that “with God” means outside God: as God breathed the soul from within, so the Son was breathed forth from within, as Psalm 45 says, and was not made.
On the Generation of the Divine Word 27Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus reads Genesis 1:1 (with Aquila's “in the head”) as creation in Christ, the first of all, and concludes that the Father and the Word are homoousios.
On the Generation of the Divine Word 29Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus argues that texts saying Christ was “made” (Proverbs 8, Galatians 4, Acts 2) refer to his work after the eternal generation, not to his being, so that he is homoousios with the Father.
On the Generation of the Divine Word 30Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus turns Candidus's argument back on him: making is also motion, so not every motion is change, and the Son, the Word begotten by the divine intellect, is Son by truth, not by making.
On Receiving the Homoousion 3Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus charges his opponents with being new Arians who say “God from God” yet mean “from nothing”, and answers their argument that generation would divide or diminish God, since spiritual beings beget without change.
Hymns on the Trinity 1Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus's first hymn invokes Father, Son and Holy Spirit and sets out in verse his teaching that the Son is the motion and life of the Father's rest, one substance with him, and the Spirit the bond who returns all to the Father.
Hymns on the Trinity 2Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus's second hymn is a litany of “Have mercy, Lord; have mercy, Christ”, confessing the Son's consubstantial life and asking for help in turning from the world to God.
Hymns on the Trinity 3Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · Victorinus's third hymn is a litany to the blessed Trinity, naming Father, Son and Spirit through triads such as substance, form and knowledge, love, grace and communion, and fountain, river and watering.
To Justinus the Manichaean 2Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · The author argues that the sun, the stars and the whole world refute the Manichaean doctrine of two unbegotten principles, and presses Justin on the Manichaean denial that Christ's flesh came from Mary.
To Justinus the Manichaean 9Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · The author contrasts Babylonian magic with Christ's raising of buried flesh, insists that Christ was born of a virgin, died and rose in real flesh, and argues that darkness and evil have no being of their own but arise from the act of another, as cold from wind.
To Justinus the Manichaean 16Marius Victorinus · ca. 357–362 · The author traces sin to the soul's misuse of free will, exposes the contradictions of Manichaean docetism about Christ's death and burial, criticizes Manichaean fasting, and urges Justin to confess God as creator of soul and body.
On the Synods 10Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · Hilary summarizes the aims of the Sirmian creed of 357 before quoting it.
On the Synods 11Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · The text of the Second Creed of Sirmium (357), which forbids talk of substance and calls the Father greater than the Son.
On the Synods 12Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · Hilary defines essence and substance and quotes the first anathema of the Eastern bishops against identifying the Son with the Father.
On the Synods 15Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · The Son's likeness to the Father in nature is real and complete; the fourth anathema requires likeness in essence.
On the Synods 16Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · The Son's life from the Father implies likeness of essence; the fifth anathema rejects reading Proverbs 8 as making the Son a creature.
On the Synods 17Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · Proverbs 8 joins "created" and "begot" to show that the Son's birth is real yet without bodily change in the Father.
On the Synods 18Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · "Created" and "begotten" together express a perfect birth; the sixth anathema condemns granting the Son likeness in working but not in essence.
On the Synods 19Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · Likeness of power implies likeness of nature; the seventh anathema condemns a Father of a Son unlike in essence.
On the Synods 23Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · Like the serpent and dove, the creed guards both against merging the persons and against making their natures unlike; the tenth anathema denies a time when God became Father.
On the Synods 24Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · The name of Father is timeless; the eleventh anathema forbids making the Father older than the Son.
On the Synods 25Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · Likeness in essence implies no difference in time; the twelfth anathema forbids making the timeless Son the unbegotten Father.
On the Synods 29Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · The text of the Dedication Creed of Antioch (341).
On the Synods 33Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · Hilary shows the Antiochene creed teaches no difference of essence, then introduces the creed of the Eastern bishops at Serdica.
On the Synods 34Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · The text of the Eastern creed of Serdica (343).
On the Synods 35Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · Hilary explains that the Serdican creed's anathemas make the Son's origin eternal and from God's own substance.
On the Synods 38Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · The text of the First Creed of Sirmium (351) with its twenty-seven anathemas against Photinus and others.
On the Synods 40Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · The first anathema secures the Son's eternal origin from God's own substance.
On the Synods 42Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · The one name of God does not abolish the person of the Son, so the unbegotten God was not born of Mary.
On the Synods 43Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · The fifth anathema condemns those who say the Son pre-existed only in God's foreknowledge.
On the Synods 45Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · The seventh anathema condemns the theory that the Son is an expansion of the Father's substance into the Virgin.
On the Synods 46Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · The eighth anathema rejects making the Son a mere spoken word; the ninth and tenth guard the confession of God and man born of Mary.
On the Synods 47Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · The God in the man born of Mary is truly God, but not the unbegotten Father.
On the Synods 48Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · In becoming flesh the Word lost nothing of his divinity, as his miracles, transfiguration, and resurrection show.
On the Synods 49Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · The Word suffered in the flesh without his divine nature becoming passible; anathemas XIII–XVI follow.
On the Synods 50Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · Anathemas XIII–XVI were aimed at Photinus's denial of the Son's pre-existence; anathema XVII follows.
On the Synods 51Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · The Son's subjection to the Father is one of obedience and name, not a lesser essence.
On the Synods 58Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · Creatures exist by God's will, but the Son exists by birth from God's nature.
On the Synods 59Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · The Son is born neither by bare will nor by compulsion of nature, but by the Father's willing, impassible begetting.
On the Synods 61Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · The final anathema sums up the faith against Photinus: the Son is not separated from the Father in any way.
On the Synods 64Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · Hilary states his own faith in a series of balanced affirmations and denials about Father and Son.
On the Synods 69Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · One should affirm one substance only after confessing the Son's birth, likeness, subjection, and deity.
On the Synods 70Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · Truths about Christ must be stated together, not in isolation; so too "one substance" must follow the doctrine of the Son's birth and likeness.
On the Synods 73Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · From Adam and Seth (Genesis) and John 5:18, Hilary shows that likeness by birth is equality of nature.
On the Synods 75Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · From John 5:19 Hilary shows that the Son's obedience to the Father goes with an equal power of nature.
On the Synods 79Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · Hilary rejects the claim of Valens and Ursacius that they forbade the terms through ignorance, pointing to the Sirmian creed's other errors.
On the Synods 84Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 358–359 · Hilary quotes the Nicene Creed and shows that its homoousion means only that the Son is born from the Father's substance and not from elsewhere.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 8Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · The rest of the Dated Creed of Sirmium calls the Son “like the Father according to the Scriptures” and bans the word “essence.”
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 14Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · By rejecting their fathers the Acacians reverse Paul’s praise of tradition; Athanasius appends the writings of Arius and the creeds of their councils to show their inconsistency.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 15Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · Athanasius quotes extracts from Arius’s Thalia, which teach that the Son came to exist by the Father’s will, is foreign to his essence, and cannot know him.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 16Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · Arius and his followers’ letter to Bishop Alexander calls the Son a perfect creature created by God’s will before the ages, not eternal and not of the Father’s essence.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 17Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · Before Nicaea, Eusebius of Nicomedia, Eusebius of Caesarea, Athanasius of Nazarba, and George wrote in support of Arius’s views.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 18Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · Asterius the Sophist, who had sacrificed in the persecution, toured the churches teaching that the Son is one of God’s many created powers, distinct from God’s own eternal Power and Wisdom.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 19Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · Asterius further taught that the Son is one of the intellectual creatures, made by God’s will and power.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 22Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · At the Dedication Council of Antioch (341) the Eusebians issued a creed disclaiming Arius as their master, and then a second, fuller creed with anathemas.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 24Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · Theophronius of Tyana’s creed, accepted by all at Antioch, condemned Marcellus, Sabellius, and Paul of Samosata.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 25Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · The Dedication Council numbered ninety bishops; a few months later a fourth creed was sent to the emperor Constans in Gaul.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 26Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · The Long-Lined Creed (Macrostich) of 344, sent to Italy, rejects Arius’s slogans, Marcellus and Photinus, and Sabellius, while subordinating the Son to the Father.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 27Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · The First Creed of Sirmium (351), drawn up against Photinus, repeats the Antiochene creed and adds twenty-seven anathemas.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 28Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · The Second Creed of Sirmium (357), written in Latin, bans “essence,” “of the same essence,” and “of like essence,” and declares the Father greater than the Son.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 29Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · After suppressing the Dated Creed, the Acacians issued a new creed at Seleucia rejecting both “of the same essence” and “of like essence” and condemning “unlike.”
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 30Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · At Constantinople (360) the Acacians revised the creed again, banning “hypostasis” as well as “essence,” and forced it on the bishops of Ariminum.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 33Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · The offense taken at “from the essence” and “of the same essence” comes not from the words, which most accept, but from those who misinterpret them.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 34Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · Only the Arians are offended at the Nicene terms; and if “Father” does not mean God’s essence, the Son could not truly be from the Father.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 35Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · Since “God” and “Father” signify God’s very essence, to say the Son is “from God” is to say he is “from the essence,” while creatures are works made by God’s will.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 36Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · The council wrote “from the essence” to distinguish the Son from creatures; the Arians, who object to unscriptural terms, themselves invented many and used “essence” at Antioch.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 37Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · Acacius and Eudoxius contradict themselves, having called the Son the exact image of the Father’s essence at Antioch and then rejected “essence” in Isauria; such men cannot be trusted.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 39Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · Unscriptural terms with a pious meaning are no fault, while heretics misuse even Scripture; the Arians object to Nicaea only because it condemned their heresy.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 40Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · Those who find the terms obscure should ask to learn rather than reject them, and should at least accept the council’s anathemas, which state their meaning.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 41Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · Those who accept all of Nicaea but “of the same essence,” such as Basil of Ancyra, are brothers; “from the essence” and “of like essence” together amount to “of the same essence.”
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 42Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · As “offspring” and “Son” are understood of God without bodily notions, so must “of the same essence” be, since both are said of the same Son.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 43Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · Some hesitate over “of the same essence” because the council that condemned Paul of Samosata rejected it; but both councils are fathers, and Nicaea followed the earlier Dionysii.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 44Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · Dionysius of Alexandria’s defense: though the word is not in Scripture, his arguments always implied that Christ is of the same essence as God.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 45Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · The council against Paul of Samosata rejected “of the same essence” in Paul’s bodily sense, while Nicaea affirmed it against the Arians; like Paul’s varied statements about the law, both are right in their context.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 46Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · As “unbegotten” has more than one meaning, so the councils’ different uses of “of the same essence” can both be pious.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 47Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · Ignatius called Christ both originate and unoriginate in different senses; the fathers should be read in harmony, and the oneness of Father and Son is one of essence, not mere agreement.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 49Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · Scripture gives the Son every title it gives the Father—God, Almighty, Light, Creator, Lord, King, giver of life—except the name Father.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 50Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · If all the Father’s attributes belong to the Son, he cannot be of a foreign essence without our worshiping a stranger; so he is rightly called of the same essence.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 51Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · The Son deifies and gives light because he is the Father’s own Word, not a participant; and “of the same essence” does not imply a third essence prior to Father and Son.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 52Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · There is one divinity, the Father’s, which is in the Son as light is in its radiance; so the Son, who is one with the Father, should be called of the same essence.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 53Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · Likeness belongs to qualities, not essences; a Son “of like essence” would be Son only by participation, like creatures, whereas the true Son is of the same essence.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 54Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · Nicaea rightly called the Son of the same essence; Athanasius closes with a prayer that strife cease and all confess one Lord, one faith, one baptism.
Oratio (Ephemeris 3), lines 1-23Decimus Magnus Ausonius · ca. 360-390 · The opening of Ausonius’s morning prayer: God known only to the devout mind, and the Son, the Word through whom all was made, who suffered and opened the way back to eternal life.
Oratio (Ephemeris 3), lines 67-85Decimus Magnus Ausonius · ca. 360-390 · The close of the morning prayer: Ausonius asks for health, peace and a calm death, and commends his prayer to Christ, true God from true God, light from light.
Homilies on the Psalms 28.2Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · Basil explains Ps 29:1–6: the rams are the Church's leaders and their sons the faithful; glory and honor are brought by good works and right doctrine; worship belongs within the Church's one court; the Lord's voice is an inward impression, heard in baptism and the Gospel's thunder; and he breaks the proud cedars of Lebanon.
Homilies on the Psalms 28.5Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · Basil explains Ps 29:6–11: Christ is the “unicorn” as having the one power of the Father; God's voice divides the fire of judgment into light and burning, makes the desert fruitful, prepares the “deer” (the saints) and uncovers the thickets of sin; he rebukes chatter in church, and reads the flood as baptism.
Homilies on the Psalms 29.1Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · Basil distinguishes “psalm” (action) from “song” (contemplation), reads the “dedication of the house” of Christ's incarnation and of the Church's renewal, and asks how man can “exalt” God.
Homilies on the Psalms 33.2Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · Basil expounds Ps 34:1–7: blessing God at all times, even in affliction; praise as the soul's continual thought of God; boasting only in the Lord; the meek magnifying God together in quiet contemplation; affliction proving the saints; enlightenment of those who come to Christ the true light; voluntary poverty, of which Christ is the model; and the angel who guards the God-fearing.
Homilies on the Psalms 33.12Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · On Ps 34:17–19 Basil teaches that the righteous cry in the heart for heavenly things; the Lord's nearness to the brokenhearted foretells his coming in the flesh; spiritual humility differs from the degradation of sin; and afflictions are the athlete's contest from which God delivers.
Homilies on the Psalms 44.1Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · Basil explains the title of Psalm 44 (45): “those who will be changed” are human beings, changing in body and soul and finally at the resurrection; the song is for the beloved, Christ, known only by perfect love; and he reads verses 1–2 as the prophet's own word, inspired by the Spirit, the swift scribe.
Homilies on the Psalms 44.4Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · Basil expounds Ps 45:2–7: the beauty of the Word's Godhead seen by the prophet; the grace poured on Christ's lips and on the preachers of the Gospel; the sword of the Word joined to the flesh, whose incarnation is the greatest proof of power; the arrows of the word that wound souls with love; and the throne and scepter of the Son, whom the psalm calls God.
Homilies on the Psalms 44.8Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · On Ps 45:7–8 Basil explains the anointing of Christ's flesh with the Holy Spirit, the oil of gladness given to him fully and not in part, his natural love of righteousness, which we too can learn, and the myrrh, stacte and cassia as signs of his burial.
Homilies on the Psalms 45.2Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · God is the true helper of the righteous, like a general who brings help where the line is pressed; afflictions find the righteous who walk the narrow way, but they produce endurance and hope, and the one who trusts in God fears nothing even if the earth is overturned, while we panic at a man's anger or a dog.
Homilies on the Psalms 45.4Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · On Ps 46:4–5 Basil makes the quiet river that gladdens God's city the Holy Spirit, whom the righteous drink now in part and later in fullness; the city is the Church or the heavenly Jerusalem, the tabernacle is Christ's flesh, and the morning help is the rising of Christ, the Sun of righteousness, in the soul.
Homilies on the Psalms 45.5Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · The morning help of Ps 46:5 is also Christ's resurrection at dawn; Ps 46:6 pictures a besieged city relieved by a general whose shout routs the nations; and in Ps 46:7 the prophet sees Emmanuel, God with us, the same God who appeared to the patriarchs, not another god.
Homilies on the Psalms 48.4Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · No brother, not even Moses, could ransom Israel, for Moses too sinned at the rock; only Christ, God made man, could pay the price of our souls with his precious blood, needing no propitiation for himself. The Lord who never wearies toiled in this age, and so do the righteous like Paul, Lazarus and Job, who will live to the end, while the luxurious rich man and the worldly wise will die.
Homilies on the Psalms 48.9Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · On Ps 49:14–15 Basil reads death as the shepherd given the captives by the devil, from Adam to Moses, until the Good Shepherd laid down his life, led them out of Hades into the morning of the resurrection, and handed them to the angels; the psalmist's hope that God will redeem his soul from Hades foretells Christ's descent into Hades.
Homilies on the Psalms 61.2Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · On Ps 62:1–5 Basil teaches that the soul must be subject to God, its Maker, from whom comes salvation, Christ himself; the righteous are shaken only humanly by trials, while the devil's servants assault man until, like a leaning wall, he falls, yet God rebuilds him for the resurrection. He discusses the variant “in thirst” and “in a lie,” and condemns those who flatter vice by giving it the names of virtues.
On the Holy Spirit 27Didymus the Blind · Greek ca. 360-390; Latin 387-391 · The Spirit is "another Paraclete" not by nature but by activity: Christ intercedes as high priest, the Spirit comforts, yet the Spirit too intercedes for the saints.
On the Holy Spirit 31Didymus the Blind · Greek ca. 360-390; Latin 387-391 · Sent in the Son's name, the Spirit shares the Son's divine character and makes adopted sons; he teaches by nature, not acquired skill, and with the power of the Most High formed Christ's body in the Virgin.
On the Holy Spirit 46Didymus the Blind · Greek ca. 360-390; Latin 387-391 · No envoy or angel, not even Moses, could save Israel, but God himself, who spared his creatures and gave his Son to redeem them from the devil.
On the Holy Spirit 51Didymus the Blind · Greek ca. 360-390; Latin 387-391 · The right hand of God is Christ, as the Psalms and Peter's Pentecost sermon show of the risen Lord exalted at God's right hand.
On the Holy Spirit 52Didymus the Blind · Greek ca. 360-390; Latin 387-391 · Christ, exalted by God's right hand, poured out the Spirit; the Spirit's filling of Jesus is said of his humanity, for the one Christ as God the Word admits no change or increase.
Apology 11Eunomius of Cyzicus · ca. 360 · Eunomius argues that likeness in substance would make the Son equal and unbegotten, which the Lord's words "the Father is greater than I" exclude.
Apology 12Eunomius of Cyzicus · ca. 360 · Eunomius says the names "Son", "offspring", and "thing made" show the Son's different substance, and that the Son did not exist before he was begotten by the Father's will.
Apology 13Eunomius of Cyzicus · ca. 360 · Eunomius argues that to say the Son was begotten while already existing is absurd, since what exists before its begetting is unbegotten.
Apology 14Eunomius of Cyzicus · ca. 360 · Eunomius argues that a Son begotten while already existing would be a second unbegotten, and that generation by growth or change is absurd.
Apology 15Eunomius of Cyzicus · ca. 360 · Eunomius affirms that the Son was begotten not existing, by the Father's will, yet stands above all creatures as the one through whom all things were made.
Apology 17Eunomius of Cyzicus · ca. 360 · Eunomius argues that words like "Father" and "Spirit" mean something different of God, so that calling the Son a thing made does not make him like the creatures made through him.
Apology 18Eunomius of Cyzicus · ca. 360 · Eunomius argues that names must follow the realities, and criticizes those who call the Son begotten and made yet teach that he is like the Father in substance.
Apology 19Eunomius of Cyzicus · ca. 360 · Eunomius answers the objection that Father and Son are alike as "light from light": if "light" signifies the substance, the begotten light differs from the unbegotten as much as begotten from unbegotten.
Apology 20Eunomius of Cyzicus · ca. 360 · Eunomius argues that both the study of the substances and the study of their works and activities show that the Son is unlike the Father in substance, and the Spirit unlike the Son.
Apology 21Eunomius of Cyzicus · ca. 360 · Eunomius cites Scripture to show that the Father alone is the one true God, God of the Son, while confessing the Son as God, immortal, wise, and good, caused by the Father.
Apology 24Eunomius of Cyzicus · ca. 360 · Eunomius argues from Col 1:15–16 that the Son is the image not of the Father's substance but of his activity and will.
Apology 26Eunomius of Cyzicus · ca. 360 · Eunomius sums up: one unbegotten God made the Son, through whom the Spirit was made; the Son is neither "of the same substance" nor "of like substance" with the Father.
Apology 27Eunomius of Cyzicus · ca. 360 · Eunomius confesses the Son as obedient minister of the Father, incarnate, crucified, risen, and coming as judge, subject with all things to the Father, and closes by urging his hearers to judge rightly before Christ's judgment seat.
Apology 28Eunomius of Cyzicus · ca. 360 · A closing creed-like summary: one unbegotten God who by his will made the Son, and through the Son the Holy Spirit and all things.
On the Orthodox Faith against the Arians 0Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · The work opens with the Nicene Creed and a preface in which the author explains that he has rewritten an earlier book against the Arians to remove doubts that he confused the persons of Father and Son.
On the Orthodox Faith against the Arians 2Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · The author argues that the Arians replace “of one substance” with “like” in order to make the Son a creature, and shows from Scripture that the Son, as Word and Wisdom, was eternally born of the Father and is the Creator, not a creature.
On the Orthodox Faith against the Arians 3Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · The author answers the objection that homoousion is not in Scripture: the Arians themselves use the unscriptural “God from God, light from light,” but in a sense that makes the Son a creature, as some heretics speak of resurrection while denying the resurrection of the flesh.
On the Orthodox Faith against the Arians 4Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · The author answers the Arian objection that God cannot be called “substance,” arguing that God’s substance is his own simple being, and that the Son, born of it, is homoousios with the Father.
On the Orthodox Faith against the Arians 5Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · The author argues that the unity of substance is taught in Scripture, and that comparisons such as “light from light” illustrate but cannot define the Son’s birth from the Father.
On the Orthodox Faith against the Arians 6Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · The author argues that God cannot be defined or compared, and explains the many Scriptural names of the Son (Word, Wisdom, rock, lamb, lion, way, and others) as pointing to his works, not defining his majesty.
On the Orthodox Faith against the Arians 7Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · The author explains that Father and Son are two persons but one God and one substance, citing Baruch and Isaiah, and rejects both Sabellius and the Arians.
On the Orthodox Faith against the Arians 8Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · The author answers the Arian argument that the visible and changing appearances of the Son prove a different substance from the Father’s, explaining the theophanies and the incarnation as God showing himself without change, and closes with a confession of the Trinity and of Nicaea.
Tractate 1, section 4Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · The image of God lies in the soul's invisibility, immortality, reason and motion; the likeness lies in holy deeds and is restored in Christ, the second Adam.
Tractate 2, section 2Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · The one Lord whom Abraham worshiped came with two companions, Moses and Elijah, as at the Transfiguration; Abraham saw Christ's day and washed his feet.
Tractate 3, section 5Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · The one who spoke to Hagar is called both angel and God, showing that it was the Son, the messenger of great counsel and true God, against the Patripassians.
Tractate 5, section 2Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · Conquest of desire brings peace and freedom; chastity is defined; Joseph's many-colored tunic, dreams and sale figure the Church of the nations and Christ's betrayal and passion.
Tractate 5, section 3Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · Potiphar's wife figures the adulterous Synagogue that accused Christ; Joseph's prison is the underworld, and the two eunuchs figure the believing and unbelieving peoples.
Tractate 5, section 4Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · Pharaoh's seven good years figure the seven gifts of the Spirit and the lean years the famine under Antichrist; Joseph's chariot, herald, name, ring and robe figure Christ's exaltation.
Tractate 6, section 3Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · Simeon and Levi figure the scribes and priests who killed the prophets and 'hamstrung the bull', Christ, as in the parable of the tenants and Isaiah's rebuke.
Tractate 6, section 5Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · Judah's blessing points to Christ, praised by believers and judge of his enemies; the lion and lion's whelp show Father and Son, one in nature and distinct in person.
Tractate 6, section 6Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · The shoot of Judah is Mary, the flower Christ; the lion's sleep is Christ's secure death and the Father raised him; Gen 49:10 proves the Messiah has come, since Judah's kingdom has ceased.
Tractate 7, section 1Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · Egypt figures the world and Pharaoh the devil; the bricks of mud and straw are vices joined to empty thoughts; Christ, the new Moses, breaks the devil's power.
Tractate 7, section 2Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · Pharaoh's order to kill the males figures the devil's attack on the soul's virtues; the midwives are holy souls; the infant Moses, hidden three months, figures Christ hidden in the old covenant.
Tractate 9, section 1Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · The Passover lamb, to be taken 'from the sheep and the goats', is a figure of Christ, the lamb of whom Jeremiah and Isaiah speak; the puzzle of its double origin is posed.
Tractate 9, section 2Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · Christ is the lamb 'from sheep and goats' because he descends from Boaz the Israelite and Ruth the Moabite; the male, year-old, mature lamb of the first month figures his strength, ministry and passion.
Tractate 11, section 2Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · The spies figure the scribes, Pharisees and priests; the land of promise is Mary's flesh; the cluster on the pole is Christ on the cross between two peoples, Jews going before and Christians following.
Tractate 13, section 4Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · Samson killing the lion's whelp in the vineyard figures the leaders of Israel killing Christ, the lion of Judah, who was reckoned among sinners and made a curse to bring the blessing.
Tractate 14, section 1Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · Gideon's three hundred, the Greek tau, figure the cross; his fear figures Christ's human fear in Gethsemane, against docetists; his servant figures John the Baptist, forerunner of Christ even in the underworld.
Tractate 14, section 2Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · Midian's locust-like host figures the demonic powers; the barley loaf rolling in a trough is Christ born of Mary, who overthrows the devil; the three hundred in three companies figure the cross and the Trinity; the lapping 'dogs' are believing Gentiles.
Tractate 15, section 1Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · Elisha's healing of Jericho's waters with salt in an earthen vessel figures the Word made flesh, whose baptism made the waters fruitful to beget children of God.
Tractate 16, section 4Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · Israel provoked Christ, the true 'Israel' who alone sees God; the untreatable wounds of Isa 1:6 are cured only by repentance, almsgiving, chrism and gospel discipline, as in the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Tractate 18, section 2Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · The devil spoke through Nebuchadnezzar to name the Son of God in the furnace; the golden statue, sixty by six cubits, prefigures Antichrist and his number 666; the world's six thousand years will be followed by the kingdom of the saints.
Tractate 19, section 1Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · The high priest Jesus (Joshua) of Zechariah's vision is Christ, the great eternal priest after Melchizedek, opposed by the devil through Herod, the temptation, the Jews and Judas, and the devil will be rebuked at the judgment.
Tractate 19, section 2Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · Joshua's filthy garments figure the flesh, liable to sin, that Christ put on without sin; the 'brand plucked from the fire' is not the devil but human nature, rescued by Christ from Gehenna.
Tractate 19, section 3Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · Joshua clothed in the priestly robe figures the risen Christ, the high priest through whom all the sacrifices of the fathers were accepted, whose healings show that he is what he does, and who offered himself.
Tractate 20, section 2Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · The Spirit came at the incarnation and again on Christ at his baptism so that, resting in Christ's flesh, he might flow from him to the baptized; Gregory lists the Spirit's works in regeneration, sanctification, orthodoxy and the gifts sent at Pentecost.
Letter 175Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 360–390 · Gregory writes to Cledonius, who looked after the Church of Nazianzus, protesting that the Apollinarians are stealing his flock and falsely claiming that he shares their views.
Letter 177Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 360–390 · Gregory challenges the Apollinarians' claim to have been received by the Western synod, and sets out the faith: one and the same Christ, God before the ages and at the end also man, with anathemas against those who deny Mary is Theotokos.
Letter 179Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 360–390 · Gregory's anathemas continue: against two Sons, against a Christ indwelt only by grace, against refusing worship to the Crucified, and against adoptionism; Christ is one, of two natures.
Letter 181Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 360–390 · Gregory rejects the view that Christ has put off his flesh: he will return in the body, as seen at the Transfiguration.
Letter 183Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 360–390 · Gregory argues that Christ assumed a complete human nature, mind included, since the whole of Adam fell and the whole must be saved; intelligible realities can coexist without crowding one another.
Letter 185Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 360–390 · Gregory answers the objection that two perfect things cannot coexist: the human mind, perfect in its own order, is subordinate to God, as a torch is absorbed in a bonfire.
Letter 187Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 360–390 · Gregory argues that the mind, which first sinned in Adam, most needed salvation and so was assumed by Christ; the Apollinarians misread “the Word became flesh”.
Letter 189Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 360–390 · Gregory explains that “the Word became flesh” names the whole man by a part, as Scripture often does, and means that Christ took up our condition, as he is said to have become sin and a curse.
Letter 195Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 360–390 · Gregory tells Cledonius to hold communion only with those who confess the Spirit as God and one Son, not two, and explains how the Apollinarians use orthodox words with a different sense.
Letter 197Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 360–390 · Gregory shows how the Apollinarians misread “the mind of Christ”, “he became man” and “in the likeness of men”, at times making Christ's flesh gross and carnal, at times a mere appearance.
Letter 199Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 360–390 · Gregory explains why Damasus condemned Vitalius's confession, and ridicules the Apollinarian slogan “not a God-bearing man but a flesh-bearing God”, as if the faith were only thirty years old.
Letter 201Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 360–390 · Gregory turns the Apollinarians' charge back on them: they themselves divide Christ's human and divine acts, yet accuse him of dividing the union; he insists he longs for peace.
Letter 331Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 360–390 · Gregory complains to Nectarius that Arians, Macedonians and Eunomians trouble the Church, but worst of all the Apollinarians, whose pamphlet teaches that Christ's flesh existed in heaven before the ages.
Letter 333Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 360–390 · Gregory reports that Apollinarius denies Christ a human mind and makes the Godhead itself mortal, and urges Nectarius to persuade the emperor to withdraw the Apollinarians' right of assembly.
To Constantius 11.1Hilary of Poitiers · 360 · Hilary gives a scriptural confession of faith in Father and Son as a pledge of what he will defend.
To Constantius 11.2Hilary of Poitiers · 360 · Hilary will hold no faith beyond this baptismal confession, which agrees with the fathers' faith.
Against Constantius 17Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–361 · Constantius proclaims an unscriptural "likeness" to suppress the scriptural equality of the Son with God (John 5).
Against Constantius 18Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–361 · John 10:30–38 teaches the Son's equality with the Father, which "likeness" is meant to suppress.
Against Constantius 19Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–361 · Philippians 2 teaches that the Son in the form of God is equal to God, as he is truly man in the form of a servant.
Against Constantius 21Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–361 · Scripture calls the Son God's image and equal but never "like"; likeness is used of man and of Christ's sinless flesh.
Against Constantius 22Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–361 · Hilary accepts "like" only after "equal" and "one"; Constantius uses "like" to deny the Son's birth, nature, and equality.
Treatise on the Mysteries 1.1.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–366 · All of Scripture foretells Christ's coming in words, deeds, and examples.
Treatise on the Mysteries 1.2.1Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–366 · The name Adam prefigures Christ's birth.
Treatise on the Mysteries 1.2.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–366 · Adam's name ("red earth") points to Christ's flesh, transformed into spiritual glory.
Treatise on the Mysteries 1.3.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–366 · Christ spoke through Adam, so Adam's words both report a real event and prefigure Christ.
Treatise on the Mysteries 1.3.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–366 · The church, born from Christ's side and nourished by his flesh in the sacrament, is foreshadowed in Eve.
Treatise on the Mysteries 1.5.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–366 · The church, like Eve, is formed from the risen Christ, in whom the resurrection of all flesh is already accomplished.
Treatise on the Mysteries 1.6.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–366 · Abel's offering of firstlings prefigures the church's sacrifice of Christ's body.
Treatise on the Mysteries 1.10.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–366 · Lamech prefigures the high priest who, with Jews and Gentiles, had Christ crucified.
Treatise on the Mysteries 1.12.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–366 · Noah prefigures Christ's humanity, as Lamech's prophecy at his birth shows.
Treatise on the Mysteries 1.13.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–366 · Christ, who gives rest to the weary, fulfils Lamech's prophecy about Noah.
Treatise on the Mysteries 1.13.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–366 · Christ shelters his children in the ark of the church and gives the Spirit, dies, and rises.
Treatise on the Mysteries 1.15.1Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–366 · Noah's drunkenness from the vine prefigures the passion, caused by the vineyard Israel.
Treatise on the Mysteries 1.17.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–366 · Isaac prefigures Christ and his passion in the sacrifice on the mountain.
Treatise on the Mysteries 1.28.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–366 · Moses' rescue on the water parallels Herod's threat to the infant Christ.
Treatise on the Mysteries 1.29.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–366 · Moses' killing of the Egyptian prefigures Christ's victory over the devil for his people.
Treatise on the Mysteries 1.29.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–366 · Christ bound the strong man and freed his people, yet was rejected by them, as Moses was.
Treatise on the Mysteries 1.31.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–366 · The rod turned serpent signifies Christ, God of the ages, slandered as Beelzebul.
Treatise on the Mysteries 1.35.1Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–366 · Deuteronomy's "your life hanging" and Jeremiah's "wood in his bread" point to the cross.
Treatise on the Mysteries 1.36.1Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–366 · The cross contains justification, judgment, and testing.
Treatise on the Mysteries 1.42.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–366 · The golden jar of manna prefigures Christ's body and the faithful keeping of the spiritual food.
Treatise on the Mysteries 2.3.1Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–366 · Heaven hearing heaven and earth hearing earth signify the divine and human natures in Christ and our future likeness to God.
Treatise on the Mysteries 2.5.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–366 · Moses gave Joshua the name Jesus, already prepared in heaven for the eternal leader.
Treatise on the Mysteries 2.6.1Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–366 · Joshua led Israel into the promised land as Jesus leads the church into the inheritance.
Treatise on the Mysteries 2.6.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–366 · Joshua's circumcision with stone knives and division of the Jordan prefigure Christ's spiritual circumcision and division of peoples.
Treatise on the Mysteries 2.9.1Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–366 · Rahab receiving the spies signifies the church receiving the law and prophets, which confess God and foretell his incarnation.
Treatise on the Mysteries 2.9.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–366 · The scarlet cord signifies Christ's royal robe and the blood of his passion.
Treatise on the Mysteries 2.13.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–366 · All the Old Testament history reveals the Father and the Son, and Christ as God and man.
Tractates on the Psalms 0.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The psalms are to be read with reference to Christ's coming, passion, kingdom, and our resurrection; prophecy is sealed to worldly wisdom, and those who deny Christ have taken away the key of knowledge.
Tractates on the Psalms 0.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ holds the key of David and alone opens the sealed book; the seven seals are the mysteries of his body, passion, death, resurrection, glory, kingdom, and judgment, which the psalms prophesy.
Tractates on the Psalms 0.7Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The psaltery, struck from above and perfectly straight, is a figure of the Lord's body through which the heavenly Spirit spoke.
Tractates on the Psalms 1.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Many have taken the blessed man of Psalm 1 to be Christ, but without good reason; when prophecy refers to him must be discerned with care.
Tractates on the Psalms 1.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Psalm 1 does not fit Christ: he is Lord of the law, not one whose will is in it, and as Creator and firstborn he cannot become like a tree.
Tractates on the Psalms 1.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The blessed man is the believer conformed by righteousness to the body the Lord assumed.
Tractates on the Psalms 1.14Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The tree is the tree of life in paradise, which is Wisdom, that is, Christ, as Proverbs and the Gospels show.
Tractates on the Psalms 1.15Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The blessed man will be like the tree of life when planted in paradise; its fruit, given at the fullness of times, is the transformation of our body into the likeness of Christ's glorified body.
Tractates on the Psalms 1.17Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The one tree of life on both sides of the river in Revelation signifies the single mystery of baptism; its leaves are the healing words of preaching.
Tractates on the Psalms 2.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Acts 4 interprets Psalm 2 of Herod, Pilate, the nations, and Israel gathered against Jesus.
Tractates on the Psalms 2.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The raging nations are the Roman soldiers who mocked and tortured Christ.
Tractates on the Psalms 2.7Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The peoples who meditated vain things are the Jews from many nations who studied the law without recognizing Christ in it.
Tractates on the Psalms 2.8Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The kings are Herod and Pilate; the rulers who gathered are the chief priests, who forfeited both rule and priesthood.
Tractates on the Psalms 2.11Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ, even when on earth as Son of Man, remained in heaven as Son of God without losing what he was.
Tractates on the Psalms 2.12Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · God's laughter is a bodily image for his judgment on those who plotted Christ's death, whose labour came to nothing because the crucified one is God.
Tractates on the Psalms 2.14Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · God created all things through Christ not for his own gain but for the good of what he made.
Tractates on the Psalms 2.22Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The angry speech of Psalm 2:5 is the proclamation of Christ's kingship and sonship, meant to frighten the unrepentant into repentance.
Tractates on the Psalms 2.23Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · "Today I have begotten you" cannot refer to the Son's eternal generation, which is before all time; the Gospels and apostles will show its meaning.
Tractates on the Psalms 2.24Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ's kingship is confessed by the thief, the magi, and Pilate's question, which Jesus answers without boasting.
Tractates on the Psalms 2.25Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Before the high priest Jesus confesses he is the Son of God and foretells the Son of Man at God's right hand: the Son of Man remains the Son of God.
Tractates on the Psalms 2.26Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The Sion over which Christ reigns is the heavenly Jerusalem, not the earthly city that killed him.
Tractates on the Psalms 2.27Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · "Today I have begotten you" refers to the resurrection, when the humanity Christ assumed was begotten into the glory he had with the Father before the world.
Tractates on the Psalms 2.28Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Paul distinguishes Christ as "firstborn of all creation" from his birth as "firstborn from the dead," the same person in both.
Tractates on the Psalms 2.29Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ, born of the virgin and again at baptism (where the words of Psalm 2:7 were heard), remained the same Son of God.
Tractates on the Psalms 2.30Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Acts 13 refers Psalm 2:7 to the resurrection, and Matthew 28 shows that the risen Christ received all power.
Tractates on the Psalms 2.31Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The inheritance Christ asked for is all the nations, no longer under angelic rulers as in the Song of Moses but made one people of God.
Tractates on the Psalms 2.32Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · "The ends of the earth" means what bounds the earth, the heavens above and the abyss below with its inhabitants, all given to Christ.
Tractates on the Psalms 2.33Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Philippians 2 explains Psalm 2: the one who took the form of a servant was exalted after the cross and given the ends of the earth, heaven, earth, and underworld.
Tractates on the Psalms 2.37Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · In the Old Testament the rod is the teaching of the kingdom, and Christ himself is the rod from Jesse's root, tempered by the flower; his rod is of iron because it is unbreakable.
Tractates on the Psalms 2.43Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Understanding the whole psalm, believers become heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, and so kings.
Tractates on the Psalms 2.47Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Paul's pressing on to lay hold of what Christ laid hold of him for shows how discipline must be seized: God took our nature so that we may attain his.
Tractates on the Psalms 9.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The hidden things are the mysteries of Christ: incarnation, virgin birth, and resurrection; but these are not yet "the end."
Tractates on the Psalms 9.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The end is the consummation of 1 Corinthians 15: resurrection, glorification of the saints, destruction of death, and the Son's handing over the kingdom so that God may be all in all.
Tractates on the Psalms 13.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Like a man in a plague-stricken city longing for a distant physician, the Spirit, seeing the world's corruption described in the psalm, cries out for Christ, the physician who heals by his word.
Tractates on the Psalms 13.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Sion is Christ's body, the flesh he assumed, from which alone our salvation comes.
Tractates on the Psalms 13.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · "Salvation" is a name of the Lord promised to the nations, as Isaiah, the Psalms, and Simeon show; it is announced to the Gentiles rather than to carnal Israel.
Tractates on the Psalms 13.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The captivity turned back is that of the Gentiles in idolatry; the new Israel is the believer who sees God, and heaven rejoices over each repentant sinner.
Tractates on the Psalms 14.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The mountain of the Lord is Christ's assumed body, on which the church is built and in which the redeemed will rest with the angels.
Tractates on the Psalms 51.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Abimelech means "my brother's rule"; Christ, the true David, entered his brothers' royal house by becoming man, making us co-heirs of his kingdom.
Tractates on the Psalms 51.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Doeg signifies the people who betrayed Christ to Pilate; David at Abimelech's house signifies Christ in his body, eating the Passover and despoiling the devil.
Tractates on the Psalms 51.10Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The verse distinguishes loving wickedness from refusing even to speak righteousness, which is Christ, of whom Hilary's Jewish contemporaries will not hear.
Tractates on the Psalms 51.16Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The tabernacle is also Christ's body, the true vine, which took the nature of all flesh; the unbelieving and the fruitless are torn from it though they share its nature.
Tractates on the Psalms 51.17Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ's kingdom is open to all through his assuming human nature, but the unbelieving uproot themselves from the land of the living.
Tractates on the Psalms 51.24Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The name the prophet awaits is Jesus Christ, through whom all things were made, the name angels worship and demons fear.
Tractates on the Psalms 52.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Transgressing God's law leads to corruption and abomination; Christ became flesh to clothe corruption with incorruption.
Tractates on the Psalms 52.16Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Bones signify the hope of eternity, as in Christ's unbroken bones and Ezekiel's vision; God guards the bones of the righteous and scatters those of men-pleasers.
Tractates on the Psalms 52.18Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The cry for salvation from Sion looks to Christ, the Word made flesh, whose flesh is Sion and whose name means salvation.
Tractates on the Psalms 52.20Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ, who read Isaiah 61 in the synagogue, turned back the captivity of the nations by freeing them from demons and sin.
Tractates on the Psalms 53.1Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · David, a man after God's heart, prefigured Christ's meekness by not fighting his persecutors but praying, as Christ did in his passion.
Tractates on the Psalms 53.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The Ziphites' betrayal of David prefigures the betrayal of Christ; the psalm is to be understood of him who is the end of the law.
Tractates on the Psalms 53.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · David's sufferings prefigure Christ's passion, so the prayer is Christ's: he asks, as man, to be saved in God's name, regaining the glory he had before the ages.
Tractates on the Psalms 53.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · "Judge me in your power": by obedience to death Christ's humanity was exalted and given the divine name and power, as Philippians 2 says.
Tractates on the Psalms 53.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Only Christ, who knows the Father and committed no sin, could confidently ask that his prayer and the words of his mouth be heard.
Tractates on the Psalms 53.7Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Though equal in power with the Father, the Son prayed and suffered as man to give an example of humility, undergoing human weaknesses by assumption, not by nature.
Tractates on the Psalms 53.8Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ's persecutors, no true children of Abraham, sought his soul, not recognizing God in the one who, remaining Son of God, had become son of man with body and soul.
Tractates on the Psalms 53.11Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ, the truth, destroys his enemies by rising from the dead; their later destruction by famine and war is seen as God's punishment.
Tractates on the Psalms 53.12Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The Son suffered voluntarily for human salvation; the suffering was real and penal, yet his divine nature did not feel pain.
Tractates on the Psalms 53.13Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The law's sacrifices were compulsory under a curse; Christ freed us from the curse by voluntarily offering his own body as the perfect sacrifice.
Tractates on the Psalms 53.14Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ gives thanks for deliverance; having died and descended to the underworld, he rose and looks down on his enemies, the temple of his body rebuilt.
Tractates on the Psalms 54.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ, remaining God while becoming man, speaks in the psalms sometimes as man and sometimes as God.
Tractates on the Psalms 54.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · God hears every prayer, but only an innocent prayer obtains his "giving ear"; Christ asks this with confidence.
Tractates on the Psalms 54.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ's "exercise" was the work of our salvation, prefigured by Isaac going out to meet Rebecca; he was troubled by insults and abuse in his passion.
Tractates on the Psalms 54.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ took on our fear and troubles so that they fell upon him rather than being in him; able not to die, he did not refuse our death.
Tractates on the Psalms 54.7Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ needs no wings from another: the dove's wings signify his return to spiritual glory, as the Spirit rested on him at the Jordan.
Tractates on the Psalms 54.8Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Rejected by his own people, Christ dwells in the "desert," the Gentiles, foretold by Isaiah 35 as blossoming; he rests in them as in his temple.
Tractates on the Psalms 54.10Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · After the diapsalma Christ awaits salvation from the storm of his passion, as in Psalm 68 (69), and asks the Father for his former glory.
Tractates on the Psalms 54.15Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ cried to the Lord and was heard; evening, morning, and noon signify the whole day, reckoned by the law from evening; God freed him and humbled his enemies.
Tractates on the Psalms 55.1Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The title of Psalm 55 (56) points beyond David's capture at Gath: the inscribed title signifies Christ's victorious death, "the people far from the saints" is unbelieving Israel, and "for the end" refers to Christ.
Tractates on the Psalms 55.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The psalm will be read both as David's own complaint and as Christ's, whose human feelings imply no dishonour to God.
Tractates on the Psalms 55.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Hope in God frees the saint from fear of men; Christ too, remaining God in the flesh, worked divine deeds and feared nothing from flesh.
Tractates on the Psalms 55.12Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ is lord of his own resurrection; the same body will rise, changed rather than newly created, and he will please the Father in the reconciliation of the world.
Tractates on the Psalms 56.1Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The title "do not destroy" (Greek "do not corrupt") shows the psalm is Christ's prayer not to see corruption, as Psalm 15 (16) says.
Tractates on the Psalms 56.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · David's prayer in the cave prophesies Christ's resurrection and his lowly dwelling in a body; one hiding in fear could not have played harp and psaltery.
Tractates on the Psalms 56.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · God sent his mercy and truth, Christ, from heaven and rescued his soul from the lions' whelps after the sleep of death; those who trampled him are put to shame.
Tractates on the Psalms 56.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ's exaltation above the heavens presupposes his descent to the depths, as Ephesians 4 says; his glory over the earth is the outpouring of the Spirit.
Tractates on the Psalms 56.7Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The exaltation is for Christ's humanity, in which we share; his persecutors fell into the pit they dug for him.
Tractates on the Psalms 56.8Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Ready in faith, the prophet bids psaltery and harp, figures of himself, to awake at dawn, the hour of resurrection, to praise God among the nations.
Tractates on the Psalms 56.10Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · God is exalted beyond all the heavens and all knowledge, yet his glory remains with us on earth, as Christ promised to be with us always.
Tractates on the Psalms 58.1Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Saul's guarding David's house to kill him prefigures the Lord shut in at Jerusalem for death; the psalm can be read both literally and of Christ.
Tractates on the Psalms 58.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The strong who hunt the soul of the sinless one are the persecutors armed by the devil, who entered Judas.
Tractates on the Psalms 58.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Only Christ, who did no sin and in whom the prince of the world found nothing, can say this; he is the giant who runs his course from heaven and back.
Tractates on the Psalms 58.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ prays that the Father meet him at his ascension and visit the nations in him; all are visited through his incarnation, yet workers of iniquity are judged.
Tractates on the Psalms 58.10Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ kept his soul for God, laying it down to take it up again; even before his resurrection God's mercy showed him to be Son of God by the signs at his death and the centurion's confession.
Tractates on the Psalms 58.13Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The closing thanksgiving fits both David and Christ; praise "in the morning" points to the resurrection at dawn.
Tractates on the Psalms 59.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · "Those who will be changed" are converts from the synagogue and the nations to the church; the "valley of salt" signifies believers, the salt of the earth; the psalm was written when Nathan foretold the eternal king.
Tractates on the Psalms 59.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · God's right hand, Christ seated in our flesh, frees his beloved from the power of darkness.
Tractates on the Psalms 59.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · God speaks in his Holy One, Christ, and "divides Sichem," Samaria, where the gospel was received in part, separating believers from unbelievers.
Tractates on the Psalms 59.10Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · "Judah my king" is spoken by the Holy One, Christ, who inspired Jacob's prophecy of the eternal king from Judah.
Tractates on the Psalms 59.11Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Moab, from whom Christ descends through Ruth, is the "pot" in which raw flesh is made food of life, a figure of purification by fire.
Tractates on the Psalms 60.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The rock is Christ, who has raised us in hope; this hope is a tower of strength against the devil until we dwell in God's tabernacle for ever.
Tractates on the Psalms 60.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The inheritance is eternal life for all who fear God; the king's reign until his enemies are subdued spans the generations up to the regeneration, while he himself remains eternally before God.
Tractates on the Psalms 61.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · After the endless confusion of pagan philosophy and religion, the believer finds in the prophets, the apostles, and the incarnation the firm ground of faith and is no longer moved.
Tractates on the Psalms 61.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Pagan philosophy, denying the incarnation and future judgment, pushes over man, already a leaning wall, into vice.
Tractates on the Psalms 61.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The saint perseveres, his soul subject to God, learning patience from Christ's suffering and hoping to share his glory.
Tractates on the Psalms 61.9Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · God's one utterance reveals two: power belongs to God the Father and mercy to the Lord, the Son, to whom all judgment is given; Father and Son are confessed together, neither without the other.
Tractates on the Psalms 62.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · To see God's power and glory is to see Christ, the power of God, and so share in eternity.
Tractates on the Psalms 62.10Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Love makes the soul cling to God; the one who clings is taken up by God's right hand, Christ, to share his glory.
Tractates on the Psalms 62.12Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The king, Christ, rejoices; those who swear by him swear by the true God, and the mouths of the wicked are stopped when he comes as judge and every knee bows to him.
Tractates on the Psalms 63.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Some refer every psalm to Christ; this is pious, but care is needed not to diminish what is truly his.
Tractates on the Psalms 63.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Interpreters must distinguish psalms about Christ's divinity, his humanity and works, the nations, Israel, and moral teaching.
Tractates on the Psalms 63.10Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Against heretics: the Son is eternal with the Father, the Word and Wisdom of God, creator, lawgiver, speaker in the prophets, and the risen one who glorified the flesh.
Tractates on the Psalms 64.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · "All flesh" means all mankind; the nations, misled by idolatry and philosophy, will come to God for forgiveness through Christ, the propitiation.
Tractates on the Psalms 64.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The good things of God's house are the church's gifts and the unseen glory to come; the holy temple is the believer's body and also Christ's humanity, in which the fullness of the divinity dwells.
Tractates on the Psalms 64.7Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ is the hope of the whole world, even the islands of the sea, not of one nation only.
Tractates on the Psalms 64.9Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The mountains are the hostile powers led by the devil, which God the Word, his assumed humanity girded with power, crushed and prepared for judgment.
Tractates on the Psalms 65.12Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The one who rules is Jesus, whose assumed flesh receives the name above every name; the Greek speaks of rule over a designated age.
Tractates on the Psalms 65.13Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ’s rule over the age in his glorified body comes at the end, when every power and death itself are destroyed.
Tractates on the Psalms 66.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The Greek shows the prayer is that God’s way, Christ, be made known on earth; “salvation” translates the name Jesus.
Tractates on the Psalms 66.7Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The earth’s fruit is the fruit Adam’s earth lost through sin and regains in those conformed to Christ, first in Christ’s own sinless body.
Tractates on the Psalms 67.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · “Let God arise” looks to Christ’s resurrection, before which the hostile demons flee but cannot escape God’s face.
Tractates on the Psalms 67.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ, whose name is Lord, rose above the setting of death; we prepare his way by leveling our vices so he may enter our hearts.
Tractates on the Psalms 67.15Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Hilary lists heresies that break the church’s peace: two Gods of law and Gospel, Christ as mere man, the Son as a creature, and the Father become flesh.
Tractates on the Psalms 67.17Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Against those who say the gospel changed the law, Hilary answers that Christ the mediator gave the law through angels and now preaches the gospel.
Tractates on the Psalms 67.19Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The Lord of Sinai is the same Christ who ascended in his holy humanity, took captivity captive, and received the nations as gifts.
Tractates on the Psalms 67.21Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The cross, folly to others, is God’s wisdom; Christ alone, the firstborn from the dead, has the “issues of death,” going out from death and raising our nature to glory.
Tractates on the Psalms 67.23Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Following Colossians 2, Hilary explains that by dying and rising Christ cancelled the decree of death and triumphed over the demonic powers who caused his death.
Tractates on the Psalms 67.24Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The shattered heads are the demonic powers of the air, who tread unnoticed on human minds and prompt sin, and whom Christ condemned in his death.
Tractates on the Psalms 67.25Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · “From Bashan into the depth of the sea” means Christ’s descent from the shame of the body into the storm of the world and the cross, where he crushed the enemy powers.
Tractates on the Psalms 67.27Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · God’s ways were seen at the Red Sea and again at Christ’s ascension, when the heavenly gates were opened to the king of glory.
Tractates on the Psalms 67.29Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · “Command your power” means God commanding his Son, who is God’s power; what God foreordained in us he confirms in Christ.
Tractates on the Psalms 67.34Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ, who humbled himself to death, ascended above the heaven of heavens toward the east, as the Dayspring returning on high.
Tractates on the Psalms 67.37Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · God is wonderful in his saints, whom he will raise, conform to Christ’s glorious body, and bring into unity with the Father and eternal life.
Tractates on the Psalms 68.1Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Psalm 68 (69) concerns “those who will be changed” and contains the mystery of Christ’s passion, in which he speaks with the weakness he assumed.
Tractates on the Psalms 68.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ prays to be saved because, though he would die, death could not hold him; the assumed weakness prays, the divinity holds the hope.
Tractates on the Psalms 68.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The waters reaching his soul are the persecutions and assaults that drove Christ to the cross and to prayer.
Tractates on the Psalms 68.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ’s suffering comes from his assumed flesh: emptying himself, the second Adam sank into the mire of our nature and down into death and the underworld.
Tractates on the Psalms 68.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The depth of the sea is the realm of death, as Jonah and Job show; Christ came there and was overwhelmed by death’s storm.
Tractates on the Psalms 68.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ’s hoarse throat and failing eyes reflect his human weariness; he cried out and lifted his eyes in hope in the Father.
Tractates on the Psalms 68.7Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Those who hated Christ without cause outnumber the hairs of his head; sinless, he was made to pay the debt of sin and death he did not owe.
Tractates on the Psalms 68.8Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ bore the “foolishness” of the cross and the penalty of sins not his own, defeating the prince of the world, and prayed that the saints’ hope in him not be shamed.
Tractates on the Psalms 68.9Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ’s weakness was assumed, not natural; for the Father’s sake he bore the reproach of the cross, made sin for us though sinless.
Tractates on the Psalms 68.12Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ’s fasting, temptations, and tears became occasions of reproach; he wept at Lazarus’s tomb over unbelief, and all kinds of people spoke of him.
Tractates on the Psalms 68.13Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Amid insults Christ turned wholly to prayer, knowing that his suffering was the “time of good pleasure” for human salvation.
Tractates on the Psalms 68.14Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Though all creation pleases God, the passion is the special “time of good pleasure,” when Christ reconciled all things, defeated the powers, and freed creation.
Tractates on the Psalms 68.15Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ prays not to stick in the mud or be shut in the pit, confident that, though he died in the body, death could not hold him.
Tractates on the Psalms 68.16Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ prays as a man in trouble, yet asks to be rescued not for his own sake but so that his enemies might be overthrown by his resurrection.
Tractates on the Psalms 68.17Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · God alone knew that Christ’s weakness was assumed; Christ awaited and desired his sufferings, as he desired to eat the Passover.
Tractates on the Psalms 68.18Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ sought one who would grieve with him in faith and found none; the gall and vinegar fulfilled the Scriptures, and he said “I thirst” so that all might be fulfilled.
Tractates on the Psalms 68.19Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The table of Scripture, which reveals Christ throughout the law and prophets, becomes a snare to those who crucified him, darkening their eyes and burdening them with the law.
Tractates on the Psalms 68.23Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · God struck Christ for our healing, as he once struck Adam; those who then persecuted him, bribed the guards, and harassed the apostles added iniquity to iniquity.
Tractates on the Psalms 68.25Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ is both God and man: emptying himself he took the form of a servant without ceasing to be God, and the man he assumed was taken up into the glory of God.
Tractates on the Psalms 68.31Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The saved Zion is Christ’s risen body, the “watchtower” in which we contemplate our hope; all creation praises God for the reconciliation achieved in it.
Tractates on the Psalms 69.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The one set as help over the mighty, the firstborn whose throne endures like sun and moon, is Christ, not David son of Jesse.
Tractates on the Psalms 69.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The needy and poor one is Christ, who became poor for us and, eager for his passion, prayed for swift deliverance through the resurrection.
Tractates on the Psalms 91.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Beyond the visible works Moses described, Paul teaches that all things, visible and invisible, were made through Christ, in whom the Father works daily.
Tractates on the Psalms 91.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The Son, equal to God, does nothing of himself but what he sees in the Father’s will, which he knows through shared love and nature.
Tractates on the Psalms 91.8Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · God’s rest is Christ, in whom the Father’s fullness dwells and in whom the Father rejoiced at the completed creation; the impious will not enter this rest.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.4.9Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The psalmist loves the way of truth, which is Christ, and remembers God's judgment that whoever believes has eternal life.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.4.12Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The enlarged heart is one opened by faith to receive God's teaching and indwelling, and Wisdom, who is Christ, walks freely in its broad places.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.5.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The psalmist seeks the end of the law, which is Christ, and seeks it always.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.5.9Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · God is the guide on the path, and Christ went first through every suffering his followers endure.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.6.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · "Utterly" acknowledges that only Christ is sinless; the psalmist asks only that the word not be wholly taken from him.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.8.16Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Though himself an anointed partaker of Christ, the psalmist humbly calls himself a partaker of all who fear God, sharing their sufferings as members of one body.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.8.19Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The psalmist seeks to be taught the heavenly justifications not by an earthly teacher but by Christ.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.9.9Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · "The law of your mouth" is the teaching of Christ, God's mouth, power, wisdom, and image, whose beatitudes are worth more than thousands of gold and silver.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.10.7Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Man's soul, made after (not as) God's image, which is the firstborn of creation, is incorporeal; his body was taken from earth and formed.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.11.1Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The eleventh letter opens with the soul fainting for God's salvation, which Hilary identifies with Jesus, whose name means salvation.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.11.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The psalmist's eyes are those of the mind, longing for the encouragement Christ brought when he descended to the dead, as Peter testifies.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.11.10Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The psalmist looks for the life of the age to come and promises to keep the testimonies of God's mouth, the gospel precepts of Christ.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.12.8Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The day that continues is the light of the saints, which will last when all things finally serve God and Christ's enemies are under his feet.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.13.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The psalmist's real enemies are those who keep the law's Sabbath and Passover without knowing Christ, whom they put to death.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.13.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The psalmist's teachers, who claim the keys of heaven, do not see that the law testifies to Christ; the disciple who awaits him understands more than they.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.13.10Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The law God set is the gospel law contained in Moses' law and given through Christ, the new lawgiver the psalmist prayed for.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.14.8Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The psalmist's oath is fulfilled in humility, the chief lesson Christ, who took a body from the virgin, taught by his example.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.14.10Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ, equal with God, humbled himself to the cross, and as the reward of humility the humanity he assumed was exalted into the Father's glory.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.15.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Against spiritual enemies we need God's help, which is merited by hope in his word, that is, in the coming of the Word made flesh.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.16.8Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The psalmist's inner eyes fail with longing for God's salvation, Jesus, and for his word of righteousness.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.16.14Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · When the law was cast aside, it was the Lord's time to act: to take a human body and bring salvation to the nations in the gospel.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.16.15Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The psalmist loves God's commandments because they foretell the Lord's coming in the flesh; loving is more than doing.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.17.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The gospels declare the hidden meaning of the law and prophets through Christ's birth, incarnation, and miracles, and reveal it to the little ones.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.20.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · David, though king, prophet, and ancestor of Christ, asks God to see only his humility, leaving vengeance to God.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.20.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Like Paul, who knew only Christ crucified, the psalmist awaits the redemption in Christ's blood to which the law, prophets, and patriarchs testify.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.21.7Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The psalmist keeps the commandments by awaiting God's salvation, Jesus, the end of the law, as the angel told Joseph and Simeon recognized.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.22.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The psalmist longs for the Savior Jesus, whom the apostles were blessed to see, and his meditation on the law looks to that future hope.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.22.7Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The psalm ends with the lost sheep, which Christ the shepherd carries home on his shoulders to the joy of the angels.
Tractates on the Psalms 119.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ, the eternal high priest, has entered the true holy of holies through his blood, and Isaiah's call to repentance and justice names the steps by which we ascend to him.
Tractates on the Psalms 119.15Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ himself is the chosen arrow of Isaiah, who wounds us with love as the bride of the Song says.
Tractates on the Psalms 120.16Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · God keeps the soul's going out at death, to rest in Abraham's bosom, and its coming into the kingdom through Christ, the door.
Tractates on the Psalms 121.8Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The nations confess Christ as God, a testimony against Israel, which received every gift yet rejected the law, the prophets, and Christ himself.
Tractates on the Psalms 121.10Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The seats of judgment are in the church; "David" names Christ according to his flesh, and the past tense expresses God's sure foreknowledge.
Tractates on the Psalms 122.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · God's true heaven is the Son, in whom the Father dwells by the same nature, since the visible heaven will pass away.
Tractates on the Psalms 122.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · God also dwells in believers: the Father dwells in the Word made flesh, the heavenly Adam, and through him in those made heavenly in Christ.
Tractates on the Psalms 122.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Hilary does not deny that God's throne is in the highest heaven, but holds that his worthy dwelling is also Christ and those made heavenly in him.
Tractates on the Psalms 122.7Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christians confess one God without denying that Christ is God: Scripture names Father and Son each as God and Lord, one from one, of the same substance.
Tractates on the Psalms 123.9Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The snare catches only those who already sin; like the sparrow that stays by the house, the faithful remain in the church and are freed through the name of the Lord Jesus.
Tractates on the Psalms 124.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Mount Zion is the church, founded on Christ the cornerstone, and the heavenly Jerusalem; Christ is Daniel's stone that became a mountain, emptied in the flesh and exalted through his passion.
Tractates on the Psalms 124.11Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Israel, the faithful, will receive peace, which is Christ, who made both peoples one.
Tractates on the Psalms 125.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · God turned back our captivity through the forgiveness of sins, freeing the soul from vices and making us the new Zion in the body of Christ, to the wonder of the nations.
Tractates on the Psalms 126.16Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The Lord's inheritance is not carnal Israel but the sons of God; Christ, the virgin's fruit of the womb, receives the believing nations as his reward.
Tractates on the Psalms 126.17Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Psalm 2 and Philippians 2 show that Christ, by taking human birth and obeying unto death, received the nations as his inheritance.
Tractates on the Psalms 129.9Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The 'propitiation' with God is the only-begotten Son, who took away sins on the cross; since Father and Son are one, the verse fits either.
Tractates on the Psalms 131.1Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · This psalm concerns the Son of God's incarnation; the Jews refer it to David, though the prophets long after David promised a future 'David'.
Tractates on the Psalms 131.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The promised 'David' is Christ, shepherd, king, righteous judge, and light, who took David's name with his flesh; the psalm fits him, not Jesse's son.
Tractates on the Psalms 131.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The prayer is the Son's, asking the Father to remember the man he assumed and his meekness.
Tractates on the Psalms 131.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ acted as one bound by an oath to suffer: he rebuked Peter, refused the sword, and said 'It is finished' when all was fulfilled.
Tractates on the Psalms 131.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ's vow was to make human beings a dwelling for God; he would not return to heaven with his assumed humanity until he had found such dwellings in believing hearts.
Tractates on the Psalms 131.7Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ left the 'couch' of heavenly rest by becoming man and obeying unto the cross, and vowed not to return until God's tent was found.
Tractates on the Psalms 131.8Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ's death was a sleep like that of Jacob's fearless lion of Judah; the image shows both his impassible security in death and his oneness with, yet distinction from, the Father.
Tractates on the Psalms 131.9Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The sleep and rest refer to Christ's body; for him death was rest, not penal change.
Tractates on the Psalms 131.12Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The singular oath belongs to Christ, but the plural 'we heard, we found' is the prophets' voice, since many foretold the Lord's rest.
Tractates on the Psalms 131.16Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The 'ark of your sanctification' is Christ's body, golden within and without, holding the true manna and the words of life, unlike the lost ark of the covenant.
Tractates on the Psalms 131.17Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Priests clothed with righteousness and rejoicing saints are enlightened by Christ's divinity because of the body he assumed, signified by 'David'.
Tractates on the Psalms 131.19Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The oath of Psalm 89, with its firstborn who calls God Father and whose throne endures for ever, belongs to Christ, not to the son of Jesse.
Tractates on the Psalms 131.28Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The lamp prepared for Christ is John and all prophecy pointing to him; his enemies will be confounded while God's glory flourishes upon him.
Tractates on the Psalms 132.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The ointment on Aaron, a figure of Christ's invisible anointing with the oil of gladness, signifies the sweet fragrance of believers' unity.
Tractates on the Psalms 134.7Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · 'I have known how great the Lord is' is the Son's voice, since only the Son, image of the infinite Father, knows his greatness.
Tractates on the Psalms 135.15Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · God remembered our lowliness in the incarnation, redeemed us by Christ's blood from the devil and death, and feeds the redeemed with the living bread, all from his mercy.
Tractates on the Psalms 137.9Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Confessing God's truth refutes those who say Christ had only an apparent body; the risen Christ showed his flesh and bones.
Tractates on the Psalms 138.1Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · All prophecy comes from the Spirit, and Christ himself taught that the psalms speak of him; so this psalm is referred to Christ.
Tractates on the Psalms 138.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · What is said of Christ's humanity must not detract from his impassible divine nature; in emptying himself he did not cease to be in the form of God.
Tractates on the Psalms 138.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Weak things said of Christ refer to the humanity he took; he bore our sins and weaknesses without becoming weak, and as God he did not feel pain.
Tractates on the Psalms 138.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ, in his assumed humanity, was proved by humble obedience unto the cross and so exalted into the Father's glory.
Tractates on the Psalms 138.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ was proved by humbling himself in baptism, temptation, and the passion, and each time acknowledged: by the Father's voice, by the angels, and at the transfiguration.
Tractates on the Psalms 138.7Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ's 'sitting' signifies his teaching, as from Moses' chair, and his 'rising' his works, as after the Sermon on the Mount and at the foot-washing.
Tractates on the Psalms 138.8Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · 'From afar' means long before: God foreknew Christ's humble and patient thoughts, as Isaiah's servant prophecy shows.
Tractates on the Psalms 138.10Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ walked the well-worn path he had already trodden in the prophets, often rejected by Jerusalem.
Tractates on the Psalms 138.11Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ completed the measured course appointed by the Father, from finishing his work to drinking the cup and saying 'It is finished'.
Tractates on the Psalms 138.12Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The Father 'searched out' Christ's path by foretelling the details of the passion through the prophets; in Christ, the truth, there was no deceit.
Tractates on the Psalms 138.13Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · 'Your knowledge has been made wonderful from me' cannot be said by the prophet or even Moses, but by Christ, who revealed the Father's name.
Tractates on the Psalms 138.14Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The 'last things' are those of Christ's humanity; the 'ancient' are his eternal existence as the Word.
Tractates on the Psalms 138.15Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · 'You formed me' refers to the Son's eternal divine form, 'you laid your hand upon me' to his human birth; the psalm belongs wholly to Christ.
Tractates on the Psalms 138.19Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ is always God, man from the time of the incarnation, and God and man together; his humanity advances into the Father's glory.
Tractates on the Psalms 138.20Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The verses must be divided between Christ's divinity and humanity; the last, about taking his own wings, can only be said by one of a superior nature.
Tractates on the Psalms 138.21Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · 'Where shall I go from your Spirit' refers to the Son's eternal divine existence; 'where shall I flee from your face' to his assumed humanity, which cannot bear or escape God's face.
Tractates on the Psalms 138.22Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Ascending into heaven belongs to Christ's divinity, descending to the underworld to his true humanity; God is present in both.
Tractates on the Psalms 138.23Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The 'wings' taken 'before the light' signify Christ's own power and his resurrection, by which the assumed humanity is raised into the Father's glory.
Tractates on the Psalms 138.24Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Wings signify the transformation of bodies into heavenly nature at the resurrection; Christ's wings are his own, given by his nature and power after his voluntary passion.
Tractates on the Psalms 138.25Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · 'Perhaps darkness will trample me' expresses not fear of death but mockery of those who thought Christ feared the underworld.
Tractates on the Psalms 138.26Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ's death was not darkness to him but delight and light: he broke the gates of the underworld and redeemed humanity, the Father being always with him.
Tractates on the Psalms 138.27Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ's humanity, wholly devoted to the Father, was 'made terribly wonderful' through the signs at his death, his resurrection and ascension, and the wonders of the apostles.
Tractates on the Psalms 138.28Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Though Christ's wonders were his own power, he ascribes them to the Father's works out of reverence; only the Son knows the Father's works 'well'.
Tractates on the Psalms 138.41Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · 'I have risen' speaks of the future resurrection as past, by God's foreknowledge; 'I am still with you' refers to the time before the Son came into the world.
Tractates on the Psalms 138.47Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Only Christ, who is without sin, can confidently ask God to search him for any way of iniquity.
Tractates on the Psalms 139.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · On deeper reading the psalm is Christ's, spoken from both his divine and his assumed human nature, and in what fits our nature it is ours too.
Tractates on the Psalms 139.9Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ always confessed the Father as Lord and God and prayed to him, as at Lazarus's tomb, the feeding of the crowd, and Gethsemane.
Tractates on the Psalms 139.10Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · 'Strength of my salvation' shows a speaker sure of salvation who asks strength for his assumed humanity, mortal but not subject to corruption.
Tractates on the Psalms 139.11Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Fear and confident joy in the psalm fit Christ, God and man: protected in the battle of the cross, he conquered death and the devil, and Judas gained nothing.
Tractates on the Psalms 139.12Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ, willing what the Father wills, prays that his desire, the passion with all its prophesied details, be fulfilled exactly and not forestalled by the sinner.
Tractates on the Psalms 139.13Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The plot to claim the body was stolen failed; every prophecy of the passion and resurrection was fulfilled, confounding the impious.
Tractates on the Psalms 141.1Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The title 'a prayer of understanding' signals a spiritual sense: David praying in the cave prefigures Christ in his sufferings, true God and true man.
Tractates on the Psalms 141.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Some verses fit David and Christ alike, but others, like 'no one knows me' and 'flight has perished', fit only Christ.
Tractates on the Psalms 141.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · At the passion none of his own accompanied Christ, none recognized God in him, and he gave himself up willingly rather than flee.
Tractates on the Psalms 141.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ's cry 'You are my hope' is his commending of his spirit to the Father; his 'portion in the land of the living' is the paradise he promised the thief.
Tractates on the Psalms 141.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Though he had power over his own life, Christ prayed to the Father out of filial reverence; his persecutors grew bold because they saw only his humble flesh.
Tractates on the Psalms 141.7Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The 'prison' is the underworld, to which Christ preached; his release from it, the resurrection, proclaims the Father's power.
Tractates on the Psalms 141.8Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The apostles' faith trembled until the resurrection; Christ was sorrowful 'unto death' for them. His reward is exaltation, and the righteous await their own transformation into his glory.
Tractates on the Psalms 142.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · David's complaint is not against Absalom but against the devil who inflamed him, as he inflamed Judas; the psalm is read of the prophet and of the Lord in his assumed weakness.
Tractates on the Psalms 142.9Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The 'face of God' is Christ, the image of the invisible God; without him one would be like those who descend to the punishment of the pit.
Tractates on the Psalms 143.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The Greek article distinguishes a psalm 'by David' (τοῦ) from one 'for David' (τῷ); this psalm is 'for David', that is, about the man Christ assumed.
Tractates on the Psalms 143.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The parallel Psalm 18, spoken by the Lord, shows that 'teaching my hands for war' and the rest fit Christ, not David.
Tractates on the Psalms 143.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ's hands were trained for war on the cross, where he conquered the world, triumphed over the powers, and reconciled all things; his nailed fingers fixed the bond of sin to the cross.
Tractates on the Psalms 143.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ's confession of the Father as his refuge, made in our lowly nature, honors the Father's majesty.
Tractates on the Psalms 143.7Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · All things were 'given' to Christ not as God, who already had them, but to the humanity he assumed and obediently offered; human nature in him was raised into the divine glory.
Tractates on the Psalms 143.8Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Man, transient as a shadow, is unworthy, yet God made himself known by assuming man, so that man, 'reckoned' through that knowledge, may be conformed to God.
Tractates on the Psalms 143.9Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · God's descent in fire and lightning, as in Psalm 18, signifies Christ's rescue from death; the 'mountains' that smoke are the diabolical powers, his strongest enemies.
Tractates on the Psalms 143.10Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · God's 'bowing the heavens' is not a bodily motion but the heavenly host's service at Christ's incarnation, from the annunciation to the angels ministering after the temptation.
Tractates on the Psalms 143.14Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The 'hand' of God sent from on high is Christ, through whom the man he assumed was rescued from death by the resurrection.
Tractates on the Psalms 143.18Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The 'wonders' of Psalm 98 that call for a new song are not the old works of creation but Christ's raising of his own humanity by his own power.
Tractates on the Psalms 143.21Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The 'David' delivered is Christ, who bore the nations' reproach and our sins; his resurrection as firstborn from the dead is the salvation of the 'kings' who will share his glory.
Tractates on the Psalms 143.22Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ laid down his life freely, beyond the reach of the sword; the worldly prosperity the psalm describes is falsely called blessed, for the truly blessed people is the one whose God is the Lord.
Tractates on the Psalms 144.1Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The king praised in this psalm is Christ, whose eternal reign the psalms and Daniel proclaim.
Tractates on the Psalms 148.8Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The hymn belongs to the saints, the true Israel, who through Christ's kingdom will be handed over to the Father's kingdom; this 'handing over' is not Christ's loss but our advancement.
Tractates on the Psalms 149.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · God, who 'repented' of making sinful man, now takes pleasure in his people reconciled through Christ's body and blood, the eternal priest after Melchizedek's order sworn without repentance.
Sermon on Baptism 3Pacian of Barcelona · ca. 360-390 · Pacian explains grace as the gift of forgiveness and describes Christ, sinless from his birth, overcoming the devil’s temptations in the wilderness.
Sermon on Baptism 4Pacian of Barcelona · ca. 360-390 · Pacian describes the passion as Christ’s victory: the devil, by condemning the sinless one, overstepped his power over sinners and was overcome, and Christ rose on the third day.
Sermon on Baptism 5Pacian of Barcelona · ca. 360-390 · Pacian argues that as Adam’s sin passed to his whole race, so Christ’s righteousness passes to his.
Against the Manichees, Greek continuation of book 3, Lagarde p. 82Titus of Bostra · ca. 360s · John, Luke and Paul all link the Gospel to the Law and the Prophets: Christ is David’s heir, and the God who spoke in the prophets is the Father of the Son.
Against the Manichees, Greek continuation of book 3, Lagarde p. 83Titus of Bostra · ca. 360s · Titus contrasts the Valentinian, Marcionite and Manichaean rejections of the Law and argues that the just and the good are one, since the Son who judges justly is the image of the Father.
Against the Manichees, Greek continuation of book 3, Lagarde p. 85Titus of Bostra · ca. 360s · If evil knew God’s plans to write the Law, God would be mocked; in fact the Law and Prophets foretold Christ’s birth, life, death, descent, resurrection and ascension.
Against the Manichees, Greek continuation of book 3, Lagarde p. 86Titus of Bostra · ca. 360s · The Law foretold Christ’s enthronement, sonship and prophetic office; its commandments against immorality, idolatry and covetousness cannot come from an evil principle.
Against the Manichees, Greek continuation of book 3, Lagarde p. 93Titus of Bostra · ca. 360s · Judith’s prudent courage and Abraham’s refusal of reward illustrate virtue in the Law; the Law, the Gospel and Paul agree on one God and on the Son begotten from the Father.
Against the Manichees, Greek continuation of book 3, Lagarde p. 94Titus of Bostra · ca. 360s · The Father’s voice at Christ’s baptism echoes Ps 2:7, and Paul everywhere interprets the Old Testament; the apostles join Law and Gospel, while the heretics, false apostles, try to divide them.
Against the Manichees, Greek continuation of book 3, Lagarde p. 101Titus of Bostra · ca. 360s · Christ’s teaching that the maker of the outside made the inside, and his care for bodily purity, show that the body is God’s work; his own real body, crucified and buried, refutes the Manichees.
Against the Manichees, Greek continuation of book 3, Lagarde p. 102Titus of Bostra · ca. 360s · Christ’s baptism, hunger, weariness, crucifixion and burial prove his real body; he came in a body to free our bodies, which God made.
Against the Manichees, Greek continuation of book 3, Lagarde p. 103Titus of Bostra · ca. 360s · Titus concludes by urging the faithful to guard their ears against false teachers who claim to be Christ, for there is one Christ, the liberator who drives out sins.
Commentary on Ephesians 1.1Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Paul’s opening places all hope in Christ, who is the will of God, inseparable from the Father yet distinct as a thought is from the mind that conceives it.
Commentary on Ephesians 1.2Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Grace and peace are wished for the Ephesians so that they may know God and live by his precepts, and both come from the Father through the Son, in whom all salvation lies.
Commentary on Ephesians 1.4Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Election “before the foundation of the world” shows, for Victorinus, that souls existed in Christ before the world, which was made so that souls deceived by the senses might know God and, through Christ, become spiritual, holy, and without blemish.
Commentary on Ephesians 1.5Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · God adopts souls as sons through Christ, the only true Son and the image of God, to the praise of his glory and grace.
Commentary on Ephesians 1.21Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Christ, raised and seated at God’s right hand, is above every power and every name, present or future, as the first motion and source of all things; he is head of the church, which Victorinus identifies with all souls to be saved, so nothing may be added to him.
Commentary on Ephesians 2.12Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · As Gentiles without Christ, the Ephesians were outside the true Israel, which lives according to the spirit, and strangers to the promises of the covenants given through the prophets.
Commentary on Ephesians 2.16Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Christ reconciled souls and spirit in one body to God, killing in his own flesh, on the cross, the enmities of flesh and world, so that almost nothing remains for us but to believe in him.
Commentary on Ephesians 3.9Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Paul enlightens all about the mystery hidden from the ages in God: that Christ, begotten of the Father without beginning in time and through whom all things were created, would come in the flesh to save humanity.
Commentary on Ephesians 4.10Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Christ who descended to the depths ascended above all the heavens, of which Victorinus holds there are three, and by his passion, resurrection, and ascension filled and perfected all things.
Commentary on Ephesians 5.30Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Believers are members of Christ’s body, “of his flesh and bones,” which Victorinus takes not of his earthly flesh but of his deity, in which we share as spirit, mind, and soul.
Commentary on Ephesians 6.17Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · The helmet of salvation is Christ, the saving head of the church, and the sword of the spirit is the word of God, also Christ, who conquers the hostile powers and death.
Commentary on Galatians 1.1Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Paul claims an apostleship received not from men, as Matthias’s was, nor through any man, but through Christ, who is God and man, and the Father who raised him, and he adds the brothers with him to shame the Galatians.
Commentary on Galatians 1.11Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Paul’s gospel is “not according to man”: not received from a man, about a Savior who is God become man, and not to be understood in a fleshly way through sabbaths and circumcision.
Commentary on Galatians 3.20Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · The law, which only judges deeds, is not a mediator, whereas Christ, the promised seed, is the one mediator who joins what was separated and frees the church held by the world, so justification is through him and not through the law.
Commentary on Galatians 4.4Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · In the fullness of time the Father sent his eternal Son, born of a woman and made under the law in Israel, to redeem those under the law and make believers sons by adoption, and sent the Spirit of the Son, by whom, knowing the Father, they cry “Abba, Father.”
Commentary on Galatians 6.14Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Paul glories only in the cross, where Christ, having a body that represents all humanity, crucified the world and all flesh with himself.
Commentary on Philippians 2.5Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Victorinus analyzes the precepts of Phil 2:2–4, unity of mind and love, no rivalry or vainglory, humility, and care for others, and shows that Christ, who emptied himself for others, is their pattern.
Commentary on Philippians 2.6Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Christ, the form of God, which for Victorinus is the life and understanding of the Father who is Being, equal with God, freely emptied himself, not by losing his power but by taking a true human body and a slave’s lowliness, obedient to the Father even to death on the cross.
Commentary on Philippians 2.9Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Victorinus explains that the Logos, exalted after the cross, received the name above every name; he reads Paul as implying that the name “Son” was given after the passion, while noting that catholic teaching holds the Father and Son always existed, and he explains how the Son’s name is above all others yet equal to the Father’s.
Commentary on Philippians 3.19Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · With tears Paul warns of the enemies of the cross, whom Victorinus identifies with heretics who either take Christ as a mere man crucified, or deny that he was born in the flesh or crucified; all will end in destruction.
Commentary on Philippians 3.21Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · At the resurrection Christ will transform the lowly body into the likeness of his glorious, spiritual body by the power of God working through him, and will subject all things to God, to whom, as 1 Cor 15:28 says, the Son himself is subject.
Tome to the Antiochenes 7Athanasius of Alexandria · 362 · The council records that both parties confessed that the Word himself became flesh, with a body not without soul or mind, and that one and the same Son acted both humanly and divinely.
Tome to the Antiochenes 10Athanasius of Alexandria · 362 · The list of the bishops to whom the Tome was sent and of those who sent it, with the subscriptions of Eusebius of Vercelli and Asterius.
Tome to the Antiochenes 11Athanasius of Alexandria · 362 · Paulinus of Antioch subscribes to the Tome, confessing three perfect subsistents in one Godhead, the true incarnation of the Word, and the Nicene faith.
Oration 1.5Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Christ became what we are so that we might become what he is; the best offering in return is to give oneself to him.
Oration 2.22Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Unlike medicine, the cure of souls aims at deification, the goal of the law, the prophets, and the whole incarnation, from birth to resurrection.
Oration 2.41Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory explains his return: love for his people, duty to his aged parents, and above all fear of disobedience learned from Jonah and the ancient examples; he submits and asks his father's blessing.
Oration 7.20Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Death has freed Caesarius from life's troubles; Gregory looks to the resurrection, examines himself, and contemplates the destiny of man in Christ.
Oration 12.3Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory describes being torn between longing for contemplative retreat and the Spirit’s call to serve the church, citing Christ’s self-emptying.
Oration 22.13Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory describes the new dispute over Christ, in which some divide him into two sons and others deny that he assumed a human mind, and condemns quarrels over rival bishops’ thrones.
Oration 32.5Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory says zeal without knowledge has split the Church into parties and multiplied rival views of Christ and the Spirit, and states the faith in one God the Father, one Son, and one Spirit.
Oration 34.10Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory argues that no creaturely mark can be shown in the Son or the Spirit, who share all that belongs to the Father except causation and sonship, and calls on his opponents to abandon their sophistries.
Oration 37.1Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Christ, like the fishermen he chose, moves from place to place and becomes all things to all, even being called sin and curse for our sake, to draw humanity out of the sea of life.
Oration 37.2Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Christ moves from Galilee to Judaea; the timeless and bodiless Word, without becoming two, became one out of two natures, and bears our inadequate bodily language about him.
Oration 37.3Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Had Christ remained in his unapproachable height few would have followed him; Moses barely saw God's back, but Christ's self-emptying makes him accessible.
Oration 37.4Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory grieves that Christ is dishonoured for his condescension, and admits that the bodily names applied to him (fire, sword, fan, axe, door, way, sheep, priest) fall short of the incorporeal.
Oration 37.17Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory urges the eunuchs to be chaste towards the Godhead: to call the Son or the Spirit a creature dishonours the whole Trinity, which, like one pearl, is damaged as a whole if any part is.
Oration 38.1Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · The Christmas oration opens by proclaiming Christ's birth: the timeless Word is made flesh, the old order gives way to the new, and all are summoned to praise.
Oration 38.3Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · The feast is called both Theophany and Birthday, since the eternal God appeared by being born for our sake; it is to be kept divinely, as a feast of our re-creation in Christ.
Oration 38.13Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · After many lesser remedies failed, the eternal Word himself became man, uniting flesh to himself through a rational soul, being born of the Virgin, so that he might save the image and make the flesh immortal.
Oration 38.14Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Those who belittle Christ for his humility charge God with his own kindness: the good shepherd, the woman seeking the coin, the one who washes feet and eats with tax collectors.
Oration 38.15Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Christ was sent as man and as God by the Father's good pleasure, gave himself up and rose by his own authority; Gregory rebukes those who deny his Godhead and calls all to worship at Bethlehem with Magi, shepherds and angels.
Oration 38.16Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory urges his hearers to follow Christ through every stage of his life, from the flight into Egypt to the cross and burial, that they may rise and reign with him.
Oration 39.13Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · God made man to worship him on earth and, when man fell, became man without ceasing to be God, deceiving the deceiver; Christ's baptism teaches reverence for purification, humility before the church's ministers, and patience before teaching.
Oration 39.15Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Christ comes to John's baptism to bury the old Adam and sanctify the Jordan; Gregory explains John's reluctance and the images of fan, fire, axe, sword and sandal-thong.
Oration 40.29Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · To the objection that Christ was baptized at thirty, Gregory answers that Christ, being God, needed no cleansing and ran no risk in waiting.
Oration 40.30Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Christ ran no risk in delaying baptism, since he controlled his own suffering and birth.
Oration 40.31Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Christ was baptized at thirty for reasons proper to him: to avoid display, at the age for teaching, and so that all the events leading to the passion might follow in one sequence; his example does not justify our delay.
Oration 40.45Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory writes on the hearts of the candidates a “new decalogue” of faith: creation from nothing, evil not created by God, the incarnation, death, resurrection, ascension and return of the Son, judgment, and good works; the rest is taught after baptism.
Oration 41.5Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Pentecost marks the end of the events of Christ's bodily life and the beginning of the work of the Spirit, who comes as Master, blowing where he wills.
Oration 43.38Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · As bishop Basil surpassed himself, holding that a ruler's virtue must exceed that of those he rules; as Christ grew in wisdom by revealing what he had, so Basil's virtue found wider scope.
Oration 44.2Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · The tabernacle, David's kingdom and Christ's temple of the body were renewed; Christ's resurrection makes us a new creation, and the present feast is a dedication.
Oration 44.5Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Through the devil's envy death entered, and God became man to restore us; the Sunday after Easter is the birthday of the new creation, the eighth day pointing to the life to come.
Oration 45.1Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Oration 45, the second Easter oration, opens with a vision, after Habakkuk, of an angel proclaiming the resurrection and the renewal of the world.
Oration 45.9Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · After many lesser remedies failed, the eternal Word himself came to his own image, taking flesh and a rational soul, and was born of the Virgin.
Oration 45.11Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Christ took human flesh to save the image and make the flesh immortal, a communion more wonderful than the first creation.
Oration 45.14Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · The sacrifices of the law pointed to Christ, the true victim for the whole world; each feature of the Passover lamb (innocent, perfect, male, a year old, without blemish) is read of him.
Oration 45.22Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory asks to whom the ransom of Christ's blood was paid: not to the devil, nor as a price demanded by the Father, but accepted by the Father for the economy of salvation. He urges hearers to keep the Pascha spiritually by sacrificing themselves and sharing in every stage of Christ's passion and resurrection.
Oration 45.25Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory bids his hearers ascend with Christ and answer the angels' question, “Who is this King of glory?”: the risen Lord, whose body is made beautiful by his passion.
Oration 45.26Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory turns on those who belittle Christ's Godhead because he humbled himself as the Good Shepherd to seek the lost sheep.
Oration 45.27Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Against those who confuse the Son with the Father and those who sever him from God, Gregory insists on distinction in number and union in Godhead, and declares that he will contend for the Trinity with the Trinity's help.
Tractates 1.2.9Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno hymns the love of God, which created and redeemed man, brought about the incarnation and cross, inspires martyrs and almsgiving, and is one in the Trinity.
Tractates 1.5.3Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno answers the objection from Mary's marriage by her perpetual virginity and urges virgins to keep their state, as the angels in the resurrection.
Tractates 1.7.2Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno expounds 'Lord, my heart is not lifted up', urging humility after the example of Christ, gentle and humble of heart.
Tractates 1.12.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno begins a sermon on 1 Corinthians 15:47 and John 3:13, explaining how the heavenly 'second man' and the Son of Man 'who was in heaven' are to be understood.
Tractates 1.12.3Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno explains the incarnation, death and resurrection of the Son of God, by which, as Romans 5 says, justification and life come to all.
Tractates 1.13.8Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno interprets Joshua's stone knives as the apostles formed by Christ, the rock, who circumcise the heart by their teaching.
Tractates 1.13.9Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno explains that Christ was circumcised to fulfil the law and show his true flesh as son of David.
Tractates 1.13.10Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno describes the spiritual circumcision that began with Mary's conceiving through the ear and was completed on the cross, from whose pierced side the church was formed.
Tractates 1.14.6Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno concludes the dedication sermon by calling the virtues of the people the true building of the spiritual Jerusalem.
Tractates 1.15.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno argues from Psalm 50 that the speaker who defers to 'the Most High' is the Son, refuting Jews and Arians who deny that the Son is God.
Tractates 1.15.4Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno cites Malachi 1:10–11 on the clean sacrifice of the Gentiles and explains Psalm 50:14–15 of the Son, who is one in majesty with the Father.
Tractates 1.16.5Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno argues from Christ's promise to the penitent robber, his resurrection, Paul and Ezekiel that the dead live and will rise.
Tractates 1.16.14Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno explains that the risen will be recognised, since only what is useless in the body is changed, and that death brings the just into rest.
Tractates 2.1.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno answers those who deny the Son's equality with the Father from 'Let us make man in our image', which shows one work and one image of both.
Tractates 2.1.2Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno answers that the Son who executes the Father's word is not inferior, since Father and Son are in each other with the Holy Spirit.
Tractates 2.3.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno teaches that Christ is the Beginning, eternally embraced in the Father's mind and born as God from God, equal in all things.
Tractates 2.4.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno teaches that the Son came forth from the Father's mouth to create the world, equal to the Father in all things.
Tractates 2.5.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · In a second sermon on 'In the beginning' Zeno teaches that the Father uttered the Son as Word from his heart, that how he was begotten cannot be known, and that the Son created the world as one with the Father's will.
Tractates 2.6.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno explains that Scripture speaks of Christ sometimes as pure God and sometimes as God joined with the man he assumed, giving texts of each kind.
Tractates 2.6.2Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno summarises Christ as God born of the Father before all things, born in the flesh, who died, rose, received all power, and will hand over the kingdom to the Father.
Tractates 2.6.3Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno explains 1 Corinthians 15:24: the kingdom handed to the Father is the temporal kingdom of the assumed man, while as God the Son always reigns with the Father in one kingdom.
Tractates 2.6.4Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno concludes that the Son's subjection to the Father is one of love, not inferiority, since Father and Son share one kingdom, substance and majesty.
Tractates 2.7.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno names three errors about Christ, the Photinian, the Arian and the Jewish, and answers by Christ's two births, eternal from the Father and in time from Mary.
Tractates 2.7.2Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno warns against prying into God's nature and from John 1:1–3 and 10:30 teaches two persons with one substance and one power.
Tractates 2.7.3Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno argues against placing time between Father and Son and gives prophecies of the incarnation, the virgin birth and the forerunner.
Tractates 2.7.4Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno contrasts the conceptions of Elisabeth and Mary and teaches that Christ became what he was not without ceasing to be God.
Tractates 2.8.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno teaches that only God knows God and distinguishes Christ's eternal birth, not to be inquired into, from his birth in the flesh.
Tractates 2.8.2Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno describes Christ's birth from the virgin Mary without pain or impurity, her virginity before, in and after birth, and the story of the doubting midwife.
Tractates 2.9.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno describes the incarnation: the Son enters the virgin's womb, prepares his own body, and is born without a father, Mary remaining a virgin.
Tractates 2.9.2Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno marvels at God become an infant in the manger and presents Christ as the true sun, crowned by the twelve apostles and carried by the four Gospels.
Tractates 2.10.4Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno begins to interpret the ram caught in the thicket as a figure of Christ, sacrificed in Isaac's place.
Tractates 2.11.4Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno interprets Isaac's sacrifice as a figure of Christ's virgin birth, passion and resurrection, in which, as with the ram, what sinned in Adam is freed in Christ.
Tractates 2.13.3Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno interprets the ladder's wood as the two Testaments pointing to the cross, linking them with the householder's old and new treasures and the Good Samaritan's two denarii.
Tractates 2.13.5Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno sums up: the two Testaments are one in Christ, the ladder's steps are the virtues, and the ladder itself is the cross.
Tractates 2.15.2Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno draws a point-by-point comparison between Job and Christ.
Tractates 2.17.3Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno allegorises Jonah: the ship is the synagogue, Jonah's sleep Christ's passion, the whale the underworld, and Nineveh the church of the nations, whose repentance Christians should imitate.
Tractates 2.29.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · A fragment: Christ entered the world in secret so that the devil, who deceived man, should not recognise him.
Tractates 2.43.2Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno reinterprets the twelve signs of the zodiac as Christ, the Testaments, the church's warfare against the devil, and baptism, which makes Jews and Gentiles one people.
Tractates 2.45.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno interprets the Easter day and the four seasons: winter is idolatry, spring the font, summer the faithful people, autumn martyrdom, and the day Christ's resurrection.
Tractates 2.46.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno compares the returning Easter day, which sets and rises again, to Christ's passion and resurrection and to the baptism of the candidates.
Tractates 2.48.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · A third form of the Easter address on the day as an image of Christ's death and resurrection.
Tractates 2.49.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · A fourth form of the Easter address: the day on which Christ died and rose once for all, conquering death and the underworld.
Tractates 2.52.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · A seventh form of the Easter address: the ever-returning day calls the church to celebrate Christ's passion and resurrection in concord.
Tractates 2.55.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno explains the Passover lamb, from sheep or goats (Exod 12:5), as Christ, uniting human flesh and divine majesty, and lists its qualities.
Tractates 2.62.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · In a third short form Zeno argues that the Jews have lost temple, priesthood and sacrifice, and that the true Passover lamb, both human and divine, is Christ.
Tractates 2.77.1Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno introduces a sermon not about the saints of the Easter readings but about Christ, whom his own people dispute, to be defended by Scripture alone.
Against Eunomius 1.4Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil exposes how Eunomius praises the Fathers' creed and then 'corrects' it, mocks his proof that God is unbegotten, argues that 'Father' is the better name, and begins his account of conceptualization (epinoia).
Against Eunomius 1.8Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil exposes Eunomius's claim that calling 'unbegotten' God's essence is a debt of piety, showing that the same logic would make every divine name mean the same thing and would apply equally to the Son.
Against Eunomius 1.16Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil explains 'unbegotten' as the mind's recognition that God's life has no beginning, and exposes Eunomius's use of the word to deny that the Father begets a Son who shares his nature.
Against Eunomius 1.17Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil shows that if the Father has no comparison or fellowship with the Son, Christ's words that whoever sees him sees the Father would be false.
Against Eunomius 1.18Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil shows that Eunomius's denial of all comparison between Father and Son overturns the scriptural titles of the Son as seal, image, form of God, radiance, and stamp.
Against Eunomius 1.20Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil distinguishes natural order, such as that of a cause to what comes from it, from order by design, and grants that the Father is prior to the Son as cause but not in nature or time.
Against Eunomius 1.22Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil quotes Eunomius's argument that because God is simple the Son cannot be like him, and asks why the Son, who is equally simple, cannot be like the Father.
Against Eunomius 1.23Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil argues that since the Son, like the Father, is incorporeal and formless, it is pious to compare them.
Against Eunomius 1.24Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil argues that the Jews drew the right inference that calling God Father means equality, and shows that Eunomius's view of 'Father' as an activity contradicts his claim that the Father is greater.
Against Eunomius 1.25Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil argues that 'the Father is greater' in John 14:28 refers to the Father as cause and origin of the Son, not to a difference in power, dignity, size, or essence.
Against Eunomius 1.26Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil exposes the contradiction of calling the Father both 'greater' and 'incomparable,' and argues that belittling the Son removes the knowledge of the Father himself.
Against Eunomius 1.27Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil concludes Book 1: if the Father is incomparable, the Son would be no different from creatures, contrary to his words 'I and the Father are one,' and Eunomius's argument refutes itself.
Against Eunomius 2.1Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil introduces Book 2 by quoting Eunomius's claim that the saints call the Son 'offspring' and 'thing made,' and proposes to test every claim against the teaching of the Spirit in Scripture.
Against Eunomius 2.2Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil denies that any saint called the Son a 'thing made,' and argues that Acts 2:36 ('God made him Lord and Christ') speaks of the incarnate Christ's authority, not of his coming into being.
Against Eunomius 2.4Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil argues from the names Peter and Paul that names signify distinctive features, not essences, so a difference of names cannot prove a difference of essence between Father and Son.
Against Eunomius 2.6Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil exposes Eunomius's selective concern about bodily notions of begetting, and argues that 'offspring' is a name never given to the Son in Scripture, which uses 'Son', as the Septuagint translators kept even Hebrew names untranslated out of reverence.
Against Eunomius 2.8Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil argues that Scripture calls the Lord 'Son' but never 'offspring,' a word used of unformed miscarriages, crops, and the 'offspring of vipers.'
Against Eunomius 2.9Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil argues that 'offspring' is a relative term, like 'son' or 'friend,' which indicates a relation, not an essence.
Against Eunomius 2.10Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil shows that if 'offspring' named an essence, all offspring would share one essence and the Son would be the essence of the Father himself.
Against Eunomius 2.11Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil exposes the sophism in Eunomius's claim that the Son's essence 'was not before its own constitution,' showing that it implies the Son came from nothing and the Father became Father later.
Against Eunomius 2.12Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil argues that God is eternally Father, so the Son eternally exists, with nothing between them; the Father is prior only as cause.
Against Eunomius 2.13Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil argues that any interval between Father and Son would make the Son younger than an age or a time, contradicting Scripture that all things, the ages included, came to be through him.
Against Eunomius 2.14Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil answers Eunomius's dilemma ('God begot the Son either when he was or when he was not') from John 1:1: the Word 'was' in the beginning, beyond which nothing can be conceived, and John's prologue proclaims his eternal begetting.
Against Eunomius 2.16Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil argues that the mind cannot think beyond the Son, the light of the soul, and offers images of an impassible, timeless begetting: radiance from light, a seal's impression, thoughts arising with the mind.
Against Eunomius 2.17Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil answers Eunomius's claim that a Son who 'was' before his begetting would be unbegotten: the Son is eternally begotten, and 'eternal' and 'unbegotten' are different notions.
Against Eunomius 2.18Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil answers Eunomius's claim that the Son was begotten 'not being' by showing that the One who named himself 'He who is' at the burning bush was the Son, called in Scripture both angel and God.
Against Eunomius 2.19Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil denounces calling the Son 'not being,' a phrase Scripture uses of idols, and shows that the 'superiority' Eunomius grants the Son over his works does not imply a difference of essence from creatures.
Against Eunomius 2.20Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil rejects Eunomius's redefinition of 'Only-Begotten' as 'begotten and created by the only one,' briefly treats Prov 8:22 ('The Lord created me,' rendered by other translators 'acquired me'), and shows the absurd consequences of calling the Son a mere minister.
Against Eunomius 2.22Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil answers Eunomius's warning against a 'human' begetting: faith in Father and Son, into whom Christians are baptized, is the heart of the Gospel, and the names indicate a relation, not bodily passion.
Against Eunomius 2.23Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil argues that the names Father and Son, applied to God, point to the impassible cause, and that Christ himself transfers the name 'Father' from human beings to God.
Against Eunomius 2.25Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil quotes Eunomius's dilemma about the Father and Son as 'light' and shows that the opposition he posits between unbegotten and begotten admits no common ground.
Against Eunomius 2.26Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil shows that Eunomius's reasoning would make the Son's 'light' the opposite of light, that is, darkness, and exposes the logical fallacy that consequents of contraries must themselves be contraries.
Against Eunomius 2.27Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil argues that Eunomius's formula would deny that the Son is light, life, and power, contrary to Scripture, and explains that darkness, death, and weakness belong to the powers that fell away by choice, not to any essence.
Against Eunomius 2.31Basil of Caesarea · ca. 364 · Basil shows that Eunomius contradicts himself by calling the Father's essence 'free of all laws' and yet bound by a 'law of nature,' and turns his chain of dignity, activity, and image into a proof that the Son is the image of the Father's essence.
Hexaemeron 3.2Basil of Caesarea · ca. 370 · God does not speak as we do: Scripture presents God commanding in order to point to the Word, the fellow worker through whom creation was made.
Hexaemeron 3.4Basil of Caesarea · ca. 370 · Water can rest above the firmament; "firmament" means something firm, not a crystal or ice; and "God made" after "Let there be" points to the Son as maker.
Hexaemeron 8.6Basil of Caesarea · ca. 370 · Birds teach lessons on widowhood, the cruelty of exposing children, fair inheritance, and, from the vulture, the credibility of the virgin birth.
Hexaemeron 9.6Basil of Caesarea · ca. 370 · Faith overcomes wild beasts; turning to man, Basil argues from "Let us make man in our image" that God spoke to his Son, the one image of the Father, against Jewish and Anomoean interpretations.
Homilies 15.2Basil of Caesarea · ca. 363-378 · Father, Son and Spirit share one uncreated nature: the Son is the perfect image, having by nature all the Father has; the Spirit is holy by nature, one and undivided, and works every gift in the Church.
Homilies 16.1Basil of Caesarea · ca. 363-378 · Expounding John 1:1, Basil shows that the Word's “beginning” has no beginning before it and that the fourfold “was” refutes the Arian “there was when he was not,” while “Word” and “with God” exclude both passion in the begetting and Sabellian confusion.
Homilies 20.4Basil of Caesarea · ca. 363-378 · All we have is received from God; Peter learned humility through his fall, the Pharisee lost his righteousness through pride; Basil sets Christ's lowliness from manger to cross before us as the pattern.
Homilies 23.2Basil of Caesarea · ca. 363-378 · A martyr is praised for his own virtue, not his ancestry; Mamas was a poor shepherd, a calling shared by Abel, Moses, Jacob and David, and by Christ, who is both shepherd and king.
Homilies 23.4Basil of Caesarea · ca. 363-378 · The hirelings are those who lead for their own profit, then and now; Basil condemns schism over Christ's words and turns to the heretics' use of “I know my own and my own know me.”
Homilies 24.1Basil of Caesarea · ca. 363-378 · The Sabellians renew Judaism by making Father and Son one person, the Anomoeans renew paganism by worshiping a created Son; Christ's own words show two persons and one nature.
Against Auxentius 2Hilary of Poitiers · 364–365 · Whoever denies the Christ of the apostles is antichrist, even under the appearance of preaching him.
Against Auxentius 6Hilary of Poitiers · 364–365 · The Arians give Christ titles that also fit angels and men while denying that he is true God; the people, hearing the words, believe rightly.
Against Auxentius 7Hilary of Poitiers · 364–365 · Hilary recounts the hearing at Milan before imperial officials, where Auxentius professed orthodoxy and then gave an evasive written creed.
Against Auxentius 8Hilary of Poitiers · 364–365 · Hilary analyzes how Auxentius's written creed attaches "true" to "Son" rather than to "God" and keeps the one divinity in the Father alone.
Against Auxentius 11Hilary of Poitiers · 364–365 · Auxentius grants Christ only titles that Scripture also gives to men, Israel, and even the devil, while denying his true deity.
Against Auxentius 14Hilary of Poitiers · 364–365 · Auxentius's creed: one only true God the Father, and the Son "God, true Son from the true God the Father".
Against Parmenian the Donatist 1.1Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · Optatus opens by recalling the one faith of all Christians and the peace that Christ left through the apostles to every believer.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 1.8Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · Optatus rejects Parmenian's claim that Christ's sinful flesh was cleansed in the Jordan: Christ's flesh was sinless, and his baptism cleansed the water, not himself.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 3.2Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · Optatus reads Isaiah 22 as a prophecy of the Donatist schism: by rebaptizing they diverted the water of the old pool, the one baptism symbolized by the fish ΙΧΘΥΣ (Christ), and God's grief in the valley of Zion (Africa) foretold the events of 347.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 4.7Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · Ps 141:5 is Christ's prayer not to be anointed by any man, all men being sinners; the Father answered it at the Jordan, anointing him with the Spirit descending as a dove.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 4.8Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · Wisdom's saying about the sons of adulterers, if taken figuratively, applies to heretics like Valentinus who corrupt the faith about Christ's flesh, not to schismatics.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 1:13Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Factions named after men divide Christ, as the heretical sects of Ambrosiaster's day do by claiming parts of the one God-man.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 1:19Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The cross is God's power, and God confounds the wise by doing what they declared impossible.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 1:23Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ's divine sonship offends Jews, while the virgin birth and resurrection seem senseless to gentiles.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 1:25Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ is God's power and wisdom; God's apparent foolishness and weakness, seen in the cross, overcome the few worldly-wise who boast of antiquity.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 1:27Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · God chose what the world calls foolish and weak, the virgin birth and the cross, to shame the worldly-wise.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 1:31Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ is God's gift of wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, and boasting belongs only in the Lord.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 2:1–2Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Paul preached Christ crucified in plain speech, unlike the eloquent heretics who denied the virgin birth and real crucifixion.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 2:8Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The 'rulers of this age' who crucified Christ are chiefly spiritual powers acting in ignorance of his divine sonship; the impassible Lord is said to die because the Word became flesh.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 2:9Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Ambrosiaster traces the quotation to the Apocalypse of Elijah and applies it to the incarnation, hidden even from heavenly powers.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 3:18Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · To be wise one must accept being called foolish by the world, believing the incarnation which the false apostles denied.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 3:23Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Believers belong to Christ, the Father's proper Son who does his will, and must not hope in men.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 4:10Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The Corinthians' 'wisdom' resembles that of Marcion and Photinus; Paul's ironic praise inverts what he means.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 5:7Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The old leaven is both sin and false teaching; Christ the sacrificed Passover calls for a new life, and 'Passover' means sacrifice, not passing over.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 6:14Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ, God's power, raised his own body and will raise ours.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 7:23Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Those redeemed by Christ must not enslave themselves to human teachers, which implies that Christ is God.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 8:5Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Against pagan gods, Paul names one God the Father and one Lord Jesus; as God is also Lord, the Lord is also God, in one principle.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 10:3–4Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The manna and water from the rock were miraculous figures of the Eucharist, and Christ was the one who supplied them.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 10:8Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Israel's fornication at Baal Peor and its testing of Christ in the desert warn against the same sins.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 11:3Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · 'Head' means different things: God is Christ's head as begetter, Christ man's head as creator, man woman's head as her source.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 15:3Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ's death fulfilled prophecies such as Isa 53, spoken in the past tense because the future is present to God.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 15:4Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ's burial and third-day resurrection fulfil Isa 53 and Hos 6, the latter spoken in the people's name because all rise in him.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 15:20–21Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ, a true man, rose as the firstfruits; as death came by Adam's sin, resurrection came by Christ's righteousness.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 15:24–26Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The Son's handing over the kingdom does not end his reign; it means showing, once all worship him, that the Father is the source from whom all things are.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 15:27–28Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The Son's final subjection means showing himself God from God, so that the Father remains the one principle and all creation confesses one God; it is not a creature's subjection.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 15:47–48Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Adam's earthly descendants are mortal; believers in the sinless, heavenly Christ will share his deathless life, while unbelievers rise dark.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 15:57Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ, sinless God made man, defeated the devil by being unjustly killed, so the devil justly lost those he held through sin.
Commentary on 1 Thessalonians 1:9–10Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The Thessalonians’ conversion from idols to the living God and their waiting for the risen and ascended Christ, flesh and all, were known everywhere, to the shame of worldly wisdom.
Commentary on 1 Thessalonians 4:14–17Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Paul sets out the order of the Lord’s coming: Christ, the archangel who is God, descends to fight the Antichrist; the dead in Christ rise first, and the living, after a momentary death, are caught up to meet him.
Commentary on 1 Thessalonians 5:23Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ, the God of peace, is asked to keep the believer’s spirit whole, which requires a clean soul and a blameless body, for sin estranges them from the Spirit given to us.
Commentary on 1 Timothy 1:12–14Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Paul thanks Christ, who strengthened his unbelieving mind and forgave his persecutions because they came from error, not from malice against known truth.
Commentary on 1 Timothy 1:15Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ came to save sinners, taking flesh without defilement and dying to destroy death, and his mercy to Paul, the chief of sinners, is an example for all who will believe.
Commentary on 1 Timothy 2:5Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ, one with the Father in nature yet distinct in person, became man to be the one mediator who reconciled God and humanity in himself.
Commentary on 1 Timothy 2:6–7Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ, dying unjustly, descended to the underworld, condemned death and freed its captives, and his resurrection is the testimony Paul was sent to preach to the gentiles.
Commentary on 1 Timothy 3:12–13Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Deacons must have had only one wife, since God blesses only one marriage, and clergy who serve daily must abstain from their wives; the church, ruled today by Damasus, is God’s house, and the mystery of Christ is unfolded from incarnation to ascension.
Commentary on 1 Timothy 4:1–5Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The Spirit foretold heretics, such as the Marcionites, Patricians, and Manichees, who deny Christ’s birth, forbid marriage, and reject foods, though everything God made is good when received with thanksgiving.
Commentary on 2 Corinthians 1:19Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ's will always coincides with what is useful, and preachers should imitate this constancy.
Commentary on 2 Corinthians 2:15Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Like an unseen fragrance, God is made known through the preaching of Christ, which is a good fragrance to God when Christ is rightly proclaimed.
Commentary on 2 Corinthians 3:11Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Moses' glory was a passing figure; Christ's is the abiding reality, as the sun eclipses the stars.
Commentary on 2 Corinthians 4:3Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · God blinds the minds of those who wilfully reject the gospel, granting them what they wish, as Isaiah foretold.
Commentary on 2 Corinthians 4:6Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · God who made light shine in darkness enlightened the apostles to make known his glory in Christ to the nations.
Commentary on 2 Corinthians 5:16Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · After the resurrection Christ is known no longer by his weakness but as God, and is to be served accordingly.
Commentary on 2 Corinthians 5:17Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · In Christ all is made new as he is recognized as God and the world turns from many gods to worship one God in the Trinity.
Commentary on 2 Corinthians 5:19–21Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · God the Father was in Christ, one with him in substance, reconciling the world, and gave the apostles the ministry of reconciliation in Christ's place.
Commentary on 2 Corinthians 5:21Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · God made the sinless Christ “sin” by incarnation and as a sin offering, so that sinners might be justified; his death, plotted by Satan, emptied the underworld.
Commentary on 2 Corinthians 6:17–18Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The promises of God's dwelling and fatherhood are Christ's words; Christ, almighty like the Father, calls believers to purity so as to receive them as sons.
Commentary on 2 Corinthians 8:9Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ became poor by becoming man to make humans sharers in divinity; so the Corinthians should complete their gift according to their means.
Commentary on 2 Corinthians 13:4Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ, crucified in weakness and raised by God's power, conquered death; the apostles' weakness likewise leads to life.
Commentary on 2 Thessalonians 2:8–9Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · After Rome falls, Satan, cast down from heaven, will work through a man who imitates Christ with lying signs to be worshiped as the highest god, until Christ destroys him.
Commentary on 2 Timothy 1:8Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · There is no shame in the gospel or in Paul’s chains: Christ’s cross ended in resurrection, and God lets his servants suffer so their reward is just.
Commentary on 2 Timothy 2:8–9Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Against heretics who deny the incarnation, Paul insists on the risen Christ of David’s seed; his chains could not bind the word, which he preached even in prison.
Commentary on 2 Timothy 4:17Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · God stood by Paul and rescued him from the devil’s jaws; Paul sends greetings, explains why Trophimus was left sick, and closes with his signature naming Jesus Christ as God and man.
Commentary on Colossians 1:14Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Through Christ come redemption and release from the underworld; he is the image of the invisible God not as something visible but as equal in nature to the Father, seen through his divine works, while the Father never appeared.
Commentary on Colossians 1:16Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ is begotten, not created, before all creation; all things, including the angelic powers, were made through him from nothing and hold together in him; as he made all, so he restores all, first from the dead.
Commentary on Colossians 1:19Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · All fulness dwells in Christ, who can create, restore, give life, and judge, and so is perfect God.
Commentary on Colossians 1:20Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · God reconciled all things in heaven and on earth through the incarnate Christ's teaching and death, so that his creatures might live in him their author.
Commentary on Colossians 1:23–24Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ's sufferings, continued in the persecution of his apostle, profit only those who remain in the faith; since all depends on Christ, no element, angel, or power is to be worshipped.
Commentary on Colossians 1:29Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · True wisdom is knowing Christ, and Paul labours, with miracles to silence opponents, to bring all to full understanding of Christ's divine and human births.
Commentary on Colossians 2:1–3Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · All wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ, so the Colossians need no worldly learning or other powers; Paul, present in spirit like Elisha, warns them against subtle reasoners.
Commentary on Colossians 2:8–9Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Paul warns against philosophy that reduces God's power to natural reasoning and worships the elements and stars; all fulness of divinity is in Christ, so no other is to be worshipped.
Commentary on Colossians 2:13–15Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ forgave all sins, including the inherited sin of Adam that kept the dead in the underworld, by nailing it to the cross; the sinless one, unjustly killed, made the powers guilty and stripped them of their captives.
Commentary on Ephesians 1:5Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · God decreed that believers be adopted as sons under Christ, the true Son.
Commentary on Ephesians 1:9–10Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · God's purpose was to restore all creation, heavenly and earthly, from error by making Christ known.
Commentary on Ephesians 1:20–21Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ's resurrection and exaltation above all powers is the pattern of believers' glory; as Son by nature he is head of all creation, which is filled when it confesses him.
Commentary on Ephesians 2:3Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The 'desires of the flesh' mean unbelief and idolatry; nature becomes 'of wrath' by an evil will, not by its substance, and is restored by returning to God.
Commentary on Ephesians 3:9Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Paul was sent to teach the gentiles that Christ was always with God and that salvation comes in Christ alone, without the Law.
Commentary on Ephesians 3:10Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Through the church even the spiritual powers learn the mystery of the one God in Christ, the King of glory of Psalm 24, who conquered death.
Commentary on Ephesians 3:19Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ's love in becoming man and dying for sinners surpasses knowledge; the fulness of faith honours the Son equally with the Father.
Commentary on Ephesians 4:8Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ, triumphing over death on the cross, freed the willing captives of the underworld and gave gifts; the risen saints of Matthew 27 testify to it.
Commentary on Ephesians 4:9Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ descended to the underworld, not to remain like others held by sentence, but to preach to the dead and rise with those who longed for him.
Commentary on Ephesians 4:10Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The one who descended from heaven, became man, and went down to the dead rose and ascended above all heavens.
Commentary on Ephesians 4:13Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The church's ordering lasts until all reach unity of faith, which means holding Christ to be perfect and full God.
Commentary on Ephesians 4:15Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Truth in love means subjecting all to Christ as head and holding firm to the catholic faith against its opponents.
Commentary on Ephesians 5:2Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ's death pleased God not because he was killed but because he kept righteousness to death; God 'handed him over' by permitting his willing killers, who remain guilty.
Commentary on Ephesians 6:21–22Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Paul sends Tychicus with news and closes by wishing peace, love, and grace, which remains only with those who believe rightly about Christ.
Prologue to the Commentary on GalatiansAmbrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Ambrosiaster's prologue: Christians who keep the works of the law, like the Symmachians, deny Christ's divinity; the law ceased with John, faith alone saves, and circumcision gave way to the circumcision of the heart.
Commentary on Galatians 1:1Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Paul's apostleship comes from Christ, God and man, which refutes both the Manichees and Photinus; Christ raised himself, yet by the Father's power.
Commentary on Galatians 1:3Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Father and Son are equally Lord and God; to serve the law alongside Christ insults him, who gave himself to free us from the devil, the law's condemnation and the present age.
Commentary on Galatians 1:19Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · James, bishop of Jerusalem, was the Lord's 'brother' as a son of Joseph by a former marriage, not a son of Mary.
Commentary on Galatians 3:1Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The Galatians, by adding the law to Christ, treated him as condemned and merely human, as Photinus does, whereas the wise see his cross as death's defeat.
Commentary on Galatians 3:13Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ, offered for the cursed, became 'a curse' as a sin offering is called 'sin'; innocent, he was not cursed but became the curse of those who killed him, and by his death and descent he freed humanity.
Commentary on Galatians 3:20Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ is the arbiter who made peace between Jews and gentiles by removing what divided them; as God he is one with the Father; the law, unable to give life, shut all under sin so that faith might receive the promise.
Commentary on Galatians 4:3Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The 'elements' are new moons and sabbaths; Christ, born under the law and circumcised as Abraham's promised son, ended the need for circumcision and made believers adopted sons.
Commentary on Philippians 1:1Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Paul writes to the saints at Philippi who confess Christ as God and man; 'bishops and deacons' means Paul and Timothy and their ministers, since a church has one bishop.
Commentary on Philippians 2:1–4Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Paul calls for unity and humility after the example of Christ, who, equal to God in the form of God shown in his works, emptied himself by withholding his power, took the form of a servant in his humiliation, and obeyed to death on the cross.
Commentary on Philippians 2:10–12Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The name above every name given to Christ is the divine name he had by nature from his birth from the Father, made manifest after the cross; it was not given to a mere man or by adoption, against the Arians.
Commentary on Philippians 3:8–11Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · All is loss compared to knowing Christ; righteousness from faith, not from the Law, suffices for salvation, and knowing Christ's incarnation, passion, and resurrection is the treasure of wisdom.
Commentary on Philippians 3:20–21Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christians live in heaven by their spiritual concerns and await Christ, who will transform their bodies to his glory and subdue all powers.
Commentary on Philippians 4:23Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Paul's closing wish of Christ's grace affirms Christ's divinity.
Commentary on Romans 1:1Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Ambrosiaster explains Paul’s name, his title “servant of Christ Jesus” as a sign of both natures, and his being set apart from Judaism for the gospel, which surpasses the law as better surpasses good.
Commentary on Romans 1:2Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · On Rom 1:2–4 Ambrosiaster explains that the gospel was promised in the prophets and that the eternal Son, born of David’s seed by the Virgin, was shown to be Son of God in power by the resurrection.
Commentary on Romans 1:20Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Ambrosiaster says the gentiles are without excuse because God’s eternal power, which is Christ, and his divinity are known from the creation.
Commentary on Romans 1:25Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Idolaters gave the name of God to stones and wood; the blessing “for ever” belongs to the true God, and Paul gives the same blessing to Christ in Rom 9:5.
Commentary on Romans 2:17Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Ambrosiaster explains the name “Jew” as recalling Abraham, Jacob, and above all Christ, the true Judah whom his brothers praise.
Commentary on Romans 2:22Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Ambrosiaster interprets stealing, adultery and sacrilege spiritually as distorting the law and denying Christ, who appeared to the patriarchs as God and was not recognized.
Commentary on Romans 2:23Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The Jew transgresses the law by ignoring its witness to Christ’s incarnation and divinity.
Commentary on Romans 2:24Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · As in Isaiah’s day, God’s name was blasphemed among the gentiles because Jews, and the Photinians, taught that Christ is not God.
Commentary on Romans 3:24Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Believers are justified freely by faith alone, through Christ’s redemption, by which the devil, seizing Christ, lost all whom he held.
Commentary on Romans 3:25Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · In Christ God determined to be propitious to those who believe, freeing them by his blood.
Commentary on Romans 5:5Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The Holy Spirit, given with mighty works, is the pledge that our hope will not be shamed; Christ’s death for the ungodly, when few would die even for the righteous or the good, shows his love.
Commentary on Romans 5:10Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · If Christ’s death reconciled enemies, his risen life will save the reconciled; through him believers boast in God and honour the Son as the Father.
Commentary on Romans 5:12Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Ambrosiaster reads Rom 5:12 “in whom” as “in Adam”: all sinned in Adam as in a lump and are born under sin and bodily death, while the second death comes only by one’s own sins; Christ, one with God, undoes what Adam began.
Commentary on Romans 6:4Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Buried with Christ in baptism, the pledge and image of resurrection, believers are spiritually washed and walk in the new life of Christ’s precepts.
Commentary on Romans 7:4Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Through Christ’s body, unjustly killed by the devil, believers die to the law and belong to the risen Christ, bearing fruit to God.
Commentary on Romans 8:1–2Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · There is no condemnation for those in Christ; the law of faith frees from sin and death, which the law of Moses, though spiritual, could not do; Christ, born of a virgin in sinless flesh like ours, condemned sin (the devil) by the devil’s own sin in crucifying him.
Commentary on Romans 8:29Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · God chose those he foreknew would remain devoted to him, predestining them to be like his Son, who is firstborn in every sense, our brother as man and our Lord as God.
Commentary on Romans 8:34Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ, who died and rose for us and sits at God’s right hand, cannot condemn us but intercedes for us, as for Peter; his intercession marks the distinction of persons, not inequality.
Commentary on Romans 9:5Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Ambrosiaster lists Israel’s privileges, lost by rejecting the Saviour, and argues at length that “God over all, blessed for ever” refers to Christ, who is worshipped as God with the Father as one God.
Commentary on Romans 9:33Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ is the stone of stumbling in Zion, the stone of Daniel cut without hands, that is, born of a virgin; the Jews stumbled at his body and would not see God at work in it.
Commentary on Romans 10:13Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The Lord on whom believers call is the Son, called Angel and God, who appeared to Moses; but one must believe and hear the preacher in order to call on him.
Commentary on Romans 14:9Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ, through whom creation was made, died and rose to free the living and the dead from sin’s captivity, and so is Lord of both.
Commentary on Romans 14:11Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ, risen and coming as judge, is the one to whom every knee will bow, acknowledged as God from God.
Commentary on Romans 15:3Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ did his Father’s will, not his own, and bore the reproaches aimed at God when he was killed as a blasphemer.
Commentary on Romans 15:12Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Isaiah foretold that the gentiles would hope in the root of Jesse; Christ comes from Jesse through David because he is king, the branch being the Virgin Mary.
Commentary on Romans 15:33Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Ambrosiaster identifies the God of peace with Christ, who gives his peace and is with his people always.
On the Destruction of Jerusalem 2.12Anonymous · ca. 370 · The author ascribes the Jews' sufferings to their crucifixion of Jesus, cites Josephus's testimony to Jesus, tells how John the Baptist died for rebuking Herod's marriage to Herodias, and begins to show that the high priesthood had departed from its lawful succession from Aaron.
On the Destruction of Jerusalem 5.9Anonymous · ca. 370 · The author describes the founding of Jerusalem and the temple, interpreting the veil, the high priest's vestments, the sanctuary and its furnishings as figures of Christ, the Spirit and the Church.
Letter to the Africans 8Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 369 · The bishops argue that the Son has all that the Father has by essence, not by virtue, since God is simple and without qualities, and that he is therefore of the same essence with the Father.
Question 2, section 5Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ came to free man and undo the devil’s works; the devil cannot be evil by nature, or punishing him would be unjust.
Question 3, section 4Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The line from Seth to Abraham, David, and Christ shows that all who believed in the one God were Christians from the beginning; Christ’s coming revealed the persons within the one God and completed the law.
Question 44, section 13Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The law belongs to all who will, and Jesus fulfilled every sign it foretold: birth from a virgin in Bethlehem of David’s line, the new covenant, the passion, and resurrection on the third day.
Question 44, section 14Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Daniel’s seventy weeks (490 years) from Darius were fulfilled in Christ’s birth and passion and Jerusalem’s fall under Vespasian, as Tertullian also reckoned.
Question 44, section 15Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Some three hundred years beyond Daniel’s number, it is shameless for the Jews to deny that Christ has come.
Question 44, section 16Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Once Daniel’s time has passed, denying Christ’s coming makes God a liar; the Jews refuse out of shame and forget the coming judgment.
Question 48, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Before creating, God begot from himself a Son equal to him in every way, the Word hidden in him from eternity, called Son to show that he is from the Father and consubstantial with him.
Question 49, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ, anointed and purified by the Spirit in the womb, needed no baptism, but was baptized to fulfill righteousness and show believers the gift of the Spirit they receive in baptism.
Question 49, section 2Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ was baptized to confirm by example that people become God’s children through rebirth, by which they receive power.
Question 50, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Circumcision was the sign of the promised seed, Christ; he received it to show he was the promised one, and after him only circumcision of the heart remains.
Question 51, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The Spirit sanctified Mary and formed a holy body in her, while the “power of the Most High,” Christ, overshadowed her, dwelling in her womb as much as human nature could hold.
Question 52, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The house that Wisdom built is the church, bought with Christ’s blood, or his body; though the Spirit formed the body, the works of Father, Son, and Spirit are one.
Question 53, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ was born when the days begin to lengthen after the winter solstice, signifying that he leads humanity from death’s shadow into growing life.
Question 54, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ is Son of God eternally and by birth in the flesh; the voice at his baptism was for believers, and his reception of the Spirit there confirmed in him the sacrament by which the baptized become God’s children.
Question 55, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ suffered on 25 March, the Roman equinox and the day of creation, so that the world was renewed on the day it was made.
Question 56, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Matthew traces Joseph’s descent through Solomon to his father Jacob, Luke through Nathan to Heli, a kinsman; Christ is called son of all these as he was of Joseph, and Luke’s line ends in God to show he is God’s Son before all flesh.
Question 56, section 3Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Luke’s phrase “as was supposed, of Joseph, of Heli … of Adam, of God” calls Christ the son of each ancestor in the same sense, and the true Son of God before them all, refuting Photinus.
Question 56, section 4Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Read as a chain of fathers and sons, Luke’s list would make Adam the son of God; read as Ambrosiaster proposes, it calls Christ the Son of God before all his ancestors.
Question 63, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The magi, following Balaam’s prophecy of a star from Jacob, recognized an extraordinary star as the sign of the Jewish king, so that astrologers, usually enemies of truth, bore witness to Christ.
Question 64, section 2Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ’s passion begins with night, the image of death, so that the Lord of light might enter death’s domain and destroy it; the reversal of day and night marks the Jews’ crime as a deed of darkness.
Question 64, section 3Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Counting from the night of his arrest through the Lord’s day, with each night joined to its day, Christ rose after three days and three nights.
Question 66, section 2Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The demons recognized Jesus as the promised Messiah but did not know the mystery of his divinity, as the devil’s uncertain “if you are the Son of God” shows.
Question 71, section 2Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Only the Son has seen the Father; the God who appeared to the patriarchs was the Son, so God is both seen and unseen.
Question 73, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Jesus’ will is always fulfilled; in the region of Tyre he wanted to stay hidden because the time for preaching to the gentiles had not come.
Question 73, section 2Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Jesus did not want his disciples to announce him, but welcomed those who sought him out, like the Canaanite woman, so his will was done.
Question 74, section 2Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Jesus went up not to celebrate but to contend; his true feast was the day of his passion, when he conquered death.
Question 75, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · “No one comes unless the Father draws him” does not deny free will: the Father draws people by the miracles he works through Christ, which show that God is his Father.
Question 77, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ is the fall of those proud of their learning in the law and the rising of the lowly believers, as the fishermen who followed him show.
Question 77, section 2Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The sword passing through Mary’s soul is the doubt that touched her and all the disciples at Christ’s death but passed away at his resurrection.
Question 78, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Isaiah says Christ did no sin; Paul says the Father made him sin, meaning that he took sinful flesh and was offered as a sin offering, called “sin” in the law.
Question 78, section 2Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The Father offered Christ by letting his enemies kill him, which let him descend to strip the underworld and made the devil guilty; so he was made a curse for us, and his sign frees us from the second death.
Question 83, section 2Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ came not by our merits but when help was needed and would be most gratefully received.
Question 83, section 3Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · God first left humanity to its will with the witness of creation, then chose Abraham, then gave the written law, and finally, when all had failed, sent his Son to die and descend to the underworld.
Question 83, section 4Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ came hidden in human form so that the devil, killing him as a man, found him God in the underworld and lost all his captives.
Question 86, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Mary is of David’s line because the angel calls David the father of her child.
Question 88, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Isaiah saw the Lord seated as a ruling king, but Stephen saw him standing as an advocate pleading a case at the judge’s right hand.
Question 91, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Against Photinus, John the Baptist and Christ’s own words show that Christ came from heaven and existed with the Father before his birth from Mary.
Question 91, section 2Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ’s words about coming from and returning to the Father cannot refer merely to his teaching or power, which remained in the world after his departure.
Question 91, section 3Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · If the power at work in Christ is God’s Son, it is Christ himself; otherwise there would be two sons, contrary to Scripture’s “only Son.”
Question 91, section 4Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · No one doubted that Christ’s miracles were from God; the question was always about his person.
Question 91, section 5Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The apostles’ confession that Christ came from God, approved by him, shows that he is the true Son who alone was with God and knew him.
Question 91, section 6Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ alone is called the true and only Son of God and accepts worship, which belongs to God alone, so he is not a mere man as Photinus held.
Question 91, section 7Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Paul’s apostleship and gospel came “not from a man” but from Jesus Christ, which shows that Christ is God as well as man.
Question 91, section 8Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Rom 9:5 calls Christ “God over all,” and since every knee bows to him in heaven and earth he must be God, not a mere man.
Question 91, section 9Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The Word who was in the beginning with God and is called the Son became flesh from Mary, so he existed before Mary.
Question 91, section 10Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ is called the Word, power, and wisdom of God to show that he is from God and not a second god.
Question 91, section 11Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Photinus’s punctuation of John 1:1 (“and God was”) is rejected; the Gospel teaches that the Word, who was with God in the beginning, was God.
Question 91, section 12Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · God promised that no man would equal Solomon, yet Christ claimed to be greater than Solomon, which is only consistent if Christ is God.
Question 91, section 13Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ’s words “before Abraham I am,” and the curse on hoping in a man, refute Photinus’s claim that Christ is only a man who began with Mary.
Question 97, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Against the Arians, Christ is called the true Son of God, which means he was born from God’s substance; God’s power does not make false things true.
Question 97, section 2Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ is God’s own Son, born of his substance, and therefore equal to him, as Paul and John testify.
Question 97, section 3Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ’s sayings that he speaks and acts from the Father do not lower him but show that he is consubstantial with the Father and has his origin from him.
Question 97, section 4Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Everything Scripture ascribes to the Father it also ascribes to the Son, so the Arians misread the passages that show Christ’s true sonship.
Question 97, section 5Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Father and Son differ only as unbegotten and begotten; the one image in Gen 1:26, the Jews’ charge against Jesus, and Isaiah 45 show that they share one nature.
Question 97, section 6Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Isaiah’s words show that the Son, in whom God is and who is himself God, shares one substance with the Father.
Question 97, section 7Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The prophetic text “This is our God; no other shall be compared with him … he was seen on earth” refers to the Son, who is therefore the one God, equal to the Father.
Question 97, section 8Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Father and Son are two by birth but one God by nature; since all things were made through Christ, he is not made but born, and the Arian “there was when he was not” is condemned.
Question 97, section 9Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The Arian claim that God “made” Christ to be a true Son would replace birth with will and begetting with making.
Question 97, section 10Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · If God made Christ his true Son, Christ must be what God is and of one substance with him, which the Arians do not mean.
Question 97, section 11Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · To call Christ the true Son while denying his equality with the Father is a deceit, for true sonship implies equality.
Question 97, section 12Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The Arian objection that a simple nature cannot beget is answered by God’s power, which also gave the virgin birth, Jonah’s survival, and the resurrection.
Question 97, section 13Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The Arian argument that a Son begotten by will must come after the will fails, because in God will and begetting are one.
Question 97, section 14Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The Arian dilemma that God must either beget always or never is rejected as an irreverent law imposed on God, contrary to Christ’s word that he is the only Son.
Question 104, section 3Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ had swords brought so that his passion would be seen as foreknown and willed, not suffered from weakness, and by healing the servant’s ear he showed his power undiminished.
Question 107, section 8Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · God alone has light without failing; he is everywhere and contains all things, yet shows himself only where he wills, as Christ did at the transfiguration.
Question 111, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The title of Psalm 24 (23 in the Greek and Latin), “for the first day of the week,” points to Christ and his resurrection, but the psalm begins with God the Father as the origin.
Question 111, section 15Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ the king of glory enters only where the devil’s presumption and the idolatry modeled on it have been cast out.
Question 111, section 17Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ is shown to be king of glory by the power with which he overcame the devil.
Question 111, section 21Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ, Lord of the heavenly powers, is rightly the king of glory, the “Lord of glory” whom the rulers crucified in ignorance.
Question 113, section 3Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Ambrosiaster asks why the Son himself, rather than an angel, came to earth to defeat the devil.
Question 113, section 5Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The Son came because the world had been made through him and because the devil had usurped the Son’s own place as second after the Father.
Question 113, section 6Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ came to defeat the devil and to reveal himself to all creation as the Son, God from God and head of all, whose place the devil had usurped.
Question 113, section 7Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The devil, seeking to be worshiped as god, spread idolatry on earth after his fall, and Christ came to earth to crush him and reveal the truth.
Question 114, section 20Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The same Scriptures that speak of the cross record the resurrection, which shows that the cross was a mystery of providence, not foolishness.
Question 114, section 21Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ died willingly, having power to lay down his life and take it up again, as the same Gospel that records his death testifies.
Question 114, section 31Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ is named from the anointing of Israel’s kings, but is King by his birth from the Father; those who come to know him love him, and daily pagans, even learned and noble ones, abandon Jupiter for Christ.
Question 115, section 79Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christians who claim Christ’s “hour” was fixed by fate are refuted by his saying that he had power to lay down and take up his life.
Question 116, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · In a homily on Easter, Ambrosiaster explains that Pascha is named from Christ’s passion and that God justly destroyed death through death’s own act in killing the Savior.
Question 116, section 2Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · God rescued humanity justly, not by force: the devil, man’s accuser, was provoked into killing the sinless Son of God and so became guilty himself.
Question 116, section 3Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · By killing the sinless Christ the devil, identified with death, forfeited all humanity, as through Adam he had gained them, and Christ’s blood restored human nature to a better state.
Question 121, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · A hymn of praise to Easter day, recounting the victory over death and the devil and all the blessings won by Christ’s resurrection and ascension.
Question 122, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · “In the beginning was the Word” means that the Word did not begin but already existed, unlike heaven and earth, which God made first “in the beginning.”
Question 122, section 2Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The Word existed before all creation began and so always existed.
Question 122, section 3Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Being “with God” before all things, the Word is subject to no beginning.
Question 122, section 4Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Because the Word did not begin to exist, he is not a creature but is rightly called God.
Question 122, section 5Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The Son is called “the Word of God” because, as God is never without his word, the Son is always with God and is from God, and so is God.
Question 122, section 6Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · “God with God” does not mean two gods, since the Word is God from God, sharing one nature and will, and honored in the Father’s glory.
Question 122, section 7Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · John begins with the Word because questions concern the Son, not the Father; since God is simple and undivided, what is from God is rightly called God.
Question 122, section 8Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Human sonship and human speech illustrate the Son’s divine origin only in part, since he is born simply from the simple God and is a living reality, not a passing sound.
Question 122, section 10Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The Son is called Son, Word, Wisdom, and Power of God according to what he is, how God speaks, teaches, and works through him.
Question 122, section 11Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Word, power, and wisdom are titles of God himself, and they belong to Christ because he is wholly God from God.
Question 122, section 12Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · John states plainly that Christ is God and was always with God, showing that the one God is not solitary, while Son and Spirit, being from the one, do not divide his unity.
Question 122, section 15Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ’s calling God his own Father should have sufficed, but because of heretics John states openly that the Word was with God and is God.
Question 122, section 16Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Since all things were made through the Word, he cannot himself be one of the things made.
Question 122, section 17Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · “Without him nothing was made” rules out the idea that the Word was made, since he would then have been made without himself.
Question 122, section 18Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · “What was made in him is life” means that the Word himself is life, as the Son has life in himself just as the Father does.
Question 122, section 19Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Human language falls short in describing the Son’s generation, but John’s words point to a generation that has life in itself.
Question 122, section 20Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · To “have life in himself” means that the Son, like the Father, can give life and create, as Paul says that all things were created through him.
Question 122, section 21Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · John and Paul agree that the Son, begotten before all creation, is the one in whom all things were made.
Question 122, section 22Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Creation “through him” reflects the Son’s oneness of substance with the Father, and “unto him” the power to create and give life that the Father gave him in begetting him.
Question 122, section 23Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · As the image of God, the Son fully resembles the Father and can do all the Father does, so that the Father is seen in him.
Question 122, section 24Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The Son is invisible by nature like the Father, but in heaven the saints will see the Father in the Son, God in his image.
Question 122, section 25Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The Son is the perfect image of the Father and shares it with the Spirit; only the true Son is worthy to see the Father directly.
Question 122, section 26Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The Son is equal to the Father in substance but second in rank and cause, as Christ said, “the Father is greater than I.”
Letter to Adelphius 1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 370 · Athanasius praises Adelphius for exposing a new Arian error that refuses worship to the incarnate Word, and deplores the heretics' fall.
Letter to Adelphius 2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 370 · Athanasius identifies the new error with the old heresies of Valentinus, Marcion and Mani, and explains why he answers it.
Letter to Adelphius 3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 370 · Athanasius explains that Christians do not worship a creature but the Word made flesh, never dividing the body from the Word, as the leper and others in the Gospels show.
Letter to Adelphius 4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 370 · Athanasius argues that creation itself worshiped its creator in the body, and that the incarnation brings no dishonor but our deification and freedom.
Letter to Adelphius 5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 370 · Athanasius shows that refusing to worship the incarnate Word is ingratitude for the redemption he won in the flesh, which remains inseparable from him in heaven.
Letter to Adelphius 6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 370 · Athanasius sets out the right faith from the prophets and apostles: the Word came in the flesh and gave himself for us, so that his coming is the ransom from death.
Letter to Adelphius 7Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 370 · Athanasius argues that as Israel rightly worshiped God in the temple, so the Lord's body, his temple, is rightly worshiped with him.
Letter to Adelphius 8Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 370 · Athanasius concludes that only a creator Word could save creatures, and that the Church both confesses his Godhead and worships his coming in the flesh.
Letter to Epictetus 2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 370 · Athanasius lists the errors in the memoranda sent to him: that Christ's body is of the same essence as the Godhead, that the Word changed into flesh, that the body was eternal, and that Christ and the Word are two.
Letter to Epictetus 4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 370 · Athanasius refutes the claim that Christ's body is of the same essence as the Word's Godhead, showing that it would make the Father earthly and Mary unnecessary.
Letter to Epictetus 5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 370 · Athanasius shows from the Gospel narratives that Christ's body was truly born of Mary, while the Word himself remained unchangeable and impassible.
Letter to Epictetus 6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 370 · Athanasius argues from Christ's burial and wounds that the body was the Word's own but not the Word himself, so that the impassible Word made the sufferings of his body his own for our salvation.
Letter to Epictetus 7Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 370 · Athanasius insists that the incarnation was real, not a mere appearance, so that the whole man, soul and body, is saved, and he cites the risen Lord's words in Luke.
Letter to Epictetus 8Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 370 · Athanasius explains that “the Word became flesh” means that he became man, not that he was changed, and he rejects the claims that Christ's flesh was eternal or immortal.
Letter to Epictetus 9Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 370 · Athanasius shows that it is the opponents' own view that would make a Tetrad, and that the incarnation adds nothing to the Trinity but brings immortality to the body.
Letter to Epictetus 10Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 370 · Athanasius answers those who denied that the crucified Christ is God, citing the name Emmanuel, Rom 9:5, and Thomas's confession.
Letter to Epictetus 11Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 370 · Athanasius rejects the view that the Word merely came upon a man from Mary as he came to the prophets, pointing to the virgin birth, the saving death, the resurrection, and the name Emmanuel.
Letter to Epictetus 12Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 370 · Athanasius concludes that the Word himself became man from Mary, rejoices that the dispute at Corinth ended in agreement, and asks for correction of anything lacking.
Letter to Maximus 1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 371 · Athanasius tells Maximus that he answers reluctantly, and that those who mock the crucified must learn that he is the Lord of glory.
Letter to Maximus 2Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 371 · Athanasius answers those who doubt Christ's Godhead and those who say the Word merely came upon a holy man, by Thomas's confession and the signs at the cross.
Letter to Maximus 3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 371 · Athanasius explains that the Word became man by the Father's good pleasure, not by the course of nature, and showed both what belongs to the body and what belongs to the Godhead.
On Virginity 2Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 370–371 · Virginity belongs first to God (the Father who begets without passion, the Son, the Spirit) and the angels; Christ was born of a virgin to show that only purity can receive God, who now dwells spiritually in every virginal soul.
On Virginity 13Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 370–371 · Bodily birth leads to death, but spiritual birth through virginity halts death’s advance, as it was shattered against the virginity of Mary; the virgin already shares the angelic life of the resurrection.
On Virginity 19Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 370–371 · Miriam, Aaron’s sister, leading the women with her dry drum, may have been the first virgin and a figure of Mary; true fruitfulness is spiritual, as Isaiah, Paul, and the Virgin’s birth show, and bodily virginity serves the inner spiritual marriage.
Letter 14.11Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome closes with the day of judgment, when the despised Christ will be revealed as Judge and the humble believer will rejoice.
Letter 20.4Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome explains that the crowd took the cry from Ps 118, a well-known messianic psalm, and why Luke omits the untranslatable word.
Letter 21.2Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome explains that the parable answers the Pharisees' complaint that Jesus ate with sinners, and sets it against the severity of the law and the mercy of the gospel.
Letter 21.19Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome interprets the father's running to meet his son as God's prevenient grace in the incarnation of the Word.
Letter 21.20Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome interprets the father's embrace as the incarnation and the placing of Christ's easy yoke on the believer by grace.
Letter 21.21Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome interprets the father's kiss as the incarnation longed for by the church in the Song of Songs.
Letter 22.39Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome says that love for Christ, who humbled himself for our salvation, makes every hardship light, and that no saint was crowned without a contest.
Letter 36.5Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome interprets Lamech's seventy-sevenfold vengeance as the sins of the world taken away by Christ, whose genealogy in Luke numbers seventy-seven generations.
Letter 36.15Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome answers that even holy men know only what God reveals, and that Isaac's blindness was providential, preventing him from blessing Esau.
Letter 36.16Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome quotes Hippolytus's allegory of Isaac's blessing, in which Jacob represents Christ and the church and Esau the former people.
Letter 46.3Jerome · ca. 370–419 · They add the tradition that Adam was buried at Calvary and interpret the city's three names as a movement from affliction to the vision of peace.
Letter 46.11Jerome · ca. 370–419 · They praise the simple cave of the nativity at Bethlehem above the luxurious buildings of Rome.
Letter 49.21Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome closes by pointing to the virginity of Christ and the perpetual virginity of Mary, and to the continence required of clergy.
Letter 53.4Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome argues that the apostles were not unlearned, since John's prologue expresses a wisdom unknown to the philosophers, and that Scripture needs revelation to be understood.
Letter 55.3Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome explains that the Son's subjection to the Father in 1 Corinthians 15:28 means the subjection of his body, the church and humanity, so that God may be all in all.
Letter 57.8Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome compares Matthew's quotations of Isaiah 7:14 and Micah 5:2 with the Septuagint and the Hebrew to show that the evangelist quotes by sense.
Letter 59.5Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome explains that, as God the Word, Christ was everywhere during the forty days after the resurrection while also present with the apostles.
Letter 60.2Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome struggles between grief and Christian hope, and addresses death as conquered by Christ, the true Jonah.
Letter 60.3Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome gives thanks to Christ for conquering death and opening paradise, which before him was closed even to the patriarchs.
Letter 61.4Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome mocks Vigilantius's learning and denounces his interpretation of the mountain in Daniel 2 as the devil, calling him to repentance.
Letter 64.6Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome notes that many interpret the high priest of Leviticus 21 as Christ.
Letter 65.4Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome explains 'for those who will be changed' of the resurrection and of the Christian's continual renewal, and 'the beloved' and 'the victor' of Christ.
Letter 65.5Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome explains 'My heart has belched out a good word' of the psalmist's inspired speech and, as some interpret, of the Father's eternal begetting of the Word.
Letter 65.8Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome reconciles Christ's beauty in Psalm 45 with Isaiah 53's 'no form or beauty', referring the one to his virtue and the other to his passion.
Letter 65.9Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome explains 'Grace is poured out on your lips' of the fullness of grace in Christ's human nature.
Letter 65.10Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome interprets the sword on the thigh as the chastity by which Christ, born of a virgin, overcame the flesh and became the leader of virgins.
Letter 65.11Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome interprets 'ride on prosperously for the sake of truth' of Christ's victorious reign, in which his members share.
Letter 65.13Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome explains 'Your throne, O God' as addressed to the Son, who is God, and refers the anointing to the humanity he assumed, against Photinus and Arius.
Letter 65.16Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome interprets 'Hear, O daughter … forget your people' as the Father's call to the church of the Gentiles, and to each soul, to leave its old life for Christ.
Letter 65.17Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome argues against a Jewish interpretation that the psalm distinguishes the speaker from the divine king.
Letter 66.10Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome urges Pammachius to seek Christ constantly, in the language of the Song of Songs, and to nourish him in his heart.
Letter 73.3Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome explains that most interpreters see the Canaanite Melchizedek as a type of Christ's priesthood, offering bread and wine.
Letter 73.4Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome summarizes Hebrews 7: Melchizedek's being 'without genealogy' means his origins are not recorded, and he prefigures Christ's eternal priesthood.
Letter 73.9Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome concludes that Melchizedek was a real human king, a type of Christ, not an angel or the Spirit.
Letter 75.1Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome consoles Theodora on the death of her husband Lucinius: Christ has conquered death, and the dead are only asleep.
Letter 78.22Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome interprets the twentieth station, Mount Shepher ('beauty'), as Christ, the mountain to which the nations come.
Letter 92.4Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus charges Origen with tolerating magic, denying that the Word himself took flesh, and teaching that Christ will suffer again for demons.
Letter 93.3Jerome · ca. 370–419 · The Palestinian bishops anathematize those who teach the Son's inferiority, all who contradict the Nicene faith, and Apollinaris's teaching that Christ assumed an incomplete humanity.
Letter 96.2Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus urges the faithful to lift their minds to the heavenly city, and says that Christ spoke not as a prophet but as God.
Letter 96.3Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus teaches that Christ is one Son, true God and true man, not divided into two, as his miracles show.
Letter 96.4Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus teaches that the Word remained God when he became man, unlike the prophets, who lamented their human weakness.
Letter 96.5Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus rejects the Origenist teaching that Christ's kingdom will end, citing Christ's unity with the Father.
Letter 96.10Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus rejects the Origenist idea that Christ will suffer again for the demons, arguing that Christ suffered once, for human sins, according to the Scriptures.
Letter 96.12Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus denounces Origen in a string of biblical invectives for teaching that Christ will be crucified again for demons.
Letter 96.14Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus condemns Origen's teaching that prayer should be addressed to the Father alone, citing Scripture for prayer to Christ.
Letter 98.4Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus teaches that the Word became fully human without ceasing to be God, and rejects the Apollinarian view that Christ lacked a human rational soul.
Letter 98.5Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus refutes the Apollinarian claim that Christ's soul was 'the mind of the flesh', distinguishing the soul from its faculties.
Letter 98.6Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus argues that Apollinaris's orthodox writings do not excuse his error about Christ's soul, and that Christ took a complete human soul.
Letter 98.7Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus argues from Christ's descent to hell and his words that he laid down and took up a complete human soul.
Letter 98.8Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus teaches that Christ took a complete human body and soul at his birth from Mary, rejecting the Origenist view that his soul pre-existed in heaven.
Letter 98.14Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus rejects Origen's reading of Philippians 2, in which the Saviour's soul, not the Word, emptied itself, arguing that it makes the soul equal to God.
Letter 98.15Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus argues that Origen's derivation of 'soul' (psyche) from 'cooling' would imply that Christ's soul too had cooled from the love of God.
Letter 98.16Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus argues that Origen contradicts himself by making Christ's soul one with the Son as the Son is one with the Father, while also calling it inferior to the Word.
Letter 100.11Jerome · ca. 370–419 · The eternal festival is anticipated in praise of the incarnate Word, who took all our nature except sin, suffered in the flesh while impassible in his Godhead, and overthrew idolatry and, Theophilus adds, the Origenists.
Letter 106.81Jerome · ca. 370–419 · On Ps 138:2 Jerome compares the Hebrew and the Septuagint and reads the verse christologically of the Son exalted above every name.
Letter 108.10Jerome · ca. 370–419 · At Bethlehem Paula visited Rachel's tomb and the cave of the Nativity, where she saw with the eyes of faith the events of Christ's birth and poured out a prayer weaving together the prophecies of Bethlehem, and then visited the shepherds' Tower of Eder.
Letter 108.24Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome continues his argument from the risen Christ, who had a real male body that could be touched and could eat, explaining the closed doors and the walking on water as God's power, not a change of the body's nature.
Letter 119.10Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Continuing Origen, Jerome gives an allegorical reading of 1 Thess 4:15-17: the sleeping and dead are those who sinned and repented, the trumpets and archangel prepare Christ's way, and the clouds are the prophets and apostles.
Letter 120.9Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome reconciles John 20:22 and the promise of Pentecost: the apostles first received the grace to forgive sins, then at Pentecost the fuller gifts of power and tongues; he rejects the Montanist claim and argues for the Spirit's divinity.
Letter 121.9Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome explains Paul's wish to be accursed for Israel as the self-giving love of a shepherd like Moses, willing to perish in the flesh so that others may be saved.
Letter 124.2Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome lists the teachings on the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in book 1 of Origen’s On First Principles that he regards as heretical, especially the subordination of the Son and Spirit.
Letter 124.6Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome quotes Origen on God’s invisibility even to the Son, on the soul of Christ, on souls as fallen minds, on Esau’s prior sins and on the souls of the stars.
Letter 124.12Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome charges that Origen spoke of an eternal Gospel in heaven and of Christ suffering again in the heavenly places for the salvation of demons, and quotes the passage.
Letter 124.13Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome quotes Origen’s argument that the Father comprehends the Son but the Son cannot fully comprehend the Father.
Letter 131.14Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Augustine rejects the argument that only what existed before time can be immortal, citing Christ's risen flesh.
Letter 140.3Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome lists the psalms entitled 'prayer', refers David and the 'poor man' to Christ, and presents Psalm 90 as Moses' prayer on the whole human condition.
Letter 140.6Jerome · ca. 370–419 · On Ps 90:2 Jerome rejects a punctuation used to support the pre-existence of souls, and notes that Prov 8:22 in Hebrew speaks of Wisdom (Christ) as 'possessed', not 'created'.
Book of Rules 1Tyconius · ca. 380 · Tyconius’s first rule: Scripture often passes without notice from Christ the head to the church his body, and reason (and grace) must discern which is meant; the coming of the Son of Man, for example, includes the continual coming of his body.
Homilies, Migne column 47Amphilochius of Iconium · ca. 376 · Amphilochius argues that the law 'every male that opens the womb shall be called holy' is fulfilled in Christ alone, who opened the Virgin's womb without intercourse, unlike Cain, Esau, and Reuben.
Homilies, Migne column 49Amphilochius of Iconium · ca. 376 · Answering an objection, Amphilochius holds that Mary's virginity remained intact, the 'gate' shut yet open to the Lord's power; he then praises the three orders of virginity, marriage, and widowhood, and holds up the widow Anna as a model.
Homilies, Migne column 51Amphilochius of Iconium · ca. 376 · Anna is praised as the crown of widows, surpassing the widow of 1 Timothy, a prophetess who confessed the infant Jesus as God, creator of the world.
Homilies, Migne column 53Amphilochius of Iconium · ca. 376 · Anna's prophecy presents the infant as the Lord of creation and of Israel's history, both child and eternal; Amphilochius praises her widowhood, in which she kept faith with her dead husband and did not remarry.
Homilies, Migne column 55Amphilochius of Iconium · ca. 376 · Amphilochius allows a second marriage for a young childless widow, following 1 Tim 5:14, but calls it superfluous when there are children; he then begins on Simeon's prophecy, imagining Mary's protest and Simeon's reply.
Homilies, Migne column 57Amphilochius of Iconium · ca. 376 · Simeon's 'sign spoken against' is the cross, where Christ was mocked and denied; the 'sword' through Mary's soul is the grief and doubt that pierced her at the cross before the resurrection; the cross is a sign foretold in both Testaments.
Homilies, Migne column 59Amphilochius of Iconium · ca. 376 · The end of Oration 2 cites Ezekiel's sign on the foreheads; Oration 3, on Lazarus, begins: of all Christ's miracles, the raising of Lazarus four days dead alone could not be slandered by his enemies.
Homilies, Migne column 61Amphilochius of Iconium · ca. 376 · Christ delayed so that the raising of Lazarus might be undeniable; he answers Martha's grief and half-faith with 'I am the resurrection and the life', and asks where Lazarus lies so that the whole crowd may follow and witness.
Homilies, Migne column 63Amphilochius of Iconium · ca. 376 · Martha protests that Lazarus already stinks; Christ weeps to reveal the crowd's thoughts, has the stone rolled away so that the stench proves real death, and calls Lazarus out with authority.
Homilies, Migne column 65Amphilochius of Iconium · ca. 376 · Christ raised Lazarus with a single word, restoring his body and recalling his soul from Hades, and had him unbound before witnesses; the homily ends with the Palm Sunday acclamation. Oration 4, on the sinful woman, begins.
Homilies, Migne column 67Amphilochius of Iconium · ca. 376 · Oration 4 opens by recalling Christ at Zacchaeus's table: the Good Shepherd eats with sinners to seek the lost sheep and bring it back to the fold.
Homilies, Migne column 77Amphilochius of Iconium · ca. 376 · The sinful woman washes Christ's feet with tears, wipes them with her hair, and anoints them with myrrh, surpassing Abraham's hospitality, the ungrateful Jews, and even kings and Magi.
Homilies, Migne column 79Amphilochius of Iconium · ca. 376 · Christ honours the woman's repentance; Amphilochius rebukes the Pharisee who, judging her and doubting Christ's knowledge, showed less insight than the Samaritan woman.
Homilies, Migne column 83Amphilochius of Iconium · ca. 376 · Christ defends the woman: she has anointed him for burial, while Judas, an apostle, sells his Master for thirty pieces of silver; her memory will last wherever the Gospel is preached.
Homilies, Migne column 89Amphilochius of Iconium · ca. 376 · Oration 4 ends with a call to clothe oneself in chastity; Oration 5, for Holy Saturday, celebrates Christ's descent to Hades to free the dead, and the signs of mourning in creation at the crucifixion.
Homilies, Migne column 91Amphilochius of Iconium · ca. 376 · Christ prayed for those who crucified him; Amphilochius taunts those who sealed and guarded the tomb of a dead man, arguing that if Christ were a mere man there would be nothing to fear, and that he who raised Lazarus will surely rise himself.
Homilies, Migne column 93Amphilochius of Iconium · ca. 376 · Oration 5 ends: the unbelievers do not see the miracles, while the faithful stand with Mary at the empty tomb.
On the Holy Spirit 5.7Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · Paul uses "from him" and "through him" together of the same subject, so the prepositions do not mark different natures.
On the Holy Spirit 5.12Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · Scripture often exchanges "through" and "from"; Paul says Christ was born "from a woman" to show that his flesh was truly human.
On the Holy Spirit 6.14Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · The Son cannot be "after" the Father in time, for his begetting is beyond all time, as John's "In the beginning was the Word" shows.
On the Holy Spirit 6.15Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · "Sitting at the right hand" shows the Son's equal honour with the Father, not a lower place.
On the Holy Spirit 8.17Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · Scripture calls Christ by many names: some show his nature, others his benefits to us, and "through him" fits the latter.
On the Holy Spirit 8.18Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · Christ's names as bridegroom, physician, and way show his power and love; our ascent to the Father is through him.
On the Holy Spirit 8.19Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · All the Father's gifts come to us through the Son, who works with the Father's own power, not as a servant or tool.
On the Holy Spirit 8.20Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · The "commandment" the Son receives is not an order to a subordinate but the timeless sharing of one will between Father and Son.
On the Holy Spirit 8.21Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · Christ's obedience shows that his saving work comes from the Father, while his words of command show his own authority.
On the Holy Spirit 16.39Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · The Spirit was present in all God's saving work, above all in Christ's anointing, ministry, and resurrection gift, and he orders the church.
CreedAnonymous · ascribed to 381; first attested 451 · The creed associated with the Council of Constantinople (381), expanding the Nicene creed above all on the Holy Spirit.
Ancoratus 2.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Those who confess Christ as Peter did will be blessed as Peter was.
Ancoratus 2.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Eternal life is to know the only true God and Jesus Christ.
Ancoratus 2.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · John calls Christ the only-begotten God, so the Son is God with the Father.
Ancoratus 3.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Jews and Arians use the name of Jesus without confessing him as true Lord and God.
Ancoratus 3.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Without the Spirit no one confesses Jesus as truly Lord, God, and King.
Ancoratus 3.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Son does not bear witness to himself.
Ancoratus 4.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · As the Father is true light without the word, so the Son is true God without the word.
Ancoratus 5.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Amos distinguishes creating the wind from declaring Christ.
Ancoratus 5.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Son is the uncreated one who always is, as Moses and John attest.
Ancoratus 6.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Son is Son by nature and consubstantial with the Father, not adopted.
Ancoratus 8.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Son is only-begotten, true God from true God.
Ancoratus 9.10Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Peter's tears confess the reality of Christ's arrest and humanity.
Ancoratus 9.12Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · At Tiberias John recognized the Lord, truly man and God.
Ancoratus 16.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Everything the Father has belongs to the Son.
Ancoratus 16.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Epiphanius begins his answer to those who say the Son does not know the day.
Ancoratus 17.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Angels may fall short, but not the Son or the Spirit.
Ancoratus 17.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Whoever knows the Father must know the lesser thing, the day.
Ancoratus 17.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Son lacks no knowledge.
Ancoratus 17.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · “The Father is greater” is the Son's honoring of the Father.
Ancoratus 18.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ's saying “no one is good but God” does not deny his goodness.
Ancoratus 18.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ refers honor to the Father, revealing his own goodness.
Ancoratus 18.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · It is feeble to deny the Son's goodness on this basis.
Ancoratus 18.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Son ascribes goodness to the Father out of honor.
Ancoratus 18.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ exposed the insincerity of the man who called him good.
Ancoratus 19.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Epiphanius begins a litany of the Word's titles.
Ancoratus 19.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Word is Wisdom from Wisdom and the spring of life.
Ancoratus 19.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Word is the root of Jesse and lion of Judah.
Ancoratus 19.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · He became truly man while remaining truly God.
Ancoratus 19.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · John's word order shows the Word came from above and became flesh from Mary.
Ancoratus 19.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Son spoke of the day in a figurative sense.
Ancoratus 19.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Knowing the Father, the Son cannot be ignorant of the lesser.
Ancoratus 19.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Search the Scriptures and the Spirit will teach you.
Ancoratus 20.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · “Know” in Scripture does not always mean awareness.
Ancoratus 21.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Son knows the day, for he brings it.
Ancoratus 21.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · It is absurd that the Son who brings the day should not know it.
Ancoratus 21.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Son knows the day but has not yet “known” it by carrying it out.
Ancoratus 22.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · This explains “only the Father” in Mark 13:32.
Ancoratus 26.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ is the eternal foundation of the church's building.
Ancoratus 27.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Jews knew Christ only as a man.
Ancoratus 27.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Others stumble over his Godhead because of the incarnation.
Ancoratus 27.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Like the Jews, these misunderstand what was fulfilled in Christ.
Ancoratus 27.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Arians cite “my God and your God” to make the Son a creature.
Ancoratus 28.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Son took the form of a servant because he was God.
Ancoratus 29.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Before the incarnation Scripture never has the Son say “my God.”
Ancoratus 29.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · At Mamre one of the three was God, the others angels.
Ancoratus 29.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Angels worship the Son, showing one kingdom of Father and Son.
Ancoratus 30.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · David calls the Son Lord, before the incarnation.
Ancoratus 30.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Isaiah's Emmanuel prophecy did not yet require “my God.”
Ancoratus 30.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Micah's prophecy of the eternal ruler.
Ancoratus 30.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Only after the incarnation does the Son say “my God.”
Ancoratus 30.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Epiphanius explains each phrase of John 20:17.
Ancoratus 30.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Father is God of the Son by the flesh, Father by nature.
Ancoratus 30.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · He calls the Father God because of the incarnation.
Ancoratus 31.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Our salvation is no dishonor to God.
Ancoratus 31.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Opponents contrast God's impassibility with Christ's hunger, weariness, and sleep.
Ancoratus 31.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Word truly bore human weakness and suffering.
Ancoratus 31.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Luke's “he wept,” removed from some copies, was cited by Irenaeus.
Ancoratus 31.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ's agony and sweat like blood.
Ancoratus 31.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ asked questions as a man.
Ancoratus 31.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ grew weary and grew as a child.
Ancoratus 31.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Wisdom of God endured all human conditions to make the incarnation real.
Ancoratus 32.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · He will explain each saying the opponents misuse.
Ancoratus 32.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · “My God and your God” was said with reason.
Ancoratus 32.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Jeremiah's words show Christ's visible humanity and invisible Godhead.
Ancoratus 32.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Man, yet unknown.
Ancoratus 32.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The prophecy fits only the Word, man yet unknowable God.
Ancoratus 32.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · He was truly born of the virgin Mary.
Ancoratus 32.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Ahaz declined to ask a sign in the depth or height.
Ancoratus 32.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The sign came from the height (the Word) and the depth (the flesh).
Ancoratus 32.10Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · “They shall call” shows people recognizing God among them.
Ancoratus 33.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · “Born of a woman” refers to the flesh; hunger and thirst were necessary for us.
Ancoratus 33.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ's human needs prove the reality of the incarnation.
Ancoratus 33.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Eating and drinking refutes the Manichaeans; also the Lucianists and Arius.
Ancoratus 33.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Lucianists deny Christ a soul so as to ascribe his passions to the Word.
Ancoratus 33.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Flesh alone does not hunger or tire.
Ancoratus 33.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Word took flesh and soul, to which the passions belong.
Ancoratus 33.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · His tears and thirst show a real body and a soul.
Ancoratus 34.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Psalm 16 and Acts 2 show Christ had a soul that went to Hades.
Ancoratus 34.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ was free among the dead; Hades could not hold him.
Ancoratus 34.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ speaks of his own soul.
Ancoratus 34.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · He came willingly, and his trouble shows the reality of the incarnation.
Ancoratus 34.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Like a king feigning retreat, Christ did not fear death.
Ancoratus 34.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ foretold his passion and rebuked Peter.
Ancoratus 34.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ's prayer about the cup was not fear.
Ancoratus 34.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The prayer drew the devil into bringing death upon him.
Ancoratus 34.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ died in the flesh; his Godhead remained impassible.
Ancoratus 35.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Opponents note that Scripture speaks of the Father's “soul.”
Ancoratus 35.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · They say “soul” is figurative.
Ancoratus 35.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · They claim Christ's “soul” is likewise figurative.
Ancoratus 35.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Father had no flesh, but Christ did, so his soul is not figurative.
Ancoratus 35.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · “Flesh” in John 1:14 includes the whole man, as “formed” does in Genesis.
Ancoratus 35.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Scripture's summary words include all parts, so the Savior took a soul.
Ancoratus 36.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The passions belong to his humanity, not to a diminished Godhead.
Ancoratus 36.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ grew weary in the flesh, not in his Godhead.
Ancoratus 36.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Sleep and weariness show real humanity; he was “found” as man.
Ancoratus 36.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Being found in the flesh, he could be seized and suffer.
Ancoratus 36.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · His sufferings were bodily, yet willingly his.
Ancoratus 36.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Like a stain on a garment, the flesh's suffering is ascribed to the Godhead.
Ancoratus 37.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Epiphanius turns to Luke's account of the agony.
Ancoratus 37.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Misunderstanding the deeper words harms the misreaders.
Ancoratus 37.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The agony and sweat show a true human body.
Ancoratus 37.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The angel's “strengthening” fulfills Moses' song, not a need of Christ.
Ancoratus 37.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · “Strengthening” means ascribing strength in praise.
Ancoratus 37.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The angel marveled at Christ's victory through meekness.
Ancoratus 37.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The angel acclaims Christ's strength over death and the devil.
Ancoratus 38.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ's human questions concern his flesh and humanity.
Ancoratus 38.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Questions in both Testaments are God's condescension, not ignorance.
Ancoratus 38.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · He knew of Lazarus's death from afar.
Ancoratus 38.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · His question showed forbearance to weak faith.
Ancoratus 38.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · He wept at the hardness of their faith.
Ancoratus 38.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · He asked who touched him so the woman would confess.
Ancoratus 38.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · As with Adam, God asks without ignorance.
Ancoratus 39.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The God who asked Moses a question is “He who is.”
Ancoratus 39.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · At Mamre the Son of God knew Sarah's name.
Ancoratus 39.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Calling Sarah by name showed the guest's divine knowledge.
Ancoratus 39.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Peter's confession answered Christ's question.
Ancoratus 39.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The question drew out Peter's confession, taught by the Father.
Ancoratus 40.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · His growth in wisdom reflects his self-emptying into humanity.
Ancoratus 40.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Like ointment emptied out, Christ passed from place to place.
Ancoratus 40.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · His coming sanctified the earth like perfume.
Ancoratus 40.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Daniel's stone that becomes a mountain is Christ.
Ancoratus 40.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Wisdom made man “advanced” by spreading grace.
Ancoratus 40.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Wisdom itself cannot have been ignorant of how to speak.
Ancoratus 40.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · He grew as a child so his incarnation would not seem illusory.
Ancoratus 41.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Opponents cite “made” in Hebrews and Acts.
Ancoratus 41.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · “Made” in Hebrews is not about the Godhead.
Ancoratus 41.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Every high priest is taken from among men.
Ancoratus 41.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · “Made” refers to his becoming high priest in the flesh.
Ancoratus 41.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · A king's son “made” king is still his son by nature.
Ancoratus 41.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Eternal sonship and priestly appointment in the flesh coexist.
Ancoratus 42.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Proverbs 8:22 is proverbial speech, not literal.
Ancoratus 42.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · It is uncertain Proverbs 8 speaks of the Son.
Ancoratus 43.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Father's Wisdom is unique.
Ancoratus 43.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Epiphanius leaves open whether Proverbs 8 is about the Son.
Ancoratus 43.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Created and begotten are incompatible.
Ancoratus 43.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · If Proverbs 8 concerns the Son, “created” refers to the incarnation.
Ancoratus 43.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · “Beginning of ways” and “founded” refer to the incarnation.
Ancoratus 43.10Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Word is not created; Scripture is not crooked.
Ancoratus 44.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Aquila translates Proverbs 8:22 as “acquired,” not “created.”
Ancoratus 44.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Acts 2:36 speaks of the flesh, not the Word from above.
Ancoratus 44.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Scripture ascribes suffering and descent to Christ's flesh.
Ancoratus 44.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ calls himself a man to locate his suffering.
Ancoratus 44.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Paul calls Christ the man who is mediator and who emptied himself.
Ancoratus 44.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ mediates as true God and true man.
Ancoratus 45.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Philippians 2:6 affirms he was God by nature.
Ancoratus 45.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Being equal to God, he took the servant's form to free us.
Ancoratus 45.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Jews testify that Christ claimed equality with God.
Ancoratus 45.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Scripture uses many figurative names for Christ.
Ancoratus 45.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Each figurative name has a reason.
Ancoratus 46.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Opponents insist on calling him a creature.
Ancoratus 46.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Figurative names benefit us; “creature” does not.
Ancoratus 49.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Father calls the Son “chosen.”
Ancoratus 49.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Some say “chosen” means Son by grace.
Ancoratus 49.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · No son by grace can equal the Son by nature.
Ancoratus 49.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The “choosing” refers to the flesh taken from Mary.
Ancoratus 49.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Psalm 47's “chosen inheritance” points to Christ's flesh.
Ancoratus 49.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Father's good pleasure concerns the incarnation.
Ancoratus 50.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Paul calls him the Son of God's love.
Ancoratus 50.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Some say he became Son by advance in love.
Ancoratus 50.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · A created Son could not be worshiped.
Ancoratus 50.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Word is worshiped, so he is not created.
Ancoratus 50.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Nowhere in the four Gospels is the Son said to be created.
Ancoratus 51.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The objection: worshiping Christ's body is worshiping a creature.
Ancoratus 51.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The king's purple is honored together with the king.
Ancoratus 51.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · No one asks the king to leave his temple to be honored.
Ancoratus 51.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ is worshiped together with his body.
Ancoratus 51.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ is worshiped with his buried and risen body.
Ancoratus 53.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Opponents allegorize the literal and literalize the figurative.
Ancoratus 60.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Joseph was an elderly widower with children from a first marriage.
Ancoratus 60.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Joseph received Mary by lot from the temple.
Ancoratus 60.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ was born in the forty-second year of Augustus.
Ancoratus 61.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ showed that corruptible flesh can become incorruptible.
Ancoratus 61.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Our earthly bodies share the hope shown in Christ's body.
Ancoratus 62.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Did the risen Christ appear naked?
Ancoratus 62.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The risen Christ was clothed; who made his garments?
Ancoratus 64.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ our life came when we were lost in sin and idolatry.
Ancoratus 64.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Father sent the Son to save him from sin.
Ancoratus 65.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The grace of God has appeared in Christ.
Ancoratus 65.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ canceled our debt and triumphed over the powers.
Ancoratus 65.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ dwelt among us and became the law of the Spirit.
Ancoratus 65.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ died so we might live for him; God reconciled the world in him.
Ancoratus 65.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · All fullness dwells in Christ, who reconciles all.
Ancoratus 65.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ came to sum up all things.
Ancoratus 65.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ made Jews and Gentiles one and calls all to himself.
Ancoratus 65.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Savior came in the likeness of flesh to redeem me.
Ancoratus 65.10Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · How Christ is righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
Ancoratus 65.11Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ will transform our bodies; in him dwells all the Godhead.
Ancoratus 66.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ, God and man, mediates and gives the Spirit.
Ancoratus 66.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Word came down on Mary like rain on a fleece.
Ancoratus 66.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Mary received the Word at the annunciation.
Ancoratus 66.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Mary received the Word as earth draws up rain.
Ancoratus 66.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ is the fruit of Mary's womb.
Ancoratus 66.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ is the living bread, true olive, and true vine.
Ancoratus 66.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ is the living water; the new farmers shared it.
Ancoratus 69.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Texts showing that the Son is God.
Ancoratus 74.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · He turns to the incarnation and the resurrection.
Ancoratus 74.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The subsistent Word, through whom the ages were made.
Ancoratus 74.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · No time preceded the Son, through whom all things were made.
Ancoratus 74.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Time before the Son leads to endless speculation.
Ancoratus 75.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · All creatures came to be through the Word.
Ancoratus 75.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Savior came from heaven, born of Mary, taking flesh and soul.
Ancoratus 75.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · He truly became perfect man from Mary.
Ancoratus 75.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Word became flesh, not dwelling in a man as in the prophets.
Ancoratus 75.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · He took a complete humanity so that nothing is left unsaved.
Ancoratus 76.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Paul had his own mind and the mind of Christ; Christ had a human soul and mind.
Ancoratus 76.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ took a human mind and soul.
Ancoratus 76.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ's human mind was perfected, not ruling him.
Ancoratus 76.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Scripture condemns the flesh more than the mind.
Ancoratus 76.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The mind is the soul's governor and discerner.
Ancoratus 77.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Denying Christ a mind helps no one.
Ancoratus 77.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ took everything human, being the maker of his own body.
Ancoratus 77.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Some wrongly say Christ lacked a human mind.
Ancoratus 77.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · They treat the mind as a separate hypostasis, equal to the spirit.
Ancoratus 77.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Their view multiplies hypostases in man.
Ancoratus 77.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Scripture's many terms for man are figurative.
Ancoratus 77.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Paul distinguishes spirit and mind.
Ancoratus 78.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Word made flesh was not without a soul.
Ancoratus 78.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Excluding Christ's mind makes salvation deficient.
Ancoratus 78.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The mind is a faculty of the soul, not a separate hypostasis.
Ancoratus 78.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ took the whole man to save the whole man.
Ancoratus 78.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Prophecies of his human life require a complete humanity.
Ancoratus 78.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · “My servant will understand” requires a human mind.
Ancoratus 78.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ's understanding shows he took a mind.
Ancoratus 78.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · His humanity grew in wisdom and stature.
Ancoratus 79.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · If a mind implied sin, so would flesh.
Ancoratus 79.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ's human flesh was without sin.
Ancoratus 79.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Word governed his flesh, allowing only fitting needs.
Ancoratus 79.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ's true mind did not incline to irrational desire.
Ancoratus 79.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Luke's “he advanced” is literal, not a figure of speech.
Ancoratus 80.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · A complete humanity does not mean Christ sinned.
Ancoratus 80.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Word held his whole humanity free from sin.
Ancoratus 80.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Paul's phrases signify Christ's full, sinless humanity.
Ancoratus 80.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Perfect above, perfect below.
Ancoratus 80.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The risen Christ passed through doors yet was touched by Thomas.
Ancoratus 80.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Thomas touched the one who is both God and man.
Ancoratus 80.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · One Lord, one Christ, not two.
Ancoratus 80.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The risen Christ sits at the Father's right hand with his flesh.
Ancoratus 81.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The exalted Christ commanded baptism in the threefold name.
Ancoratus 90.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ's own body, sown like a grain, rose.
Ancoratus 90.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Gospels show the same body risen.
Ancoratus 90.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Believers confess the same body rose.
Ancoratus 91.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The risen body kept its wounds yet was spiritual.
Ancoratus 91.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · What suffered is what rose.
Ancoratus 91.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The whole body rose, none of it saw corruption.
Ancoratus 91.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ showed his flesh and bones.
Ancoratus 92.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ's unique conception does not make his body unlike ours.
Ancoratus 92.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ, unlike them, rose never to die again.
Ancoratus 92.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ died once to destroy death.
Ancoratus 92.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Suffering is reckoned to the Word, who remains impassible.
Ancoratus 92.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ is life; our hope is not in a mere man.
Ancoratus 93.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Word truly became man.
Ancoratus 93.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Our hope is in God made man, not a man made divine.
Ancoratus 93.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · As high priest he took our flesh to suffer for us.
Ancoratus 93.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Suffering is ascribed to the impassible Word by his good pleasure.
Ancoratus 93.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The illustration of blood on a garment.
Ancoratus 93.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ suffered in the flesh, as Peter says.
Ancoratus 93.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The flesh's suffering is reckoned to the Godhead.
Ancoratus 93.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Hence Paul can say the Lord of glory was crucified.
Ancoratus 94.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · We worship the crucified and risen Lord.
Ancoratus 108.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Savior asked similar questions.
Ancoratus 108.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ's question rebuked Martha and Mary's weaker faith.
Ancoratus 108.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · He asked so the woman would confess.
Ancoratus 108.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · His questions highlight his miracles.
Ancoratus 108.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Seeking to kill “Jesus,” they lose the Savior.
Ancoratus 109.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Both Testaments' questions are explained the same way.
Ancoratus 115.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Israel did not recognize the Savior as God.
Ancoratus 115.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · They did not understand Micah's prophecy.
Ancoratus 116.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · His eternal origin shows he is God.
Ancoratus 116.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · “They will call” refers to the faithful.
Ancoratus 116.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The faithful confess the crucified as “God with us.”
Ancoratus 116.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · David foresaw the Lord at God's right hand.
Ancoratus 117.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · At the Jordan the incarnate Son is present.
Ancoratus 118.10Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The creed: second article, on the Son.
Ancoratus 119.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The second creed: the Son's eternal generation.
Ancoratus 119.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The second creed: the incarnation, with a complete humanity.
Ancoratus 119.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The Word did not merely indwell a man.
Ancoratus 119.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · One Lord Jesus Christ, not two.
Ancoratus 119.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The second creed: passion, resurrection, ascension, and return in the same body.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 8.5.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Israel received prophecies of the coming Christ, prophet and God.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 8.6.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Had the Jews received Christ, they would have seen the law fulfilled, not abolished.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 9.4.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The law about touching the dead points to Christ's death.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 19.3.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · It is unclear whether Elxai's “Christ” means Jesus.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 19.4.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Elxai describes Christ as a gigantic power with measurements.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 20.2.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The rest of Jacob's prophecy cannot apply to Herod.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 20.2.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Only Christ washed his robe in his own blood.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 20.2.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ came to purify those defiled by sacrifice.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 21.1.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Simon claimed to be the great power of God, Father and Son.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 23.1.10Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Satornilus taught that Christ only appeared to be human.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 23.5.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Father created man with the Son.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 23.6.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Transfiguration with Moses and Elijah refutes Satornilus.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 23.6.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ cites the Psalms about himself.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 24.3.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Basilides taught that Simon of Cyrene was crucified in place of Jesus.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 24.3.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Jesus and Simon exchanged forms.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 24.3.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Jesus stood by laughing, then ascended.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 24.8.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · If Simon died, salvation would come through a mere man.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 24.8.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Basilides' view makes God guilty of deceit and murder.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 24.9.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ willingly took flesh and suffered.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 24.9.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The eternal Son was truly born of a virgin to die for his sheep.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 24.9.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Jesus foretold his own death.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 24.9.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Peter testifies that Christ suffered in the flesh.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 24.9.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · John, Paul, and Moses attest Christ's death in the flesh.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 24.9.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ's death conquered death and emptied Hades.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 24.10.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ could have escaped if he had not willed to die.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 24.10.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The one who is the truth cannot deceive.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 26.7.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · “The least” in Matt 11:11 is Christ, younger than John.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 26.7.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ, born after John, is greater because eternal.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 26.10.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · They deny that Christ took flesh from Mary.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 26.12.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Zechariah lived to prophesy after John's birth.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 26.15.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · John and Jesus refute them.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 26.18.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Answer the sect with the cross of Christ.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 26.18.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ had real flesh and was truly crucified.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 27.2.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Carpocrates taught that Jesus was Joseph's son, distinguished only by virtue.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 27.8.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Their denial of the virgin birth contradicts their own system.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 28.1.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Cerinthus held that Christ was Joseph's son and that angels made the world.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 28.1.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Cerinthus taught that the Christ descended on the man Jesus at his baptism.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 28.1.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · According to Cerinthus the Christ left Jesus before the passion.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 28.1.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Cerinthus separated Jesus from the impassible Christ.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 28.6.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Cerinthus is said to deny that Christ has yet been raised.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 28.7.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Isaiah's sign of the virgin refutes the claim that Christ was Joseph's son.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 28.7.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The annunciation shows that the conception was not by a man.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 28.7.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Matthew says Mary conceived before she and Joseph came together.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 28.7.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ's entrusting Mary to John shows that she remained a virgin.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 28.7.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Jesus' brothers were Joseph's sons by another wife.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 29.1.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The name Jessaeans probably comes from Jesse, David's father.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 29.2.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · God's oath to David is unchangeable.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 29.2.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The apostles testify that Christ is of David's line.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 29.2.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · An objection: why did Christ not sit on David's throne?
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 29.3.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Rulers from Judah lasted until Christ came.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 29.3.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ is king by descent and by Godhead, and high priest.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 29.4.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ is priest after Melchizedek and king.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 29.4.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ's kingdom is eternal and not of this world.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 29.4.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ gave his kingship to those he appointed.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 29.6.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Jesus was born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 29.7.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Epiphanius does not know their view of Christ's birth.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.2.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Ebion held that Christ was Joseph's son and kept the Jewish law.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.3.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Later Ebionites disagree about Christ.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.3.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Some Ebionites identify Christ with Adam.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.3.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Others call Christ a created spirit above the angels.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.3.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Some Ebionites say Christ came repeatedly, finally in Adam's body.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.3.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Other Ebionites say the Spirit-Christ came upon Jesus.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.9.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · A dying Jew is said to have been told secretly to believe in Jesus.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.13.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Ebionite account of Jesus' baptism.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.14.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Ebionites hold that Christ descended on the man Jesus.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.14.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · They cite “Who is my mother?” to deny that Christ was a man.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.16.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · They teach two appointed rulers, Christ of the age to come and the devil of this age.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.16.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Jesus became Son of God by election.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.16.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · They call Christ a created archangel-like being.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.17.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Ebion's name means “poor,” as his faith is.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.17.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Elxai's giant male Christ and female Spirit.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.18.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ is the true prophet; the others are prophets of understanding only.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.18.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · They make Christ a man who became Son of God by virtue.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.20.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ is not a mere man, as Isaiah's sign shows.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.20.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Only a woman who conceived without a man is properly a virgin.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.20.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Isaiah foretells a birth without labour pains.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.20.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The painless virgin birth is unique, unlike John's.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.20.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Jeremiah's “who shall know him?” shows he is more than a man.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.20.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · A mere man would be known to all around him.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.20.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ is man from Mary and God the Word from the Father.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.20.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The annunciation shows both the flesh from Mary and the Word from above.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.23.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · John's Gospel refutes them.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.26.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · If Christ was a mere infant, his circumcision was not his own act.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.27.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · God the Word truly took flesh and was truly circumcised.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.27.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The child is the one foretold by Isaiah.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.27.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · “Child born” and “Son given” show Christ as man and God.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.28.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Circumcision proves a real body against the Manichaeans.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.28.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Against Apollinaris and Valentinus.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.28.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ's circumcision leaves the Jews no excuse.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.28.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · God the Word became truly man without laying aside the Godhead.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.28.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ was circumcised in order to abolish circumcision.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.29.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Magi show Christ was God from birth.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.29.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Worshipped from birth, Christ was God from birth.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.29.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The angels proclaim Christ the Lord at his birth.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.29.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · At twelve Jesus amazed the teachers.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.29.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · This was before the baptism.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.29.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Mary finds Jesus; Joseph was not his father by nature.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.29.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Jesus calls the temple his Father's house.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.29.10Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Jesus knew his Father from childhood.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.29.11Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · “As was supposed” shows Joseph was not his father.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.30.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Isaiah says “the virgin,” not “the woman.”
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.30.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · A prophecy of a heifer that bears yet has not borne.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.30.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The red heifer is a figure of the Virgin.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.30.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The unyoked heifer signifies Mary's virginity.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.30.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Isaiah's “volume” is a figure of the Virgin.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.30.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ's birth was from a woman but not from seed.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.30.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The book is a figure of the womb.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.31.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Each word of Isa 8:1 is read of the virgin birth.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.31.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Mary is “great” because she contained the uncontainable.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.31.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · “A man's pen,” not “a man,” excludes a human father.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.31.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Spirit who spoke in Isaiah effected the conception.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.31.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ is man from Mary, God from above.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.31.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The prophetess is Mary, not Ahaz's wife.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.31.11Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The prophecy cannot refer to Hezekiah.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.31.12Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Mary is the prophetess who bore Christ by the Spirit.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.32.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ is the great Sabbath, foreshadowed by Noah.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.32.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The weekly sabbath prefigured Christ, the eternal rest.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 30.34.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Summary of the Ebionites' conflicting views of Christ.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.4.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · An aeon came from the Pleroma, called Saviour, Limit, Cross and Jesus, who passed through Mary like water through a pipe.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.7.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Valentinians give Christ several titles, including Cross and Limit.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.7.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · They say Christ's body came from heaven and took nothing from Mary.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.7.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The saviour is distinct from the higher Word and Christ and came to save the spiritual race.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.13.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The joint product was Jesus, the Fruit of the Pleroma, with attendant angels.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.20.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Saviour came to save the psychic element, which has free will.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.20.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Saviour took spiritual, psychic and a special body, but nothing material.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.22.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Some say the Demiurge's psychic Christ passed through Mary, and the Saviour descended on him at baptism.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.22.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · They say the Lord was composed of four elements.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.22.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · They say the Saviour and the spiritual seed did not suffer.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.22.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Only the psychic Christ suffered, as a type of the higher Christ.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.28.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · John proclaims one God and one Christ, the same who became flesh.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.28.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The heretics divide Only-begotten, Saviour, Word and Christ into different beings.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.28.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Their reading leaves John saying nothing about Christ.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.28.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · On their reading John spoke of an Ogdoad in which Christ has no place.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.28.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · John himself shows he spoke of Jesus Christ, the Word.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.28.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · John 1:14 says the Word became flesh, which their system denies.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.29.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Jesus who suffered for us is himself the Word of God.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.29.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · They deny that the Word truly became flesh.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.29.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Word truly became the flesh God formed from dust.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.29.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Since all the titles belong to one Christ, their Ogdoad and system collapse.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.30.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · And in one Christ Jesus, Son of God, incarnate for our salvation.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.30.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · And in the Holy Spirit, who foretold Christ's birth, passion, resurrection, ascension and return.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.30.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Every knee will bow to Christ, who will judge all justly.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.31.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · It explores God's mercy, the incarnation and the timing of Christ's coming.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.32.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · In Valentinus's version Christ was born of the Mother outside the Pleroma.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.32.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Valentinus gave inconsistent accounts of Jesus's origin.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 33.11.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Ptolemy's logic would make Christ merely 'just' and not good.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 33.11.10Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Such division would separate the Son from the Father.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 34.6.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Truth spoke the name 'Christ Jesus' and fell silent.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 34.6.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The name 'Jesus' has a hidden power Marcus does not know.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 34.6.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The six-letter name 'Jesus' differs from the aeonic name.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 34.8.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Numbers are drawn from the names Jesus, Son and Christ.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 34.9.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Jesus's 'ineffable origin' is traced through tetrads, ogdoad and decad.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 34.9.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Eight, eighty and eight hundred make 888, the number of 'Jesus'.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 34.9.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The letters of 'Jesus' add up to 888.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 34.9.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Greek alphabet's structure is said to show 888.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 34.9.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · One plus two plus three plus four makes ten, iota, the initial of Jesus.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 34.9.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · 'Christ' with eight letters signifies the first ogdoad.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 34.9.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · 'Son Christ' makes twelve letters.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 34.9.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Before the name appeared, people were in ignorance.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 34.9.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The revealed name led people from ignorance and death to life.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 34.9.10Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Father willed to end ignorance through knowledge of himself.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 34.10.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Powers from the tetrad generated the earthly Jesus.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 34.10.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The annunciation figures are matched with the tetrad.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 34.10.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The man of the dispensation was born through Mary and chosen by the Father.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 34.10.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · At the baptism a higher power descended on Jesus like a dove.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 34.10.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The descending power contains Father, Son, Silence and all the aeons.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 34.10.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Spirit in Jesus revealed the Father; 'Jesus' names the man of the dispensation.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 34.10.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Receiving the Man, Jesus contained the whole Ogdoad.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 34.18.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · They tell the story of the child Jesus and his teacher.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 34.19.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · They rank their redemption above baptism.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 35.1.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · They disagree about the Savior's origin.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 35.1.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Further views of the Savior's origin.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 35.1.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Some call the supreme God 'Man', hence 'Son of Man'.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 35.2.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Colorbasus calls the Father 'Man' to twist 'Son of Man'.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 35.2.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Epiphanius grants the premise for the sake of argument.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 35.2.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Jesus calls himself a man, distinct from his Father.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 35.2.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ's humanity, not the Father's, explains the word 'man'.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 35.2.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Acts 2:22 calls Jesus a man.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 35.2.10Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The word 'man' (male) cannot apply to the Father.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 35.3.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Siloam ('sent') is Christ; his quiet teaching and his bride, the dove.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 37.2.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Their snake is proclaimed as Christ by the devil's prompting.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 37.7.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The bronze serpent prefigured the cross.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 37.7.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The cross heals the bites of sin.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 37.8.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ, the eternal Word, came against the snake.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 38.3.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ came so the strong power might defeat the weaker.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 38.3.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Some say Judas betrayed Christ as an evil-doer.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 38.7.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ gave himself up for our salvation.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 38.7.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Thanks belong to Christ, not Judas.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 38.8.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Salvation comes from Christ's free self-offering.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 39.1.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Sethians honor Seth and identify him with Christ.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 39.3.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · They make Christ a reappearance of Seth.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 39.10.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Seth cannot be the eternal Word born of Mary.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 39.10.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Word took flesh and a human soul from the Virgin.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 39.10.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ never called himself Seth.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 40.6.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · They became sons of Judas, whom Jesus called a devil.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 40.8.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · John 2:19 shows the bodily resurrection.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 40.8.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · A phantom body could not be killed and raised.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 41.1.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Cerdo denied Christ's flesh, the resurrection, and the Old Testament.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 41.1.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Cerdo's Christ came to overthrow the Creator.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 41.2.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · If they are equal, Christ could not defeat the evil god.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 42.4.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Marcion's Christ descends from the unknown Father to save souls and expose the God of the Jews.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 42.4.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Marcion teaches that Christ in Hades saved Cain, Korah, Esau and the nations.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 42.4.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Marcion teaches that the righteous of Israel were left in Hades because they served the creator.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 42.8.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Marcion argues from Gal 3:13 that Christ bought us because we belonged to another.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 42.8.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Marcion claims we were another's creatures, purchased by Christ.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 42.8.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Epiphanius explains that Christ did not become a curse but undid the curse.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 42.8.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Paul says 'redeemed', not 'bought', so Christ did not purchase what was foreign to him.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 42.8.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ's 'redemption' means his willing incarnation and cross, not a purchase from another god.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 42.10.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Some passages show Christ's true incarnation.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 42.11.17Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Epiphanius repeats each of his 78 excerpts from Marcion's gospel and refutes Marcion from it, chiefly on Christ's real flesh, the unity of God, and the Old Testament.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 42.12.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Epiphanius repeats each of his 40 excerpts from Marcion's Pauline letters and refutes Marcion from them, arguing that Paul upholds the Law, the prophets, the one Creator and the resurrection of the body.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 42.14.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Some Marcionites blaspheme the origin of the Lord himself.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 42.14.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Some Marcionites call Christ the son of the evil one, others the son of the creator.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 42.14.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · They say Christ abandoned his own father and joined the good God above.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 42.14.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · In this view Christ came to undo the laws of his own natural father.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 42.16.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · If a good son came from an evil father, the evil principle could also change.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 42.16.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ came to save sinners because he is good and merciful.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 42.16.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · A good son would first have converted his own father.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 42.16.10Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · There are not three principles, and Christ has no other father.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 42.16.11Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ's words 'I am in the Father' exclude a false father.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 42.16.12Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ teaches that his true Father is the good Creator and warns those who dishonour the Son.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 42.16.13Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The one God, the Father, eternally begets a Son who is good, love, life, truth and light like him.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 43.1.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · John 1:1–3 shows that the Word made all things.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.2.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Apelles teaches that Christ, Son of the good God, came to save those who know him.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.2.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Apelles says Christ had real flesh, but not from Mary.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.2.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ's body was gathered from the four elements as he descended.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.2.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Epiphanius links Apelles' view to Greek poetic ideas.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.2.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Apelles' Christ formed his body from the four elemental qualities.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.2.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Apelles holds that Christ truly suffered, died and rose in that body.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.2.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Apelles says Christ returned his body to the elements before ascending.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.3.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Why make a body only to dissolve it?
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.3.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · If the body was only for temporary use, it should have been left on earth.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.3.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Apelles makes Christ's resurrection pointless labour.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.3.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The body's solid remains would have been visible to the apostles.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.3.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · At his burial Joseph of Arimathea wrapped and laid his body in a tomb.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.3.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The women would have known where to honour such remains.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.3.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The apostles saw Christ ascend and no remains were left.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.4.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · 'Let us make' shows the Father speaking with the Son and the Spirit.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.4.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ would not have taken on the creator's image if the creator were a different god.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.4.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Son is the maker of man, to whom the Father spoke.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.4.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The same one formed Adam from earth.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.4.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · John 1:1–3 confirms the Word as creator.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.4.10Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Word who formed Adam took a body from Mary.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.4.11Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ could not take the work of an evil maker without sharing its evil.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.4.12Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ took a human soul as well as flesh.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.4.13Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ assumed the whole human being in body and soul.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.4.14Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Apelles' position falls without a foundation.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.5.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ's own soul shows souls are not foreign to him.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.5.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · A good being would not wear a body made by an evil maker.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.5.10Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Why raise the body only to dissolve it again?
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.5.11Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ raised his body and took it with him wholly.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.5.12Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ ascended bodily and will return in the same way.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.6.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Stephen saw the Son of Man in heaven long after the ascension.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.6.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ's risen body was made spiritual and united to his Godhead.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.6.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ is seated in his body at the Father's right hand.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 44.6.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ's death and resurrection in the body are our pledge of resurrection.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 45.4.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ calls himself the true vine.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 46.3.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ's healing with clay recalls his forming of Adam.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 46.3.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · By supplying the missing part with clay, Christ shows he is the creator.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 46.3.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ's descent to the dead shows his will to save them.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 46.4.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Adam is saved; Christ came to grant amnesty to the living by repentance and to the dead in Hades by mercy.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 46.5.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The water and blood from Christ's side sprinkled Adam's remains beneath the cross.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 46.5.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · This sprinkling signifies the cleansing of Adam's descendants.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 46.5.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Eph 5:14 was fulfilled first in Adam at Golgotha.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 48.11.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · All fullness dwells in Christ, and the prophets received from him.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 48.13.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ came freely, not under compulsion, unlike the spirit in Maximilla.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 50.2.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ's sacrifice on the fourteenth fulfilled the Law's type.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.1.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Dittany, which aids childbirth, pictures the eternally begotten Word.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.2.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · John's Gospel arose in Asia against those who called Christ a mere man.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.4.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Cerinthus calls Christ a mere man; John proclaims the eternal Word made flesh.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.4.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Alogi's objection begins by citing John's prologue.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.5.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Matthew opens with Christ's genealogy and virginal conception.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.5.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The angel tells Joseph not to put Mary away.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.5.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Matthew cites Isaiah's prophecy of the virgin birth.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.5.10Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Matthew also omits the Annunciation in Luke.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.6.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Matthew records the birth at Bethlehem and the genealogies.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.6.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Some misread Matthew's genealogy and fell into error.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.6.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Cerinthus, Ebion, and others made Christ a mere man.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.6.13Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Mark's less explicit account led the heretics further astray.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.6.14Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The heretics argued from Mark that Christ became Son at his baptism.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.9.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Matthew skips from the birth to the coming of the magi two years later.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.10.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Luke tells of Jesus at twelve against those who said he appeared fully grown.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.10.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Heretics disagree about Christ's origin.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.10.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Luke says Jesus was 'supposed' to be Joseph's son.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.10.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Joseph was Jesus' father only in name, an elderly widower with sons.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.10.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Joseph could not be the father without union.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.11.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Luke traces the genealogy back to Adam.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.11.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Luke ends the genealogy with God.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.11.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Luke shows Christ as Son of God and son of Adam, yet the heretics resisted.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.12.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Even Luke's genealogy did not correct the heretics.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.12.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · John affirms the incarnation but denies that Christ began at his birth.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.12.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Word did not begin with any ancestor or day of creation.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.12.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · John begins with the eternal Word.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.12.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · John's prologue introduces the Baptist and the true light.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.12.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · John proclaims the Word made flesh and the Baptist's witness.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.17.10Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The heresy is rightly called 'without the Word'.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.18.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · John omitted what Matthew had told, to refute those who called Christ a mere man promoted to Sonship.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.18.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · John focuses on the heavenly origin of Christ.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.19.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · John's Gospel is spiritual, since the others had covered the fleshly things.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.19.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · John tells of the gift from the Father given through the Virgin.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.19.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The four Gospels together teach both Christ's flesh and his Godhead.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.20.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ worked no sign before his preaching, apart from reported childhood deeds.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.20.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Childhood signs refute the claim that 'Christ' was the dove descending at the Jordan.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.20.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Jesus' words at twelve show he was Son of God before his baptism.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.21.29Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Opposition to Jesus began after the sabbath healing.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.21.30Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · John 5:18 refutes those who make the Son inferior to the Father.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.22.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Ephrem saw the thirteen days as a type of Christ and the Twelve.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.22.21Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ came when rule from Judah had ceased, fulfilling Jacob's prophecy.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.23.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ suffered in his thirty-third year.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.24.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Epiphanius sees a prophecy fulfilled in the date.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.25.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · 'I am not going up' meant not yet to the cross and to heaven.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.25.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · In March the impassible Word suffered in the flesh.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.28.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Alogi, who reject John, are also refuted.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.30.13Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The miracle shows Christ is God, who turns water into wine in every vine.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.31.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The firstfruits sheaf prefigures the resurrection.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.31.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ raised his body and bore it to the Father.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.31.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ's humanity is the firstfruits from Mary.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 51.31.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ's sacrifice is not repeated.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 53.1.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · They make Christ a created being who repeatedly appears.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 53.1.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · They describe Christ and the Spirit as gigantic figures.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.1.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Theodotus excused his denial by calling Christ a mere man.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.1.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Theodotians teach that Christ was a mere man.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.1.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Theodotus cited John 8:40 to prove Christ a mere man.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.2.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The same verse names God as Christ's Father.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.2.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ is God begotten of the Father, made man and killed in the flesh.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.3.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Theodotus cited Deuteronomy 18:15 to show Christ was a man like Moses.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.3.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Isaiah's prophecy shows the virgin-born Son is 'God with us'.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.3.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ is God from the Father and man from Mary.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.3.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Theodotus argues from the wording of the Annunciation.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.3.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The angel's words to Mary.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.3.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · 'Therefore also' shows the Word himself took flesh.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.3.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The wording prevents confusing the Spirit with the incarnate Son.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.3.10Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · John confirms the Word came from above.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.3.11Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · John says the Word, not the Spirit, became flesh.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.3.12Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Scripture teaches Christ as both God and man.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.4.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Theodotus cites Jeremiah 17:9 (LXX).
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.4.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · 'Who will know him?' points to Christ's incomprehensible Godhead.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.4.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Only the Son reveals the Father and himself.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.4.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Through the Spirit Christ reveals his divinity and incarnation.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.5.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Theodotus cites Isaiah 53 for Christ's humanity.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.5.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Isaiah continues with the silent lamb.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.5.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ's life was taken from men, not from himself.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.5.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Word is life in himself.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.5.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ's generation is indescribable because he existed before Abraham.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.5.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ declared that he existed before Abraham.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.5.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ is before all creation and time.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.5.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Isaiah calls his generation indescribable.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.5.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Theodotus cites Acts 2:22.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.5.10Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Stephen's vision shows the Son of Man exalted in heaven.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.6.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Theodotus cites 1 Timothy 2:5.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.6.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Paul also calls Christ Son of God in power.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.6.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Paul confesses one God and one Lord Jesus Christ.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 54.6.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Creation through Christ disproves that he is a mere man.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 55.1.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Melchizedekians hold that Melchizedek is a heavenly power greater than Christ.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 55.1.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · They argue from Ps 110:4 that Christ is inferior to Melchizedek.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 55.1.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Ps 110 itself makes Christ the priest, which refutes them.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 55.1.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Melchizedek is only made like the Son, so not equal to him.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 55.4.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Only the Son of Man came down from heaven.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 55.4.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Melchizedek had no successor, a type of Christ’s unending priesthood.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 55.4.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The eternal Word, made man from Mary, became priest for us.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 55.4.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ offered himself on the cross, ending the old sacrifices.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 55.4.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ is priest, victim, altar, God and man, and founds an unchangeable priesthood.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 55.7.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Some in the church think Melchizedek was the Son of God appearing.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 55.7.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · One cannot be “made like” oneself, so he is not the Son.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 55.8.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · They say Christ only led them to the knowledge of Melchizedek.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 55.9.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Melchizedekians deny Christ, who did not begin at Mary.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 55.9.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Father spoke “Let us make man” to the eternal Word, not Melchizedek.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 55.9.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · John 1:1 speaks of the Word, not Melchizedek.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 55.9.15Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Hebrews speaks of flesh and prayer, which cannot apply to the Father.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 56.2.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ died and rose as the pledge of our resurrection.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 56.2.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ’s burial proves his death was real.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 56.2.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The eternal Son suffered in the flesh and rose.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 57.1.12Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The presbyters confess the rule of faith about Christ.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 57.2.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Noetus and Theodotus err at opposite extremes.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 57.5.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Paul knows the Son as both Lord and God.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 57.5.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Calling the Son “Lord” implies he is God.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 57.7.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · “God is in you” foretells the Godhead dwelling in flesh.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 57.7.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Word dwells in his flesh as in a temple.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 57.7.10Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Word, born of the Virgin, is one in flesh and spirit.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 57.8.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Word came down from heaven and was made flesh.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 57.8.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The incarnate Word ascends in full Godhead.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 57.8.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Word, not flesh before, became flesh from the Virgin.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 57.8.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The same unchangeable Word is in heaven and on earth.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 57.8.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Son of God took the name Son of Man.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 57.8.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Daniel called him Son of Man before the incarnation.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 57.8.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The prophet named the Word by his future title.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 57.8.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · John 3:13 names the Word by his later title.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 57.9.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Baruch 3 and Rom 9:5 speak rightly of Christ as God.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 57.9.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ is God over all because all was given him by the Father.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 57.9.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · John’s letter and Revelation testify to Christ.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 59.7.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Peter’s confession of the Son is the rock of the church.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 62.1.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Son is like a ray sent and withdrawn.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 62.3.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Son is God from God, begotten not made, yet not the Father.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 62.5.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Only the Son took a body.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 62.5.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Word took a full human nature, not merely dwelling in a man.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 62.6.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ sits at the Father’s right hand.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 62.6.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The angels at the ascension speak of Jesus returning.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 62.7.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The text also speaks in Christ’s person.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 62.7.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ is “first” in his coming and “after” in judgment.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 62.7.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ is Alpha and Omega, who descended and ascended.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.7.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Origen asks for prayer; he calls the Savior a “generated God.”
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.8.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Epiphanius attacks the phrase “generated God.”
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.18.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · An objection from Christ’s bodily resurrection is raised.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.18.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Proclus: Christ’s body differs from ours in origin.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.27.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Man bears the image of the Only-begotten.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.62.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ does not deliver from the body, which death already does.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.62.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · “Death” is indwelling sin, from which Christ delivers.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.62.11Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · God sent his Son in real flesh to strengthen the natural law.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.64.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ rose in the same body, made spiritual.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.64.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The body that passed through doors was the crucified one.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.64.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ showed Thomas his wounds.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.64.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The risen body had flesh and bones.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.64.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The risen body is spiritual yet truly a body.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.64.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The risen body is united with the Godhead for ever.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.64.10Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ, the firstfruits, dies no more.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.65.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Others rose before Christ.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.65.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ is firstfruits because he dies no more.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.65.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ’s whole humanity rose, as the psalm foretold.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.65.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Neither soul nor body of Christ was left to death.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.67.13Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ did not raise only part of himself.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.67.15Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ is the grain of wheat.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.67.16Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The falling of the grain is the three-day death of Christ’s body.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.67.17Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The same body buried by Joseph rose.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.67.18Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The empty tomb shows the whole body rose.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.67.19Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The same wounded body rose.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.68.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The whole grain rose.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.68.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ’s grain is the prototype of resurrection.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.71.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ, Wisdom, will rebuild scattered bodies.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.71.14Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ confirmed the resurrection against unbelief.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.71.22Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The raised confess Christ; Scripture is fulfilled.
On Cain and Abel 1.7Ambrose · ca. 375-378 · Moses, called to stand with God, surpassed the human condition as a figure of Christ the teacher and was called a god to Pharaoh because he had mastered his passions.
On Cain and Abel 1.9Ambrose · ca. 375-378 · Moses' grave is unknown, but Christ's tomb was known so that his resurrection might be made plain; the one awaited redemption, the other gave it.
On Cain and Abel 1.10Ambrose · ca. 375-378 · As Abel followed Cain, so in every person the self-seeking comes first and reverence for God later; only Christ, born of a virgin, was free from this from the start.
On Cain and Abel 1.32Ambrose · ca. 375-378 · God gives swiftly through his Word, who is not a work but the worker, present everywhere and anticipating all, so one who knows this asks quickly and receives quickly.
On Cain and Abel 1.43Ambrose · ca. 375-378 · God's oath is a concession to human weakness, since his word is itself faithful; he kept his oath by giving us an eternal high priest, and we must keep ours.
On Cain and Abel 2.11Ambrose · ca. 375-378 · Our redemption price is Christ's blood; he is the true Levite who redeems all, offering healing so that those who perish do so by their own fault, while the righteous, like the ten for Sodom, save others.
On Paradise 20Ambrose · ca. 375-378 · The second age, of the patriarchs, was one of temperance; Isaac, the son of promise, prefigured Christ.
On Paradise 23Ambrose · ca. 375-378 · Enosh, Enoch and Noah are the gold, carbuncle and green stone of the Pishon; paradise lies toward the East, that is, toward Christ.
Apostolic Constitutions 1.1.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · Christ’s word on looking with desire shows that he confirms and fulfils the Decalogue, which he himself spoke through Moses.
Apostolic Constitutions 1.6.9Anonymous · ca. 380 · The Decalogue is the true law, the later bonds having been ended or changed by Christ; Kings should be read for examples, and men must use men’s baths.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.5.5Anonymous · ca. 380 · Christ says the Scriptures testify to him.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.18.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · Only Christ is sinless; the recorded sins of the patriarchs give sinners hope of pardon through repentance.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.20.8Anonymous · ca. 380 · The bishop must seek the missing sheep as the Father sent the Son to seek the lost.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.24.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · A bishop who refuses the penitent sets himself above God, who sent his Son to become man and die for sinners.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.24.7Anonymous · ca. 380 · Bishops must imitate Christ in gentleness and mercy and be faithful stewards of God’s gifts.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.25.9Anonymous · ca. 380 · As Christ bore the people’s sins, bishops must bear them too, and so are rightly maintained by the church, as Numbers provides for the priests.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.26.5Anonymous · ca. 380 · The deacon serves the bishop as Christ serves the Father.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.27.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · Laymen who usurp priestly functions will be punished like Uzziah, since even Christ did not take the priesthood on himself.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.30.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · The deacon depends on the bishop as the Son on the Father.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.36.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · Creation came through Christ; the sabbath is for meditation on the law, not idleness.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.44.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · The deacon settles what he can by the bishop’s authority and refers weightier matters to him.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.55.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · In every age God has called people to repentance, through righteous men, prophets, Christ, John and the apostles.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.59.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · Attendance is especially required on the sabbath and on Sunday, the day of the resurrection.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.61.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · God’s laws come before worldly needs, and believers should hasten to the church bought by Christ’s blood.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.5.6Anonymous · ca. 380 · Poorly explained teaching about the incarnation and passion leads unbelievers to mock.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.17.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · A short statement of the Father, the only-begotten Son, and the Spirit sent by Christ.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.19.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · Deacons must serve without shame, even to death, as Christ did.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.19.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · As Christ endured all for us, deacons must serve the brothers.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.19.5Anonymous · ca. 380 · Christ washed the apostles’ feet, so deacons must humbly serve the weak.
Apostolic Constitutions 5.5.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · Christ renounced every comfort and his life to save Jews and Greeks who repent.
Apostolic Constitutions 5.6.9Anonymous · ca. 380 · The martyr imitates Christ, who suffered every outrage and committed his spirit to the Father.
Apostolic Constitutions 5.7.12Anonymous · ca. 380 · Christ, who raised others and himself and delivered Jonah, the three youths and Daniel, can raise us.
Apostolic Constitutions 5.13.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · The Epiphany, the manifestation of Christ's divinity, is kept on the sixth of the tenth month.
Apostolic Constitutions 5.14.14Anonymous · ca. 380 · The passion, burial, and resurrection are told, with the command to fast during Holy Week and on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Apostolic Constitutions 5.16.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · Israel failed to recognize Jesus as the eternally begotten Son and Word.
Apostolic Constitutions 5.16.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · The prophecies of the virgin birth and of the divine child are quoted.
Apostolic Constitutions 5.20.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · The Ascension is kept on the fortieth day; Christ sits at the Father's right hand until he comes to judge.
Apostolic Constitutions 5.20.5Anonymous · ca. 380 · The Son appeared to the patriarchs in the Old Testament.
Apostolic Constitutions 5.20.6Anonymous · ca. 380 · Moses saw the Son in the bush and foretold him as the prophet to come.
Apostolic Constitutions 5.20.7Anonymous · ca. 380 · Joshua worshiped the Son as commander of the Lord's army, and Samuel called priests and kings anointed after him.
Apostolic Constitutions 5.20.8Anonymous · ca. 380 · David sang Psalm 45 of the Son.
Apostolic Constitutions 5.20.9Anonymous · ca. 380 · Solomon spoke of the Son as Wisdom in Proverbs 8 and 9.
Apostolic Constitutions 5.20.10Anonymous · ca. 380 · Isaiah and Zechariah prophesied of the Son.
Apostolic Constitutions 5.20.11Anonymous · ca. 380 · Daniel foresaw the Son of Man and the stone that filled the earth.
Apostolic Constitutions 5.20.12Anonymous · ca. 380 · Jeremiah, Ezekiel and all the prophets proclaim the Son as Christ and only-begotten God.
Apostolic Constitutions 5.20.13Anonymous · ca. 380 · The apostles preach the Son as God the Word, through whom the Father created all things.
Apostolic Constitutions 6.5.7Anonymous · ca. 380 · Christ, who rebuked Satan for Joshua, prays for the faith of his apostles.
Apostolic Constitutions 6.6.6Anonymous · ca. 380 · The Ebionites hold that Christ was a mere man, the son of Joseph and Mary.
Apostolic Constitutions 6.10.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · Some heretics keep the Jewish law and hold Jesus a mere prophet; others teach immorality.
Apostolic Constitutions 6.11.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · Christ became man, lived without sin, suffered, died, rose, and ascended.
Apostolic Constitutions 6.11.9Anonymous · ca. 380 · The church confesses the resurrection, and Christ as God the Word and man, the expected one of Genesis 49.
Apostolic Constitutions 6.26.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · Heretics who reject the Law and Prophets deny Christ's birth, cross, resurrection and eternal generation.
Apostolic Constitutions 6.26.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · Some heretics make Christ a mere man; others make him Father, Son and Paraclete at once.
Apostolic Constitutions 6.30.8Anonymous · ca. 380 · The book closes with a doxology to God who speaks through Christ, crucified, risen and coming again.
Apostolic Constitutions 6.30.9Anonymous · ca. 380 · Christ ascended and sits at the right hand of the Father.
Apostolic Constitutions 6.30.10Anonymous · ca. 380 · Stephen saw Christ standing as high priest at God's right hand; the doxology ends book 6.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.22.5Anonymous · ca. 380 · Christ, being pure, was baptized and fasted as an example for us.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.25.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · Thanks are given for life through Jesus, sent, crucified, raised and glorified.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.26.5Anonymous · ca. 380 · The thanksgiving ends with Hosanna to the Son of David, God manifested in the flesh.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.34.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · God is blessed for creating all things through Christ.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.36.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · God appointed the Sabbath and the feasts as memorials of creation and of Wisdom.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.36.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · The feasts recall Christ's birth, baptism, passion and resurrection; Sunday celebrates his victory over death.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.36.6Anonymous · ca. 380 · Sunday surpasses all feasts, for it shows forth Christ and calls for thanksgiving.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.37.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · God, who fulfilled his promises in Christ, is asked to receive the prayers of the Gentile church.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.38.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · God helps the church now through Christ the high priest.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.38.7Anonymous · ca. 380 · God freed us from error through Christ and gave the Spirit.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.39.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · The catechist gives thanks for Christ's saving work and teaches the incarnation, passion, resurrection and ascension.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.41.5Anonymous · ca. 380 · The creed confesses the Son, begotten before the ages, not created, through whom all things were made.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.41.6Anonymous · ca. 380 · The creed confesses Christ's incarnation, death, resurrection, ascension and coming.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.43.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · The priest thanks the Father for sending his Son to become man.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.43.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · The priest worships the Son, who died for all on the cross.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.43.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · God's providence cared for Adam and his descendants and at last sent his Son.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.47.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · The morning hymn ends with praise through Christ, the Lamb of God.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.7.5Anonymous · ca. 380 · The prayer recalls Christ's victory over the devil.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.7.6Anonymous · ca. 380 · Christ's power is praised.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.7.7Anonymous · ca. 380 · The Son is praised in the words of the Psalms and Prophets.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.7.8Anonymous · ca. 380 · The Son is asked to rebuke the evil spirits.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.12.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · The anaphora praises God for creation and the history of salvation, joins the angels' Holy, recalls Christ's incarnation and passion, offers the bread and cup, calls down the Holy Spirit, and intercedes for the whole church and world.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.33.6Anonymous · ca. 380 · Slaves rest on Christmas.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.33.7Anonymous · ca. 380 · Slaves rest on the Epiphany and the apostles' days.
On Virgins 1.3Ambrose · ca. 377 · Virginity, which makes martyrs, is a heavenly life brought to earth: it seeks its bridegroom, the Word, in the Father’s bosom, and though foreshadowed in Elijah and Miriam, it spread through the world only after the incarnation.
On Virgins 1.5Ambrose · ca. 377 · Virginity’s homeland is heaven and its author is Christ, born of the Father and of a Virgin; the Church is the virgin mother watered by the Trinity; Paul had no command about virgins, because virginity can be desired but not commanded.
On Virgins 1.9Ambrose · ca. 377 · Ambrose urges the virgin to seek Christ, the flower found in enclosed gardens, using verses of the Song of Songs; Christ, white and ruddy, divine and human, seals the virgin, angels guard her, and her sober life keeps her from the causes of sin.
On Virgins 3.1Ambrose · ca. 377 · Ambrose recalls the address of Liberius, bishop of Rome, when Marcellina received the virgin’s veil at St Peter’s on Christmas Day: Christ, the eternal Son equal to the Father, is her bridegroom, to be loved and honored as the Father loves and honors him.
On Virgins 3.5Ambrose · ca. 377 · Ambrose reads the bed watered with tears (Ps 6) both literally and of the body, explains the Lord’s “bed of pain,” urges that all be done in Christ’s name, and warns virgins against dancing, which cost John the Baptist his life.
On the Christian Faith 1.2Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose argues that Christ, as God, has all the attributes of the divine nature, and that the scriptural titles Word, Son, Power, and Wisdom show one divinity in Father and Son with a distinction of generation.
On the Christian Faith 1.3Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose argues from Isaiah, Genesis, Psalm 45, Paul, and a passage he ascribes to Jeremiah that Scripture speaks of one God while confessing both Father and Son.
On the Christian Faith 1.4Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose finds the one God confessed by the unity of the world, of faith, and of baptism, by the gifts of the Magi, and by the three youths in the furnace.
On the Christian Faith 1.5Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose lists the Arian claims about the Son (unlike the Father, begun in time, created, not good, not true Son, not almighty, not one with the Father) and warns against their reliance on dialectic.
On the Christian Faith 1.7Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · From Paul’s calling Christ the image of the invisible God, from Wisdom 7:26, from John 14:9, and from Gen 1:26, Ambrose argues that the Son is not unlike the Father.
On the Christian Faith 1.8Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose argues that the Son is everlasting from Isa 43:10 and from the fourfold “was” of John 1:1–2, which he finds to refute Arius, Sabellius, Photinus, Eunomius, and the Manichaeans.
On the Christian Faith 1.9Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose argues that if the Father became Father at some point, he would have changed, so the Son’s eternal generation follows from God’s unchangeability.
On the Christian Faith 1.10Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose argues that Christ, the everlasting power of God, is everlasting, and that the divine generation is beyond understanding and cannot be measured by human generation.
On the Christian Faith 1.11Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose argues from Ps 81:9 that the Son is neither a “new” nor a “strange” God, and shows that arguments from the custom of human birth lead to absurdities.
On the Christian Faith 1.12Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose answers the objection that the Son lacks what sons have by arguing that nothing creaturely applies to God, that both Christ’s eternal generation and his birth from the Virgin are unique, and that they are to be believed, not examined.
On the Christian Faith 1.13Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose answers “how was the Son begotten?” with the image of radiance from light, reads the furnace, Mamre, the Transfiguration, and the burning bush as revelations of the eternal Son, and contrasts simple faith with philosophical disputation.
On the Christian Faith 1.14Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose argues that Christ is not a creature: he is the Creator to whom the Gospel to every creature is entrusted, the begotten and only-begotten Son, and “made” only according to the flesh born of Mary.
On the Christian Faith 1.15Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose explains Acts 2:36 and Prov 8:22 (“The Lord created me”) as said of Christ’s humanity, prophesied as though already done, and reads Wisdom’s banquet in Prov 9 as fulfilled in the Gospel.
On the Christian Faith 1.16Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose argues that “begotten” and “created” differ, that Paul forbids serving the creature yet calls himself Christ’s servant, and that a creature cannot exist in the simple nature of God.
On the Christian Faith 1.17Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose argues that the Son is true God and the Father’s own Son, from Rom 8:32, from his coming forth from God, from his sharing the Father’s work, from the confessions of the apostles and the centurion, and from Isa 65 and 1 John 5:20.
On the Christian Faith 1.18Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose quotes the Nicene Creed and its anathemas against the Arians, sees the cross and the name of Jesus in the number of the 318 bishops, and appeals to the Council of Ariminum.
On the Christian Faith 1.19Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose answers the anathematized Arian claims one by one: that there was when the Son was not, that he was not before he was born, that he is from nothing or from another substance, that he is a creature, and that he is changeable; he compares Arius’s death with that of Judas.
On the Christian Faith 2.0Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Opening the second book, Ambrose arranges the scriptural titles of the Son into twelve signs of his property, likeness, and unity with the Father, likens them to the twelve stones of Aaron’s breastpiece, and sums up the faith in short definitions.
On the Christian Faith 2.1Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose answers the Arian use of Mark 10:18 (“No one is good but one, God”): Christ spoke as man to one who did not believe him God, and goodness belongs to the one divine nature, which includes the Son.
On the Christian Faith 2.2Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose argues that Christ is good from his benefits to Israel in the exodus and the desert, from his laying down his life as the good shepherd, and from texts of the Gospels, the Psalms, and the Song of Songs.
On the Christian Faith 2.4Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose proves that the Son is almighty from Rev 1:7–8, Zech 2:8–9, Isa 52:6, and John 16:15.
On the Christian Faith 2.5Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose answers the objection that Christ doubted the Father’s power in Gethsemane: Christ is almighty, and he spoke and feared as man, showing the reality of his flesh against the Manichaeans, Valentinus, and Marcion.
On the Christian Faith 2.6Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose argues that the Son, like the Spirit, acts by free will, and that the Father and the Son have one will, as the healing of the leper and the giving of life show.
On the Christian Faith 2.7Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose explains that Christ’s will to avoid death, his sorrow, fear, and cry of dereliction belong to the human nature he took on for us, while the divinity cannot suffer; the Lord of majesty was crucified in his human nature.
On the Christian Faith 2.8Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose explains John 14:28 (“the Father is greater than I”) as said of Christ’s humanity, in which he was made lower than the angels, and argues from John 5:18, Phil 2:6, and God’s oath by himself that in divinity the Son is equal to the Father.
On the Christian Faith 2.9Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose argues that being sent does not make the Son less, since he is sent by the Father and by the Spirit and himself sends the Spirit, and that Christ speaks sometimes as God and sometimes as man, as in John 6–7 and 17.
On the Christian Faith 2.10Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose explains that the Son’s obedience unto death (Phil 2:8) belongs to his incarnation, shows the one power and work of the Trinity from the passion and from Paul’s prayers, and compares the Son’s subjection to his subjection to Joseph and Mary.
On the Christian Faith 2.11Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose turns to persuasion: Christ took on flesh, temptation, sorrow, and the curse for our healing, while his divinity shone even on the cross; his being “sent” to Israel did not bind his free will.
On the Christian Faith 2.12Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose appeals to Christ as judge: his session at the Father’s right hand is honor, not inferiority, Father and Son hand everything over to each other in love, and the Seraphim’s threefold “Holy” is praise of one Trinity.
On the Christian Faith 2.13Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose imagines the Arian, the Photinian, the Sabellian, and the Manichaean pleading before Christ the judge, each condemned by his own denial, and ends with his own plea for mercy.
On the Christian Faith 2.14Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose argues that Christ has already given sentence in John 5:23, and that an appeal to the Father against it fails, since the Father commanded that the Son be heard.
On the Christian Faith 2.15Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose closes the second book: Peter’s confession is enough for faith, the Arians shut their ears like those who heard the Father’s voice as thunder, and Paul and John warn against such sowers of questions and antichrists.
On the Christian Faith 3.2Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose refers Christ’s hunger, tears, sorrow, and being “made” to his human nature, shows from the Psalms and Luke that Christ is the Most High, and argues from Col 2:12–15 that the God who raised us is the Son, not the Father alone.
On the Christian Faith 3.3Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose argues that 1 Tim 6:13–16 (“blessed and only Potentate, who alone has immortality”) applies to the Son too, explains how the immortality of God differs from that of souls and angels, and shows that “alone” never separates Father and Son.
On the Christian Faith 3.4Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose reads Ps 88 as Christ speaking as man, “free among the dead and without help,” and contrasts the prophets and apostles, who raised the dead by prayer or in Christ’s name, with Christ, who commands by his own power.
On the Christian Faith 3.5Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose shows that “made” in Scripture often means “became” by grace, not creation, as in 1 Cor 1:30, where Christ was made wisdom for us through the cross; he warns against following the bare letter.
On the Christian Faith 3.6Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose answers the Arian use of John 1:3–4 (“what was made in him”) by discussing its punctuation and showing that things are said to be “made in God” without belonging to his substance.
On the Christian Faith 3.7Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose explains Prov 8:22 (“The Lord created me the beginning of his ways”) of the incarnation, by which Christ redeemed the Father’s works and became the beginning of every virtue, above all through the cross.
On the Christian Faith 3.8Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose reads Isa 9:6 (“a child is born, a Son is given to us”) as distinguishing Christ’s human birth from his eternal sonship, and as excluding Jews, Manichaeans, Marcionites, Photinians, Sabellians, and Arians.
On the Christian Faith 3.9Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose explains that Prov 8 mentions Christ’s creation in the flesh before his eternal begetting because Scripture speaks of future things as past and shows both natures of the one Christ.
On the Christian Faith 3.10Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose explains John 1:30 (“a man who was made before me”) of Christ’s incarnation and honor, not his divinity, and reads the loosing of the shoe in Ruth and in the commands to Moses and Joshua as signs that Christ alone is the bridegroom of the Church.
On the Christian Faith 3.11Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose shows from the Psalms, Hebrews, and Philippians that Christ is said to be “made” in respect of his humanity, priesthood, and sacrifice, explains Melchizedek as a man who prefigured Christ, and concludes that the work of Father and Son is one.
On the Christian Faith 3.12Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose argues from the Gospels and the epistles that the kingdom of the Father and of the Son is one, so that their power and divinity are one.
On the Christian Faith 3.13Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose argues from Matt 25:31 and Luke 9:26 that the majesty of the Father and of the Son is one, while the angels only attend it.
On the Christian Faith 3.14Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose argues that Scripture itself uses the word “substance” of God and of Christ, citing Heb 1:3, Ps 139, Nahum, Jeremiah, and Ps 89, and that these texts do not mean wealth or a created thing.
On the Christian Faith 3.16Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose warns against Arian formulas that sound orthodox, such as “not a creature like the other creatures,” and insists that Christ be confessed as true God with the Father’s full divinity, seated at his right hand.
On the Christian Faith 3.17Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose explains that Stephen saw Christ standing, not sitting, because he stood as priest and president of the martyr’s contest, and argues from Stephen’s prayers that the Father and the Son have one power.
On the Christian Faith 4.1Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Opening the fourth book, Ambrose describes Christ’s triumphant ascension, with the angels asking “Who is this King of glory?” (Ps 24), and concludes that the ascending Son is the Lord of hosts and almighty.
On the Christian Faith 4.2Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose teaches that only those who confess Christ almighty may enter heaven, and urges each believer to open and lift up the gates of the heart so that the ascended Christ may enter.
On the Christian Faith 4.3Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose answers the Arian use of 1 Cor 11:3 (“the head of Christ is God”) as said of Christ’s humanity, and distinguishes the unity of Father and Son by nature from the unity of believers by grace (John 17).
On the Christian Faith 4.4Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose answers the Arian use of John 5:19 (“the Son can do nothing of himself”) by the verse’s own sequel and by showing that the Son, as the power and wisdom of God, created the world and worked his miracles without copying any pattern of the Father.
On the Christian Faith 4.5Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose distinguishes four kinds of impossibility (by nature, by weakness, by lack of skill or authority, and by fixed will) and shows that the first three cannot apply to Christ, so that John 5:19 expresses the unity of will and love between Father and Son.
On the Christian Faith 4.6Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose argues that the Son never acts against the Father’s will, as creation and the raising of Lazarus show, so that John 5:19 refers to the unity of their love and operation, not to weakness.
On the Christian Faith 4.7Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose contrasts our spoken or inward word with the living, working Word of God (Heb 4:12), who shares the Father’s will and power by unity of substance.
On the Christian Faith 4.8Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose answers the Arian claim that the Son is unequal because he did not beget a son: begetting belongs to the Father’s property, not to power or nature, and the Son, of one substance with the Father, has all that the Father has.
On the Christian Faith 4.9Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose answers the Arian dilemmas about the Son’s generation (whether he existed before he was begotten, whether generation began, whether it was willed) by showing that the generation is eternal, like radiance from light, and that even human beings such as Jacob, Jeremiah, and John existed in some sense before birth.
On the Christian Faith 4.10Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose explains John 6:57 (“I live because of the Father”) as said of the incarnate Son of Man, or as showing his equality with the Father in giving life, and answers a similar objection from John 11:4 and John 17 about the Son being glorified.
On the Christian Faith 4.11Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose answers the Arian use of 1 Cor 8:6 (“from whom” the Father, “through whom” the Son) by showing from Rom 11:33–36 and other texts that “from,” “through,” and “in” are said of both Father and Son, so that their power is one.
On the Christian Faith 4.12Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose answers the Arian use of John 15:1 (“my Father is the vinedresser”) by explaining the vine of Christ’s incarnate flesh, showing from Jeremiah that the Son too is vinedresser, and so explaining John 14:28 of his humanity.
On the Christian Faith 5.1Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose argues that John 17:3 (“you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ”) joins the Son to the Father, and that Christ, being neither a false god nor a god in name only, is true God, the same yesterday, today, and for ever.
On the Christian Faith 5.2Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose argues that calling the Father “the only true God” does not exclude the Son, since Scripture uses “alone” of God where both Father and Son act, as in creation, and the Son alone shares the Father’s life, immortality, and work.
On the Christian Faith 5.3Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose answers the Arian charge that one substance means two gods: Scripture uses plurality for things of different substance, while Father and Son, being of one substance, are one God, to be served and worshiped together.
On the Christian Faith 5.4Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose explains John 4:22 (“we worship what we know”) as Christ speaking as a Jew according to his humanity, and lists how his human weaknesses served divine purposes.
On the Christian Faith 5.5Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose explains Christ’s answer to the mother of James and John (Matt 20:23) as a gentle refusal out of love for a devoted mother, not as a sign that the Son lacks the Father’s power to give.
On the Christian Faith 5.6Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose argues that the request of James and John for seats beside Christ was impossible for any creature, since even angels and the Seraphim stand before God, and that Christ’s “not mine to give” was said according to his humanity.
On the Christian Faith 5.7Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose explains that John 17:23 does not make men equal to the Son in the Father’s love, that John 17:5 speaks with the feeling of the first man, and that the Son’s being “sent” implies no inferiority, since the lesser may send the greater.
On the Christian Faith 5.8Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose explains that Christ calls the Father “Lord” in respect of his servant form, uses Christ’s question about David’s son and Lord to refute several heresies, and refers texts about Christ as servant and being glorified to his incarnation.
On the Christian Faith 5.10Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose explains John 12:44 (“he who believes in me does not believe in me”) and the sayings about Christ’s testimony and the Father’s commandment as spoken in his human person, while his divine testimony is true.
On the Christian Faith 5.11Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose explains that the Son’s speaking what he hears from the Father expresses their unity of will, and gives a series of arguments that the Son is not a creature.
On the Christian Faith 5.12Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose explains the parable of the nobleman who went to receive a kingdom (Luke 19) and Paul’s statement that the Son will hand over the kingdom (1 Cor 15:24–28) as referring to believers, the kingdom Christ won and presents to the Father, while the kingdom of Father and Son remains one.
On the Christian Faith 5.13Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose explains the Son’s future subjection to the Father (1 Cor 15:28) not as a subjection of his divinity, nor as his being absorbed into the Father, but as his subjection in his body, the Church, when all believers are subject to God.
On the Christian Faith 5.14Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose explains that Christ will be subject to the Father in the human nature he took, as he was subject to Mary and obedient unto death, and in his members, when all believers are subject to God and God is all in all.
On the Christian Faith 5.15Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose sums up that the Son’s subjection belongs to his obedience and humanity, shows that he himself subjects all things by his divine power (Phil 3:21), and reads Ps 62 and Rom 8:35–39 in the same sense.
On the Christian Faith 5.16Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose answers the Arian use of Mark 13:32 (“nor the Son”) by noting that older Greek manuscripts of Matthew lack the words, by explaining them of Christ’s human nature, and by arguing that the Creator of the ages, who foretold the signs, the place, and the order of the end, cannot be ignorant of the day.
On the Christian Faith 5.17Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose argues that Christ withheld the day of judgment for our profit, so that we should always be watchful, and that Scripture often speaks of God as asking or not knowing what he knows, as with the Father’s “perhaps they will respect my Son.”
On the Christian Faith 5.18Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose gives two explanations of “nor the Son” (love that withholds useless knowledge, and the human condition Christ assumed), then argues that the Son, who has all that the Father has, is less only according to the flesh, and that no creature may sit in judgment on the Father and the Son.
On the Christian Faith 5.19Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose turns in prayer to the Father: no one may measure God or judge between the Father and the Son, and Arius, claiming to know God wholly, outdoes Paul in presumption and imitates the devil’s boast.
On Noah 7Ambrose · ca. 378-384 · The Spirit does not remain in fleshly men but remained on Christ, who alone, born of a virgin, was free of the bonds of sin common to all since Adam.
Anathema 5Anonymous · ca. 378–382 (traditionally 382) · Anathema on Photinus, who holds that Christ exists only from Mary.
Anathema 6Anonymous · ca. 378–382 (traditionally 382) · Anathema on those who teach two Sons, one eternal and one born of the Virgin.
Anathema 7Anonymous · ca. 378–382 (traditionally 382) · Anathema on those who say the Word took the place of a human rational soul in Christ (the Apollinarian view).
Anathema 8Anonymous · ca. 378–382 (traditionally 382) · Anathema on those who make the Word an expansion or contraction of the Father, without real substance and destined to end.
Anathema 11Anonymous · ca. 378–382 (traditionally 382) · Anathema on whoever denies that the Son is born of the Father's divine substance.
Anathema 12Anonymous · ca. 378–382 (traditionally 382) · Anathema on whoever denies that the Son is God, almighty, all-knowing, and equal to the Father.
Anathema 13Anonymous · ca. 378–382 (traditionally 382) · Anathema on whoever denies that the incarnate Son was also in heaven with the Father.
Anathema 14Anonymous · ca. 378–382 (traditionally 382) · Anathema on whoever says that the divinity of the Son, and not his flesh with its soul, suffered the pain of the cross.
Anathema 15Anonymous · ca. 378–382 (traditionally 382) · Anathema on whoever denies that Christ sits at the Father's right hand in the flesh he assumed and will come in it to judge.
On the Soul and the Resurrection, Migne page 137Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 379–380 · Macrina recalls Christ’s miracles of raising the dead and his own resurrection. Gregory grants that the resurrection is believed but asks whether bodies will rise as they died, old, wasted, or diseased, which would make resurrection a misfortune.
Homily 1Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 379–394 · Gregory introduces Ecclesiastes as the book for the church’s way of life, reads its title of Christ the true Ecclesiast, defines “vanity of vanities”, and expounds Eccl 1:1–11 as a lesson to look beyond sense-perceived life to the original state restored in the resurrection.
Homily 2Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 379–394 · Gregory reads Eccl 1:12–2:3 of Christ the true Ecclesiast who came to seek out evil under heaven, denies that God gave evil (the abuse of free choice is the cause), and expounds Solomon’s testing of wisdom, laughter and pleasure as a search for the lasting good, which he identifies with the work of faith.
Homily 5Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 379–394 · On Eccl 2:12–26 Gregory treats departure from vice as the beginning of the virtuous life, identifies true Wisdom with Christ and vice with the privation of the good, reads “the wise man’s eyes are in his head” of eyes fixed on Christ the head, and answers the objections that death makes wise and fool equal and that eating and drinking are the good.
On the Making of Man 25Gregory of Nyssa · 379 · The fulfilment of Christ’s predictions (such as the fall of Jerusalem) makes his promise of resurrection credible, and his graded miracles of raising the dead, culminating in Lazarus and his own risen body, demonstrate it.
On Tobit 33Ambrose · ca. 380-390 · The devil is the moneylender of sin, whose bond against humanity Christ cancelled by paying debts he did not owe.
On Tobit 74Ambrose · ca. 380-390 · The tunic is Christ himself, put on through the cross, burial, and new life.
Psalm 109Apollinaris of Laodicea · uncertain (fourth to sixth century) · A paraphrase of Psalm 109 of the Septuagint (Psalm 110): God says to God, “Sit at my right hand”; the one begotten before the morning star is a priest for ever.
1.2Asterius of Amasea · ca. 380-410 · Asterius urges the devout rich to do the deeds shown in the gospel scenes on their garments rather than wear them, and describes the many vices that luxury requires.
7.1Asterius of Amasea · ca. 380-410 · Asterius introduces the healing of the man born blind by recalling Christ's discourse in John 8, his escape from those who tried to stone him, and the many scriptural titles of Christ as the stone.
7.2Asterius of Amasea · ca. 380-410 · Asterius explains Christ's answer that the man's blindness was not punishment for sin but an occasion for a new act of creation, and describes the wonderful structure of the eye.
7.3Asterius of Amasea · ca. 380-410 · Asterius praises the eye as the witness of creation, explains Christ's use of clay and spittle as a sign of his creative power, reads the washing in Siloam as a figure of baptism, and rebukes those who disbelieved the miracle.
7.4Asterius of Amasea · ca. 380-410 · Asterius follows the Pharisees' repeated inquiries into the healing, compares their ingratitude to that of Israel in the desert, and rebukes them for not worshipping the one who made eyes from clay.
7.5Asterius of Amasea · ca. 380-410 · Asterius reproaches those who believe the miracles of Moses and Elisha from books but reject the miracle before their eyes, which fulfils Isaiah's prophecy that the blind will see.
8.5Asterius of Amasea · ca. 380-410 · Asterius sets Peter's walking on the water above the miracles of Moses and Joshua, expounds his confession “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” as covering both Christ's eternal Godhead and his incarnation, and contrasts its simplicity with the arguments of Arius and Eunomius.
8.7Asterius of Amasea · ca. 380-410 · Asterius reads Jacob's blessing of Benjamin as a prophecy of Paul the persecutor turned shepherd, contrasts Paul's letters of arrest with his Epistles, and explains why Christ appeared to him as light and fire rather than in human form.
8.8Asterius of Amasea · ca. 380-410 · Asterius expounds Christ's words to Paul, explains his three days of blindness, and describes Paul's preaching of Christ as God in the synagogues of Damascus and his return to Jerusalem.
12.1Asterius of Amasea · ca. 380-410 · Preaching on the day after Christmas, Asterius praises Stephen as the first to shed his blood for the Gospel, and argues that in this he surpassed even Peter and James.
15.1Asterius of Amasea · ca. 380-410 · Asterius reads the title of Psalm 5 (LXX: “For the end, for her who inherits”) as Christ's testament in favour of the Church, written through the prophets and signed at his death on the cross.
15.4Asterius of Amasea · ca. 380-410 · Asterius explains that the psalmist asks God to weigh each word of his petition, that God hears the unspoken cry of the heart, and that “My King and my God” anticipates Thomas's confession of Christ as God.
16.3Asterius of Amasea · ca. 380-410 · Asterius presents the prophet as pleading the Church's case against the devil, who disinherited Ham, Ishmael and Esau and had Naboth killed for his inheritance, as Christ was crucified for the Church.
17.1Asterius of Amasea · ca. 380-410 · Asterius presents the risen Christ as the bridegroom showing the Church her inheritance, and argues that the Synagogue, divorced for unfaithfulness and for crucifying the bridegroom, was disinherited in favour of the Gentile Church.
17.2Asterius of Amasea · ca. 380-410 · Asterius compares the Jews to the wicked tenants who killed the heir, reads the title of Psalm 5 as a funeral psalm foretelling Christ's death, burial and morning resurrection, and warns that God first examines the words we speak.
18.2Asterius of Amasea · ca. 380-410 · Asterius defines petition as need, shows from the Pharisee and the tax collector that good works must be presented with humility, explains “My King and my God”, and reads “in the morning” of Christ's resurrection at dawn.
19.1Asterius of Amasea · ca. 380-410 · In a homily for Easter week Asterius celebrates Christ's resurrection as the bridegroom's triumph over death and the devil, praises the Easter night, and begins to show Joseph as a type of Christ.
19.2Asterius of Amasea · ca. 380-410 · Asterius sets out Joseph as a type of Christ in his beauty, betrayal, sale, imprisonment and release, and urges the newly baptized to imitate Joseph's chastity, warning free men against concubinage with their slave women.
On the Trinity 1Faustinus · ca. 380–384 · Faustinus sets out the Arian position and refutes it from John 1, Philippians 2, Colossians 1, Genesis 1, and 'I and the Father are one,' arguing that the Son is eternal, equal, and of one substance and will with the Father.
On the Trinity 2Faustinus · ca. 380–384 · Against the claim that God made the Son from nothing, Faustinus cites the Father's voice at the baptism and transfiguration, Peter's confession, John's 'only-begotten' texts, God's gift of his Son compared with Abraham's offering of Isaac, and Psalm 110:3, 'from the womb I begot you.'
On the Trinity 3Faustinus · ca. 380–384 · Faustinus proves the Son almighty and unchangeable from Zechariah, Revelation, Wisdom, the Psalms, and Isaiah, and explains Christ's weaknesses as belonging to the human nature he assumed.
On the Trinity 4Faustinus · ca. 380–384 · 'The Father is greater than I' refers to the Son's emptying of himself in the form of a servant, or, as some catholics hold, to the Father's being the source of the Son, not to any inequality of deity.
On the Trinity 5Faustinus · ca. 380–384 · Acts 2:36, 'God made him Lord and Christ,' refers to Jesus according to the flesh, who became Lord of those who serve him and Christ, King and Priest, by the anointing of the Spirit, not to the making of the Word's substance.
On the Trinity 6Faustinus · ca. 380–384 · Proverbs 8:22, 'the Lord created me,' does not make Wisdom (Christ) a creature: Wisdom was begotten before it was 'created' for God's works, and 'created' can mean being made something for others, as God is 'made' our refuge.
Theological Oration 1 (Or. 27), Against the Eunomians 6Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · Public quarrels about the begetting of the Son hand pagan critics weapons and serve their own immoral gods.
Theological Oration 3 (Or. 29), On the Son 3Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · The Son and the Spirit are eternal with the Father; they have the Father as cause but no beginning in time.
Theological Oration 3 (Or. 29), On the Son 4Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · The Son’s begetting is incorporeal and free from passion, as different from ours as his virgin birth was.
Theological Oration 3 (Or. 29), On the Son 8Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · No one can explain how the Son was begotten; since we do not understand even our own birth, God’s begetting must be honoured in silence.
Theological Oration 3 (Or. 29), On the Son 10Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · If “unbegotten” were God’s substance, the begotten Son could not be God; but unbegotten and begotten are properties within one and the same nature.
Theological Oration 3 (Or. 29), On the Son 11Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · Being unbegotten is a property of the Father, not the divine substance; the Son, begotten of the Father, is equally God.
Theological Oration 3 (Or. 29), On the Son 13Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · Gregory refutes the argument that the Son’s begetting must have begun or be unfinished, and insists that God has one substance and name, properly shared by the Son.
Theological Oration 3 (Or. 29), On the Son 14Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · The Eunomian appeal to equivocal names, like the land dog and sea dog, fails because it is meant to make the Son unequal to the Father.
Theological Oration 3 (Or. 29), On the Son 17Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · Gregory lists the lofty biblical titles of the Son, God, Word, Wisdom, Power, Image, Lord, which show his eternal Godhead.
Theological Oration 3 (Or. 29), On the Son 18Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · The lowly biblical statements about Christ refer to his human nature assumed for our salvation, the lofty ones to his Godhead.
Theological Oration 3 (Or. 29), On the Son 19Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · Gregory sets the humble facts of Christ’s birth and early life beside the divine glory that accompanied each.
Theological Oration 3 (Or. 29), On the Son 20Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · In a long series of contrasts Gregory shows Christ acting in the same events as man and as God, from his baptism to his return in judgment.
Theological Oration 4 (Or. 30), On the Son 1Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · Gregory announces that he will answer, one by one, the biblical texts the Eunomians use against the Son’s Godhead.
Theological Oration 4 (Or. 30), On the Son 2Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · Prov 8:22, “The Lord created me,” refers to Christ’s humanity, which has a cause, our salvation; “he begets me” refers to his uncaused Godhead.
Theological Oration 4 (Or. 30), On the Son 3Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · Christ is called “servant” because of the humanity he took on; that humanity was exalted by union with God.
Theological Oration 4 (Or. 30), On the Son 4Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · “He must reign until…” does not mean Christ’s reign will end; his universal kingship is endless, while his work of bringing us into subjection is completed.
Theological Oration 4 (Or. 30), On the Son 5Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · Christ’s “subjection” and his cry of forsakenness express his taking our rebellion and abandonment upon himself, not any inferiority of his Godhead.
Theological Oration 4 (Or. 30), On the Son 6Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · Christ’s learning obedience and his prayers belong to his servant form and are for our sake; “God all in all” describes our final perfection, not the Son’s absorption into the Father.
Theological Oration 4 (Or. 30), On the Son 7Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · The Father is “greater” as the Son’s cause, while the Son is equal to him in nature.
Theological Oration 4 (Or. 30), On the Son 8Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · The Father is “God” of Christ’s humanity and “Father” of the divine Word; confusing these names leads the heretics astray.
Theological Oration 4 (Or. 30), On the Son 9Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · What Christ is said to “receive” belongs to his humanity, or to his Godhead by nature from the beginning.
Theological Oration 4 (Or. 30), On the Son 10Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · Gregory distinguishes the many senses of “cannot” in Scripture before explaining John 5:19.
Theological Oration 4 (Or. 30), On the Son 11Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · The Son cannot act apart from the Father because they share one being and authority; he does the Father’s works not by copying but with equal power.
Theological Oration 4 (Or. 30), On the Son 12Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · When the Son says he came not to do his own will, he means that he has no will separate from the Father’s; they share one Godhead and one will.
Theological Oration 4 (Or. 30), On the Son 13Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · “The only true God” and “no one is good but God” exclude false gods and address a questioner, not the Son; otherwise similar texts would exclude the Father.
Theological Oration 4 (Or. 30), On the Son 14Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · Christ’s intercession is his continuing mediation as man, not a slavish pleading before the Father.
Theological Oration 4 (Or. 30), On the Son 15Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · The Son’s not knowing the last day refers to his human nature; as God and Wisdom he knows all things.
Theological Oration 4 (Or. 30), On the Son 16Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · Gregory adds that the Son’s knowledge is referred to the Father as its source, and that his obedience and sufferings concern his human nature; he turns to the Son’s titles.
Theological Oration 4 (Or. 30), On the Son 20Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · Gregory explains the Son’s divine titles, Son, Only-begotten, Word, Wisdom, Power, Truth, Image, Light, Life, Righteousness, Sanctification, Redemption, Resurrection.
Theological Oration 4 (Or. 30), On the Son 21Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · Gregory explains the titles Christ bears as man, Man, Son of Man, Christ, Way, Door, Shepherd, Lamb, High Priest, Melchizedek, and closes with Heb 13:8.
On the Beatitudes 1199Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 380–394 · As there are two kinds of wealth, so there are two kinds of poverty: lacking virtue is wretched, but being poor in vices is blessed; poverty of spirit is voluntary humility, the one divine trait humans can imitate, after the example of Christ who became poor for us.
On the Beatitudes 1201Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 380–394 · Humility is the hardest of virtues, because the devil sowed arrogance, by which he himself fell, in human nature; the remedy is to imitate Christ, who emptied himself.
To Simplicius on Faith, part 1Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 380–394 · Against those who say the Son once was not and is created, Gregory argues from the commands against a "new" or "foreign" god that such a Son could not be worshipped, and explains "The Lord created me" (Prov 8:22) of the humanity the Word became for our sake.
To Simplicius on Faith, part 2Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 380–394 · Christ is both divine by nature and human by the economy; the Son is eternal as the radiance of the Father's glory is never without the lamp, and as the express image of the Father's hypostasis he cannot be less than the Father, since the Word was in the beginning and wholly with God.
Homily 4.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · As the winter solstice heralds Christ's birthday, Christians should prepare by clothing the soul in virtue, like Christ's garment that no fuller could whiten, and by cleansing conscience through almsgiving.
Homily 5.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · On Christmas Day the preacher celebrates Christ's birth of a virgin who remained a virgin, a birth attested by the whole Trinity, and calls Mary's womb a temple higher than the heavens.
Homily 6.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · A Christmas homily, incomplete in the manuscript, on the two births of Christ, eternal from the Father and in time from the Virgin, preached while foreign armies threatened.
Homily 7.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Against pagans who mock the virgin birth, the preacher argues that the God who created everything from nothing could certainly cause a virgin to conceive and bear a son.
Homily 8.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · A short Christmas homily rejoicing that the new Adam, born in Bethlehem, opens heaven to mortals, and that he is both God and man, as the star and the angels show.
Homily 9.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Celebrating Christmas, the preacher defends the virgin birth against a recently condemned heretic who equated marriage with virginity, arguing from God's power in creating Adam and Eve and in other miracles.
Homily 10.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Christ has two births, eternal from the Father and in time from the Virgin, both beyond telling; the believer should confess them in faith rather than scrutinize them with reason.
Homily 11.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The preacher sets Isaiah's prophecy beside Luke's annunciation to confirm the virgin birth and explains the swaddling cloths, the manger, and the crowded inn as mysteries of salvation.
Homily 12.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Christ's birth from an untouched virgin shows him to be both man and God, and the God who formed Adam from clay and Eve from Adam could surely cause a virgin to conceive.
Homily 13.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Christ, the eternal Son and second Adam, was born of a virgin for all nations; his lowly birth is matched by heavenly signs, so the believer should accept both his humanity and his divinity.
Homily 14.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The mystery of Christ's birth exceeds human understanding and calls for faith and wonder; the swaddling cloths and manger signify his taking our sins and giving his body as food, and all the earth should sing the new song.
Homily 15.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Christ was born of a woman without a man to undo through Mary what came through Eve, to show that both sexes are saved, and to redeem the dead by his death and resurrection.
Homily 17.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · An Epiphany homily on the Magi, whose three gifts signify redemption, true worship, and resurrection, and on the wedding at Cana, where Christ showed himself the author of marriage and the Son of God.
Homily 18.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The Magi, the firstfruits of the Gentiles, recognized the newborn King by a star, while the scribes who knew from Scripture that he would be born in Bethlehem did not seek him.
Homily 19.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · At Epiphany the star given to the Gentiles, foretold by Balaam, led the Magi to worship Christ as God and man; they came as pagans and left as Christians, and believers should imitate them.
Homily 20.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · At Epiphany the preacher explains why a star was given to the Gentiles, recounts the Magi's journey and worship, and urges his hearers to imitate them by abandoning idols and doing works of mercy amid a barbarian threat.
Homily 21.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The angels promise peace to men of good will; the soul conceives Christ as Mary did; and the Magi, who gave up their magic after finding Christ, shame Christians who return to the pagan Kalends.
Homily 22.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Epiphany commemorates the star, the wine at Cana, and Christ's baptism, by which he sanctified all waters for our regeneration; the three gifts of the Magi confess the one God in Trinity.
Homily 23.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Epiphany unites the Magi, Cana, and Christ's baptism; the preacher dwells on the wine miracle, which shows Christ the author of marriage and the Creator, and on Mary's request and Jesus' reply.
Homily 25.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Christ gradually revealed his majesty; the Magi, led by a star, worshipped him as King and God, shaming the unbelief of the Jews, and returned by another way.
Homily 26.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The star, foretold by the pagan Balaam, made Christ known to the Gentiles; the Magi's three gifts are mysteries of redemption, true worship, and resurrection, and believers should offer the gifts of their works.
Homily 27.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The Epiphany star revealed Christ to the nations through the Magi while Judea did not receive him; Herod's rage killed the innocents, whom Christ made sharers in his passion and heirs of eternal life.
Homily 28.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Christ's birth and his manifestation by the star are equally wonderful; the Chaldeans, steeped in superstition, believed through a silent star, while those who had the prophets did not.
Homily 29.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Epiphany commemorates three works of the Trinity: the Magi's worship, Christ's baptism, in which Father, Son, and Spirit were revealed, and the wine at Cana, which the Creator of water could easily make.
Homily 30.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Christ's baptism, kept at the same season as his birth as a second birthday, sanctified the waters for Christian baptism, as the pillar of fire once went before Israel through the Red Sea.
Homily 32.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · A fragment of a homily on the wine at Cana as a revelation of Christ's creative power and his approval of marriage.
Homily 33.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The preacher holds that the Magi's worship, Christ's baptism, and the wine at Cana all fell on Epiphany: the Church of the nations was born, baptism was instituted, and the baptized are changed like water into wine.
Homily 34.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Whatever event Epiphany marks, Christ's baptism shows his humility and sanctifies the waters; John points to the Lamb of God, the heavens open, and the Trinity is revealed.
Homily 34.2Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · A second version of the preceding homily: the three Epiphany mysteries, John's testimony to the Lamb of God, and the revelation of the Trinity at Christ's baptism, which consecrated all waters.
Homily 35.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Christ fulfilled every ordinance of the law, circumcision, purification, and baptism; John's protest and Christ's reply show his humility, and the Spirit and the Father's voice confirm the sacrament of baptism.
Homily 37.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Christ's temptation in the wilderness is retold with the devil's imagined bewilderment at the virgin-born, sinless man; the preacher then lists the virtues by which Christians sanctify their Lenten fast.
Homily 42.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · In the temptation Christ answered the devil with Scripture so that the devil could neither prevail nor discover that he was God; Christians conquer the devil by clinging to Christ and fasting from vices.
Homily 43.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The preacher retells the three temptations, showing how Christ's answers concealed his divinity from the devil, and teaches that a good fast includes almsgiving, self-control, forgiveness, and hunger for righteousness.
Homily 44.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Comparing the forty-day fasts of Moses and of Christ, the preacher explains why only Christ hungered, and insists that Christians fast from vices, quarrels, usury, and lies as well as from food.
Homily 45.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The title of Psalm 22 (Latin 21), “for the morning help,” is explained: as dawn comes before sunrise, Christ the sun of righteousness and his apostles first enlighten sinners with simple teaching.
Homily 45.2Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Psalm 22 is read as spoken by Christ: his cry of abandonment, the worm born without seed as a figure of his virgin birth, and the divided garments and seamless tunic as the Scriptures divided by heretics and Christ's heavenly wisdom.
Homily 46.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Christ's silence before Pilate is compared with Susanna's silence before her accusers; both conquered by innocence, but Daniel freed the innocent while Pilate, declaring Christ just, handed him over.
Homily 47.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Susanna's trial and Christ's are compared in charge, accusers, and place; Judas, unlike Susanna's accusers, condemned himself, as the heretic does who separates himself from the Church and denies Christ's divinity.
Homily 49.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · As Ulysses bound to the mast escaped the Sirens, so the cross, the Church's mast, carries believers safely past the world's pleasures; the bronze serpent on the pole foreshadows Christ crucified, the cure for the poison of sin.
Homily 50.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The cross, which brought salvation, is traced in the ship's mast and sail, the plough, the four quarters of heaven, and the posture of prayer with raised hands, as Moses' hands defeated Amalek.
Homily 51.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The penitent thief earned paradise at once because he believed in Christ on the cross, saw his own sins borne in Christ's wounds, and confessed him King while the disciple Judas betrayed him.
Homily 52.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Faith brought the thief to paradise before the apostles, while fear made the disciples flee and Peter deny Christ at a maidservant's question, as Eve once led Adam to sin.
Homily 55.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The passion and resurrection were prefigured in the Old Testament: Eve from Adam's side, Abel, the ram caught in the thicket, Elisha's bones, and above all Jonah, whom the sea monster could not consume; therefore redeemed man should value himself and resist vice.
Homily 56.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Christ's words to Mary Magdalene, “Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended,” rebuke her for seeking him among the dead; only faith that places him at the Father's right hand touches him, as Stephen did.
Homily 57.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · On Easter the psalm “This is the day the Lord has made” calls all creation to rejoice, for Christ the day shines in heaven, on earth, and in the underworld; even sinners should hope for pardon.
Homily 59.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The newly baptized are renewed like the eagle that grows young by moulting, and the one eagle whose youth is renewed is Christ, whose flesh flowered again in the resurrection.
Homily 60.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Christ's flesh flowered again in the garden tomb and bore fruit at his ascension; like an eagle he carried captive humanity to heaven and, as a victor, gave the gift of the Spirit and of tongues.
Homily 62.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Pentecost is kept with a vigil and joy like Easter; Christ sits at the Father's right hand as King and Judge, and stands, as Stephen saw him, as the advocate of Christians.
Homily 71.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Christ chose the poor fisherman Peter and the persecutor Paul, erring from zeal for the old law; Peter's confession “the Christ, the Son of the living God” expresses both natures of Christ, and the two are the pillars of the churches.
Homily 77.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Celebrating a bishop who withstood the Arians, the preacher expounds “I and the Father are one” and “He who sees me sees the Father”: the Son is distinct in person but one in substance with the Father, and both God and man.
Homily 83.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The creed, like the password of Judges 12, distinguishes the faithful from heretics; the preacher explains each article in turn: God the Father, the only Son, the virgin birth, the cross, burial, resurrection, ascension, session, judgment, the Spirit, the Church, forgiveness, and the resurrection of the flesh.
Homily 84.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · A visiting bishop's sermon is praised, and Joseph of Arimathea's new tomb is compared with the Virgin's womb as a second, more glorious birth of Christ.
Homily 84.2Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Joseph's devotion in burying Christ is compared to Mary's in bearing him; the 'open sepulchre' is read as the evangelists' mouths, and Mary Magdalene's question is read as unwitting prophecy of the ascension.
Homily 108.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Christ's crossing by boat shows his true humanity and figures his guiding the ship of the Church; the healing of the paralytic, forgiven before he is healed, proves Christ's divinity, since only God forgives sins.
Homily 110.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Faith, like mustard, heals through tears and stripping away; the mustard seed that becomes a tree is Christ, humbled and exalted, sown in Joseph's garden tomb, with the apostles and martyrs as his branches.
Homily 111.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The leaven hidden in flour is Christ, broken in his passion to bind the scattered Gentiles into his body; the woman is the Church who grinds catechumens and hands on the creed, while the synagogue grinds in vain.
Homily 113.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · After a rebuke the preacher explains that loving correction profits the hearer; then on Peter's confession he teaches that Simon was named Peter from Christ the Rock, and that Christ's ascension surpasses Elijah's.
Sermon 4.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Taking up the popular name “the new sun” for Christmas, Maximus contrasts the old, created sun with Christ the Sun of righteousness, heralded by John the lamp, born of the virgin Godhead and the virgin Mary, and son of the divine Craftsman.
Sermon 5.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Maximus joins the angels' song at Christmas, explains that peace is given to men of good will, that the shepherds first heard the news as figures of watchful priests, and that Christ came silently into the Virgin like rain on a fleece.
Sermon 7.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · At the Epiphany Maximus celebrates the incarnation, leaving open whether the day marks Christ's birth or baptism, and praises the sign of the cross as the Christian's weapon against the devil, with figures from Ezekiel, Moses, ships and birds.
Sermon 8.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Christ's baptism in the Jordan, celebrated on the Epiphany as a second birthday, sanctified the waters for Christian baptism, as the pillar of fire went before Israel through the Red Sea.
Sermon 10.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · At the Epiphany Maximus expounds Christ's baptism, when the Father's voice and the Spirit's dove revealed him, through Psalm 29 (Vulgate 28), read line by line as a prophecy of the baptism and of the Church's spread.
Sermon 29.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · An Easter sermon: the resurrection is proved even by the Jewish guards at the tomb; all have risen in Christ, who shares our flesh and blood, so even sinners may hope, and Easter is a better day than the first day of creation.
Sermon 30.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · At Easter the paschal lamb, the grain of wheat, the reviving spring, the clearing sky, the sun and full moon all celebrate Christ's resurrection, prefigured in Adam's sleep, Noah's drunkenness and Jonah; believers should answer with holy lives.
Sermon 31.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Christ descended to the underworld, defeated death, raised the saints with him, and rose in the same flesh, as he showed the disciples and Thomas, refuting pagans who mock the crucified.
Sermon 34.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The resurrection was prefigured in Eve's creation from sleeping Adam, Noah's waking from drunkenness, Moses' rod turned to a serpent and back, and Jonah; Christians should imitate it by dying to vice and rising to new life.
Sermon 34.2Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The resurrection was foreshadowed in Adam and Eve, Noah, Moses' rod and Jonah, and is matched by the timing of Easter at the spring equinox and full moon; Christians share it by dying to vice and rising to new life.
Sermon 36.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · On Easter Monday Maximus explains “today I have begotten you” as referring to Christ's resurrection, the unending day of light, and reflects on the peace Christ offered even to Judas in his kiss.
Sermon 36.2Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The day of rebirth is better than the day of birth; Christ, like Samson and the wrestler who grew stronger each time he fell, conquered by dying, and Jacob's wrestling with the angel figures the Jews' apparent victory over Christ, his blessing of them, and their division in faith.
Sermon 37.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Christ's passion and resurrection show his two natures, divine and human, without division or confusion; the virgin birth is no harder for the God who made the world, Adam and Eve, and Peter's confession “the Christ, the Son of the living God” names both natures.
Sermon 38.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · At Easter heaven and earth share one joy; the day the Lord made specially is the day of the resurrection, and the lowly acts of Christ's life and passion were not in vain but for our salvation, to be grasped by faith and matched by life.
Sermon 39.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Creation rejoices at Easter; the penitent thief's single confession and Christ's prayer for his killers show that no sinner need despair of forgiveness if he turns to Christ.
Sermon 40.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Christ is ever new, frees sinners because he alone is free from sin, conquered by silent humility like a lamb before its shearer, and was exalted through the cross, so that even nations who dispute his Godhead confess his death and resurrection.
Sermon 42.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The mysteries of the virgin birth and the cross are hidden from the worldly wise and revealed to the simple; Christ feared death through the weakness of the flesh he took, but by divine power rose and showed his real body, keeping his wounds for our faith.
Sermon 43.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · In Christ one person unites the Word and flesh, so that the lowly man and the mighty God act together: in the form of God he worked miracles, in the form of a slave he suffered, and his raising of the centurion's servant, the widow's son, Jairus's daughter and Lazarus prove his power to rise.
Sermon 44.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · At the Ascension Christ, who resisted the devil's three temptations, rises to the Father's throne, bringing human nature into heaven; Adam's fault has become an occasion of greater grace, and to be Christ's captive is true freedom.
Sermon 45.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · At the Ascension Christ brought into heaven the human nature he took from earth, so that heaven and earth both rejoice; if Elijah could be taken up, much more can the Son, now enthroned where no forbidden tree threatens.
Sermon 46.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Expounding Psalm 24 at the Ascension, Maximus explains that Christ is the King of glory, strong in being patiently killed and mighty in breaking the underworld, who carried our humanity to the Father yet remains present everywhere.
Sermon 47.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · At the Ascension Christ's flesh is enthroned at the Father's right hand, opening the new way into heaven; believers, deprived of his visible presence, should long like eagles for the vision of his face.
Sermon 53.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Baptism's second birth surpasses the first; the Spirit who formed Christ in the Virgin, who remained a virgin after giving birth, is shown to be God, one in will with the Father and the Son, and at Pentecost he gave the apostles all languages for the one faith.
Sermon 62.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · John's birth to the aged makes Christ's virgin birth credible; John is more than a prophet and Christ more than a man, one Lord eternal and new, able to suffer in the flesh; John's leaping in the womb, ascetic life, baptism of Christ and death for rebuking Herod show his greatness.
Sermon 107.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · The feeding of the four thousand shows Christ's two workings, human compassion and divine power, against the error of Eutyches; the crowd from far away is the Gentiles, who come to Christ by faith rather than the law.
Sermon 113.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · Christ's words on the Father and the Son (Matt 11:27) show their one substance; after a gap, the sermon expounds his gentle yoke and light burden, which free us from the devil's yoke.
Tractate 5.1Maximus of Turin · ca. 400-465 · A treatise against the Jews, in many places lacunose: the younger brothers of Genesis figure the Christian people preferred to the Jewish; Christ is the Son and Word through whom God created, foretold in the law, Psalms and prophets, born of a virgin, and seen by the patriarchs; Abraham was justified by faith, not circumcision.
Chapter 1Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas lists the scriptural titles of Christ (Word, Wisdom, Light, Lamb, Priest, Vine, Bread, Stone, Door and others) and explains what each means.
Chapter 2Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas applies each title of Christ to the believer’s need, from ignorance and fear to sin, death and despair, ending with the promise of the kingdom.
Chapter 3Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas explains the article on Jesus Christ: “Jesus” means Saviour and “Christ” king; he came down and was born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, becoming man while remaining God.
Chapter 4Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas teaches that Christ, born of the Virgin as Isaiah foretold, is truly incarnate (against those who make his body a phantom) and is both man and God, as his works show.
Chapter 5Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas explains the passion: Christ suffered in the flesh, not in his divinity, for our sins, under Pontius Pilate, whose name fixes the time against heretics who speak of other christs.
Chapter 6Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas explains the resurrection, ascension, session at the Father’s right hand and Christ’s coming to judge the living and the dead.
Chapter 2Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas names David as the prince of singers, whose lyre calmed Saul because its wood and stretched strings prefigured the cross.
Chapter 4Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas lists the moral teaching of the Psalms and their prophecies of Christ, from his generation and passion to his resurrection, session, return in judgment and the eternal kingdom.
Chapter 7Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas cites New Testament song: Zechariah’s and Elizabeth’s praise, the angels at Christ’s birth, the children’s Hosanna, and the hymn sung by Christ with his disciples.
Chapter 2Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas passes over Sabellius, who confused the Father with the Son and Spirit, and Photinus, who made Christ a mere man, both already condemned.
Chapter 3Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas explains that Arius, prying into how God begets, denied both Father and Son, and that Nicaea confessed the Son born from the Father’s substance, “of one substance with the Father.”
Chapter 4Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas explains that “of one substance” does not mean the Father is divided or diminished but that he begot a perfect Son, distinct from him, who has all that the Father has and is to be honoured equally.
Chapter 5Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas argues that honouring the Son honours the Father, and that sayings like “the Father is greater than I” distinguish the Son from the Father without lessening his divinity.
Chapter 6Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas shows that Christ’s hunger, sleep, tears, sorrow and death prove his true body, while the feeding of the five thousand, the stilling of the storm, the raising of Lazarus and his power over his own life prove his divinity.
Chapter 7Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas concludes that Christ is both impassible as God and passible in the flesh, that the Father and Son share one kingdom, will and grace, and ends his short commentary with a prayer to the Trinity.
Chapter 5Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas holds that the Spirit proceeds from the Father in a way no one can know, is a true person who sanctifies and is not sanctified, formed Christ’s body in Mary, rested on him at baptism, and forgives sins through the apostles.
Chapter 10Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas shows that foreknowledge and knowledge of hidden things belong to God and to Christ.
Book of Heresies 3.3Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Some Sethians identify Seth with Christ.
Book of Heresies 9.2Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The Essenes do good works but expect Christ only as a prophet.
Book of Heresies 31.6Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Saturnilus held that Christ only appeared to have flesh.
Book of Heresies 32.6Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Basilides taught that Simon of Cyrene suffered in Christ's place.
Book of Heresies 35.2Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Carpocras held that Christ was Joseph's son.
Book of Heresies 35.3Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Carpocras praised Christ only for his upright life.
Book of Heresies 37.1Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Ebion held that Christ was Joseph's son and not divine.
Book of Heresies 37.2Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Ebion made Christ a mere prophet, against Scripture.
Book of Heresies 38.6Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Valentinus said Christ's flesh came from heaven and passed through Mary like water.
Book of Heresies 40.1Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Secundus taught infinite Aeons and a phantom Christ.
Book of Heresies 42.2Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Marcus taught that the Christ descended on Jesus as a dove.
Book of Heresies 42.3Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Marcus held that Christ suffered only in appearance.
Book of Heresies 44.2Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Cerdon held that Christ was only a shadow.
Book of Heresies 45.4Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Marcion denied Christ's true flesh.
Book of Heresies 45.6Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Marcion kept only passages about Christ as man.
Book of Heresies 47.4Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Philastrius links the Arians to Apelles; Apelles granted Christ flesh not from heaven.
Book of Heresies 47.6Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Apelles said Christ returned his elemental body and ascended without flesh.
Book of Heresies 50.1Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Theodotus, who denied Christ in persecution, called him a mere man.
Book of Heresies 50.2Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Theodotus taught this to excuse his denial.
Book of Heresies 50.3Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The Theodotians use only passages about Christ's humanity.
Book of Heresies 55.3Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · They say Christ left his flesh in the sun, misreading the psalm.
Book of Heresies 56.2Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · They use Sirach and deny the incarnation and resurrection.
Book of Heresies 64.1Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Paul of Samosata denied that the Word is a personal, eternal Son.
Book of Heresies 64.2Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Paul of Samosata taught Christ as a mere man and taught Zenobia to Judaize.
Book of Heresies 65.1Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Photinus followed Paul of Samosata and was deposed at Sirmium.
Book of Heresies 66.1Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The Arians, from Arius of Alexandria, call the Son like God.
Book of Heresies 66.2Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Calling the Son only like God makes him like a creature.
Book of Heresies 66.3Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Only the Son is begotten of the Father's substance; creatures are made from nothing.
Book of Heresies 66.4Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The Son is true God because begotten of the Father's substance.
Book of Heresies 66.5Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The Son's likeness to the Father lies in his works, since he is begotten, not made.
Book of Heresies 69.1Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Some deny that Christ took a human soul.
Book of Heresies 69.2Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Christ's words show he had a human soul.
Book of Heresies 69.3Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Christ took both body and soul.
Book of Heresies 69.4Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Christ had a rational soul and a body able to suffer.
Book of Heresies 69.5Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The Spirit formed Christ's flesh, and Christ spoke of his soul.
Book of Heresies 69.6Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The risen Christ's words and Peter's sermon show his true flesh and soul.
Book of Heresies 69.7Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The catholic church confesses Christ as man and true God.
Book of Heresies 70.1Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The Tropites wrongly say the Word was changed into flesh.
Book of Heresies 70.2Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The Word assumed visible flesh without change.
Book of Heresies 71.1Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Some say Christ laid aside his flesh at the passion.
Book of Heresies 71.2Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Salvation depends on Christ's bodily resurrection and ascension.
Book of Heresies 71.3Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The angels at the ascension promised his return.
Book of Heresies 89.4Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Hebrews calls Christ “made” in his body, not his divinity.
Book of Heresies 92.1Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Some say Christ's divinity suffered pain on the cross.
Book of Heresies 92.2Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Christ suffered in the flesh, not in his divinity.
Book of Heresies 92.3Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The prophets foretold God's coming and his cup of suffering.
Book of Heresies 92.4Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Christ suffered in his flesh while his divinity remained united to it.
Book of Heresies 92.5Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Paul joins Christ's divinity and flesh at the cross; Peter distinguishes them.
Book of Heresies 92.6Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · In Christ's passion the united God-man defeated the enemy for us.
Book of Heresies 92.7Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The divinity did not suffer; the passion fulfilled the prophesied mystery.
Book of Heresies 93.8Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · In the flesh Christ condescended so that we might know God in part.
Book of Heresies 108.8Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · “Giant” is used in a good sense of Christ.
Book of Heresies 119.2Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Deuteronomy adds the prophecy of a prophet like Moses.
Book of Heresies 127.1Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Some say the Son first existed and was afterwards born.
Book of Heresies 127.2Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The Son's eternal generation is distinct from his birth in time.
Book of Heresies 127.3Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The Son is begotten before all ages and remains with the Father.
Book of Heresies 130.7Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Spiritually the psalms speak of Christ throughout.
Book of Heresies 135.2Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The Song teaches Christ's presence through love.
Book of Heresies 135.3Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Christ is shown as God, father, shepherd and king.
Book of Heresies 137.4Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Only Christ is God's natural image.
Book of Heresies 138.3Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · God appeared as angel and man before becoming incarnate.
Book of Heresies 142.2Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Aquila's version differs at Ps 2:2 and Isa 7:14.
Book of Heresies 156.4Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The fire is the Spirit; the tongs signify Christ's body formed by divine power.
Book of Heresies 156.5Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · The iron signifies the invincible word and the Spirit's power.
Canons on the Letters of Paul 1Priscillian · ca. 380–400 · God is true, eternal, invisible, King and Lord; Christ is his image and firstborn.
Canons on the Letters of Paul 8Priscillian · ca. 380–400 · All things are from God, every fatherhood is named from him, and all were created through Christ.
Canons on the Letters of Paul 12Priscillian · ca. 380–400 · Christ took the likeness of sinful flesh, holds the treasures of wisdom, made both one, and ascended on high.
Canons on the Letters of Paul 13Priscillian · ca. 380–400 · Christ, God and man, who died for us in the flesh, is the mediator between God and men.
Canons on the Letters of Paul 14Priscillian · ca. 380–400 · Christ is the foundation, cornerstone, and head of the church.
Canons on the Letters of Paul 15Priscillian · ca. 380–400 · The mystery once hidden is now revealed; Christ is the wisdom unknown to this world's rulers.
Canons on the Letters of Paul 16Priscillian · ca. 380–400 · Christ is the Father's image, power, and wisdom; the fullness of deity dwells in him, and he alone was without sin.
Canons on the Letters of Paul 17Priscillian · ca. 380–400 · Paul calls the man Christ God and Lord, born of David's seed and of a woman.
Canons on the Letters of Paul 18Priscillian · ca. 380–400 · Christ is our peace, who on the cross blotted out the bond against us and broke down the dividing wall.
Canons on the Letters of Paul 19Priscillian · ca. 380–400 · Christ willingly fulfilled the Father's will in his passion.
Canons on the Letters of Paul 66Priscillian · ca. 380–400 · Christ frees us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse.
Canons on the Letters of Paul 83Priscillian · ca. 380–400 · Christ is the firstfruits of the resurrection and sits above every power at the Father's right hand.
Eleven Tractates 1.3Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · They condemn heretics who divide the one divine substance, citing texts on the oneness of God and confessing the incarnation, death, and resurrection of the Word.
Eleven Tractates 1.6Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · They confess Christ come in the flesh and anathematize the Nicolaitans and those who make a religious mystery of animal figures.
Eleven Tractates 1.18Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · Those who worship Mars, Jupiter, and Mercury are slaves of lust and money; Christians have Christ, who cancelled their debt on the cross.
Eleven Tractates 1.25Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · The fruit of the Spirit makes believers Christ's temple; they anathematize anyone who denies Christ's coming in the flesh and his crucifixion.
Eleven Tractates 1.26Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · Christ truly suffered; heretics have mixed lies into the Scriptures; Priscillian anathematizes Mani and his followers, whose worship of sun and moon and whose crimes have been exposed even in civil courts.
Eleven Tractates 1.30Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · Unlike the beast, the Christians' God is Christ as seen in Revelation, whose name is written on the white stone.
Eleven Tractates 1.31Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · The name of God written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin is Christ; Scripture's lion, stag, and stars are figures of him, and baptism frees from the 'wheel of birth.'
Eleven Tractates 1.32Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · Even Balaam, an idolater, prophesied Christ, and Scripture keeps his words; testimony to Christ is accepted from whatever source.
Eleven Tractates 1.33Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · The name of power is Jesus; the schismatic accuser is called to repent.
Eleven Tractates 1.35Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · Heretics turn Scripture into lust and deny the resurrection; the names of Gnostic powers—Armaziel, Barbilon and the rest—are not God; only Christ saves.
Eleven Tractates 1.36Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · Christ is head over all; whatever writing, under any name, preaches Christ as God in agreement with Moses, the prophets, and the gospels is accepted, and whatever denies him is rejected.
Eleven Tractates 1.37Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · A message is judged by whether it confesses Christ, as Joshua tested the angel and as the angel refused John's worship.
Eleven Tractates 1.38Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · They reject any 'fifth gospel' and hold the four gospels and the creed of the church.
Eleven Tractates 2.44Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · Priscillian sets out the creed article by article, each with a Scripture proof.
Eleven Tractates 2.46Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · They condemn the Arians, Photinus, and the Patripassians, citing Scripture against each.
Eleven Tractates 3.69Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · Following the Bereans who checked the Scriptures, Priscillian reads prophecies cited by Scripture, delighting that Christ was foretold by all.
Eleven Tractates 4.78Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · Fasting means works of mercy; Christ, our Passover, took on the full shame of human birth.
Eleven Tractates 4.79Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · Christ endured every human indignity and the cross; the baptized and catechumens alike should keep the Lord's forty-day fast before Easter.
Eleven Tractates 5.88Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · Christ is the cornerstone, door, way, fountain, bread, and vine; all names belong to the one God, Christ.
Eleven Tractates 5.89Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · Every knee bows to Jesus, the one God of the prophets; believers should put on the new man and apply the Genesis reading spiritually to themselves.
Eleven Tractates 6.94Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · The Passover lamb foreshadows Christ, though the earthly animal and the God of glory are utterly different.
Eleven Tractates 6.96Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · In the old testament the Passover required animals and dates; in the new, Christ himself is offered on the cross.
Eleven Tractates 6.98Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · The baptized, dead with Christ to sin, become the Lord's Passover; Christ took both the form of God and the form of man.
Eleven Tractates 6.99Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · In Christ, the Word made flesh, the human and the divine appear side by side: fear and confidence, death and resurrection, a virgin mother before, in, and after the birth.
Eleven Tractates 6.100Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · The one God is found under every name—Son, Father, Wisdom, angel, man—so that he is believed to be one.
Eleven Tractates 6.104Priscillian · ca. 380–385 · Christ, born of the virgin, offered his own blood; the 'first month' of the Passover signifies Christ the firstfruits.
Section 5Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Ambrose challenges Palladius either to defend from Scripture Arius's claim that only the Father is eternal or to condemn it.
Section 9Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Palladius refuses to answer whether Arius was right; the bishops press him to confess his faith freely.
Section 10Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Sabinus presses Palladius to say whether Christ is created; Palladius says he came only to show that the bishops had improperly influenced the emperor.
Section 13Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Ambrose argues from Rom 1:20 and 1 Cor 1:24 that Christ, the power of God, is everlasting; the bishops anathematize whoever denies it.
Section 15Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Ambrose recalls Arius's death as a divine judgment; the legates of Gaul condemn whoever denies that the Son is co-eternal with the Father.
Section 16Anonymous · 3 September 381 · The African legate Felix and Anemius of Sirmium, head of Illyricum, condemn whoever denies that the Son is eternal and co-eternal with the Father.
Section 17Anonymous · 3 September 381 · From Arius's letter (the Father "alone true") Ambrose demands that Palladius confess the Son as true God; Palladius will only call him the true Son.
Section 18Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Ambrose says that calling Christ the true Son is only half the confession and presses Palladius to call him true Lord.
Section 19Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Eusebius distinguishes our adoptive sonship from Christ's sonship by nature and asks whether calling Christ true God is unscriptural.
Section 20Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Palladius appeals to John 17:3 (the Father the only true God); Ambrose answers with 1 John 5:20, "This is the true God," and exposes the Homoian sense of "one true divinity".
Section 21Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Palladius calls Christ only "the power of our God"; the bishops anathematize whoever will not confess him true Lord.
Section 22Anonymous · 3 September 381 · On Arius's "alone having immortality", Palladius cites 1 Tim 6:15–16 and asks whether "Christ" is a divine or a human name.
Section 23Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Eusebius answers that in 1 Tim 6:16 the name "God" signifies the whole divine nature, Father and Son together.
Section 24Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Ambrose distinguishes Christ's death in the flesh from his immortal divinity; the bishops anathematize whoever denies the Son immortality.
Section 26Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Palladius will not say whether Arius spoke wrongly; Ambrose moves on to the next clause of Arius's letter.
Section 27Anonymous · 3 September 381 · On Arius's "alone wise", Palladius will call the Son wisdom but not wise; the bishops anathematize whoever denies that the Son is wise.
Section 28Anonymous · 3 September 381 · On Arius's "alone good", Palladius cites John 10:11 and calls Christ good.
Section 29Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Eusebius shows that "good" alone does not confess divinity, since humans too are called good; Palladius says the good Father begot a good Son.
Section 30Anonymous · 3 September 381 · The bishops anathematize whoever does not confess the Son of God as good God.
Section 31Anonymous · 3 September 381 · On Arius's "alone mighty", Palladius calls the Son mighty but avoids calling him mighty God.
Section 32Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Ambrose shows from Ps 52:1 and 2 Cor 12:10 that "mighty" alone does not confess divinity; the bishops anathematize whoever denies that Christ is the mighty Lord.
Section 33Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Palladius says the Son judges because the Father gave him judgment and asks whether the Father is greater; the bishops refuse his questions until he condemns Arius.
Section 34Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Eusebius declares the Son equal God; Palladius complains that only the bishops' stenographers are recording.
Section 35Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Eusebius and Ambrose answer from John 5:18 and Phil 2:6–8 that the Son is equal to the Father in the form of God and less only in the form of a servant.
Section 36Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Ambrose accuses Palladius of misquoting John 14:28 and explains the Father as greater only according to Christ's flesh.
Section 38Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Sabinus argues from Heb 6:13 and John 8:56 that the Son, who appeared to Abraham, has no one greater according to his divinity.
Section 39Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Palladius calls the Son subject to the Father; Ambrose answers that he is subject according to the flesh.
Section 40Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Ambrose and Eusebius argue that Christ spoke some things according to his flesh, as man, and others as God.
Section 41Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Ambrose explains Phil 2:8 of the flesh and asks whether Arius was right to call the Son a perfect creature; Palladius refuses to answer.
Section 42Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Ambrose sums up the answers given to Palladius on the Father as greater and the Son as subject, and demands that he answer in turn.
Section 43Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Palladius complains that only the bishops' words are recorded and refuses to say whether Christ was born or created.
Section 47Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Palladius asks for lay hearers after Sunday; Ambrose insists that he condemn or approve Arius's letter point by point.
Section 65Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Ambrose asks Secundianus of Singidunum whether Christ is true God; Secundianus will only call him the true Son.
Section 66Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Secundianus appeals to John 1:18 and will confess only that the Son is the true only-begotten Son.
Section 67Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Ambrose cites Isa 65:16 of Christ and asks Secundianus to confess the Son as true God from true God.
Section 68Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Ambrose presses Secundianus to say simply that the only-begotten Son is true God.
Section 69Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Eusebius notes that even Photinus and Sabellius call Christ only-begotten Son; Ambrose demands that Secundianus also call him true God.
Section 70Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Secundianus objects that "true God" is not written of the Son in Scripture.
Section 71Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Secundianus refuses to repeat himself, citing Matt 5:37.
Section 72Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Secundianus confesses the Son as begotten of God, citing Ps 2:7, but not as true God from true God.
Section 73Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Secundianus objects to adding "true"; Eusebius replies that Arius and Palladius denied it, so it must be stated.
Section 74Anonymous · 3 September 381 · Secundianus promises a written exposition; Ambrose insists on an answer now.
Section 75Anonymous · 3 September 381 · The acts break off with Secundianus still refusing to call the Son "true God from true God".
Section 3Anonymous · 382 · The bishops profess the Nicene faith: one divinity, power, and essence of Father, Son, and Spirit in three perfect hypostases, against Sabellians, Arians, Eunomians, and Pneumatomachi, and Christ's full humanity.
On the Complaints of Job and David 1.25Ambrose · ca. 383-390 · The Spirit revealed to Job that the dead would rise only when Christ came to make all things new.
On the Complaints of Job and David 1.31Ambrose · ca. 383-390 · Only God knows wisdom; the Son, who alone knows the Father, revealed it, and for man wisdom is to fear God and shun evil.
On the Complaints of Job and David 2.6Ambrose · ca. 383-390 · Paul went beyond Job’s laughter to blessing, taught by Christ, who prayed for his persecutors.
On the Complaints of Job and David 3.27Ambrose · ca. 383-390 · God holding the right hand reverses the devil’s place at Adam’s right; Christ drove him back, and Peter was held up on the waters.
On the Complaints of Job and David 3.28Ambrose · ca. 383-390 · God is the psalmist’s whole portion; having Christ he has all, and imitates him out of love of virtue, not for reward.
On the Complaints of Job and David 4.2Ambrose · ca. 383-390 · Christ is the true deer, who in simplicity joined those who plotted against him and came willingly into the nets of the passion without being bound.
On the Complaints of Job and David 4.3Ambrose · ca. 383-390 · Christ, the stag of the Song of Songs, leaps over the mountains to his bride the church; winter has passed and the apostles have blossomed.
On the Complaints of Job and David 4.4Ambrose · ca. 383-390 · Christ the stag trampled the serpent; believers, his stags, need not fear its bite and go forward without looking back.
On the Complaints of Job and David 4.11Ambrose · ca. 383-390 · Christ too was troubled in soul, not from fear of a death he chose freely, but in longing for the grace it would accomplish.
On the Complaints of Job and David 4.17Ambrose · ca. 383-390 · Christ is both the great mountain of divinity and the little mountain of the incarnation, the stone become a mountain, so that we may ascend.
On the Complaints of Job and David 4.23Ambrose · ca. 383-390 · To be “cast” upon God from the womb is good, as Christ, in Psalm 22, was cast upon the Father and committed his spirit to him.
On the Complaints of Job and David 4.25Ambrose · ca. 383-390 · The Son was cast from Mary’s womb, not the Father’s, from whom he never departed, being of one substance; from the womb he was always with God.
On the Complaints of Job and David 4.29Ambrose · ca. 383-390 · David’s third remonstrance asks that his cause be separated from the wicked; some refer this to Christ, but David speaks foreseeing the passion.
Expositio fidei 2Eunomius of Cyzicus · 383 · Eunomius confesses the Son as the only-begotten God, begotten and created before all creation, like the Father only as Son to Father, the agent of creation, judgment, and salvation.
Petition to the Emperors (Libellus precum) 7Faustinus · ca. 383–384 · The petition recalls the condemnation of Arius at Nicaea and the story of his sudden and shameful death in a privy at Constantinople, after bishop Alexander prayed that he not be received into the church.
Against Helvidius 2Jerome · ca. 383 · Jerome invokes the Trinity and resolves to answer Helvidius from Scripture alone.
Against Helvidius 3Jerome · ca. 383 · Helvidius's first argument: "before they came together" and "until she bore her son" imply that Mary and Joseph later lived as husband and wife.
Against Helvidius 4Jerome · ca. 383 · Jerome argues that "before" does not imply that the intended event happened, that Scripture calls betrothed women wives, and that Joseph was called Jesus' father only by common opinion.
Against Helvidius 5Jerome · ca. 383 · Helvidius argues that "until" in Matt 1:25 marks a time after which Joseph knew Mary.
Against Helvidius 6Jerome · ca. 383 · Jerome shows from Scripture that "until" often does not imply a change after the point named.
Against Helvidius 8Jerome · ca. 383 · Jerome argues that Joseph, after all the signs at Christ's birth, would not have dared approach Mary, and defends Luke 2:33 against Helvidius's charge of corruption.
Against Helvidius 9Jerome · ca. 383 · Helvidius's objection: Matthew could have said plainly that Joseph never touched Mary.
Against Helvidius 10Jerome · ca. 383 · Jerome reduces Helvidius's reading of "until" to absurdity: it would require intercourse immediately after the birth.
Against Helvidius 11Jerome · ca. 383 · Helvidius's third argument: "firstborn" implies younger brothers.
Against Helvidius 12Jerome · ca. 383 · From the law of the firstborn Jerome shows that "firstborn" means the first to open the womb, whether or not brothers follow.
Against Helvidius 14Jerome · ca. 383 · Helvidius identifies Mary the mother of James and Joses at the cross with Mary the mother of Jesus.
Against Helvidius 18Jerome · ca. 383 · Jerome compares Helvidius to the man who burned the temple of Ephesus for fame and argues that the brothers were called brothers as Joseph was called father, by supposition.
Against Helvidius 19Jerome · ca. 383 · Jerome dismisses Helvidius's appeal to Tertullian and Victorinus and appeals to the older writers.
Against Helvidius 20Jerome · ca. 383 · Jerome answers Helvidius's argument from the indignities of birth: the more humbling Christ's sufferings, the more we owe him.
Against Helvidius 21Jerome · ca. 383 · Jerome rejects claims not found in Scripture and argues that Joseph too remained a virgin.
Second Apology of David 21Ambrose · ca. 384-397 · Against the Jews: David, an adulterer and murderer, cannot be the Son of God, who is without sin.
Second Apology of David 22Ambrose · ca. 384-397 · Psalm 72, titled “for Solomon,” cannot refer to the warlike, short-lived Solomon but to Christ, the true Prince of Peace ruling all nations.
Second Apology of David 23Ambrose · ca. 384-397 · Solomon, who received wisdom and later fell, and whose temple burned, is not the Son of God; Christ is wisdom itself and builds the true temple, the church.
Second Apology of David 24Ambrose · ca. 384-397 · Other saints did works equal to Solomon’s, but all point to Christ, who surpasses Joshua, Enoch, Elijah, Elisha, and Moses.
Second Apology of David 25Ambrose · ca. 384-397 · Psalm 110 cannot refer to Solomon: David calls the one at God’s right hand his Lord, begotten before the morning star, an eternal priest of Melchizedek’s order.
Second Apology of David 26Ambrose · ca. 384-397 · Christ’s question about Psalm 110 refutes not only the Jews but Photinians, Sabellians, and Arians: the Son, distinct from the Father, shares his throne and power.
Second Apology of David 27Ambrose · ca. 384-397 · Against Manichees and Valentinians, who deny Christ’s flesh, Matthew calls him son of David: Son of God by divine substance, son of David by the flesh.
Second Apology of David 28Ambrose · ca. 384-397 · Continuing on another day, Ambrose concludes that only the Son of God, who took flesh from Mary as David’s seed, sits on the heavenly throne promised to David.
Second Apology of David 29Ambrose · ca. 384-397 · It is neither impossible nor injurious for God to take flesh; he willed it and is untouched by our passions.
Second Apology of David 30Ambrose · ca. 384-397 · Pagans believe their gods took human and monstrous forms, and Jewish Scripture speaks of God becoming present and even beast-like; so the incarnation is not incredible.
Second Apology of David 33Ambrose · ca. 384-397 · Christ chose sinners like David, Bathsheba, and Tamar as ancestors, to show that he came to forgive and that grace abounds over sin.
Second Apology of David 39Ambrose · ca. 384-397 · Third mystery: David means “humbled,” signifying Christ, humbled in the flesh yet one with the Father in divinity, the Lord in servant’s form.
Second Apology of David 50Ambrose · ca. 384-397 · The fourth mystery: as Hosea’s marriage to a harlot was devout, so the “unequal union” of divinity and flesh in the incarnation is a holy fellowship.
Second Apology of David 51Ambrose · ca. 384-397 · Bathsheba’s name (“daughter of the sabbath,” “full,” “well of the oath”) points to the flesh of Christ, joined lawfully to the Word.
Second Apology of David 58Ambrose · ca. 384-397 · The poor man’s lamb is Christ, led like a sheep to the slaughter, who found rest only with the poor.
Second Apology of David 64Ambrose · ca. 384-397 · Great mercy is the incarnation: the Word became flesh, coming down without leaving his divinity, as if bringing heaven with him.
Second Apology of David 65Ambrose · ca. 384-397 · The “multitude of compassions” are the sufferings Christ bore in the flesh, which drive away our many hardships.
Apology of the Prophet David 10Ambrose · ca. 384-390 · If Christ was made sin and reproach for us, David may well have borne one fall for our instruction; but only Christ was sinless.
Apology of the Prophet David 12Ambrose · ca. 384-390 · Joseph and David prefigure Christ; even David’s sinful sons, Amnon and Absalom, figure the people that crucified Christ, as Psalm 3 shows.
Apology of the Prophet David 20Ambrose · ca. 384-390 · In Nathan’s parable the rich man is Christ, who left the ninety-nine to seek the lost sheep that the devil had fed and led astray in Adam.
Apology of the Prophet David 21Ambrose · ca. 384-390 · The poor man’s ewe lamb, fed by the devil on worldly food, was taken by the rich man (Christ) for a sacrifice that redeemed us.
Apology of the Prophet David 22Ambrose · ca. 384-390 · Christ took up our flesh and offered it in sacrifice; Nathan’s verdict and the fourfold restitution point to his death and the resurrection.
Apology of the Prophet David 35Ambrose · ca. 384-390 · Spiritually, David thirsted for Christ, born in Bethlehem, and for the sacrifice of his blood.
Apology of the Prophet David 57Ambrose · ca. 384-390 · Only Christ, conceived and born of the Virgin, was free from the contagion of human origin; David lamented that stain in himself.
Apology of the Prophet David 80Ambrose · ca. 384-390 · Read of Christ, the swift pen is the Word and the tongue his virgin-born body; he offered the humble heart God prefers to burnt offerings.
Apology of the Prophet David 81Ambrose · ca. 384-390 · Christ, the true and humble David, speaks here; how can sin be imputed in the type of the mystery that brings remission of sins?
Altercatio, chapter 2, speech 3Evagrius of Gaul · ca. 400 · Simon states the question: the crucified Christ whom Christians call Lord.
Altercatio, chapter 2, speech 4Evagrius of Gaul · ca. 400 · Theophilus affirms that Christ is Lord and God.
Altercatio, chapter 2, speech 6Evagrius of Gaul · ca. 400 · Theophilus says the words are Christ’s and refer to his two comings; faith must precede understanding.
Altercatio, chapter 2, speech 8Evagrius of Gaul · ca. 400 · Theophilus reads the words as Christ’s warning against the Antichrist, citing Zechariah’s worthless shepherd.
Altercatio, chapter 2, speech 10Evagrius of Gaul · ca. 400 · Theophilus argues from the three visitors at Mamre and several psalms, and from the passage of Baruch he ascribes to Jeremiah, that Christ is God beside the Father.
Altercatio, chapter 2, speech 12Evagrius of Gaul · ca. 400 · Theophilus cites Exodus, where God makes Moses a god to Pharaoh, as a type of Christ.
Altercatio, chapter 2, speech 14Evagrius of Gaul · ca. 400 · Theophilus reads “in the beginning” as “in Christ” and points to “Let us make man”.
Altercatio, chapter 2, speech 16Evagrius of Gaul · ca. 400 · Theophilus answers that God never called an angel his Son, and commands the angels to worship Christ.
Altercatio, chapter 2, speech 18Evagrius of Gaul · ca. 400 · Theophilus cites the commander of the Lord’s army who appeared to Joshua.
Altercatio, chapter 2, speech 19Evagrius of Gaul · ca. 400 · Simon asks how Christ is Son of God, since God does not beget by intercourse.
Altercatio, chapter 2, speech 20Evagrius of Gaul · ca. 400 · Theophilus argues from Nathan’s oracle, Psalms 2, 45, 107, 33 and 147, Isaiah, John’s prologue, Sirach and Proverbs that Christ is the Word begotten from the Father’s heart.
Altercatio, chapter 2, speech 22Evagrius of Gaul · ca. 400 · Theophilus argues that Christ is God’s wisdom and power, that Daniel’s seventy weeks and Isaiah 45 point to him, and that Isaiah 7:14 foretells his virgin birth.
Altercatio, chapter 2, speech 24Evagrius of Gaul · ca. 400 · Theophilus replies that the daughter of Zion bore no son who ate butter and honey or took the spoils of Samaria.
Altercatio, chapter 2, speech 26Evagrius of Gaul · ca. 400 · Theophilus explains: butter and honey are the Spirit’s anointing and his sweet teaching; the spoils of Samaria are the Magi’s gifts and the conversion of the nations.
Altercatio, chapter 2, speech 27Evagrius of Gaul · ca. 400 · Simon asks how Christ is of David’s seed and born in Bethlehem.
Altercatio, chapter 2, speech 28Evagrius of Gaul · ca. 400 · Theophilus reads the rod of Jesse as Mary, of David’s line, and the flower as Christ.
Altercatio, chapter 2, speech 29Evagrius of Gaul · ca. 400 · Simon grants conception by the Spirit but doubts a virgin could give birth.
Altercatio, chapter 2, speech 30Evagrius of Gaul · ca. 400 · Theophilus argues from the water from the rock and introduces Baruch as a witness.
Altercatio, chapter 2, speech 32Evagrius of Gaul · ca. 400 · Theophilus cites a prophecy he ascribes to Baruch on Christ’s birth and passion, and Micah on Bethlehem.
Altercatio, chapter 2, speech 41Evagrius of Gaul · ca. 400 · Simon objects that one who hangs on a tree is cursed, citing Haman and Absalom, and that Jewish tradition knows nothing of Christ’s crucifixion.
Altercatio, chapter 2, speech 42Evagrius of Gaul · ca. 400 · Theophilus answers that the curse falls on sinners, while the sinless Christ suffered as the prophets foretold, citing many passages on the cross, and reads the grape cluster of Numbers as Christ on the tree.
Altercatio, chapter 2, speech 45Evagrius of Gaul · ca. 400 · Simon asks about the fig leaves; Theophilus reads the fig as both the old man and the spiritual life, then expounds Christ’s humility from Isaiah 53 and 50, the Passover lamb, the mark on the forehead in Ezekiel 9, Rahab’s scarlet cord, and Hosea’s wife.
Altercatio, chapter 2, speech 47Evagrius of Gaul · ca. 400 · Theophilus explains the church as open to all, the synagogue as divorced, Wisdom 2 as prophecy of the Passion, and cites many passages for Christ’s resurrection, ascension, session and second coming.
Altercatio, chapter 2, speech 49Evagrius of Gaul · ca. 400 · Theophilus answers that Solomon’s limited and sinful reign cannot fulfil the psalm’s everlasting, worldwide kingdom.
Altercatio, chapter 2, speech 51Evagrius of Gaul · ca. 400 · Theophilus urges Simon to believe and be freed from the prison of ignorance, as Isaiah 61 and Genesis 1 foretell.
Catechetical Oration 9Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–390 · The human experiences of Christ, from birth to death and burial, are not shameful, since only vice is shameful, and so they are not unworthy of God.
Catechetical Oration 10Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–390 · The infinite Godhead is not confined by the flesh, just as the soul is not confined by the body and a flame is united to its fuel without being shut up in it.
Catechetical Oration 11Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–390 · How God is united with human nature cannot be explained, any more than the union of soul and body, but the miracles show that it happened.
Catechetical Oration 12Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–390 · Christ's works, giving life, feeding, healing, ruling nature, and conquering death, prove that God was manifested in the flesh.
Catechetical Oration 13Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–390 · Christ's birth from a virgin without pleasure and his death without corruption are beyond nature, and so prove that he is God.
Catechetical Oration 14Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–390 · The objector asks why God would stoop so low as to be mixed with the cheap covering of human nature.
Catechetical Oration 15Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–390 · God became man out of love for humankind, to heal, raise, and free fallen man; since only vice is opposed to virtue, taking human nature is not unworthy of God.
Catechetical Oration 16Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–390 · Birth and death are natural movements, not the passion of vice; Christ shared them, and by reuniting his own soul and body in the resurrection he began the resurrection of all humanity.
Catechetical Oration 23Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–390 · The captor, proud and seeing Christ's miracles, accepted him as ransom for those held in death; the Godhead was veiled in flesh so that he would approach, showing God's goodness, justice, and wisdom together.
Catechetical Oration 24Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–390 · God's power is shown most in his descent to our lowliness: hidden in flesh like a hook in bait, the Godhead entered death so that life and light might destroy death and darkness.
Catechetical Oration 25Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–390 · God is present in all things; in the incarnation he mingled with our nature so that it might become divine, freed from death and from the adversary.
Catechetical Oration 26Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–390 · The deceiver was justly deceived in turn, but for his good as well as ours: like gold refined by fire, all creation, even the adversary, will be purified and will join in thanksgiving at the final restoration.
Catechetical Oration 27Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–390 · Christ had to pass through every stage of human life, from birth to death, to cleanse it all, and he came as a man on earth because the sickness was on earth; no creature is nearer to God than another.
Catechetical Oration 28Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–390 · Human birth is not shameful, for only vice is; the organs of generation serve the preservation of the race against death, so God's entering life by birth is not unfitting.
Catechetical Oration 32Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–390 · Christ was born in order to die and so raise our whole nature with his own body; the four arms of the cross show that he holds all creation together; the resurrection appearances need no defence.
On the Life of Moses 331Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–395 · Moses’ fights figure the inner struggle of virtue against vice and of truth against heresy; his retreat to Midian signifies withdrawal into a peaceful life, after which the truth, which is God, shines as from the bush — a figure of the Incarnation and of the Virgin’s birth.
On the Life of Moses 333Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–395 · Loosing the sandals means putting off the “garments of skin” given after the fall; then one learns that only God truly is and all else exists by participation. Such a one can free others, as Moses did with the changed hand and the staff, which figure the Incarnation.
On the Life of Moses 335Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–395 · The hand made leprous and restored figures the Son who took our nature and raised it to freedom from passion; the staff turned serpent figures Christ “made sin” to destroy the serpents of sin; strengthened thus, the soul confronts Pharaoh, with pagan learning as a permissible companion.
On the Life of Moses 367Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–395 · The rock that gives water is Christ, who dwells in those who believe; when the Egyptian provisions are gone, the manna, varied in taste though uniform in look, is the heavenly bread, the body born of the Virgin, which adapts itself to each like Paul’s milk, vegetables, and meat.
On the Life of Moses 381Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–395 · The heavenly tabernacle is Christ, uncreated in his divinity and “constructed” in his incarnation, the one who was before the ages and became man to restore us to being; like his other names, “tabernacle” fits him in a sense befitting God.
On the Life of Moses 383Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–395 · The furnishings of the heavenly tabernacle signify the angelic powers created in Christ who lift souls to virtue; the cherubim, the seven lamps of the Spirit, the mercy seat (Christ), and the altar of praise are interpreted in turn.
On the Life of Moses 397Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–395 · The broken and renewed tablets figure human nature, made unbroken and immortal, shattered by sin, and refashioned by Christ, who took flesh from our earth without marriage, inscribed by the Spirit, God’s finger; Moses’ glory figures Christ’s glory at his coming, which the ungodly will not see.
On the Life of Moses 407Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–395 · The hole in the rock is the heavenly house prepared for those who finish the race; the rock is Christ, in whom all good is found, and God’s hand is the only-begotten Son; to see God’s back is to follow behind God, as the Psalms and Christ’s call “Follow me” teach.
On the Life of Moses 413Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–395 · The cluster of grapes carried on a pole figures Christ hung on the wood, whose blood is the drink of believers; repentance lets those who fell away find the rock again; the bronze serpent on the pole figures the cross, by looking to which we are healed of the poison of desire.
On the Life of Moses 415Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 385–395 · The bronze serpent figures Christ, who came “in the likeness of sinful flesh”: looking to the cross does not abolish desire but prevents its deadly bite; when desire is mastered, arrogance follows, as when Korah’s party seized the priesthood and went down into the earth.
Letter 9 to Anysius of Thessalonica and the Illyrian bishops (on Bonosus), chapter 3Siricius, bishop of Rome · 385 · Bonosus was rightly condemned for saying Mary bore other children; her perpetual virginity belongs to the faith in Christ's virgin birth.
Letter 9 to Anysius of Thessalonica and the Illyrian bishops (on Bonosus), chapter 4Siricius, bishop of Rome · 385 · Christ's entrusting of Mary to John from the cross testifies to her lasting virginity: Jesus would not have separated her from Joseph if she was to bear Joseph's children.
On Jacob and the Happy Life 1.25Ambrose · ca. 386-390 · God, who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for all, will surely give everything else; the believer need not fear.
On Jacob and the Happy Life 2.8Ambrose · ca. 386-390 · Jacob, preferred by prophecy, brought kids from the flock, a figure of Christ the Lamb, the food that brings forgiveness of sins.
On Jacob and the Happy Life 2.16Ambrose · ca. 386-390 · Jacob's ladder with angels ascending and descending foreshadows Christ on earth served by angels.
On Jacob and the Happy Life 2.30Ambrose · ca. 386-390 · Jacob's wrestling with God signifies the contest of virtue; the touch on his thigh foreshadows Christ, born of his line, and the cross that brings resurrection.
On Jacob and the Happy Life 2.39Ambrose · ca. 386-390 · Jacob, his body like a broken cithara, sang with the Spirit the prophetic blessing of Judah, which speaks of forgiveness and resurrection.
On Jacob and the Happy Life 2.41Ambrose · ca. 386-390 · Christ bore the curse and reproach for us; he is the vine spread through the world and the Son called back to the Father's right hand after his passion.
On the Duties of the Clergy 3.15Ambrose · ca. 386–390 · As a Roman general refused to win by poison, Moses, gentler still, prayed for Pharaoh when asked; his rod and hand signs prefigure the incarnation and the cross.
Exposition of Psalm 118 1.8.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The undefiled is the one who walks in Christ, the way, and in the law without turning aside.
Exposition of Psalm 118 1.19.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Even the Son said he was forsaken, though the Father was always with him.
Exposition of Psalm 118 1.19.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The Father seemed to forsake the Son by handing him over to death, but did not leave him in hell.
Exposition of Psalm 118 2.34.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Aminadab means father of good pleasure; his son Naasson, “serpentine”, points to Christ lifted up like the serpent.
Exposition of Psalm 118 3.2.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · On verse 17: one who earlier asked not to be repaid for sins now asks for reward; the psalm may be spoken in Christ’s person.
Exposition of Psalm 118 3.8.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The cluster of the Song is Christ, who bound himself by love to our body, its passions, and the cross.
Exposition of Psalm 118 3.8.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The balsam tree of Engaddi, which gives its fragrance when pierced, figures Christ on the cross.
Exposition of Psalm 118 3.8.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · From Christ’s pierced side flowed blood and water, the fragrance of forgiveness and redemption.
Exposition of Psalm 118 3.8.4Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · In a series of paradoxes Ambrose sets the humility of the cross beside Christ’s divine power.
Exposition of Psalm 118 3.19.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Through the incarnation and the cross Christ overshadows us; the Word came veiled in the form of a servant.
Exposition of Psalm 118 3.20.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The many words are one Word, Christ, in whom all things were created and who works in each.
Exposition of Psalm 118 3.20.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The one Word is shared out in many words of virtue according to each one’s capacity.
Exposition of Psalm 118 3.24.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Moses’ rod turned serpent and back again prefigured Christ’s cross and resurrection, a mystery Moses did not grasp.
Exposition of Psalm 118 3.26.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ is the true temple, altar, priest, and Levite, whose sacrifice takes away the world’s sins.
Exposition of Psalm 118 3.29.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ wills the cleansing of all, but only the faithful are cleansed; he touches those whose faith touches him.
Exposition of Psalm 118 3.30.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Sent to the priest, the healed man is directed to Christ, the true priest for ever.
Exposition of Psalm 118 3.42.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · It is also Christ’s voice before the council and the governor.
Exposition of Psalm 118 4.2.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The verse is the penitent Adam’s, spoken by the prophetic Spirit or by the Lord who took on his weakness.
Exposition of Psalm 118 4.19.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The cross refreshes those scorched by sin; Christ’s flesh is the church’s resting place.
Exposition of Psalm 118 5.1.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · He means “is” or “I live”; Christ, who always is, lives and gives life to the dead.
Exposition of Psalm 118 5.3.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The pillar of cloud figured Christ coming on a light cloud, that is, born of the Virgin Mary.
Exposition of Psalm 118 5.4.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The light cloud is Christ’s sinless flesh; he bore our sins as the filthy garments of Zechariah’s vision.
Exposition of Psalm 118 5.4.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ took our weakness and died for us, so that our death might become precious.
Exposition of Psalm 118 5.6.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Israel’s journey was a type; Jesus, who led through Joshua, now guides ours.
Exposition of Psalm 118 5.8.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ is white in his divinity and red in his sinless flesh.
Exposition of Psalm 118 5.9.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ on the cross is the fragrant apple hanging on the tree.
Exposition of Psalm 118 5.16.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The cross and burial of Christ are stations where the church is wounded with love.
Exposition of Psalm 118 5.20.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ, who is love, was raised from the dead by his own and the Father’s power.
Exposition of Psalm 118 5.23.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ is the end of all the ways, of the law, of righteousness, and of the testimonies.
Exposition of Psalm 118 5.26.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Wisdom’s words “the Lord created me” refer to Christ’s incarnation, not to his divine nature.
Exposition of Psalm 118 5.26.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ became a creature to redeem creatures and to show the way back to God.
Exposition of Psalm 118 5.42.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ’s sufferings, foretold by Isaiah, are the reproach that saves all.
Exposition of Psalm 118 5.42.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · We do not want to be rid of Christ’s reproach, for by it he took away our reproaches.
Exposition of Psalm 118 6.2.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · On verse 41: the mercy and salvation the psalmist asks for is Christ, who blessed the flesh cursed in Adam.
Exposition of Psalm 118 6.3.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Psalm 85 speaks of Jesus, God’s mercy, whom the prophet longed to see in the flesh.
Exposition of Psalm 118 6.3.4Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ is the Father’s glory; whoever makes him unequal to the Father dishonors the Father.
Exposition of Psalm 118 6.4.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The letter’s meaning points to the Son, Jesus the Savior, who comes when called.
Exposition of Psalm 118 6.6.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ’s leaps run from heaven to the Virgin, the manger, the Jordan, the cross, the tomb, and back to heaven.
Exposition of Psalm 118 6.12.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The sharp-sighted roe figures Christ, who alone sees the Father; the young stag drives out the serpent, as in the gospel exorcism.
Exposition of Psalm 118 6.15.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ is the good serpent, lifted up like Moses’ bronze serpent.
Exposition of Psalm 118 6.15.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ is both stag and serpent: the stag’s two horns are the two Testaments.
Exposition of Psalm 118 6.21.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ alone stands above the nets of sin; the Father sent him in the likeness of sinful flesh to condemn sin.
Exposition of Psalm 118 6.21.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ fought sin in our flesh, so that our members became weapons of virtue.
Exposition of Psalm 118 6.22.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Only Jesus, free of sin, could take our flesh without being captured, and teach the church freedom.
Exposition of Psalm 118 6.22.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ died for us yet remained free among the dead, with power to raise himself.
Exposition of Psalm 118 6.23.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Born of a virgin, Christ is free of inherited sin; he breaks down the dividing wall and calls the soul to see him face to face.
Exposition of Psalm 118 8.38.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The sign given to Ahaz is the virgin birth; Christ, equal with God, humbled himself.
Exposition of Psalm 118 8.38.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ, neither exalted by power nor shaken by death, is the remedy for the temptations of height and depth.
Exposition of Psalm 118 8.54.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · On verse 63: Christ has companions in the flesh and in prophecy, being the prophet foretold by Moses.
Exposition of Psalm 118 8.54.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ is the true prophet who spoke through the prophets; the law is his.
Exposition of Psalm 118 8.54.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ shares with us baptism, righteousness, truth, resurrection, and a spotless life.
Exposition of Psalm 118 8.58.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · On verse 64: the earth is full of God’s mercy through Christ’s passion, which the prophet speaks of as already done.
Exposition of Psalm 118 8.58.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ, the sun of righteousness, rose and suffered for all; unbelievers shut themselves off from his light.
Exposition of Psalm 118 8.61.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · David turns to Christ, righteousness, wisdom, and the door, who alone opens heart and Scripture.
Exposition of Psalm 118 9.20.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The humbled should grow through humility, as Christ, enduring insults, healed us by his wounds.
Exposition of Psalm 118 10.14.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Man has something angels may not: Christ born for us of a virgin.
Exposition of Psalm 118 10.14.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · In Christ’s flesh humanity is seated with God, an honor not given to angels.
Exposition of Psalm 118 10.14.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The Son of Man sits at God’s right hand, praised by angels, having made men like angels.
Exposition of Psalm 118 10.16.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ is the image of God; man is made according to that image.
Exposition of Psalm 118 10.16.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ, the Image, comes to restore the image lost in us.
Exposition of Psalm 118 10.17.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ and the Spirit are the hands that made man; Christ made both soul and body and saves the whole man.
Exposition of Psalm 118 11.4.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The saint desires only Christ, God’s salvation, and faints the more with longing.
Exposition of Psalm 118 11.5.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · He hoped in the Word, Christ, or in the prophetic word announcing his coming.
Exposition of Psalm 118 11.6.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Failing in ourselves, we cleave to Jesus, “the Lord’s salvation,” and gain what is eternal.
Exposition of Psalm 118 11.11.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ, the Word, works and through him all things were made.
Exposition of Psalm 118 12.3.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ is our treasure; though a man, he forgave sins by divine power as God in a body.
Exposition of Psalm 118 12.7.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The Word cannot abide in a heaven that passes away; it neither begins nor ends as heaven does.
Exposition of Psalm 118 12.13.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ knocks and wants to enter; we must open our hearts to the true light.
Exposition of Psalm 118 12.13.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ does not force his way in; the Sun of righteousness never sets for those who receive him.
Exposition of Psalm 118 12.16.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ is first recognized as God through his works; then love grows and the soul conceives the Word.
Exposition of Psalm 118 12.22.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The sun “draws to its place” as Christ, lifted on the cross, draws all to himself.
Exposition of Psalm 118 12.26.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The day that abides is Christ, the light of the saints, for whom the sun never sets.
Exposition of Psalm 118 12.36.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ, the Lamb of God, has freed us from the bonds of sin.
Exposition of Psalm 118 12.45.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ is the end of all things; “consummation” has several senses.
Exposition of Psalm 118 12.47.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The prophet saw Christ, the end of all consummation, forgiving every full-grown sin by his cross.
Exposition of Psalm 118 12.48.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ is the end and goal of all the virtues.
Exposition of Psalm 118 13.6.5Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Rejecting the fullness of time in Christ, the Jew remains a slave.
Exposition of Psalm 118 13.20.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Being “men” signifies both mortal weakness and the dignity of God’s image, which Christ shared.
Exposition of Psalm 118 13.24.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · God’s word, like rain, makes the soul fruitful; Christ visited the earth by taking a body.
Exposition of Psalm 118 14.1.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The letter Nun means “only one,” and this section prophesies of the only Son, the Word who is a lamp.
Exposition of Psalm 118 14.4.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · David the shepherd figures Christ, who humbled himself and fed the Father’s sheep.
Exposition of Psalm 118 14.5.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · How can the Word, the true and great light, be called a lamp?
Exposition of Psalm 118 14.13.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The same Word is lamp and light, as Christ is both advocate of sinners and rewarder of the strong.
Exposition of Psalm 118 14.14.5Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · God may swear because his oath cannot fail; man should not presume to imitate it.
Exposition of Psalm 118 14.19.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · David rejoices in being humbled; humility, praised even in Christ, is better than power.
Exposition of Psalm 118 14.19.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ glories in his humility; David humbled himself to share Christ’s sufferings.
Exposition of Psalm 118 14.20.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ himself may speak the verse, he who said, “Learn from me, for I am meek and humble.”
Exposition of Psalm 118 14.20.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Pride brought man’s fall; Christ humbled himself to the cross and was exalted.
Exposition of Psalm 118 14.20.4Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ won our worship and gathered the church through his humility on the cross.
Exposition of Psalm 118 14.28.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ did not return evil for evil but prayed for his persecutors.
Exposition of Psalm 118 14.31.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The hands of God are Wisdom’s: the left gives present riches and glory, the right eternal life.
Exposition of Psalm 118 14.43.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ’s silent passion foreshadows the blessedness without tears.
Exposition of Psalm 118 14.46.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ humbled himself in the incarnation and calls us to learn humility from him.
Exposition of Psalm 118 15.5.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Lam 4:20 names Christ the Lord, his seizure, and his grace to the nations.
Exposition of Psalm 118 15.24.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Hope rests on Christ’s coming, the good shepherd who carries the lost sheep.
Exposition of Psalm 118 16.36.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · “Time to act” means the time of Christ’s coming, the end of the law, who forgives all sins.
Exposition of Psalm 118 16.36.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The prophet asks Christ to act by the cross, since the law’s precepts could not save.
Exposition of Psalm 118 16.37.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Not an envoy but the Lord himself had to come and act to save his people.
Exposition of Psalm 118 16.40.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ’s obedient passion is loved above all creation, for redemption gives more than creation.
Exposition of Psalm 118 17.7.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ’s miracles manifested what Isaiah’s words foretold.
Exposition of Psalm 118 17.17.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ, sinless, did not remove his sandals but loosed others from sin; the church imitates him.
Exposition of Psalm 118 17.19.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The thigh signifies generation: the church’s offspring, and Christ born of a virgin.
Exposition of Psalm 118 17.27.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Joshua spoke unveiled, figuring the true Jesus, who removes the veil from the heart.
Exposition of Psalm 118 17.29.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · David longed to see Christ’s face, as prophets desired to see his coming.
Exposition of Psalm 118 18.25.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · David prefigured Christ, who alone freed the world by the cross.
Exposition of Psalm 118 18.25.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ slew the true Goliath, the devil; the redeemed souls sing.
Exposition of Psalm 118 18.25.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ, like David, redeemed the whole world; he says “I am young and despised.”
Exposition of Psalm 118 18.28.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ is bread, spring, light, liberty and forgiveness; all are called to believe and live.
Exposition of Psalm 118 18.29.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · At the Red Sea Moses prayed but Christ acted.
Exposition of Psalm 118 18.29.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The Exodus generation died, but from Christ’s body flows an eternal spring.
Exposition of Psalm 118 18.32.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Humility and obedience, lost in paradise, came down with Christ, who emptied himself.
Exposition of Psalm 118 18.32.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · “As a man” means a true man, as “as of the only-begotten” means truly the only-begotten.
Exposition of Psalm 118 18.37.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The Mosaic law is a copy; the true law and its fulfillment are in Christ, the true sacrifice.
Exposition of Psalm 118 18.39.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ is the truth and so the true law.
Exposition of Psalm 118 18.41.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ is eternal, above time; he died to sin once and lives to God.
Exposition of Psalm 118 18.42.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ died once; the baptized must not sin again; the Father made him sin for us.
Exposition of Psalm 118 18.42.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ submitted to death’s dominion to free us for eternal life.
Exposition of Psalm 118 19.4.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Lamentations points to Christ the Lord as the only remedy.
Exposition of Psalm 118 19.5.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · If Christ’s shadow healed, how much more his full brightness.
Exposition of Psalm 118 19.5.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ’s flesh was a healing shadow; even Peter’s shadow healed.
Exposition of Psalm 118 19.6.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ’s flesh was a shadow protecting those scorched by sin.
Exposition of Psalm 118 19.17.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Against the Arians: Christ’s generation from the Father is above time; only his passion and birth fall in time.
Exposition of Psalm 118 19.19.5Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ’s silence shows mastery over all passions; he did not fear death.
Exposition of Psalm 118 19.21.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Isaiah calls the weaned to hope upon hope; Isaac, weaned with a great feast, prefigures Christ.
Exposition of Psalm 118 19.37.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Ps 139 expresses the Trinity: Christ descended and ascended, and is present wherever Father and Spirit are.
Exposition of Psalm 118 19.38.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · If the sun shines everywhere, how much more Christ, the brightness of God’s glory.
Exposition of Psalm 118 19.38.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The Word penetrates the hidden mind like a sword, as Simeon told Mary.
Exposition of Psalm 118 19.39.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ, eternal light, shines on all, but warms only those who draw near.
Exposition of Psalm 118 20.2.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Like the snake guarding its head, guard Christ, the head of the church.
Exposition of Psalm 118 20.5.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Lamentations confirms that the head is Christ the Lord.
Exposition of Psalm 118 20.14.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Only sinless Christ passed untouched by the fire; the gates opened for the King of glory.
Exposition of Psalm 118 20.17.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Abraham called himself dust; Christ called himself a worm, seeking others’ good.
Exposition of Psalm 118 20.17.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Imitate Christ, who emptied himself; despise no one for lowly station.
Exposition of Psalm 118 20.17.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ’s obedience to death undid Adam’s disobedience, and God exalted him.
Exposition of Psalm 118 20.18.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ’s humiliations took nothing from his divinity but advanced his saving work.
Exposition of Psalm 118 20.18.4Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Humility costs nothing; Christ, emptied, is in glory, and Ambrose now worships him.
Exposition of Psalm 118 20.19.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Ambrose thanks Christ for creation and for becoming our brother by taking a body.
Exposition of Psalm 118 20.19.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ redeemed us by his death and raised all in the temple of his body.
Exposition of Psalm 118 20.20.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · We were made alive and seated with Christ; he who sits at God’s right hand was humbled for us.
Exposition of Psalm 118 20.32.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Scripture shows the Son as Wisdom, maker of all and sharer in the Father’s work.
Exposition of Psalm 118 20.34.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ needs no help in prayer, as his raising of Lazarus showed.
Exposition of Psalm 118 20.35.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ as defendant kept silent, teaching that innocence rests on a pure conscience.
Exposition of Psalm 118 20.35.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Struck before the high priest, Christ answered with humility, not vengeance.
Exposition of Psalm 118 20.37.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ’s “I cannot” comes from integrity, not weakness; judges should learn from him.
Exposition of Psalm 118 21.5.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ is the doctor who treated the wounds of Adam, the man fallen among robbers.
Exposition of Psalm 118 21.11.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · As David beheaded Goliath with his own sword, Christ defeated the devil through the faith of the nations.
Exposition of Psalm 118 21.11.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Isaiah’s child named “Swift spoil” is Christ, who plundered the devil.
Exposition of Psalm 118 21.11.4Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ reclaimed the nations, led captivity captive, and became their head.
Exposition of Psalm 118 21.14.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The spiritual law points to the heavenly altar, Jerusalem, and Christ the high priest; the saint hates injustice, not the unjust.
Exposition of Psalm 118 21.21.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The cross is a stumbling block to unbelief, as the mockers at the cross showed.
Exposition of Psalm 118 22.3.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The shoulders bearing the sheep signify the cross, where Christ bore our weakness; the angels rejoice.
Exposition of Psalm 118 22.10.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The Arians, following Aristotle’s dialectic rather than Paul, fell into error about Christ’s generation.
Exposition of Psalm 118 22.22.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · God’s hand is Christ; “right hand” for exaltation in power, “hand” for salvation in humility.
Exposition of Psalm 118 22.28.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Ambrose prays Christ the shepherd to come himself and seek his lost sheep.
Exposition of Psalm 118 22.30.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ is asked to take up humanity in flesh born of the sinless Virgin Mary and carry it on the cross.
On the Happy Life 34Augustine of Hippo · 386 (November) · Augustine identifies wisdom with the Son of God, who is Truth, begotten by the supreme Measure, the Father, and concludes that whoever reaches the supreme Measure through the Truth is happy and enjoys God.
Against the Academics 2.1Augustine of Hippo · 386 (autumn) · Augustine, addressing Romanianus again, explains why the Academics' arguments seem invincible and prays for him to the power and wisdom of God, the Son of God.
Against the Academics 3.42Augustine of Hippo · 386 (autumn) · Augustine holds that one true philosophy, harmonizing Plato and Aristotle and concerned with the intelligible world, has emerged, but that souls could return to it only because God lowered the authority of the divine intellect to a human body.
Against the Academics 3.43Augustine of Hippo · 386 (autumn) · Augustine admits that his account is only probable, states his resolve at thirty-three to seek wisdom, and declares that he will never depart from the authority of Christ while seeking understanding among the Platonists.
Letter 11.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine takes up Nebridius's question why, if the works of the Trinity are inseparable, the incarnation is attributed to the Son alone.
Letter 11.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains that the incarnation is attributed to the Son because it gave us a rule and example of life, form being proper to the Son, while the Father is known through the Son and the delight of abiding in that knowledge is the gift of the Spirit.
Letter 12.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine tells Nebridius which questions have been answered and recalls briefly why the incarnation is attributed to the Son.
Letter 14.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine compares the sun's unique brightness among the stars with the unique greatness of the man Christ, whom God assumed in a way unlike any other saint.
Letter 55.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains that Easter falls in the first month, the month of new things, and in the third week of the moon, signifying the third age, that of grace.
Letter 55.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains that Christians, unlike Jews, require a sabbath within the Easter celebration, because a sabbath lay between Christ's death and resurrection.
Letter 55.24Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine interprets the three days of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection: the cross is the present life of mortifying sin, the burial and resurrection are held in faith and hope.
Letter 92.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine refutes those who claim that God will be seen with bodily eyes, even by the wicked, arguing from Scripture that only the pure in heart will see God, and that with the inner man.
Letter 102.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Christ showed real scars, not wounds, to prove the same body had risen, as a soldier might keep scars as badges of honour.
Letter 102.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Christ, the unchangeable Word through whom all things were made, has governed all ages by suitable means, before and after his incarnation.
Letter 102.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · All who believed in Christ and lived piously from the beginning of the human race were saved through him; one true religion has existed under different signs.
Letter 102.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Christ appeared when and where he foreknew there would be believers; in earlier ages he foresaw that people would not have believed even his miracles.
Letter 102.28Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The fifth question asks whether Solomon said that God has no son.
Letter 102.29Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Solomon did not deny that God has a son but spoke of him, as in Proverbs 8 and 30, which Augustine reads of Christ.
Letter 102.34Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Christ himself explained Jonah's three days as a sign of his death and resurrection, after which the message reached the Gentiles as Jonah's reached Nineveh.
Letter 102.36Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The “morning worm” is Christ, who calls himself a worm in Psalm 22 and rose at dawn; let the pagans laugh, for they are being consumed.
Letter 102.37Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Psalm 22's prophecy of the mocked worm and of the nations' conversion is fulfilled; other details of Jonah may be variously explained, but the three days must be read as Christ taught.
Letter 118.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains that the Platonists lacked the example of Christ's humility and so could not lead the crowds to belief in the invisible God.
Letter 118.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine observes that the old philosophical sects have fallen silent and that the Platonists, with a few changes, should submit to Christ, the incarnate Word.
Letter 118.23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine shows that one who knows that God is present everywhere whole, like truth, and that the Word is begotten in a unique way, need not trouble about Anaximenes' view that air is God.
Letter 118.32Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine argues that the incarnation of Truth was the best provision for leading humanity to truth by faith, and that the church combines authority with reason.
Letter 119.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Consentius explains that he had thought of God as an infinite light with form and beauty, and reports an objection to his book about the risen Christ's body.
Letter 119.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Consentius quotes the passage of his book on the unity of God and the three persons, by which he argued that Christ is everywhere by divinity, not by body.
Letter 120.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine distinguishes past things, believed only; future things, believed and hoped for; and eternal things, some invisible and seen by understanding, some visible like Christ's risen body.
Letter 120.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains that “the right hand” of the Father means blessedness, and interprets “Do not touch me” as a call to touch Christ by faith in his equality with the Father.
Letter 121.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Paulinus suggests that God made his will wonderful among the Jews through the law and the incarnation and miracles of Christ, whom they rejected.
Letter 121.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Paulinus asks how the risen Christ, in the same body, was at first not recognized and then recognized.
Letter 121.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Paulinus suggests that Mary was told “Do not touch me” because she did not yet recognize Christ as God by faith.
Letter 121.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Paulinus asks whether Simeon's prophecy of a sword piercing Mary's soul refers to her grief at the cross, where Christ entrusted her to John.
Letter 130.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Long prayer is not the forbidden 'much speaking', for Christ himself prayed all night and at length.
Letter 130.26Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · God sometimes grants impatient requests in anger and refuses others in mercy; we should accept his will, as Christ did in Gethsemane.
Letter 135.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Volusian reports a friend's objections to the incarnation, the virgin birth, and Christ's miracles, and asks Augustine to answer them.
Letter 136.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Marcellinus writes to Augustine that Volusian has sent him questions on the incarnation, and asks him to answer the claim that Apollonius and Apuleius worked greater miracles than Christ.
Letter 137.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine restates Volusian's questions about the virgin birth, the incarnation, and Christ's miracles.
Letter 137.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Christian teaching does not say that God left the government of the universe when he took flesh, for God is not a body but is whole everywhere and contained by no place.
Letter 137.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · If the soul's perception is so wonderful, it should not be incredible that the Word took a body without losing his immortality, eternity, power, or government of the world.
Letter 137.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · As a spoken word is heard whole by every hearer, so the abiding Word of God is whole everywhere, coming when manifested and departing when hidden.
Letter 137.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · God is great in power, not size; his power made the virgin fruitful, united a whole man to himself, and brought Christ forth through the inviolate womb as later through closed doors.
Letter 137.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Christ's sleeping, eating, and human feelings show he was truly man, against heretics who denied his human nature; he joined both natures in one person.
Letter 137.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · As God works wonders daily in seeds and nature, he made a man for himself without seed, taking flesh in time without being changed into flesh.
Letter 137.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · As soul and body form one human person, so God and man form the one person of Christ; the union of two incorporeal realities, the Word and a soul, is easier to believe than that of soul and body.
Letter 137.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The eternal Word took a man and became one Christ, equal to the Father in divinity and less in humanity, bringing teaching that confirms what is true and the help of grace to overcome sin.
Letter 137.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The prophets also worked miracles, and Moses defeated the magicians; but Christ, foretold by the prophets as Lord, did things uniquely his own: virgin birth, resurrection, and ascension.
Letter 137.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Unbelievers despise lesser miracles because others performed them and reject Christ's unique works because no one else did them; Augustine urges Volusian not to be like them.
Letter 137.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The order of history from Abraham through Israel's story, foretelling Christ in all its promises and rites, should move the mind to believe.
Letter 137.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The coming of Christ, Pentecost, the spread of the church through persecution, the fall of the temple, the dispersion of the Jews carrying the Scriptures, and the rise of heresies all fulfil prophecy.
Letter 138.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Christ and Paul, when struck, did not literally turn the other cheek, showing that the precept concerns the heart's readiness more than the outward act.
Letter 138.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Magicians cannot be compared even with the prophets, still less with Christ whom the prophets foretold; Augustine invites further questions.
Letter 140.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · In the fullness of time God sent his Son, the eternal Word through whom all was made, who is present everywhere though the darkness of the ungodly does not grasp him.
Letter 140.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · John the Baptist, the greatest born of women, bore witness that Christ is God; John was a lamp lit by participation, while Christ is the light itself.
Letter 140.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Christ is the true light that enlightens every man, including John; the 'world' that did not know him means unbelievers.
Letter 140.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Those who received Christ were given power to become children of God by spiritual birth; this is the grace of the New Testament, hidden in the Old.
Letter 140.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Our sonship is by adoption: the Son of God became son of man so that we, remaining human, might share his nature and become sons of God.
Letter 140.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Christ, born under the law, redeemed those under the law so that we might receive adoption; the Word made flesh shows that humans can become children of God by sharing in the Word.
Letter 140.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The unchangeable Word took flesh through a rational soul, against the Apollinarians; 'flesh' means a whole man, and God and man are one person in Christ.
Letter 140.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Christ was not commended by earthly prosperity but by suffering, so that the faithful would seek eternal rewards; Psalm 73 shows the man troubled by the prosperity of the wicked.
Letter 140.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · In his passion Christ took up the voice of our weakness in the cry 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?', the opening of Psalm 22.
Letter 140.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Christ cried out Psalm 22 in the voice of his body, the church, and of human weakness, which had to be denied the goods of the Old Testament so as to learn to hope for those of the New.
Letter 140.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Christ, as bridegroom one flesh with his bride the church, speaks in her voice on the cross, just as he spoke of the persecuted church as himself to Saul.
Letter 140.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Under the Old Testament God delivered the fathers from earthly dangers, as with Isaac, Job, Daniel, and the three youths; the Jews expected the same for Christ and did not see that eternal goods were now revealed.
Letter 140.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · 'I am a worm and not a man' may mean, besides the virgin birth, 'I am the son of man and not man', that is, Christ in whom all are made alive, not Adam in whom all die.
Letter 140.22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Earthly deliverance belongs to the old man descended from Adam; the new 'sons of men' in Christ hope for the eternal salvation that Psalm 36 distinguishes from the safety shared with beasts.
Letter 140.24Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Christ's mockers, belonging to the Old Testament, taunted him because he was not delivered; he willed to appear forsaken so that we might seek a happiness now held by faith and later by sight.
Letter 140.25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Christ showed his risen body not to his persecutors but to his disciples, so that others would believe their testimony, sealed with signs and their own sufferings.
Letter 140.27Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · There were martyrs before Christ, and in the New Testament there are faithful rich people who use wealth well; Christ's cry expresses the martyrs' voice, who seem forsaken but submit to the Father's will.
Letter 140.28Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · God delivered many fathers from earthly dangers but not Christ, so that his body, the church, might learn to be Christian not for this life but for eternal life.
Letter 140.29Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Many want to be Christians only for earthly happiness; Christ, who laid down his life freely, spoke those words for us, his body.
Letter 140.30Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Psalm 22's words about the womb and breasts express our passing from the goods of the flesh to God as our good; Christ signified this change in his flesh, though he never needed to leave ungodliness.
Letter 140.31Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine weighs how the psalm's words about the womb and the breasts could refer to Christ himself, as man, and to the virgin birth.
Letter 140.32Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine finds it hard to apply 'Upon you I was cast from the womb' to Christ himself, declines to speculate on when the soul enters the body, and prefers to read it of us in him.
Letter 140.36Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine expounds Psalm 22:12–14 of the passion: the bulls are the rulers, the scattered bones the apostles, and the melting heart either the fear and grief of Christ's weak members or the opening of the Scriptures.
Letter 140.37Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The strength hardened like a potsherd is the church tested by suffering; the tongue cleaving to the jaws is Christ's silence, or preachers who keep close to his precepts.
Letter 140.38Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · 'You brought me into the dust of death' cannot mean that Christ's body decayed; it refers to the martyrs of his body awaiting resurrection, or figuratively to his persecutors as dust.
Letter 140.39Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Psalm 22:16–17 describes the crucifixion: the dogs are his persecutors, the pierced hands and feet the nails, and those who looked on waited to see whether Elijah would save him.
Letter 140.40Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Christ prays in the person of the head and of the church that God's help not be far off; enemies who kill the flesh do no harm if the soul does not consent to evil.
Letter 140.43Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The fruit of Christ's forsaking appears in the psalm's turn to praise: he declares God's name to his brothers in the one Catholic Church spread through all nations.
Letter 140.59Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · God did not despise the prayer of the poor and humble one; though he 'forsook' Christ in temporal things, he heard him and did not depart from him.
Letter 140.64Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The cross figures the four dimensions: the crossbeam is good works, the upright long-suffering, the top hope of heaven, and the hidden foot the depth of free grace.
Letter 140.73Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The grace of the New Testament is the righteousness given to believers: Christ was made 'sin', a sacrifice for sin, so that in his body the church we might be God's righteousness, made righteous by him.
Letter 140.82Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine sums up: all five questions have been answered within the sixth, on the grace of the New Testament, by which the Son of God became man so that we might become children of God.
Letter 143.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · On the virgin birth, Augustine answers that those who reject it because it happened only once should recall that secular histories record unique events they believe.
Letter 145.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Paul's 'Who will separate us from the love of Christ?' shows that we cling to Christ, who is our righteousness, by love and not by fear of punishment.
Letter 147.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Even the disciples did not see the resurrection happen but believed it on seeing the risen Christ; we believe the whole, which is present neither to our senses nor to our minds.
Letter 147.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · 'He who has seen me has seen the Father' affirms the unity of substance of Father and Son; as God, neither has been seen by men, though the Son was seen as man.
Letter 147.28Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · At the judgment the wicked will see Christ in his human form, but only the pure in heart will see him in the form of God, which is why that beatitude alone promises the sight of God.
Letter 149.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Prayer must be offered for all, including persecuting rulers, because God wills all to be saved, but only through the one mediator, the man Christ Jesus, and sharing in his body and blood.
Letter 149.25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine traces Colossians 2:5–10: Paul warns against philosophy and the 'elements of the world,' since Christ, in whom the Godhead dwells bodily, is head of every principality and power.
Letter 149.31Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Christ's risen body could be unrecognized because God changed its features, just as at the Transfiguration he changed its brightness and as age changes a face.
Letter 155.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The virtues are given by God through Christ the mediator; the saints are called happy amid torments only in hope of their eternal goal.
Letter 157.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The righteous of the Old Testament were saved by the same faith in Christ's incarnation as Christians; the sacraments changed but the faith did not.
Letter 157.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Adam is a type of Christ by contrast, but the gift exceeds the offense: Christ's life is eternal and his redemption covers many sins.
Letter 161.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Evodius questions Augustine's saying that the virgin birth would not be wonderful if a reason could be given nor unique if an example could be found, since no conception can be explained.
Letter 161.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Evodius cites animals said to conceive without male seed, and the spider spinning its web, as possible examples that would make the virgin birth not unique.
Letter 161.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Evodius asks how to answer the objection that, if the virgin birth is beyond reason, so might Christ's glorified body be able to see God; he affirms his own faith in both doctrines.
Letter 162.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains that things are wonderful either because their reason is hidden, as with the virgin birth, or because they are unusual, as when Christ marveled at the centurion's faith.
Letter 162.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The worm and the spider are not true examples, for Christ alone was born of a virgin; and the two kinds of wonder are like the two senses of "temptation" in Scripture.
Letter 162.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · That God cannot be seen with bodily eyes, even Christ's, is not a hidden mystery but plain reason, since God is not a body.
Letter 163.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Evodius asks Augustine about the origin of Christ's human soul and about the spirits in prison to whom Christ preached according to 1 Peter 3.
Letter 164.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Christ certainly descended into the underworld, as Psalm 16 and Acts show, and loosed its pains either so they could not hold him or to free others.
Letter 164.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Christ was in the underworld in his human soul and freed some from its pains, while by his divinity he was always in paradise with the righteous.
Letter 164.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine holds to the creed that Christ died, was buried, descended, freed whom he willed, and rose, while leaving the passage in 1 Peter open.
Letter 164.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Before the incarnation Christ came "in the spirit" through visions, rebuking Cain and Adam and admonishing others, always together with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Letter 164.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The word order of 1 Peter 3:18–20 shows that Christ, by the same Spirit in which he rose, had earlier come to preach to Noah's generation.
Letter 164.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Christ was not put to death in his soul, since he was sinless; whatever the origin of souls, his soul and flesh were free from sin.
Letter 164.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine rejects only the view that souls are imprisoned in bodies for previous sins; Christ's soul never died, so "made alive in the spirit" refers to his flesh raised by the Spirit.
Letter 169.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The voice and the dove were passing signs, but the man assumed by the Word was united to him in one person, the Word remaining unchanged.
Letter 169.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · By analogy with a philosopher who is beaten in body, it is rightly said that God was crucified, though he suffered in the flesh.
Letter 169.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine concludes his answers to Evodius's two questions, on the Trinity and on the dove.
Letter 170.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The Son is begotten from the Father's substance, coeternal like brightness from flame; the Spirit proceeds and is not made.
Letter 170.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · God begot the Son without passion and as his equal from eternity; the Son's equality is by nature, not robbery.
Letter 170.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Christ is less than the Father in the form of a servant and equal to him in the form of God.
Letter 177.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · If grace is only the capacity of nature, the cross is emptied and Christ died in vain.
Letter 177.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Righteousness comes only from faith in Christ the one mediator, who remade fallen human nature.
Letter 180.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Figurative speech, such as Christ's saying that the Son does not know the day, is not lying, as Hilary showed.
Letter 184.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Fleshly concupiscence, a result of the fall, accompanies all procreation except Christ's, so all who are born must be reborn.
Letter 187.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Dardanus asked how Christ, who promised the thief paradise that day, can now be in heaven, and whether Christ's humanity is everywhere.
Letter 187.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine notes that Dardanus rightly holds Christ to be perfect man, with a human soul and mind, unlike the heretics who deny either.
Letter 187.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · If spoken of Christ's humanity, the promise cannot mean heaven, since that day Christ's soul was in hell and his body in the tomb.
Letter 187.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine is unsure whether Abraham's bosom belongs to hell, but suggests 'paradise' may be any place of blessed life, including that region visited by Christ's soul.
Letter 187.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The simpler explanation is that Christ spoke as God, who is everywhere, so that whoever is in paradise is with him.
Letter 187.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Christ is one person, God and man, as a man is one of soul and flesh, so each saying must be referred to the nature it concerns.
Letter 187.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Because of the unity of Christ's person, what belongs to one nature can be said of him under the other, as when the Lord of glory is said to be crucified.
Letter 187.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Christ's risen body, immortal but still a body, is in heaven, not everywhere; he is everywhere as God and in heaven as man.
Letter 187.30Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Birth belongs to Adam and rebirth to Christ; Christ, who had no sin, needed only to be born, but by his baptism commended our regeneration.
Letter 187.31Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Every child of a lawful marriage is born through concupiscence and must be reborn; Christ alone, conceived of the Virgin without concupiscence, needed no rebirth.
Letter 187.39Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The fullness of the divinity dwells 'bodily' in Christ either as reality contrasted with shadow or because his body is God's temple.
Letter 187.40Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Christ differs from the greatest saints not only by the fullness of divinity dwelling in him but by the singular union of his humanity with the Word in one person, a pure grace.
Letter 187.41Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine concludes: think of God's presence without bodily images, of his dwelling as the gathering of the saints, and of Christ as everywhere as God and in heaven as man.
Letter 190.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · All the righteous, before and after the incarnation, live by faith in Christ, the only saving name since Adam's fall.
Letter 190.25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Whatever the origin of other souls, Christ's soul certainly contracted no sin from Adam.
Letter 199.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine argues that most expositors have shown Daniel's weeks fulfilled at Christ's first coming, especially in the anointing and slaying of the Messiah.
Letter 199.41Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine says the Son of Man's coming in a cloud can mean either his coming in the Church or his bodily return as he ascended.
Letter 205.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine answers Consentius that Christ's risen body is in heaven as it was when he ascended, with flesh and bones, preserved from corruption by God's power.
Letter 205.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine declines to speculate about blood or the bodily humors in Christ's risen body, insisting only that it is free of corruption.
Letter 205.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains that in 1 Corinthians 15:50 "flesh and blood" means the corruption of flesh, not its substance, since Christ's risen flesh cannot wither.
Letter 205.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine argues that since believers will rise incorruptible, glorious, powerful, and spiritual, Christ's own risen body cannot be less.
Letter 205.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine concludes that Christ's body, once mortal and taken from Adam, is now incorruptible, glorious, and spiritual, and explains the difference between an animal and a spiritual body.
Letter 205.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine rejects the view that the spiritual body becomes spirit, holding that Christ's risen flesh is a true body, and that Adam would have passed to a spiritual body without death had he not sinned.
Letter 205.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains that Christ took a mortal body to heal us by humility, and interprets the first and last Adam as the living soul and the life-giving spirit.
Letter 205.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine interprets the earthly and heavenly man as mortals through Adam and immortals through Christ, who became mortal without changing his divine nature.
Letter 219.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine and other African bishops tell the bishops of Gaul that they have received and corrected the monk Leporius, who had denied that God was made man and so introduced a fourth person into the Trinity.
Letter 219.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · The African bishops explain that Leporius, fearing change in God, had separated the Son of Man from the Son of God, but now confesses Christ as one, God and man, with both natures unchanged, and has signed a retraction.
Letter 232.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains that the Word became man to cure pride by humility, and that Christ crucified, confirmed by miracles, has conquered the world.
Letter 236.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine describes Manichaean Hearers and Elect and their doctrines: docetism, rejection of the Old Testament, the soul as part of God, and God's mixture with darkness.
Letter 238.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine states his faith in the eternal Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and the rule of reading texts about Christ according to the form of God or the form of a servant.
Letter 238.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains that the names Father, Son and Spirit signify relations, not different substances, and that confusing the form of a servant with the form of God leads to error.
Letter 238.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine explains that the one Christ is both Son of God and Son of Man, so the Son of God is said to be crucified in his human weakness.
Letter 238.23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine rejects the Arian claim that the Son before the incarnation was visible and corruptible, citing the Wisdom of Solomon on divine Wisdom.
Letter 242.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine argues from John 1:3 that the Son, through whom all things were made, cannot himself have been made.
Letter 242.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine reasons from John 1:3 that the Word was neither made through himself nor without himself, and so was not made but begotten.
Letter 242.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine says the Son's generation cannot be declared, but Phil 2:6 calls him equal to God, and only the pure in heart can see this.
Letter 243.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine cites Christ's answer “Who is my mother?” as an example of putting heavenly kinship above earthly ties, while noting that Mary also did the Father's will.
Letter 264.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine confirms Maxima's faith that the Son took a complete human nature, rational soul and flesh, without sin, and asks for the heretics' writings to refute them.
On Order 1.29Augustine of Hippo · 386–387 · Licentius argues that Christ, sent by the Father, shows that God too acts by order; Trygetius stumbles in calling only the Father God properly and is corrected, and Augustine tearfully rebukes the young men for their rivalry and vanity.
On Order 2.16Augustine of Hippo · 386–387 · Augustine sets out the two ways of reason and authority, and says that true philosophy teaches the one almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the humility of God's taking a human body for our salvation.
On Order 2.27Augustine of Hippo · 386–387 · Augustine distinguishes divine authority, which surpasses human power in signs and in Christ shows its power, mercy, and nature, from the deceptions of demons and from fallible human authority.
Homilies on Matthew 1.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Chrysostom opens his series: the Scriptures are a second-best remedy for hearts no longer written on by the Spirit; he contrasts Sinai with Pentecost, explains why Matthew's book is called a gospel, why there are four evangelists, and why their minor differences confirm their truth.
Homilies on Matthew 2.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Homily 2 opens with Matt 1:1: hearers must prepare to enter the Gospel more purely than Israel prepared at Sinai, for it shows Christ's victory; the divine generation is beyond telling.
Homilies on Matthew 2.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The earthly birth of the Son of God from a virgin and from David and Abraham is a pledge that humans may become children of God; the double birth and the baptism join old and new; the name Jesus means Savior.
Homilies on Matthew 2.3John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Joshua is a type of Jesus; Matthew calls his book 'the book of the generation' because the incarnation is the sum of the dispensation; he names David before Abraham because David was better known; Mary's Davidic descent is shown from Luke 1:27.
Homilies on Matthew 3.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · A second, more mystical reason for Joseph's genealogy: the virgin birth was veiled at first to protect Mary from being stoned as an adulteress and to avoid offending the Jews; then the question why Judah's brothers are named.
Homilies on Matthew 3.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Matthew omits Esau's line because the Arab peoples have no share in Israel; he names Tamar to show that Christ was not ashamed of our sins and to humble Jewish pride in ancestry; the patriarchs born of slave women show that only virtue counts.
Homilies on Matthew 4.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Matthew counts generations from Abraham and David to the exile to Christ to fit prophecy; he introduces the virgin birth carefully; the manner of the Spirit's work is not to be pried into, though Christ truly took flesh from Mary; Joseph's righteousness and the angel's timing are explained.
Homilies on Matthew 4.5John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The angel told Mary before the conception, lest she despair, and Joseph after his suspicion, so that the angel's knowledge of his secret thoughts would prove the message divine; Matthew and Luke do not conflict.
Homilies on Matthew 4.6John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The angel reassures Joseph gently, calls Mary his wife, entrusts her to his keeping, reveals that the child is of the Spirit, and gives Joseph a father's office of naming the child without making him the father.
Homilies on Matthew 4.7John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The name Jesus, given from heaven, promises salvation from sins, which only God can give; moral section: the baptized must be recognizable by their life, but many live like the unbaptized, at races and theaters.
Homilies on Matthew 5.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Matthew's 'all this took place' marks the fulfillment of Isa 7:14; the angel refers Joseph to Isaiah; 'Emmanuel' names what the event revealed, as Isa 8:3 and 1:26 show; against Jewish objections, the Septuagint's 'virgin' is more credible than later translations' 'young woman'.
Homilies on Matthew 5.3John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Scripture uses 'young woman' for virgins, and a sign must be extraordinary; Joseph obeys; 'until' in Matt 1:25 does not imply later relations, for Mary remained a virgin; the 'brothers' of Jesus were so called as Joseph was called husband; James's later sanctity proves the resurrection.
Homilies on Matthew 6.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Homily 6 opens with Matt 2:1–2: Chrysostom rejects the claim that the star confirms astrology, and lists the puzzles of the magi's journey on any merely human account.
Homilies on Matthew 7.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Homily 7 opens with Matt 2:4–5: the Jews and the magi teach each other; the scribes omit the end of Micah's prophecy to flatter Herod; the forty days in Bethlehem and the events Luke records left the Jews without excuse, before Christ was revealed again at the Jordan.
Homilies on Matthew 7.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Micah's prophecy fits Christ, not Zerubbabel; early testimonies speak of his benefits, later ones of his divinity; Herod's secret inquiry was folly; the star appeared long before the birth and hid so that the magi would ask the Jews.
Homilies on Matthew 7.4John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The star led the magi to the very child and stood over him, confirming their faith; their gifts refute Marcion (Christ truly in the flesh) and Paul of Samosata (not a mere man); the magi's precedence over the Jews foreshadowed the Gentiles' faith.
Homilies on Matthew 8.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Homily 8 opens with Matt 2:11–14: the magi, moved by the star and inner illumination, worshiped a poor child as God with symbolic gifts; they and Joseph obeyed without questioning; Christ fled rather than show his power, lest his incarnation seem unreal.
Homilies on Matthew 8.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · God's deceiving of Herod, like his despoiling of Egypt, displays his power; the flight to Egypt fulfills Hos 11:1, signals the conversion of Egypt and Babylon, and teaches that spiritual service brings trials; God alternates joys and dangers; prophecy often finds fulfillment in later persons.
Homilies on Matthew 8.4John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Hos 11:1 is truly fulfilled in Christ, the natural Son, not in idolatrous Israel; Christ's stay in Egypt sanctified it, and now the Egyptian desert, once the home of sorcery, shines with monks and virgins, women contending as bravely as men.
Homilies on Matthew 9.4John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Archelaus's reign explains the move to Nazareth; Chrysostom harmonizes Matthew with Luke (the return to Nazareth after the purification came before the flight); 'he shall be called a Nazarene' comes from lost prophetic books; Christ's lowly origins rebuke human pride.
Homilies on Matthew 10.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Homily 10 opens with Matt 3:1–2: 'in those days' is an indefinite phrase; Christ was baptized at thirty after fulfilling the whole law; John's baptism did not remit sins but led the self-righteous Jews to acknowledge their sins and seek Christ's remission, and gathered crowds to witness his manifestation.
Homilies on Matthew 11.5John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · John speaks of fire to recall Israel's theophanies; he first names the gift of the Spirit, then the Lamb who takes away sin; to keep the hearers from slackness he adds the winnowing fork and unquenchable fire, and the fulfilled promise of the Spirit guarantees the threatened judgment.
Homilies on Matthew 12.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Homily 12 opens with Matt 3:13–16: the Master comes to be baptized by the servant; John, who called him the sinless Lamb, protests; Christ's 'it is fitting now to fulfill all righteousness' means completing the whole law so as to lift its curse.
Homilies on Matthew 12.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The opened heavens, the descending Spirit, and the voice showed that Christ, not John, was the beloved Son; unbelief despite such signs is no charge against God, as Isaiah's vineyard song shows; the visible signs at the beginning teach that at every baptism heaven opens and the Spirit comes.
Homilies on Matthew 13.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ fasts forty days, no more, to avoid making the incarnation incredible, and answers the devil’s first temptation, which played on his hunger and flattered him as Son of God, with Scripture.
Homilies on Matthew 13.3John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ refuses the second temptation, exposing the devil’s misuse of the psalm, and dismisses him at the third when he claims the kingdoms of the world as his own.
Homilies on Matthew 16.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ declares that he has not come to destroy the law or the prophets in order to forestall the suspicion that his higher commands abolished the old law, just as he mixed humble words and prayers with acts of authority.
Homilies on Matthew 16.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ left the boldest statements about his divinity and creative work to his disciples out of condescension to his hearers, and he fulfilled the prophets by his deeds and the law by keeping it and by enabling believers to fulfil it through faith.
Homilies on Matthew 22.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The lilies, mere grass thrown into the oven, are clothed more gloriously than Solomon, so God will much more clothe those he values above all creation; the Father who made human nature needy knows its needs and will provide, and anxiety for these things is the mark of the Gentiles.
Homilies on Matthew 23.8John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · No loss is so great as falling from the glory of Christ; at the judgment he will mention not his countless benefits but only the sin, showing his gentleness even then.
Homilies on Matthew 24.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ requires doing the Father’s will, not only professing faith, and quietly reveals himself as the judge who will reject even those who worked miracles without a good life.
Homilies on Matthew 25.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The crowds marvel at Christ’s authority, which he confirms by cleansing the leper with “I will” and a touch; sending him to the priest honors the law, and the homily closes on thanksgiving, the Eucharist, and humility.
Homilies on Matthew 26.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ offers of his own accord to go to the centurion’s house so that the man’s faith and humility may be revealed; as with the leper, he confirms the centurion’s belief in his authority by marveling at it.
Homilies on Matthew 26.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Unlike Martha, the centurion believed Christ acts by his own authority, and is rewarded with the kingdom; Chrysostom harmonizes Matthew and Luke, explaining the elders’ embassy as Jewish flattery.
Homilies on Matthew 26.3John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The two Gospel accounts complement each other; the centurion, though a man of rank, humbly asks only for a word, and is honored with the kingdom, while the leper too was praised in his own way.
Homilies on Matthew 26.4John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The centurion grasped that Christ commands death and life as a master commands soldiers; his faith becomes a prophecy of the Gentiles entering the kingdom while the sons of the kingdom are cast out.
Homilies on Matthew 27.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ heals Peter’s mother-in-law at once and completely in the humble house of a fisherman, then heals many in the evening, fulfilling Isaiah’s word that he took our infirmities.
Homilies on Matthew 27.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Most diseases spring from sin; Christ sends the crowds away to avoid display, and answers the scribe who would follow him for gain by exposing his purpose without shaming him.
Homilies on Matthew 28.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ takes only the disciples into the storm to train them; he sleeps so that their fear may make them feel the miracle, rebukes their little faith before calming the sea, and the calm reveals him as God.
Homilies on Matthew 28.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ calms the sea as Master, not as servant like Moses; the demons, tormented by his presence, proclaim his Godhead, and Chrysostom refutes the belief that the souls of the dead become demons.
Homilies on Matthew 29.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · In healing the paralytic Christ first forgives his sins and then reveals the scribes’ secret thoughts, proving by deeds what they themselves said belongs to God alone, and so showing his equality with the Father.
Homilies on Matthew 29.3John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ heals soul and body and does not rebuke the slow crowds; so we must correct blasphemers and enemies of the truth with gentleness, as God himself does, and not with anger.
Homilies on Matthew 31.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The ruler of the synagogue asks Christ to come and lay his hand on his dead daughter; on the way the woman with the flow of blood, ashamed of her uncleanness, is healed by touching his garment, and Christ brings her into the open for her sake and for the ruler’s.
Homilies on Matthew 31.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ delays so that the girl’s death may be certain and her raising undeniable; he praises the woman’s faith, and at the ruler’s house he calls death sleep, teaching the disciples not to fear it.
Homilies on Matthew 31.3John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ raises the girl with her parents as witnesses and has her fed, proving both death and resurrection; Christians must therefore not mourn their dead like pagans, still less hire pagan mourners, for death is sleep and a calm harbor.
Homilies on Matthew 32.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ heals the two blind men privately after drawing from them a confession of his power and lordship, and charges them to silence; he then frees a mute demoniac, and the crowds declare that nothing like it was ever seen in Israel.
Homilies on Matthew 36.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Chrysostom shows that John the Baptist, who had borne such clear witness to Christ, cannot have asked “Are you he who comes?” out of doubt, and begins to explain that the question was for his jealous disciples.
Homilies on Matthew 36.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · John sent his jealous disciples to learn from Christ’s works who he was; Chrysostom rejects the view that John did not know of the passion or of a preaching in Hades, insists that there is no repentance after death, and warns his hearers who partake of the mysteries unworthily.
Homilies on Matthew 37.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ shows John to be more than a prophet, the messenger riding nearest the King, the greatest of those born of women; yet, so that John may not be preferred to him, he adds that the “less,” meaning himself, is greater in the kingdom of heaven.
Homilies on Matthew 37.3John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ is not a mere man as John is; John is the Elijah who was to come, and the parable of the children in the marketplace shows that John’s austerity and Christ’s eating with sinners were two ways toward the same end.
Homilies on Matthew 38.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ explains that all things are delivered to him by the Father and that he alone knows the Father as the Father knows him; he then calls the weary to his kind yoke and light burden, which is lighter than the burden of sin.
Homilies on Matthew 41.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ refutes the charge that he casts out demons by Beelzebul with four answers (the divided kingdom, the exorcisms of their own sons, the binding of the strong man, and “he who is not with me is against me”), then explains why blasphemy against the Spirit is unpardonable; Chrysostom urges his hearers to judge and condemn their own sins now.
Homilies on Matthew 43.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · When the scribes and Pharisees ask for a sign after so many signs, Christ calls them an evil and adulterous generation and promises only the sign of Jonah, hinting at his resurrection and at the ruin that would come on Jerusalem.
Homilies on Matthew 43.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The three days in the heart of the earth prove a real death against Marcion’s denial of the passion; the Ninevites will condemn this generation, for Christ is greater than Jonah in every respect.
Homilies on Matthew 44.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ’s answer to those who told him his mother and brothers were outside does not deny his mother but corrects the vainglory with which they called him away from his teaching, and teaches that kinship with him profits nothing without doing God’s will.
Homilies on Matthew 44.3John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The sower is Christ, who came out to us by taking flesh and sows the word without distinction; the loss of most of the seed comes from the hearers, who, unlike soil, can change; the ways of destruction are various.
Homilies on Matthew 48.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · In his own country Christ teaches but does few signs, so as not to increase their envy and condemnation; his townsmen despise him for his humble family, and he answers gently that a prophet is not honored in his own country.
Homilies on Matthew 49.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ withdraws after John’s death, heals the crowds that follow him, and leads the slow disciples step by step toward the feeding of the five thousand.
Homilies on Matthew 49.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ looks up to heaven to show that he is from the Father, multiplies existing bread to refute Marcion and Mani, and the homily turns to almsgiving as the true craft of the rich and against useless luxury such as ornate shoes.
Homilies on Matthew 53.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The four thousand are fed with a different number of remnants so the disciples will remember both miracles; Christ refuses the Pharisees a sign from heaven, explaining that his first coming is as physician and the heavenly signs are kept for his coming as judge.
Homilies on Matthew 54.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · At Caesarea Philippi Christ draws from the disciples, beyond the people’s opinions, Peter’s confession that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God, which the Father revealed; he names Peter the rock of the church’s faith and promises him the keys, gifts that show the Son’s equality with the Father.
Homilies on Matthew 54.3John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ forbids the disciples to proclaim him as the Christ until after the cross and resurrection, since the faith of the many would otherwise be shaken; Peter, though granted the revelation of the Son, does not yet understand the passion and tries to prevent it.
Homilies on Matthew 54.4John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ calls Peter Satan for opposing the passion, which is fitting to him; Chrysostom urges Christians never to be ashamed of the cross, present in baptism, Eucharist and ordination, to sign themselves with it in faith, since it routs demons and will shine at Christ’s coming.
Homilies on Matthew 54.5John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The cross, which saved the world and routs demons, is the Christian’s boast before scoffing pagans; as soldiers of a King who is near to all, Christians can draw near to him by justice and almsgiving, which Isaiah 58 promises he will answer at once.
Homilies on Matthew 55.4John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Those who toil for wealth while neglecting the soul are like slaves in the mines; Christ’s coming in the Father’s glory shows the Son’s one glory and essence with the Father, and his judgment, rewarding each by his deeds, should make us repent more than the Ninevites.
Homilies on Matthew 56.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · To strengthen the disciples facing death, Christ shows the three leading apostles the glory of his kingdom at the Transfiguration; Moses and Elijah appear to show the difference between servants and Master, and that he neither broke the law nor wrongly claimed equality with the Father.
Homilies on Matthew 56.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Moses and Elijah also show Christ’s lordship over the dead and the living, speak of his passion as glory, and model the boldness, poverty and self-sacrifice the apostles must surpass; Peter, still afraid of the passion, wishes to stay on the safe mountain.
Homilies on Matthew 56.3John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Peter’s offer of three tents shows his love for Christ but also his fear and confusion; the Father’s voice from the bright cloud singles out Christ alone as the beloved Son, equal to him and of one will, whom the disciples must obey even when he goes to the cross.
Homilies on Matthew 56.4John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The disciples fell before the glory on the mountain, and Christ bade them keep silence until the resurrection, after which the Spirit and the signs would confirm their preaching; at his second coming he will appear in far greater glory as judge, and only deeds will count.
Homilies on Matthew 57.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ resolves the scribes’ teaching that Elijah must come first by distinguishing his two comings: John, called Elijah for sharing his ministry, preceded the first, and Elijah the Tishbite will come before the second, fearful coming to turn the Jews to faith.
Homilies on Matthew 57.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ pairs each foretelling of his passion with miracles and with John’s fate to console the disciples; he heals the moonstruck boy whom the disciples could not heal, exposing the father’s weak faith and teaching that faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains.
Homilies on Matthew 58.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ again foretells his passion and the grieved disciples do not yet grasp the resurrection; asked for the temple tax, he shows Peter that as the King’s own Son he is exempt, yet pays it by a miracle so as not to give offense.
Homilies on Matthew 60.3John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ’s promise to be among two or three gathered in his name shows him as giver equal with the Father, but it requires friendship whose chief ground is Christ; worldly friendships break under injury, while love for Christ’s sake, like his love for his enemies and executioners, never fails.
Homilies on Matthew 63.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Chrysostom defends the rich young man from the charge of deceit, though calling him a lover of money, and explains “No one is good but God” as a contrast between human goodness and God’s, not a denial of Christ’s goodness.
Homilies on Matthew 65.3John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ answers that the seats at his right and left are given not by favor but to those whose works make them worthy, since the throne at the Father’s right belongs to the Son alone; he rebukes the ten’s indignation by contrasting Gentile rulers with his own example of service unto death.
Homilies on Matthew 66.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The owners’ yielding of the donkey and Christ’s humble mount foreshadow the call of the Gentiles and teach simplicity of life; turning to his hearers, Chrysostom rebukes their stinginess toward Christ in the poor and shows that Antioch’s rich could easily feed all its poor.
Homilies on Matthew 67.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Chrysostom treats the cleansing of the temple as a second cleansing, explains the children’s praise as a sign of Christ’s power and a type of the Gentiles, and says the barren fig tree was cursed to show the disciples his power to punish.
Homilies on Matthew 68.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · In the parable of the wicked tenants Chrysostom sees God’s long care for Israel, their killing of the prophets and of the Son, the unity of the God of both Testaments, and the coming call of the Gentiles; “perhaps they will respect my son” shows what they ought to have done, not ignorance in God.
Homilies on Matthew 68.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Chrysostom harmonizes Matthew and Luke on who pronounced the verdict, explains the rejected stone as Christ rejected by Israel’s teachers, the two destructions of falling on it and being crushed, and the leaders’ blindness from love of power and glory.
Homilies on Matthew 69.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Chrysostom compares the parable of the marriage feast with that of the tenants: it shows God inviting the Jews even after the Son’s death, their excuses and murders, the destruction of Jerusalem under Vespasian and Titus, and the call of the Gentiles, the Jews having been addressed first.
Homilies on Matthew 70.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The Pharisees and Herodians, hoping to make Christ either a rebel against Caesar or an enemy of the people, flatter him and ask about the tax; Christ exposes their hypocrisy, showing he knows their secret intent.
Homilies on Matthew 71.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ answers the lawyer with the two great commandments, praises his confession of the one God without denying his own Godhead, and by the question about David’s son proclaims himself Lord; Chrysostom then attacks vainglory, especially in almsgiving, which robs the treasure in heaven.
Homilies on Matthew 72.3John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ forbids the disciples to be called Rabbi, father or leader, since God is the true teacher and father and Christ the one leader (which shows the Father and the Son share these titles); humility is the cure, and Chrysostom finds it among the monks, who serve one another with one table and no “mine and yours.”
Homilies on Matthew 77.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The fig tree shows that the coming will follow close upon the tribulation; “this generation” is that of the believers, which nothing will destroy; and Christ’s saying that the Son does not know the day is meant to stop the disciples’ curiosity, not to confess ignorance, since he made the ages and knows the Father.
Homilies on Matthew 77.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Claiming to know God’s essence while denying the Son knowledge of the day is absurd; Christ withholds the day for our good, and the examples of Noah, of those taken and left, and of the thief show that he will come suddenly upon a world at ease, so that we must always be ready.
Homilies on Matthew 77.3John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ hides the hour of the end and of each death so that we may always be ready; the parable of the faithful and wise servant, whose questions no more prove ignorance than God’s questions in Scripture, applies to teachers, rulers and the rich, who must administer what they have faithfully and wisely for others.
Homilies on Matthew 83.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · In Gethsemane Christ prays apart, rebukes Peter and the sleeping disciples for their weakness, and by his sorrow, sweat and repeated prayer shows the truth of his humanity, while his “not as I will, but as you will” teaches us to follow God even when nature resists.
Homilies on Matthew 84.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Peter’s sword-stroke, rebuked and undone by a miracle of healing, shows the disciples’ zeal and Christ’s gentleness; he had let them carry swords only as a sign of the coming betrayal, and he declines the legions of angels so that the Scriptures may be fulfilled, speaking in lowly terms to suit their fear.
Homilies on Matthew 84.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ reminds his captors that he taught openly and could not have been taken unwilling; the Sanhedrin, forgoing even the Passover, stages a sham trial, and the high priest forces a verdict of blasphemy, while their public condemnation of him only made the truth of his death plainer; so too defeat borne nobly is the true victory.
Homilies on Matthew 87.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The soldiers’ mockery shows the devil at work in them all; Christ was outraged in every part of his body, and the Jewish leaders took every part of his death on themselves; yet the church reads this account aloud to everyone at the Paschal vigil, and Christ is worshiped for stooping so low.
Homilies on Matthew 87.4John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The division of the garments, the vinegar and the taunts at the cross complete Christ’s humiliation, yet the robber confesses him; remembering this and sealing the breast with the cross quenches anger, since insult harms only the insulter, flattery is more dangerous than abuse, and only our own conscience can disgrace us.
Homilies on Matthew 88.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The darkness at midday, lasting three hours and so no eclipse, was the promised sign of Jonah and a sign of God’s wrath, given when the mockers had had their fill; Christ’s Hebrew cry from the Psalm shows his honor for the Father, and his loud cry at death shows that he laid down his life by his own authority.
Homilies on Matthew 88.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The raising of the saints, the split rocks and the torn veil showed Christ’s power and wrath, and that the way into the true sanctuary was opening, while the centurion and the crowd were moved; the women who stayed to the end, and Joseph who dared to bury him in his own new tomb, show a courage the disciples lacked.
Homilies on Matthew 89.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The leaders’ request for a sealed tomb unwittingly attests Christ’s death, burial and resurrection; the evangelist hides nothing of their slander, and fearful, unlearned, poor and scattered disciples could neither have stolen the body nor invented and preached a resurrection that had not happened.
Homilies on Matthew 89.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ rose within the three days while his enemies guarded the tomb, so that their precautions proved the resurrection; the angel and then Christ himself send the women, the first witnesses, to the disciples. We may still hold his feet in the mysteries, but women who load themselves with gold while the poor go hungry cannot.
Homilies on Matthew 90.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The guards, shaken by the earthquake, became unimpeachable witnesses, and the bribe they took for the story of a theft only confirms the empty tomb: frightened, poor disciples could neither have rolled away the sealed stone nor slipped past so many guards, and would have struck on the first, unguarded night if at all.
Homilies on Matthew 90.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The grave cloths left in the myrrh, the bribe and the admission that the body was gone all confirm the resurrection; in Galilee the risen Christ sends the disciples to baptize all nations with the promise of his presence to the end. His commands are easy; it is the love of money, not poverty, that enslaves, and poverty is a safe harbor and a school of self-command.
Commentary on Ephesians 5:30Jerome · ca. 386 · Jerome explains that believers are members of Christ's body according to his assumed humanity, not his divinity, or as members of the church.
Commentary on Ephesians 5:32Jerome · ca. 386 · Jerome holds that only Gen 2:24, not the whole story of Adam and Eve, is a prophecy of Christ and the church, and reports Gregory of Nazianzus's view of Paul's humility in interpreting it.
On Fleeing the World 13Ambrose · ca. 387-391 · The high priest whose death frees the slayer is the Word of God, who never dies but “dies” to us when separated from our soul.
On Fleeing the World 16Ambrose · ca. 387-391 · The high priest is Christ, the eternal priest and Word who enlightens and fills all and speaks from above the mercy seat.
On Fleeing the World 23Ambrose · ca. 387-391 · Like Laban and the men of Sodom, the prince of this world finds nothing in Christ because he is blind to what is Christ’s.
On Fleeing the World 24Ambrose · ca. 387-391 · On another reading, the devil finds in Christ no malice, no death, no sin, since Christ has all that the Father has.
On Fleeing the World 30Ambrose · ca. 387-391 · To be lifted by Christ, one must fly from the world; David and Christ both fled into the wilderness, and we follow Christ’s body like eagles.
On Fleeing the World 44Ambrose · ca. 387-391 · Man’s curse lasts until death; Christ became a curse to fulfill and end it, so that we who died with him live his life.
On Fleeing the World 57Ambrose · ca. 387-391 · Christ the High Priest died for us, nailing our debts to the cross; renouncing the world, we bear his likeness and need not fear death.
Hexameron (Exameron) 1.15Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · In a mystical sense the “beginning” is Christ, through whom and in whom all things were made.
Hexameron (Exameron) 1.19Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · The Son is the invisible image of the invisible Father; all things were created through him and return to God.
Hexameron (Exameron) 1.24Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Scripture and Christ teach that heaven will pass away; Christians need faith, not philosophical dispute.
Hexameron (Exameron) 2.10Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Ps 148 confirms waters above the heavens; God's command, carried out by the Son, keeps them there.
Hexameron (Exameron) 2.18Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · “God said” and “God made” show Father and Son sharing one name and one operation, against those who make the Son inferior.
Hexameron (Exameron) 2.19Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · God's approval of his work reflects the perfect mutual knowledge of Father and Son in one nature.
Hexameron (Exameron) 3.32Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Against Manichees, Photinians, and Eunomians, Ambrose argues from Gen 1:26 that the Son is co-creator and equal to the Father.
Hexameron (Exameron) 4.2Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · The splendour of the sun should lead us to praise its creator, Christ the Sun of Righteousness and true light.
Hexameron (Exameron) 4.22Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Allegorically, the synagogue saw Christ in the short winter days of shadow, while the church, and the Gentiles, see him at noon with full light.
Hexameron (Exameron) 4.32Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · The waning and waxing moon is a type of Christ, who emptied himself, and of the church, which shines with his borrowed light and grows through persecution.
Hexameron (Exameron) 5.35Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Jonah, preserved by the sea monster, prefigures Christ; Peter was upheld on the sea; Ambrose ends the morning sermon.
Hexameron (Exameron) 5.65Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · If vultures conceive without males, the virgin birth of Christ from Mary is not incredible.
Hexameron (Exameron) 6.41Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · The Son, the image of the invisible God, is one in substance with the Father; “Let us make … our likeness” excludes inequality.
Hexameron (Exameron) 6.74Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · The knee bends in humility before Christ; man's two feet make him like the birds, rising toward heaven.
Hexameron (Exameron) 6.76Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · God rested only after making man, whose sins he would forgive; this foreshadows Christ's rest in the tomb for our redemption.
On Joseph 7Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Joseph's dream of the sheaves bowing to his foreshadowed Christ's resurrection, worshiped by the disciples and by all the saints.
On Joseph 8Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Joseph's second dream foreshadows Christ worshiped by his family and disciples, while Jacob's rebuke figures the unbelief of Israel.
On Joseph 9Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Jacob's sending Joseph to his brothers at Shechem foreshadows the Father sending the Son to the lost sheep of Israel.
On Joseph 13Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Reuben and Judah tried to save Joseph; the patriarchs' blessings point to Christ, and their guilt is outweighed by the grace of revelation.
On Joseph 14Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Joseph sold by his brothers prefigures Christ betrayed by Judas; the differing prices of the sale signify Christ's differing worth to each believer.
On Joseph 15Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Joseph's tunic stripped and bloodied signifies Christ's flesh, not his divinity, in the passion.
On Joseph 19Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Joseph sold into Egypt prefigures Christ, sold for our sins, who paid the debt of all and set us free.
On Joseph 31Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Joseph prefigures Christ, who came into the prison of the body, was not overcome by temptation, put off the flesh, and freed others from the place of the dead.
On Joseph 40Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Joseph's ring, robe, necklace, chariot, and gentile wife prefigure Christ and the church gathered from the nations.
On Joseph 67Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Joseph revealing himself to his brothers figures Christ declaring himself to his own people at his trial and calling them to recognize him.
On Joseph 68Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · 'Come near to me' signifies Christ, who came near by sharing our nature in the incarnation.
On Joseph 69Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Joseph's forgiving his brothers, ascribing his sale to God's providence, foreshadows Christ's prayer for his crucifiers and his greeting of peace after the resurrection.
On Joseph 70Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Joseph's words to his brothers are echoed by the risen Christ's words to his disciples, showing the same speaker in both.
On the Mysteries 8Ambrose · ca. 387–391 · The newly baptized approach the altar; the Church’s sacraments are older than the Synagogue’s, as Melchizedek shows, and greater than the manna, for the Eucharist is the body of Christ that gives eternal life.
On the Mysteries 9Ambrose · ca. 387–391 · Ambrose argues from the miracles of Scripture and from the virgin birth that the word of Christ changes the bread and wine into his body and blood, which feed the Church, and that the Spirit truly regenerates in baptism.
On the Blessings of the Patriarchs 16Ambrose · ca. 387-392 · Christ is both priest from Levi and king from Judah; Jacob's blessing of Judah speaks of him.
On the Blessings of the Patriarchs 17Ambrose · ca. 387-392 · The blessing of Judah applies to Christ, praised by his brothers, who by his passion subdued the hostile powers and is worshiped by those who call God Father.
On the Blessings of the Patriarchs 18Ambrose · ca. 387-392 · Lion and whelp signify the Father and the Son of one nature, the Son being no less than the Father.
On the Blessings of the Patriarchs 19Ambrose · ca. 387-392 · 'From a shoot you went up' signifies the incarnation: Christ the flower from Mary, the rod from Jesse's root.
On the Blessings of the Patriarchs 20Ambrose · ca. 387-392 · The sleeping lion signifies Christ resting in the tomb and raising himself by his own power.
On the Blessings of the Patriarchs 24Ambrose · ca. 387-392 · Washing his robe in wine and the blood of the grape signifies Christ's baptism and his passion, in which water and blood from his side washed and redeemed us.
On the Blessings of the Patriarchs 30Ambrose · ca. 387-392 · Issachar, 'reward,' signifies Christ, who desired only the good from the beginning and rested between the Old and New Testaments, as between Moses and Elijah.
On the Blessings of the Patriarchs 31Ambrose · ca. 387-392 · Issachar putting his shoulder to labor figures Christ bearing the cross for our sins and sowing the good seed.
On the Blessings of the Patriarchs 47Ambrose · ca. 387-392 · Joseph, 'to be increased,' prefigures Christ, whose grace always grows and who was envied by his own people.
On the Blessings of the Patriarchs 48Ambrose · ca. 387-392 · Joseph as son of Jacob's old age prefigures Christ, born late in the world's old age, though eternal with the Father.
On the Blessings of the Patriarchs 49Ambrose · ca. 387-392 · 'Return to me' signifies the Father raising the Son and frustrating his enemies, as Isaiah foretold.
On the Blessings of the Patriarchs 51Ambrose · ca. 387-392 · The blessings of breasts and womb signify the two Testaments or Mary, and the two births of Christ, from the Father before the ages and from the Virgin, in two natures.
On the Blessings of the Patriarchs 52Ambrose · ca. 387-392 · Christ prevailed above the everlasting hills, above saints and angels, and is the head and crown of his brothers, the just.
On the Blessings of the Patriarchs 54Ambrose · ca. 387-392 · This blessing belongs to Christ, who appeared in the bush, the head of the church and firstborn from the dead, who made peace by his cross.
On the Blessings of the Patriarchs 55Ambrose · ca. 387-392 · The firstborn bull with the unicorn's horns signifies Christ, the sacrifice for the world, and the one Word of God, in whom the church flourishes.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.8.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · David alone was openly promised that Christ would come from his seed.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.8.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The psalms foretell Christ's birth, passion, resurrection, ascension and session.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.33.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · In both Testaments we drink Christ, who is vine, rock, fountain, river and peace.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.33.6Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The great light is Christ, the child born to us.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.33.7Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The child is born of the virgin, the Son given from God: the Word made flesh.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.35.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The tree of life is Christ, brought forth by the virgin, who is "earth".
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.35.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ is the tree in the midst, among his apostles and in our hearts.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.35.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The blessed man imitates Christ, the tree planted in the virgin by the Father.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.37.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ passed through four temptations, figured by the four rivers.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.39.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Aquila's "transplanted": Christ planted in the virgin, then transplanted into paradise.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.43.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The Greek allows "who will give fruit" to refer to the blessed man or to the tree, that is, Christ.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 35.2.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Only the Son of God can be meant; but why "servant"?
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 35.2.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ took the title of servant for himself.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 35.2.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The unjust are those who rejected Christ, who became a servant for them.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 35.3.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Paul explains Christ's poverty: he became poor to make us rich.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 35.3.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Isaiah explains Christ's pain: he suffered for us.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 35.3.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ reproaches those who plotted against him, the Just One.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 35.3.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Unwittingly they spoke of the cross, the tree that restores paradise.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 35.3.5Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ joined flesh and the wood of the cross to end the ancient hunger.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 35.4.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Isaiah 49 shows Christ formed as a servant to gather Israel.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 35.4.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ is servant from his mother's womb, not by divine nature, against Jews and Arians.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 35.4.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Emmanuel, Jesus, the ruler from Bethlehem: names of Christ.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 35.4.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The one Christ is servant in the flesh and Lord, equal to the Father in substance.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 35.5.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Even as servant Christ is great, as Philippians 2 shows.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 35.5.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ's servitude freed all and won the name above every name.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 35.18.5Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The mountains are Christ and his attributes.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 35.18.6Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ is wisdom, justice, sanctification and redemption; deep calls to deep, Old Testament to New.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 35.22.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ is the fountain of life who came down to water our hearts.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 35.22.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · In Christ's light we see the Father.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.2.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The psalms also hold mystical teaching about Christ's priesthood, passion and resurrection.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.16.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ, subject to the Father's will, fulfilled the law.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.16.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ's subjection is his glory, as in 1 Cor 15:28.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.16.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ will be subject when he offers the whole church to the Father as high priest.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.16.5Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ is subject in his body, the church; we must be subject to him.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.34.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The man in Christ lives by the Word, who is life.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.35.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Two punctuations of John 1:3–4; Ambrose prefers "what was made in him is life".
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.35.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · John never says the Word was made, but that the Word was God.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.35.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The Word is the maker, not a thing made.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.35.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · "Made in him" does not make the Word a creature, as other texts show.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.36.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · John himself explains in his letter: the life appeared in the flesh.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.36.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Everything in Christ, even his death, is life for us.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.36.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ's death is life, as baptism and the grain of wheat show.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.36.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · All that happened in Christ is life for us.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.36.5Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Even his being sold was life, for by his blood we are redeemed.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.37.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · "A man in Christ" means one made in Christ, in whom all was created.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.46.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ is the mystical just man who paid our debts; the devil the sinner who borrows.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.51.6Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The Lord raises the fallen; the just man can rise again.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.52.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ the Child makes childhood a virtue.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.58.5Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · As the angels followed Jacob, Christ the rock followed Israel.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.61.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The seed of the just man is Christ, formed in believers.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.64.5Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ's sinless flesh shared fully in the virtues of the inner man.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.65.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Speak always of Christ, who is wisdom and the Word.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.65.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ is wisdom, virtue, justice, peace, truth and life; open your mouth and he fills it.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.79.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · David passed in mind beyond his times and sang of the church and Christ's resurrection as present.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 37.4.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ's flesh became the antidote to sin's poison.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 37.5.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ came in true flesh, in the likeness of sinful flesh.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 37.5.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ took our nature, but without the contagion of sin.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 37.5.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Three ways of reading "by sin he condemned sin in the flesh".
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 37.6.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ condemned sin by taking our flesh and being made sin for us.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 37.6.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · In Christ the flesh itself now hates the vices it once loved.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 37.9.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The woman's offspring, Christ, cut off the serpent's head; from sin's venom penance makes a remedy.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 37.32.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · From Christ's wound flowed the water of life; he was bowed and saddened for us.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 37.34.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · "Not knowing" evil means not consenting to it; Christ did not know sin.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 37.41.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The light of the eyes is Christ, the true light.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 37.53.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · "Without cause" fits Christ, "wrongfully" fits David.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 38.1.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The "end" in the title is Christ, the goal of every virtue, whom we must follow.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 38.12.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · David exalted his soul by thinking highly of Christ, unlike the Arians.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 38.24.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The image in which man walks is Christ, God's image.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 38.24.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christians walk in Christ the image, the Jews in the shadow.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 39.6.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Noah’s vine and drunkenness prefigure Christ, who lay naked on the cross and poured out the cup of a new wisdom.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 39.6.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · As Ham who mocked Noah was cursed, so those who make Christ’s death a reproach are bound; those who accept it are saved.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 39.10.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The true Jesus came when Christ, given a body, came to do the Father’s will, and the sacrifices of the law ceased.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 39.12.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Abel’s sacrifice and the ram offered in Isaac’s place prefigure Christ’s sacrifice, in which his flesh, not his divinity, suffered.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 39.15.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The one who wills what God wills is of the same divinity; so Christ went willingly to his passion.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 39.16.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ’s prayer in Gethsemane does not imply a divided will: he spoke there according to human feeling.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 39.16.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ taught caution, not presumption, in the face of persecution, and in Gethsemane he spoke, prayed and grieved as man.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 39.16.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ took the three readiest disciples as witnesses; his words in Jeremiah, “I did not know”, cannot mean the Wisdom of God was ignorant.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 39.16.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ’s cry of forsakenness expresses the feeling of men in danger, not a real abandonment by the Father.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 39.16.5Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The man Christ is seen and heard, but his divinity is known in his works, and only the wise recognize him.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 39.18.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · One will of Father and Son means one substance of the Trinity; the human voice of Christ also consented to God’s will.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 39.18.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ took on the fear of death, our sins and weaknesses in order to conquer them for us.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 39.18.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ took on our own flesh, born of a human virgin, and so is truly man, the mediator.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 39.19.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ took on flesh to make it immortal; those who follow him will hear, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 39.26.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Against the Apollinarians, the psalm shows that Christ had a human soul as well as a body.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 40.1.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Psalm 40 (Protestant 41) follows the coming of Psalm 39 with the passion; its number recalls Christ’s forty-day fast, which repaired Adam’s fall.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 40.1.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The title “to David himself” points to Christ, who took away the world’s sin and is our wisdom, redemption and sanctification.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 40.4.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The blessed man is the one who understands, by faith, the poverty of Christ, who became poor in taking our impoverished flesh.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 40.4.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ suffered in our poverty, that is, in the flesh, not in the fullness of his Godhead.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 40.4.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Psalm 108 (109), spoken against Judas, confirms that the “poor man” is Christ, whose poverty, cross and death bring us riches and life.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 40.6.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ called himself poor and sorrowful because he grieved for us, not for himself, in order to break death’s sting before the day of judgment.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 40.13.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ, wounded for our sins, turned his weakness into salvation through his passion and resurrection.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 40.13.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ turned the weakness of all men in his own body on the cross, like a wrestler who lets himself be pinned and then throws his opponent.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 40.13.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · In the contest of the passion Christ hid his divinity, and the devil, thinking him a mere man, struck at his side as he had at Adam’s rib.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 40.13.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · From his wounded side Christ brought forth life and, by his own power, rose while the adversary fell.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 40.14.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · “I have sinned against you” may be David’s confession, or the Saviour’s words, who was made sin for us.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 40.20.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Something may be added to man, but nothing to God; Christ rose in the humanity he had assumed.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 40.20.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The flesh belongs to Christ’s saving dispensation; the psalm’s active verb shows that the Son of God raised himself.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 40.20.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The flesh received resurrection, but Christ as God worked it by his own power, the one power of Father and Son.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 40.24.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Like the serpent, Judas wounded only Christ’s “heel”, his body, not his head, which is God; and he hanged himself.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 40.26.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Judas is the serpent biting the heel of the “horse”, Christ’s flesh, which bore the world’s sin.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 40.26.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The wounded “horse” is Christ’s spotless flesh, the white horse of the Apocalypse.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 40.26.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The wounded “horse” rose and ascended above all heavens to sit at the right hand of power.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 40.27.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ alone rode this “horse”, the flesh, without sin and conquered death.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 40.34.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Here Christ discloses his majesty: he alone is without sin, and his enemy did not rejoice over him.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 40.35.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ’s innocence, without sin or deceit, is why the Father upheld him.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 40.35.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Born of the Spirit and the Virgin without the stain of ordinary generation, Christ returned spotless to the Father.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 40.35.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The Father speaks: the Son lived among sinners and bore their sin without being touched by it, fulfilling the Father’s will.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 40.35.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The Son, the spotless light, is always with the Father; the Father and the Son honour each other.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.6.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · In the days of Christ righteousness, peace and wisdom have risen, and faith has spread over the world.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.11.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Jesus (Joshua) upholding Moses’ arms prefigures Christ, who on the cross stretched out his hands to raise the world.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.12.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ is the right hand, the sword (the word of God) and the brightness of the Father’s countenance.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.14.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ is Lord and God; salvation comes by God’s command and through faith, not works, lest anyone boast.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.15.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The one in the burning bush was the Son of God, who purifies our thorny earth by continence rather than destroying it.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.16.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ is the one glorified among his brothers, whom Joseph’s dream of the sheaves foreshadowed.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.16.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ took our flesh to bear the fruit of resurrection; “firstborn” cannot mean Joseph, who was not the eldest.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.18.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The unicorn is the only-begotten Word, who gives life to the nations in tens of thousands and later to the Jews.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.19.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The blessing of the womb belongs not to Joseph but to Christ, born of a virgin and blessed above all powers.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.32.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ’s cry of forsakenness expresses human feeling in the contest of the passion, not real abandonment.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.32.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · As man Christ felt forsaken; as God he knew he was never left by the Father.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.40.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Only the bridegroom, Christ, ran from the height of heaven, opening a way for mortals to ascend.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.40.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ alone came down from the highest heaven while remaining in heaven, filling heaven and earth.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.58.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ became a “parable” because his death solved the riddles of the prophets, and he gave himself up to die for all.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.69.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The “shame” is the mockery at the cross; “all the day” is the day of the incarnation.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.78.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ took on real flesh and willingly humbled himself to death on a cross.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.78.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ humbled himself as man to free the humbled; his body is a body of life and glory, not of death.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.78.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ humbled himself to teach humility and to be exalted from the gates of death.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.84.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ slept in body but watched in power, knowing the storm.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.85.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Jonah asleep in the ship and in the whale prefigured Christ asleep in the boat and in the tomb.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.85.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ is the true Jonah, who gave his life as a ransom and emptied the whale’s belly, that is, death.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.86.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Jonah’s prayer from “the belly of hell” points to Christ’s descent to free the dead.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.87.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ, the chief priest, offered the sacrifice of praise that Jonah vowed, and calmed the world as Jonah calmed the sea.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.87.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ made peace by his blood, called men to God by his works, and offered the saving sacrifice.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.88.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Cast off for us, Christ bore the reproach of the cross to clothe us with the glory of his resurrection.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.89.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · God’s light shines in our hearts in the face of Christ, the eternal brightness sent so that we may see heavenly things.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.90.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ is the Father’s face; the saints long for his coming, though the light of his face is sealed in them.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.91.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · God’s hand and face are his goodness and enlightenment; like Moses on the rock, we see by faith the “back” of Christ, the glory of his passion.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 45.2.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The Father’s voice shows that the Son is not to be ranked with Moses and Elijah, who were only servants.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 45.2.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · As stars fade at sunrise, so the servants’ glory is hidden before the risen Lord, the Sun of righteousness.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 45.2.5Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The Son alone is the true light, one with the Father; his tent is in heaven, not on earth.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 45.4.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The Word of God became all things for us, flesh to save flesh and water to sweeten the water of contradiction.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 45.13.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The city and tabernacle of the Most High are the soul in which Christ dwells and the body born of the Virgin.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 45.13.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · God in the midst of the city is not moved: Christ, who rose on the third day, was never moved by sin.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 45.18.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Since Emmanuel was born of the virgin, we can say, “The God of powers is with us.”
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 47.3.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Thomas fully confessed Christ’s divinity; God’s power is proclaimed most of all in the heavenly city.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 47.11.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · We must bear and nourish Christ, not as a mere child, but adoring him as true God from true God.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 47.11.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The magi adored Christ as God; Mary bore him without labour pains, rejoicing in God her Saviour.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 47.16.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The temple in which we received God’s mercy is the body of Christ.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 47.16.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ’s sinless flesh, in which the Godhead dwelt, is the temple; or God was in Christ reconciling the world.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 47.17.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The mercy received in the temple is the Word made flesh, who offered himself; his flesh, full of the Spirit, is God’s temple.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 47.17.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The earth is full of God’s praise, and every knee bows at the name of Jesus.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 47.18.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ, the right hand of God, is full of the Father’s righteousness and power; nothing of the divine majesty is divided between them.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 48.9.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · David confesses his own iniquities; Christ, sinless, speaks only of Adam’s iniquity at his heel, which cannot condemn him.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 48.13.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · No brother can redeem, but a man will; Christ, the redeemer of all, needs no redemption himself.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 48.13.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · No brother of like weakness can redeem, but the man God sends, Christ, who spoke the truth.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 48.13.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ, the one mediator, alone redeems man, shedding his blood even for strangers.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 48.13.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ alone redeems, for he alone is free of Adam’s sin and gave his life for his servants.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 48.14.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ redeems not as our brother but as God in Christ reconciling the world; he needed no reconciliation himself.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 48.14.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The Son, free from sin, owed nothing for himself, and his blood could redeem the whole world.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 48.15.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ’s blood is the price for all; he took up our labour, as the psalm and Jacob’s blessing of Issachar foretell.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 48.22.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ, whose soul was not left in hell, went down to free its captives.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 61.1.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Psalms titled “to the end” are about Christ or spoken by Christ himself.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 61.2.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · “To David himself” refers to the true David, Christ, whose voice spoke through the prophet.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 61.4.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ, taking flesh, first restored the obedience lost by Adam’s disobedience.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 61.4.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ took on obedience to pour it into us, so that by one man’s obedience many might be made righteous.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 61.5.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Those who say Christ took flesh without a human soul and affections are wrong, for he had to heal the source of sin.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 61.5.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · We know Christ is truly man because he hungered, thirsted, wept and was sorrowful.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 61.5.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ called himself man and Son of Man; true faith confesses him both Son of God and man.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 61.5.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ is one person, from the Father and from Mary, who took our affections and so grieved for us.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 61.6.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ grieved and was weak as man, not for his own sins but ours, to heal us by his wounds.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 61.6.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ carried our sins to forgive them and cleansed them to correct us.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 61.6.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · It is Christ’s human soul, not his Godhead, that is subject to God.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 61.6.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The subjection is that of the assumed soul, a temporary dispensation, not perpetual slavery.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 61.7.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · “Will be” shows that the subjection belongs to the soul taken on in time, not to the eternal Son.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 61.7.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ’s obedience and humility were taken on for our instruction, as Philippians 2 describes, a temporal subjection.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 61.7.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Hebrews shows the same: Christ in the days of his flesh learned obedience through suffering.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 61.7.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ learned obedience as man, to become the cause of our salvation, as Adam was the cause of death.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 61.10.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ speaks as man in trusting God, yet “I shall be moved no more” reveals his divine power.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 61.11.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · “How long will you rush upon a man?”: the persecutors and evil spirits attack Christ’s humanity, who offered himself for all.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 61.11.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ, the man the persecutors sought, gave himself up alone so that his companions might go free.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 61.28.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ, crucified and buried, never left the Father and lost nothing of his divine glory.
On Free Choice of the Will 2.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 387–395 · The will's turning from God is a defective motion that comes from nothing and not from God, since every nature with measure, number, and order is from God; man fell of his own will but can rise only by Christ, God's right hand.
On Free Choice of the Will 3.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 387–395 · Sins arise from one's own thought or from another's persuasion; man, persuaded by the devil, was justly subjected to him, until the Word became flesh and, killed though sinless and born without lust, justly freed those who believe in him.
On the Catholic Way of Life and the Manichaean Way of Life 1.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 387–389 · Christ is the Power, Wisdom, and Truth of God, to whom we are conformed by love poured out by the Holy Spirit, who, since he restores us to wholeness and is unchangeable, is God and not a creature.
On the Catholic Way of Life and the Manichaean Way of Life 1.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 387–389 · Augustine sets Old Testament texts, chiefly from Psalms and the Wisdom of Solomon, beside each New Testament text he has used on love, Christ as Power and Wisdom, the Holy Spirit, and the one God.
On the Greatness of the Soul 33Augustine of Hippo · 387–388 · Augustine describes the soul's power in seven steps: animating the body, sensation, the human arts, virtue, tranquillity, the approach to God, and the contemplation of truth, in which the soul knows God, the truth of the Church's teaching, and the certainty of the resurrection.
On Genesis against the Manichaeans 1.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 388–390 · Augustine answers the Manichaean question about what God did before creation: the beginning is Christ, time itself was created, and God's will, the cause of all things, has no prior cause.
On Genesis against the Manichaeans 2.24Augustine of Hippo · ca. 388–390 · Read as prophecy, Adam signifies Christ, who 'left' his Father by becoming man and his mother the Synagogue, and cleaved to his wife the Church, formed from his side as he slept in his passion; the spring watering the earth is the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary.
Tractates on Matthew 1.1Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388–407 · Chromatius explains why Christ, who had no sin, was baptized by John: to fulfil all righteousness, give an example, and sanctify the waters of baptism.
Tractates on Matthew 1.3Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388–407 · Chromatius explains that John was really baptized by Christ, and that Israel's crossing of the Jordan under Joshua foreshadowed baptism.
Tractates on Matthew 2.2Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388–407 · Chromatius argues against the heretics that Christ's baptism reveals the Trinity, with the Son a true Son by nature, not by adoption: three persons, one divinity and substance.
Tractates on Matthew 3.5Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388–407 · Chromatius explains that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, which is faith in Christ and Christ himself, will be filled, unlike those who hunger for wealth.
Tractates on Matthew 4.3Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388–407 · Chromatius interprets Elisha's healing of the waters of Jericho with salt in a new vessel as the Wisdom of God taking a body to heal the nations.
Tractates on Matthew 5.5Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388–407 · Chromatius explains that Christians glorify God by good works, and that the lamp may also be Christ in his humble incarnation, set on the lampstand of the cross.
Tractates on Matthew 6.1Chromatius of Aquileia · ca. 388–407 · Chromatius explains how Christ, the author of the Law, fulfilled it by completing its prophecies and figures and confirming its precepts, and sees the cross in the iota and stroke.
Homily 2.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Chrysostom contrasts the shifting, obscure and absurd teachings of Plato and Pythagoras with the certainty, clarity and worldwide reach of John’s teaching, and begins on John 1:1, refusing to rank Father and Son as first and second.
Homily 2.4 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · John begins with the Son because the Father was already known as God, calls him “the Word” to exclude any passion in his begetting, and by “In the beginning was” points to eternal being; Chrysostom then urges his hearers to listen with cleansed and undivided souls.
Homily 3.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Against those who say “was” in John 1:1 does not prove eternity because it is also used of the earth and of a man, Chrysostom argues that “was” of God signifies eternity while of creatures it is limited by the words “made” and “man.”
Homily 3.3 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · John says the Word “was” with God and was God, not that God “made” him as Moses says of the earth; Peter’s “God made him Lord and Christ” refers to the economy of the incarnation, not to the divine nature.
Homily 3.4 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Peter and Paul spoke of Christ as a man to hearers not yet ready for more, as Christ himself revealed his Godhead gradually; but if the Son were a creature John and Christ would have said so, whereas Christ’s words declare his equality with the Father.
Homily 4.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · John, unlike the other evangelists, begins with the Word’s eternal existence to lift up earthbound minds such as Paul of Samosata’s; “Word” means a subsisting divine person, eternal and co-eternal with the Father.
Homily 4.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · As the sun’s radiance is from the sun yet not later than it, so the Son is from the Father yet co-eternal; making the Son later would give the Father a beginning too and contradict Isaiah’s “after me there is no God.”
Homily 4.3 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · “In the beginning was” no more sets a beginning to the Son than “from everlasting to everlasting” does to the Father, and the lack of the article before “God” does not make the Son a lesser God, since John adds the marks of true Godhead: eternity, creation, life and light.
Homily 5.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · John comprises all creation, visible and invisible, in “all things came into being through him”; Chrysostom rejects the heretics’ punctuation “what has come into being, in him was life,” which they used to make the Spirit a creature, and explains “life” and “light” as the Son’s providence and enlightenment.
Homily 6.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · John the Baptist was sent from God to bear witness not because Christ needed it but so that the Jews might believe through a man like themselves; the evangelist adds “he was not the light” to keep anyone from thinking the witness greater than the one witnessed to.
Homily 7.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Explaining “that was the true light,” Chrysostom warns against prying into how the Son can be without beginning, comparing such curiosity to Adam’s fall through the devil’s promise of greater knowledge.
Homily 7.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The Son is begotten radiance of the Father, co-eternal yet with his own hypostasis against Sabellius and Marcellus; rather than pry into God, Christians should repent through confession, forgiving others, almsgiving, prayer and fasting.
Homily 8.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ enlightens every man as far as depends on him, those who stay in darkness choosing it; “the world did not know him” means the earthbound multitude, for the patriarchs and prophets knew him before his coming in the flesh.
Homily 11.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Chrysostom asks his hearers to read the coming Gospel passage at home beforehand, rejecting excuses of business and poverty, and then explains that the Word became flesh without ceasing to be what he was, so as to make men children of God.
Homily 11.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · “Became flesh” refutes those who called the incarnation an appearance, yet implies no change in the unchangeable Word, for “dwelt” shows that God the Word and the flesh are one by an ineffable union without confusion, and he keeps our nature forever.
Homily 12.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · “We beheld his glory” was possible only because the Word took a body like ours, since even Moses’ glorified face had to be veiled; “as of the Only-begotten” is not comparison but affirmation that this was the glory of the true Son and King, unlike the glory of prophets and angels.
Homily 12.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Creation recognized its Master at Christ’s birth, baptism, miracles, conversions and even his passion and resurrection, which all show “glory as of the Only-begotten”; to see his greater glory hereafter we must live worthily, since nothing else will save us from the fire.
Homily 13.3 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · “Comes after me” refers to Christ’s preaching, not his birth, and “has become before me” means more honored, its reason being “because he was before me”; the past tense follows the prophetic habit of speaking of future events as accomplished.
Homily 14.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · “From his fullness we have all received” means that Christ is the source of every good, giving without being diminished like a fire that lights countless lamps; “grace for grace” is the new covenant’s reality in place of the old covenant’s types.
Homily 14.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The old covenant had adoption and holiness in name and by abstaining from idolatry, the new in reality through baptism and a higher life; both were grace, but Christ’s is greater, and “came” versus “was given” shows him as King and the law as types he fulfilled.
Homily 15.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Scripture must be read with understanding, not literally, as when it speaks of God’s bosom; the prophets’ visions of God were condescensions, since no creature, not even the angels, sees the divine essence, which only the Son and the Spirit see.
Homily 15.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · “In the bosom of the Father” shows that the Son alone knows the Father’s essence exactly, being of one essence, eternal and genuine Son; the clearer revelation through the Son calls for a higher life, in which Christians treat one another as members of one body.
Homily 16.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Chrysostom traces the envy behind the delegation from Jerusalem and explains how John answered their hidden intention, refused every title, and pointed to Christ as incomparably greater.
Homily 17.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Chrysostom explains the place named in John 1:28, why Jesus came to John again after his baptism, what “the Lamb of God” and “ranks before me” mean, and why John says “I did not know him.”
Homily 17.3 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · John’s “I did not know him” shows that the stories of Christ’s childhood miracles are fictions; Chrysostom explains why not all saw the Spirit and urges hearers to be able to give an account of their faith.
Homily 18.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · John repeats his testimony because his hearers were asleep; his disciples follow Jesus when they hear that he takes away the world’s sin, and Chrysostom compares John to the friend who gives the bride to the bridegroom.
Homily 18.4 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ came down to take human nature as his bride; Chrysostom explains “the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world,” the conduct of John’s two disciples and Jesus’ question to them, and urges constant hearing of Scripture instead of talk about dancers and prostitutes.
Homily 19.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Jesus begins to show his divinity by prophecy, renaming Simon in humble terms; Chrysostom explains biblical renamings, urges Christians to live worthily of Christ’s name, and teaches that wealth is for distribution, not hoarding.
Homily 20.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Jesus wins Nathanael by showing that he saw him under the fig tree and praising his honest doubt; Nathanael confesses him Son of God, and Chrysostom urges hearers to show their joy in Christ by obedience and gifts to the needy.
Homily 21.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Nathanael confessed Jesus as Son of God and King of Israel in a lesser sense than Peter, so Jesus promises him greater sights; at Cana, Chrysostom argues that this was Jesus’ first sign and explains his reply to his mother.
Homily 22.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Chrysostom explains “My hour has not yet come” as Christ’s ordering of all things at their proper time, not subjection to time, and why Jesus first declined and then granted his mother’s request; the ref also contains, displaced in the scan, the last lines of Homily 21.
Homily 22.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Mary’s perseverance and the servants’ part made the miracle credible; Chrysostom explains the purification jars, why Christ changed existing water rather than creating wine, how this refutes those who posit another creator, and why the sober steward was the witness.
Homily 23.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Chrysostom distinguishes the cleansing of the temple in John from the later one in the other Gospels, explains why Christ acted so forcefully—to show his zeal for his Father’s house—and why he answered the demand for a sign with a riddle about his resurrection.
Homily 23.3 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ left the saying about the temple of his body veiled because it could not yet be understood; his resurrection is the chief sign of his divinity, and the Spirit later reminded the disciples of his words; Chrysostom ends by urging almsgiving as the oil for our lamps.
Homily 24.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Jesus did not entrust himself to those whose faith rested only on signs, since he alone knows hearts; Nicodemus comes by night, well disposed but still weak, and Jesus receives him gently.
Homily 24.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Nicodemus thinks of Jesus as a prophet empowered by God; Jesus, who speaks moderately but acts with full authority, gently tells him that without birth from above, through the washing of regeneration, no one can see the kingdom or rightly know him.
Homily 24.3 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Nicodemus’s “how” shows the folly of measuring divine things by human reasoning, as heretics do with Christ’s incarnation and begetting; Chrysostom urges reverent faith, a pure life, and almsgiving, the evergreen olive that death cannot wither.
Homily 26.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Rebirth from water and the Spirit is a new creation in which the font is a womb; Chrysostom distinguishes Christ’s birth of the virgin’s flesh and his begetting from the Father’s essence from our birth by grace, and explains the image of the wind.
Homily 27.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ speaks humbly because of his hearers’ weakness, calling baptism “earthly” by comparison with his own eternal begetting; he corrects Nicodemus by declaring that he comes from heaven and is there, and joins baptism to the cross.
Homily 27.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ points to the bronze serpent to show that his cross brings salvation without harm to himself; Chrysostom draws out the type and the infinite love in “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son.”
Homily 29.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · John’s jealous disciples complain that Jesus is baptizing and drawing all; John answers that no one receives anything unless God gives it, appeals to his own testimony, and rejoices as the bridegroom’s friend.
Homily 30.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · John checks his disciples’ vainglory by contrasting the one who comes from above with himself, who speaks from the earth, and explains “what he has seen and heard” as a concession to make Christ’s words credible; the ref also contains, displaced in the scan, the end of Homily 29.
Homily 30.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ appeals to the Father and the Scriptures out of condescension, not need; Chrysostom explains “no one receives his testimony,” warns that disbelieving Christ is disbelieving God, and interprets “God does not give the Spirit by measure” of Christ’s unmeasured share in the Spirit’s working.
Homily 31.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Faith in the Son brings life, but faith without a right life does not save; Christ withdraws from Judea to quiet envy, wishing his true humanity to be believed.
Homily 31.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The incarnation is the root of salvation; Christ goes to Samaria only in passing, and Chrysostom tells how the Samaritans came to be settled there and why the Jews despised them.
Homily 32.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The Spirit is called water and fire for its operations; Christ leads the Samaritan woman step by step to see that his gift surpasses Jacob's well, and she shows more faith and courage than Nicodemus.
Homily 32.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The Samaritan woman is led little by little to higher understanding, and receives Christ's exposure of her five husbands meekly, unlike the Jews who reviled him when reproved.
Homily 33.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Faith is the anchor of doctrine; Christ tells the Samaritan woman that worship will no longer be bound to a place, while affirming that the Jews knew God and that salvation comes from them.
Homily 33.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · True worship in spirit and truth replaces the types; Christ reveals himself as the Messiah to the woman, and the disciples' reverent silence leads to a reflection on John's humility and the danger of pride.
Homily 35.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The Samaritans believe without signs and confess Christ as Savior of the world, shaming the Jews; Christ avoids his own country, which did not heed him.
Homily 35.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ is honored in Galilee and Cana; the royal official's weak faith is reproved and healed along with his son, teaching us to serve God without waiting for miracles.
Homily 37.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The paralytic's patient, gentle answer comforts those in long suffering; he is not the paralytic of Matthew, and Christ's command to carry his bed proves the cure, as other signs were proved.
Homily 38.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ's words to the healed man show grace and divine knowledge; answering the charge of breaking the Sabbath, Christ appeals to the Father's unceasing work and so makes himself equal to God, as the evangelist reports without correction.
Homily 38.4 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · “The Son can do nothing of himself” means not weakness but that he does nothing contrary to the Father; the following verses show his equal power and authority.
Homily 39.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ is judge of all so that all may honor the Son as the Father; “has given” means “begot”, and his lofty and humble sayings are mixed for his hearers' sake.
Homily 39.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Humble expressions are condescension; whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father; the Son, who has life in himself, will raise and judge all, as the raising of Lazarus foreshadows.
Homily 39.4 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ's humble words about judging as he hears show the unity of his will with the Father's, spoken to suit his hearers; we should forgive others, love our neighbor, and give our goods to buy heaven.
Homily 40.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ's saying “if I testify about myself, my testimony is not true” is spoken according to the Jews' supposition; he then offers three witnesses: John, his works and the Father.
Homily 40.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · John's testimony, Christ's works and the Father's witness in the Scriptures testify to Christ; the Scriptures equip us completely, and love of money, the root of evils, must be cast out.
Homily 41.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ sends the Jews to search the Scriptures, which testify to him; he needs no human glory, and their readiness to receive the Antichrist will show that they do not love God.
Homily 42.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ withdraws before his enemies, feeds the five thousand after testing Philip, gives thanks to show his agreement with the Father, and flees when the crowd, filled with bread, would make him king.
Homily 43.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ leaves his disciples to deepen their longing and then shows them alone his power by walking on the sea; the crowds, though hinting at the wonder, ask nothing about it.
Homily 45.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Gluttony blinds the Jews, who demand a sign like the manna; Christ points them from Moses' manna to the Father's true bread from heaven, himself, the bread of life.
Homily 45.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ, the bread of life, first speaks of his divinity; the Jews' offence comes from losing hope of bodily bread; all whom the Father gives will come to him and be raised to life.
Homily 45.3 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Faith needs both God's drawing and our free choice; the Son's will is one with the Father's; the constant remembrance of the resurrection and judgment restrains sin and refutes belief in fate.
Homily 46.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The Jews grumble at the bread from heaven; the Father's drawing does not remove free will but gives help, and all who are willing are taught by God; Christ is the bread of life in his teaching and his body.
Homily 46.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The flesh Christ gives surpasses the manna; though the crowds stumble at the “how,” the faithful in the mysteries are blended into his flesh and nourished by his blood, which the old types foreshadowed.
Homily 47.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ insists that eating his flesh and drinking his blood are necessary for eternal life; those who eat abide in him and will live the glorious life after the resurrection, as the manna could not give.
Homily 47.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The “hard saying” exceeded the hearers' weakness; Christ points to his ascension and teaches that his words must be heard spiritually, for “the flesh profits nothing” refers to fleshly hearing, not to his flesh.
Homily 47.3 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Many disciples turn back, but Christ, needing no one's following, asks the twelve whether they too will go; Peter confesses him as the Christ, and Christ marks out Judas.
Homily 48.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ withdraws from Judea as a man and yet appears in the temple as God; the evangelists record even the unbelief of his brothers, who taunt him with cowardice and love of glory.
Homily 49.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ goes up to the feast secretly to teach us prudence in danger; the crowds are divided, and he teaches that whoever does God's will will recognize that his teaching is from God.
Homily 49.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ's teaching is his own yet the Father's, since their teaching is one; he defends his Sabbath healing by the law of circumcision and bids his hearers judge not by appearance but justly.
Homily 50.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Chrysostom explains how the people of Jerusalem contradict themselves about where Christ comes from, and how Christ can say both that they know him and that they do not.
Homily 50.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ shows from the people’s own words that he is the Christ; the rulers send officers to arrest him, and he warns that he will be with them only a little while.
Homily 52.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The Pharisees answer Nicodemus with insults; Christ calls himself the light of the world and defends his testimony about himself as true because of who he is.
Homily 52.3 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ’s appeal to the law of two witnesses shows not merely that there are two but that he and the Father are of one essence; no one can know the Father without the Son.
Homily 52.4 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Chrysostom urges his hearers to glorify the Son by their works as well as by right faith, to be light, salt, and leaven to others, and to see sin’s foulness and flee greed.
Homily 53.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · No one could seize Christ because his hour had not come; he warns that unbelievers will die in their sins and points to his being lifted up on the cross as the moment they will know who he is.
Homily 53.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ says that when he is lifted up they will know who he is, through his resurrection and the city’s capture; he speaks humbly so that the Jews might believe, and many believe, though imperfectly.
Homily 54.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ urges the Jews who believed to abide in his word, promising freedom from sin; they boast of being Abraham’s free descendants, and he shows that the true slavery is slavery to sin.
Homily 54.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ shows that only the Son can give true freedom, and that the Jews who seek to kill him are children not of Abraham or God but of the devil; Chrysostom urges his hearers to seize the kingdom of heaven by casting off wealth.
Homily 55.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Insulted as a Samaritan and possessed, Christ answers meekly, promises that whoever keeps his word will never see death, and shows himself greater than Abraham.
Homily 55.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ says that the Father glorifies him and that Abraham rejoiced to see his day, and declares, “Before Abraham was, I am,” signifying eternal being; the hardened Jews take up stones.
Homily 56.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ heals a man born blind; Chrysostom explains that neither the man nor his parents caused the blindness, that “so that” marks consequence, and that by making eyes from clay Christ shows himself the Creator.
Homily 57.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ heals the blind man with clay and sends him to Siloam, so that his faith may be shown and many may witness the healing; the man boldly confesses that he is the one healed.
Homily 58.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The Pharisees question the healed man, who calls Christ a prophet, and then question his parents, trying in every way to discredit the miracle; Chrysostom shows how falsehood only makes the truth shine brighter.
Homily 58.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The parents, fearing expulsion, refer the Pharisees to their son; he refuses to deny the healing, testifies from the fact itself, and boldly asks whether they too wish to become Christ’s disciples.
Homily 59.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ seeks out the man cast out of the synagogue, reveals himself as the Son of God, and receives his worship; he warns the Pharisees that their claim to see makes their sin remain.
Homily 59.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ contrasts the shepherd, who enters by the door of the Scriptures and lays down his life for the sheep, with thieves, robbers, and hirelings, such as the rebels Theudas and Judas.
Homily 60.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ, the good shepherd, lays down his life for the sheep, unlike the destroyers and the negligent teachers; his knowledge of the Father is equal to the Father’s knowledge of him.
Homily 60.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ speaks of his other sheep, the Gentiles, who will become one flock with the Jews, and of his authority to lay down his life and take it up again, as something pleasing to the Father.
Homily 60.3 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ’s “command” from the Father shows their oneness of mind; he bears silently being called possessed, teaching meekness; Chrysostom urges mourning for sin and mercy, especially visiting prisoners.
Homily 61.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · At the feast of the Dedication the Jews surround Christ, demanding that he say plainly whether he is the Christ; he answers gently that his works bear witness about him.
Homily 61.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ declares that no one can snatch his sheep from his or the Father’s hand and that he and the Father are one; Chrysostom then urges wives to shape their husbands by a quiet, modest life, adorning the soul rather than the body.
Homily 62.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Lazarus, the friend of Christ, falls ill; Christ waits two days so that Lazarus may truly die, then goes to Judea, encouraging his fearful disciples.
Homily 62.3 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Martha and Mary believe in Christ but not yet as God; Christ answers Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life,” lifting her mind from the request for prayer to faith in him as the giver of life.
Homily 63.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Mary hurries to meet Christ and falls at his feet; Christ, showing his human nature, weeps and asks where Lazarus is laid, while some of the Jews slander him even in their grief.
Homily 63.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · At the tomb Christ weeps and is deeply moved, showing his true human nature; he has the stone removed so that the people themselves may witness every detail of Lazarus’s raising.
Homily 64.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ prays aloud at Lazarus’s tomb for the sake of the crowd; Chrysostom argues that his humble sayings are condescension to his hearers’ weakness, while his lofty sayings show his equality with the Father.
Homily 64.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ’s prayer at the tomb is a condescension for the crowd, not a sign of weakness, and his command “Lazarus, come out” shows his authority; the Pharisees, moved by envy, plot to kill him, and Chrysostom laments the envy and greed of his own day.
Homily 65.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Caiaphas, though unworthy, prophesies that one man should die for the nation; Chrysostom explains how grace used his mouth only, and how Christ’s death gathered Jews and Gentiles into one body.
Homily 66.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The rulers plot to kill Lazarus because his raising drew crowds to Christ; Christ enters Jerusalem on an ass, fulfilling and foreshadowing prophecy, though the disciples understood it only later.
Homily 67.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ teaches that whoever hates his life in this world will keep it, calls his servants to follow him even to death, and shows his true humanity by being troubled at the approach of his passion.
Homily 67.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The Father’s voice answers Christ’s prayer “Glorify your name,” for the people’s sake; Christ’s unjust death is the judgment of the world and the casting out of the devil, and by it he draws all people to himself.
Homily 68.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The crowd objects that the Christ remains forever; Christ answers that the light is with them only a little longer, urges them to walk in it, and withdraws, alternating lofty and humble words to suit his hearers.
Homily 69.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Many rulers believe secretly but love human glory; Christ declares that whoever believes in him believes in the Father who sent him, and that he came as light to save the world, not to judge it.
Homily 69.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ’s word will judge those who reject him; his humble language about receiving a command expresses his oneness of will with the Father; Chrysostom urges women to give up costly ornament for almsgiving and so win their husbands.
Homily 70.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ teaches humility by deeds, washing even the traitor's feet to draw him back by persuasion, and showing his love for his own to the end.
Homily 71.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ bids the disciples wash one another's feet after his example, and Chrysostom rebukes those who despise their fellow servants and demand honors.
Homily 72.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ lets Judas go and calls his coming death glory; foretelling his departure, he gives the disciples the new commandment of love as their mark.
Homily 73.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Peter's love makes him contradict Christ, who foretells his denial and allows the fall to teach him humility, while comforting all the disciples with the many dwelling places.
Homily 73.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, and knowing him is knowing the Father; sins are washed away by baptism and afterward above all by almsgiving, but not almsgiving from injustice.
Homily 74.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ's answer to Philip shows that the Son is what the Father is while remaining Son, so that whoever has seen the Son has seen the Father, against both those who sever them and Sabellius.
Homily 74.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The Son is in the Father and the Father in him, and the works prove their one essence; Christ promises that believers will do greater works in his name.
Homily 75.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Love is shown by keeping Christ's commandments; Christ promises another Paraclete, a word that refutes both Sabellius and those who belittle the Spirit, and promises not to leave his disciples orphans.
Homily 75.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ promises to come to his disciples, who will live because he lives and will know that he is in the Father; love for him is shown by keeping his commandments, not by grief at his departure.
Homily 75.3 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ will manifest himself to those who keep his commandments, not as a dream or apparition; he promises the Paraclete as teacher and leaves his peace.
Homily 75.4 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · “The Father is greater than I” is said in condescension to the disciples' weakness and does not make the Son of another essence; Christ goes to his death willingly, the devil having nothing in him.
Homily 76.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ withdraws with the disciples to let them listen without fear, and in the parable of the vine teaches that they bear fruit only by abiding in him, under the Father's care.
Homily 76.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The fruitless branch is cast out and burned, but those who keep Christ's commandments abide in his love and glorify the Father by bearing fruit.
Homily 77.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ foretells the world's hatred and persecution of the disciples, consoling them that they share his lot and the Father's, that the persecutors are without excuse, and that the Spirit and they themselves will bear witness.
Homily 79.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ prepares the disciples for his departure with the image of a woman's labor pains turned to joy, foretelling his death and resurrection and the power of prayer in his name.
Homily 79.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ will speak plainly after the resurrection; the disciples' faith is still imperfect, but he has conquered the world, so Christians, as strangers and sojourners, should not be troubled by death or by insults.
Homily 80.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ teaches by deeds and turns to prayer to confirm his disciples; asking to be glorified, he shows that he goes willingly to the cross and that the Father wills the gospel to reach all nations.
Homily 80.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The Son is true God although the Father is called the only true God; he asks the glory he had before the world for his flesh. Chrysostom then attacks luxury, many servants, and needless wants as slavery, praising simplicity and freedom from need.
Homily 81.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ has made the Father's name known to the disciples given him; that all the Father's things are the Son's and the Son's the Father's shows their equality, and “you gave me” is said by condescension.
Homily 81.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ's commending of the disciples to the Father is said in a human way for their comfort; Judas perished by his own choice, not because Scripture had to be fulfilled.
Homily 82.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Chrysostom explains Christ's prayer that the disciples be kept from the evil one and sanctified in the truth, reading “I sanctify myself” as Christ offering himself as a sacrifice.
Homily 82.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ prays for the unity of all believers, a peace greater than signs, and that they may behold his glory; Chrysostom closes by rebuking those who neglect even their own relatives.
Homily 83.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ goes willingly to the garden known to Judas, throws his captors to the ground with a word, and hands himself over only after securing his disciples' release.
Homily 83.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Peter's sword, the healing of Malchus, Jesus before Annas and Caiaphas, Peter's denials, and the blow in the high priest's court show Christ's forbearance and Peter's weakness without God.
Homily 83.4 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Before Pilate the Jews avoid a plain charge; Christ says his kingdom is not of this world, meaning it is from above, not that the world lies outside his providence.
Homily 84.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ's long-suffering before Pilate; Pilate declares him innocent, offers him for release, and has him scourged and mocked hoping to appease the crowd, which still cries “Crucify.”
Homily 84.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Pilate repeatedly declares Jesus innocent but yields to the Jewish leaders' charges and their threat about Caesar; Chrysostom explains “unless it had been given you” as divine permission, not excuse.
Homily 85.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Pilate hands Jesus over from fear; Christ carries the cross like Isaac and like a victor's trophy, is crucified between robbers, and the title, the lot, and the tunic fulfil prophecy.
Homily 85.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · From the cross Christ commits his mother to John, dies by his own authority, and from his pierced side flow water and blood, the sources of baptism and the Eucharist; Joseph and Nicodemus bury him.
Homily 85.4 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ is laid in a new nearby tomb, sealed and guarded, so that his death and burial are attested; the folded grave clothes show the body was not stolen, and Peter and John believe.
Homily 86.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Mary Magdalene, weeping at the tomb, sees angels and then the risen Christ, whom she knows not by sight but when he calls her by name.
Homily 86.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ's “Do not touch me” lifts Mary's thoughts to his ascension; that evening he gives the disciples peace and, breathing on them, the authority to forgive sins, a gift shared by Father, Son and Spirit.
Homily 87.1 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Thomas, demanding to touch, is met by Christ, who shows his wounds out of condescension and blesses those who believe without seeing.
Homily 87.2 on JohnJohn Chrysostom · ca. 390 · John wrote only what suffices for faith; at the sea of Tiberias the risen Christ provides a miraculous catch and a meal; Chrysostom turns to the longing to see Christ and against love of money.
The Teacher 11Augustine of Hippo · 389 · Words only prompt us to seek things; what we know we know from the things themselves or from the inner Teacher, Christ, the truth within the mind, while what we receive only through words, like the story of the three young men, we believe rather than know.
The Teacher 14Augustine of Hippo · 389 · Pupils learn not from teachers' words but by consulting the inner truth, so we should call no one on earth our teacher, since the one Teacher is Christ within; Adeodatus thanks his father, having learned that words only prompt us to learn.
On True Religion 3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 389–391 · Augustine argues that what Plato could only hope a divine man might achieve, persuading the peoples to seek the unseen truth, has been accomplished through Christ and the preaching of the Gospel throughout the world.
On True Religion 8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 389–391 · Augustine explains that the articles of faith first accepted on authority come to be understood, and that heresies serve God's providence by rousing catholics to seek and open the truth.
On True Religion 16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 389–391 · Augustine describes the incarnation of the Son as God's greatest help to the human race, showing the dignity of human nature, and presents Christ's life, death and resurrection as a complete moral teaching.
On True Religion 36Augustine of Hippo · ca. 389–391 · Augustine identifies the perfect Likeness of the One, which fulfills it without any unlikeness, with the Truth and the Word of God, and traces falsity to souls that love works more than their Maker.
On True Religion 55Augustine of Hippo · ca. 389–391 · Augustine closes by urging his readers to worship no creature, neither phantoms, works, beasts, the dead, demons, elements, heavenly bodies, nor even angels, but the one God, the Trinity of one substance, to whom true religion binds us.
Homily 8Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 390–394 · On Song 4:8–9 Gregory teaches that the soul's ascent to God never ends, since each good attained is the beginning of a higher one, and reads the angels' praise of the bride as their wonder at God's manifold wisdom shown through the church.
Homily 11Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 390–394 · On Song 5:2–4 Gregory urges wakefulness against the dreams of worldly life, describes the soul's ascent from light through cloud into the divine darkness, reads the keys "sister, close one, dove, perfect one" and the putting off of the tunic of skin as the opening of the soul to the Word, and interprets the hand through the opening either as God known only by his works or as the incarnation.
Homily 13Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 390–394 · On Song 5:8–12 Gregory explains the bride's oath "by the powers of the field" as the gospel's "Yes" (sound faith and a pure life), the wound of love as Christ's love for sinners, and begins the description of the bridegroom as Christ in his incarnate economy and his body the church: white and ruddy for his flesh, "chosen" for his virgin birth without labour, his golden head the sinless first fruits of our nature, his locks the apostles, his eyes the church's overseers.
Matthaei, chapter 3Nemesius of Emesa · ca. 390-400 · Nemesius explains, following Ammonius, how the bodiless soul is united to the body without confusion, applies the account more purely to the union of God the Word with the man, cites Porphyry, and rejects the Eunomian union of powers and union by good pleasure.
Voluntary Poverty, chapter 63Nilus of Ancyra · ca. 390-430 · The sun teaches the Son's eternal relation to the Father; the moon's phases teach that prosperity and adversity change gradually and quickly, so neither should move us.
Sermon 1.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Augustine answers that the "beginning" in which God made heaven and earth is the Son, as Christ himself says.
Sermon 1.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · "In him" and "through him" mean the same thing, as Paul's usage shows, so Genesis and John agree.
Sermon 2.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The story of Isaac and the ram foreshadows Christ, whose passion in Psalm 22 is followed by the nations' remembering and turning to the Lord.
Sermon 4.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ is the true light that enlightens all; the apostles and saints are lights only as enlightened, like eyes that receive light.
Sermon 4.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Jacob's kidskins mean bearing others' sins patiently for the sake of unity, as Christ, who had no sin, bore ours.
Sermon 5.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ, who forgave his crucifiers and laid down his life freely, is our model and our price; the Church bears with the wicked among her until judgment separates them.
Sermon 5.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Jacob, who wrestles with the angel and is both blessed and lamed, figures the Church; "Let me go, it is morning" means that Christ is to be held not carnally but as the Word equal to the Father.
Sermon 6.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · God appeared to Moses not in his own substance but through a creature, an angel, as Acts 7:30 explains; God speaks through the angel as through a prophet.
Sermon 6.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · God's second name, "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob," points to his mercy, in which the unchangeable Word took mortal flesh.
Sermon 6.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The rod turned into a serpent signifies Christ, God's kingship, taking our mortality; like the bronze serpent, he heals sinners who look to him, and at the end he restores his body to life.
Sermon 6.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The leprous hand restored in Moses' bosom signifies humanity, fallen in Adam and restored in Christ; the water turned to blood signifies Wisdom, the Word made flesh.
Sermon 7.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Two orthodox views exist on who spoke to Moses; the first is that it was Christ, called "Angel of great counsel" because he was sent with a message.
Sermon 7.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Against heretics who argue that the Son is a visible creature, Augustine holds that the whole Trinity is invisible by nature and appears through creatures, as the soul appears through the voice.
Sermon 8.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The second plague, the croaking frogs, opposes the second commandment: those who teach that Christ's death and wounds were feigned are frogs, while the Church speaks the truth to the perfect and to little ones alike.
Sermon 9.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Augustine dwells on adultery because it is widespread: custom lets husbands sin with slave women while wives are prosecuted, but before God the sin is equal and husband and wife owe each other the same fidelity.
Sermon 9.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · God hates us as we are in order to make us what we are not yet: an image of him, not equal like the Son but like the emperor's image on a coin; agreement with God begins with hating ourselves as we are.
Sermon 12.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Manichees falsely claim Scripture says the devil saw God, while they themselves hold that Christ, who is God, appeared to people without a real body.
Sermon 12.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · If the devil saw Christ when tempting him, either Christ had a real body or the devil saw the divine substance; and if the body was a mere appearance, God deceived the devil. Angels too appear in real bodies.
Sermon 12.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ's visible body was either a deceitful phantom or the divine substance itself, both impossible; the Manichees would make the unchangeable Word changeable.
Sermon 12.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Manichees, who worship the sun though the devil and the wicked see it, are forced to admit that Christ took a body; yet they would rather derive it from the race of darkness than from the Virgin's womb.
Sermon 12.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · All bodies are from God, and Christ took flesh from a woman to restore both sexes; as the sun lights mud without being dirtied, the Word took mortal flesh without being changed or defiled; the Manichee myth itself has the race of darkness seeing God.
Sermon 14.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The true poor man is a member of Christ, who, rich as the Creator of all things, became poor in his birth and passion for our sake.
Sermon 17.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ, silent when he came to be judged, will come manifestly to judge and not keep silent; even now he speaks through Scripture, readers, preachers and singers, but must be heard with the ears of the heart.
Sermon 18.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ came hidden to be judged and silent, and will come manifest to judge; meanwhile, because good and bad share the same fortunes, carnal people deny providence and mock God's commands.
Sermon 19.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · God no longer wants animal sacrifices, which all prefigured Christ (ram, lamb, bull, goat), the same faith being held by the fathers; the sacrifice he now wants is a contrite heart, crushed so that a clean one may be created.
Sermon 19.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The psalmist of Psalm 73 nearly fell because he expected earthly happiness from God and saw the wicked prosper; but happiness has its own country, which even Christ did not find here, so earthly goods must be despised.
Sermon 21.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Masters who claim to have given their "blood" (money) for their slaves should remember that Christ bought them with his real blood and death, and owe him the faithfulness they demand.
Sermon 22.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · "Let sinners perish like smoke and wax" frightens every conscience; but the Psalms often foretell the future in the form of a wish or of a past event, as with Christ's passion and Judas.
Sermon 22.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · God's mercy, shown in redeeming us with his Son's blood, is abundant, but not for the obstinate who defend their sins; the saints who hold God as Father and the Church as mother receive the inheritance.
Sermon 22.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Adam and Eve begot us to death, Christ and the Church beget us to eternal life; Christ has received the inheritance in his flesh as head, and the whole Christ, head and body, will receive it, as the ungodly will receive eternal fire.
Sermon 23.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The psalm distinguishes “men,” saved with the beasts in this life, from “sons of men,” who hope in God; the distinction points to Adam and Christ.
Sermon 24.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Augustine raises the puzzle that the psalm asks God “not to be gentle” while Christ says he is gentle, and begins to resolve it from Christ’s call in Matt 11.
Sermon 25.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The peace we must pursue is Christ, who passed through the human race, prayed for his enemies on the cross, and ascended; we follow him by lifting up our hearts.
Sermon 26.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The greater grace is that through the Word made flesh, the man Christ Jesus, the one Mediator, we were reconciled to God.
Sermon 26.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Elisha’s staff, sent by a servant, could not raise the dead boy, as the Law cannot give life; Elisha himself, stretching himself on the child, prefigures Christ who emptied himself to raise us.
Sermon 27.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The captivity is humanity’s bondage to the devil since Adam’s sin; Christ, God from God, came in the likeness of sinful flesh to pay our price with his blood.
Sermon 27.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · We walk by faith in the crucified, “unsightly” Christ, whose sign we bear on our foreheads; only at the vision of his beauty will we see God’s equity in why one is baptized and another is not.
Sermon 28.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · God is light, sound, fragrance, and food to the heart; Christ, our righteousness, is food that never runs out, and must be “digested” by doing what we hear.
Sermon 28.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · A spoken word reaches every hearer whole without being divided, as bread would be; so the Word of God is whole everywhere, with the Father, in the Virgin, in the underworld, and in paradise.
Sermon 28.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · A meaning passes to the hearer by means of sound without leaving the speaker; so the Word, remaining with the Father, came to us by taking flesh.
Sermon 30.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · What Christ teaches us to learn from him is not creation but humility: God emptied himself to become man, so we should acknowledge that we are sinners and come to him.
Sermon 31.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ, who suffered by his own power, voiced sorrow before his death for the sake of his weaker members; the sowing in tears belongs especially to them, while Paul faced death exulting.
Sermon 36.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The truly rich are those of Christ, who became poor, that is, mortal, while remaining rich as the Creator Word, so that by his blood we might become rich in righteousness and immortality.
Sermon 37.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Church was hard to find while she lay lost in her sins, but Christ, who went up on the cross and slept like a lion, found her, and now she is the city on a mountain, spread through the whole world.
Sermon 37.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Church’s double cloak for Christ is praise of him as both God and man; the Photinians, who call him only man, and the Manichees, who call him only God, weave false single cloaks.
Sermon 41.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The “neighbor” in his poverty is Christ, who became poor for us in his incarnation and passion; whoever keeps faith with him in this will share his riches.
Sermon 44.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Isaiah’s “root in thirsty ground” is Christ in his humiliation, without form or comeliness, yet holding within him the beauty of the whole tree.
Sermon 44.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Church, now spread through the world and sheltering even rulers, is the tree grown from the despised root of Christ’s passion.
Sermon 44.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Outwardly Christ had no comeliness and was taken for a carpenter’s son and a demoniac; inwardly he is the Word, God in the form of God.
Sermon 44.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The unsightly “man under the blow” bore the weakness even of those who crucified him, praying for their pardon; the more unsightly he appears, the dearer he is to his bride, the Church.
Sermon 44.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Isaiah 53 reads like the Gospel; as the Jews fail to see Christ in it, so the heretics fail to see the Church, the bride, in the prophecies about her.
Sermon 44.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Isaiah foretells Christ’s silent suffering, his eternal and his virginal generation, his resurrection, and his death for his people’s sins, as Christ himself said the Scriptures foretold.
Sermon 44.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The “rich” in Isaiah is Joseph of Arimathea, the “wicked” the guards who sold a lie about the resurrection; Augustine closes by urging thanks for Christ’s mercy and fear of his coming judgment.
Sermon 45.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The holy mountain is Christ with his body the Church, one man, head and members; the head rose first, as women first announced, so that the members might hope to rise and dwell on the mountain forever.
Sermon 45.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Daniel’s stone cut from a mountain without hands, which grew into a mountain filling the earth, is Christ, born of the Jews and of a virgin, and the Church spread through the world.
Sermon 46.23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · God says he himself will feed the sheep he rescues from bad shepherds, as Christ, the true Joseph sold by his own and now honored among the Gentiles, seeks his sheep through the fog of this world’s error.
Sermon 47.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The “one shepherd, my servant David” is Christ, born of David’s line: one with the Father in the form of God, raised up as servant in the form of a servant, so that both “I will feed” and “He will feed” are true.
Sermon 47.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · “He will be their shepherd, and I will be their God” shows both the unity of the Godhead and the distinction of persons; Christ, God and man, is the prince in our midst and the mediator.
Sermon 49.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · If imitating Christ seems too much, look at Stephen, a man like us, who spoke sharply to his hearers and yet loved them when they stoned him.
Sermon 50.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Haggai’s prophecy points to Christ’s comings and to the Church; the gold and silver are wisdom and God’s word, which belong to the Lord, so that no one in the Church may boast of them as his own.
Sermon 51.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ was born of a woman, though he could have become man otherwise, so that neither sex should despair: through a woman came death, through a woman the Savior, and women first announced the resurrection.
Sermon 51.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Augustine reads Matthew’s genealogy, which shows how Christ is son of David and son of Abraham.
Sermon 51.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The critics’ first objection concerns Matthew’s three sets of fourteen generations; Augustine first restates the Church’s faith that Christ was born of the Father eternally and of the Holy Spirit from the Virgin Mary.
Sermon 51.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Joseph, thinking Mary an adulteress, showed true justice: he would neither keep her out of carnal love nor punish or expose her, but planned to put her away quietly.
Sermon 51.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The angel told Joseph that Mary’s child was of the Holy Spirit and was to be called Jesus, that is, Savior.
Sermon 51.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Jechoniah, at the turning point of the exile, is like a cornerstone where two walls meet, and so is counted twice, prefiguring Christ the cornerstone between Jews and Gentiles.
Sermon 51.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Joseph was truly Mary’s husband, as the angel says, and was given a father’s authority to name the child, though Jesus was not born of his seed; Mary herself calls him Christ’s father.
Sermon 51.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · When the twelve-year-old Jesus answered that he must be in his Father’s house, he did not deny Joseph as father but affirmed that he is also the eternal Son of God.
Sermon 51.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Mary, though mother of the Son of the Most High, humbly named Joseph first, respecting the order of marriage; she is called “woman” by Hebrew usage, while remaining a virgin before, in, and after giving birth.
Sermon 51.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Jesus was subject to both Mary and Joseph as his parents, an example of obedience for children.
Sermon 51.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ is son of David according to the flesh and Lord of David as God, as his question about Psalm 110 showed; Mary and Joseph were his parents in time, God his Father eternally.
Sermon 51.26Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Israel had a duty to multiply until Christ; with Mary the dignity of virginity began; Joseph was all the more truly a father, as adoption and lawful marriage show that a father’s bond is not made by the flesh.
Sermon 51.30Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The generations run through Joseph, chastely husband and father, whom the Spirit gave a son; Matthew descends from Abraham to show Christ coming down to bear our sins, Luke ascends from his baptism to God to show sins cleansed.
Sermon 51.31Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Matthew’s genealogy centers on forty, the number of our pilgrim life of fasting and continence; the one extra generation either does not matter or marks Christ, who alone is both man and God.
Sermon 52.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Father not only created all things through the Son but also governs them through him, so neither acts without the other.
Sermon 52.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · If Father and Son act inseparably, must we say the Father was born and suffered? No: the Creed says the Son, not the Father, was born and suffered, and the Church excluded the Patripassians who taught otherwise.
Sermon 52.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The objection is pressed: either the Son does something without the Father, or the Father was born and suffered; Augustine refuses both.
Sermon 52.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Augustine’s solution: the birth, passion, and resurrection belong to the Son alone, but the Father and the Son together brought them about; he will prove it from Scripture.
Sermon 52.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Paul shows that the Father brought about the Son’s birth: God sent his Son, born of a woman.
Sermon 52.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Scripture calls Christ born both of a virgin and of a woman, since in Hebrew usage “woman” means any female.
Sermon 52.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Son’s birth was also brought about by the Son himself, since he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant.
Sermon 52.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Both the Father, who handed over his Son, and the Son, who handed himself over, brought about the passion; Judas contributed only his sin.
Sermon 52.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Father raised the Son, and the Son raised himself, for he had power to lay down his life and to take it up again.
Sermon 52.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Summary: the birth, passion, and resurrection belong to the Son alone, but the Father and the Son brought them about together; the persons are distinct and their working inseparable.
Sermon 52.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · As memory, understanding, and will together produce each name that belongs to one of them, so the Trinity together made Christ’s flesh, the dove, and the voice, each belonging to one person.
Sermon 57.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The only Son of God willed to have countless brothers, so that we too call his Father “our Father”; with God as Father and the Church as Mother we are born to eternal life.
Sermon 58.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Having recited the Creed, the candidates receive the Lord’s Prayer, dictated by Christ, their advocate and judge; they will recite it in eight days and the Creed again on the Saturday of their baptism.
Sermon 60.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Augustine turns for counsel to Christ, the Power and Wisdom of God, whose words in the Gospel just read give the answer.
Sermon 60.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · God, who needs nothing, chose to hunger in his poor, so that feeding the poor is feeding Christ, and despising them is despising him.
Sermon 62.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The centurion, a Gentile, prefigures the nations who believe in Christ without seeing him; the woman who touched his fringe shows that the Church, his body, is pressed by many but touched in faith by few.
Sermon 62.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Fear of offending the powerful is no excuse: parents, country, and all superiors must be obeyed only within obedience to God, who is greater; the Church, healed and beautified by Christ’s blood, must forget her former people.
Sermon 62.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christians who feast in idol temples become stumbling stones to pagans and wound the weak, sinning against Christ, who is God; at such tables they learn to doubt his divinity.
Sermon 62.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Like Christ, who suffered before his glory, we must labor for eternal life, which is far more worth labor than money we must lose.
Sermon 63.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ’s sleep in the boat signifies faith asleep in the heart; the boat is the Church and each heart, crossing the world on the wood of the cross.
Sermon 64.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The serpent’s shrewdness is to be imitated in shedding its old skin through a narrow hole, as we put off the old man, and in guarding its head, as we guard Christ, our life.
Sermon 67.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The incarnation is pure grace, by which the Word made one person with the man he took up; the confessing thief shows the same grace.
Sermon 69.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · No one can flee from God, so we must flee to him; Christ, born of a virgin without lust, saw us under the fig tree of Adam’s sin and calls us to humility.
Sermon 71.27Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Works proper to one person, such as the voice from heaven, the incarnation, or Pentecost, are still worked by the whole Trinity; so Christ casts out the divided spirit by the Spirit common to Father and Son.
Sermon 75.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ’s praying alone on the mountain signifies his ascension and intercession for us in heaven.
Sermon 75.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The fourth watch signifies the end of the age, when Christ, once overwhelmed in his passion, is seen walking in honor over the world’s powers.
Sermon 75.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Heretics who deny Christ’s true birth and body are like the disciples who thought he was a phantom; Christ answers, “It is I.”
Sermon 77.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Canaanite woman accepted being called a dog and was praised for great faith; humility grafts the Gentiles into the olive tree, while pride broke off the natural branches.
Sermon 78.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The voice from the cloud singles out the only Son, whom the law and the prophets serve as vessels filled from him.
Sermon 80.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ prayed for those who killed him, and his prayer was answered at Pentecost; he died in the flesh he took from us, so that we might live from what is his.
Sermon 81.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Every man is a liar as a son of men, but those made sons of God by grace are no longer bound to lying; Christ the God-man is the mediator through whom we ascend to God.
Sermon 87.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The human race is a great sick man whom Christ the physician came to heal; one should heed him despite powerful friends who belittle him.
Sermon 88.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ the physician took our weakness; his bodily miracles were temporary signs that built faith in invisible, eternal things.
Sermon 88.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Philip could not yet see the Father in the Son because the eye of his heart was not healed; faith must come first, for we walk by faith until we come to sight.
Sermon 88.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Sin wounds the inner eye, as it did Adam’s; Christ the physician came to us and drank first the bitter cup of insult, pain, and the cross, so that we would drink it and be healed.
Sermon 88.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The two blind men cried out as Jesus passed by; his “passing by” means the temporal deeds of his earthly life, which are read and believed.
Sermon 88.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ’s humbling of himself in time made it possible for the blind to perceive him and cry out to the Son of David.
Sermon 88.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ “passes by” in his humanity and temporal deeds but “stands still” in his unchangeable divinity; faith in the one heals the eye to see the other.
Sermon 89.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Jacob’s anointing of the stone is a figurative deed signifying Christ; Christ’s words to Nathanael recall Jacob’s ladder, for the Son of Man is both above as head and below in his members.
Sermon 91.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Jews could not explain how the Christ is both David’s son and David’s Lord because they saw only his humanity; they have stumbled on the stone and will be crushed at his coming unless they believe.
Sermon 91.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ asked how, not whether, he was David’s son; the church’s faith answers that as the Word he is David’s Lord and as the Word made flesh his son.
Sermon 91.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The mystery of Christ as God and man is opened only to a purified heart, one that loves God freely and seeks no reward but God himself.
Sermon 91.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · No one ascends to heaven except Christ, so believers ascend only as members of his body, Christ and the church being two in one flesh as in marriage.
Sermon 91.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ is bridegroom and bride as one man, head and body, according to his flesh, as Isaiah’s words about the bridegroom and the bride show.
Sermon 92.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Jews, who read in the prophets both that the Christ would come and that they would kill him, could not answer how he is David’s son and Lord; Christians, taught by Christ, can.
Sermon 92.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ did not deny being David’s son; through Paul he explains that as God equal to the Father he is David’s Lord and by emptying himself in the flesh David’s son, and the Catholic faith confesses both.
Sermon 95.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ is the bridegroom both fairest in the form of God and disfigured in the form of a servant, as the two prophets agree; the guest without a wedding garment shows that lacking it is a grave fault.
Sermon 97.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Rather than asking when the world will end, each should prepare for his own last day, since as he dies so he will be found at the judgment; the Son’s not knowing the day does not mean the Father knows what the Son does not.
Sermon 97.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ overcame the world for us by becoming man and rising again, so the Christian need not fear men’s threats but should cling to God and trust in him.
Sermon 99.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · All present knew that a man cannot forgive sins; the woman who sought forgiveness from Christ thereby believed him to be God, and he answered the others by telling her that her faith had saved her.
Sermon 108.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ, who came, departed, and will come again, warns us to wait for the end with girded loins, abstaining from unlawful desires, and with lamps burning in good works, for we became Christians in hope of another world.
Sermon 110.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The psalm’s “arise, Lord, let not man prevail” is fulfilled in Christ: human falsehood prevailed from the flood to the crucifixion, but Christ rose from the tomb and will come to judge the nations.
Sermon 114.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ, who had no sin, took on death for us and so set an example; Paul tells us to forgive as God in Christ forgave us, imitating God as his children.
Sermon 116.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The risen Christ, our salvation, greeted his disciples with peace and kept his scars to heal the wound of their unbelief, for they thought they saw a spirit, an error that became a heresy in those who persisted in it.
Sermon 116.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The disciples, troubled by earthly thoughts, would not believe Christ had raised his body until he showed them his hands and feet; we believe their preaching without seeing.
Sermon 116.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The disciples’ joyful trembling shows how incredible the resurrection then was; Christ convinced their eyes and hands, and even ate, though not hungry, so that the faith they preached would reach a world that cannot see or touch.
Sermon 116.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Heretics like the Manichees, who deny that Christ had a real body, make him a liar; but he showed his hands and feet and said that a spirit has no flesh and bones.
Sermon 117.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Word of God, preached by John, cannot be bought for any price except oneself, and one who gives himself to the Word does not lose himself.
Sermon 117.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Whoever gives himself for the Word gains both the Word and himself, giving back to the Word the human being made through it in God’s image, so as to be remade.
Sermon 117.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Word is the unformed form of all things, beyond time and place, unchanged whether we approach or depart; unlike bodies, which are less in their parts than in the whole, the Word is not less in a part than in the whole.
Sermon 117.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Against the Arians, who argue that a born Son must be later and lesser than his Father, the Catholic faith holds that the Word was born of God without a temporal birth, and Augustine asks for prayer as he undertakes to explain how a Son can be born and yet coeternal.
Sermon 117.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The likenesses fail because light shines less than its fire and a reflection is less than its object, but the Son is fully equal to the Father, as Paul says he did not count equality with God robbery.
Sermon 117.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Creator transcends every likeness and can be seen only by a cleansed heart; for those not yet cleansed, the Word became what we are, and John promises that we shall see him as he is.
Sermon 117.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Those who cannot yet see the Word as God should hear the Word made flesh, given like milk to infants, as a mother turns food into milk; but the Word took flesh without being changed.
Sermon 117.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ, the Wisdom of God, teaches first not the secrets of creation but humility; as a tree roots downward to grow upward, believers must humbly keep God’s commandments in love to grow in understanding.
Sermon 118.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Word who was in the beginning was not made, since all things were made through him, but begotten of the Father; Father and Son are one God, and the Arian claim that there was a time when the Word was not is false.
Sermon 119.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The incarnate Christ is eternally God with the Father; John, who drank from the Lord’s breast, proclaimed that in the beginning the Word was, not was made, and was God.
Sermon 119.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Word became flesh as gold might become grass, and, though the grass was burned, it raised it to the Father’s right hand; those who believe receive power to become children of God, born of God in the womb of baptism, as the newly baptized infants show.
Sermon 119.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · No one should doubt that the Word became flesh or that believers can become children of God: he who descended to share our death and evils will raise us to his life and goods.
Sermon 119.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The almighty Word could both remain with the Father and come to us in a virgin’s womb, since he existed before his flesh and created his own mother.
Sermon 119.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · As a spoken word reaches the hearer without leaving the speaker’s heart, the Word came forth in flesh without leaving the Father; unlike our fleeting voice, he raised his flesh, his garment, vehicle, beast of burden, and temple, to the Father’s right hand, as our hope.
Sermon 120.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · John, transcending all creation and drinking from the Lord’s breast, saw the Word in the beginning; happy are those who understand, and next happiest those who believe without understanding.
Sermon 120.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Word of God is not like the sun, which cannot pass through walls and is in one place at a time, but is whole everywhere and penetrates everything; the preacher sees this dimly but lacks words to convey it.
Sermon 120.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · A human word reaches every hearer whole without leaving the speaker, a small likeness of the Word of God; Augustine prays for the newly baptized in white, that they may not fall back into darkness after the Easter days.
Sermon 121.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ came to his own, the Jewish people, from whom he took flesh and to whom he had given the law and the prophets, and they did not receive him; he existed before Abraham.
Sermon 121.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Word became flesh so that those born of men might be born of God, a great exchange in which the Son of God became son of man; born of a virgin, not of lust, he is the Mediator, neither above us as flesh nor below us as sinner, yet always above as God.
Sermon 122.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ’s promise that Nathanael would see angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man recalls Jacob’s ladder; the stone Jacob anointed signifies Christ, the rejected stone on which unbelievers stumble.
Sermon 122.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Jacob’s wrestling with the angel, who willingly let himself be overcome and then blessed him, figures Christ; Jacob, blessed and lamed, stands for the Jewish people, blessed in those who believed and lame in those who did not.
Sermon 123.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ’s humility is the medicine for human pride; he who changed water into wine at the wedding refused to turn stones into bread at the devil’s suggestion, because his disciples would believe but the devil would not.
Sermon 123.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ, who could work such miracles, hungered, suffered, and died, showing the way of humility; as God he is the homeland, as man the way, and now he is both in heaven and here in need in his poor.
Sermon 124.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · This life is a tribulation between fear and pain, and only the Word who became flesh without change gives hope; the pool signifies the Jewish people within the five porches of the law, its stirring Christ’s passion, which the proud refuse; Christ took our birth and death to give us resurrection, so we should live as strangers in a short and passing life.
Sermon 125.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Only the first to enter the stirred water was healed; the water signifies the Jewish people within the law, and its troubling is Christ’s passion, provoked when he called himself Son of God and equal to God, the Angel of great counsel who is Lord of the angels.
Sermon 125.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Father works by governing creation, and the Son claimed equality by saying “I work”; the Jews’ trouble led to the passion that redeems sinners; one must go down into the pool humbly, and only one was healed because salvation is in the unity of the one church.
Sermon 126.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · In Christ there is what can be seen, a man born of a virgin, and what must be believed, the eternal Word; his temporal miracle is medicine for the sick so that they may come to the vision the angels enjoy.
Sermon 126.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · To understand the Son’s “seeing,” one must set aside the form of a servant, in which he saw with bodily eyes, and look at the form of God, in which he is equal to the Father.
Sermon 126.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ shows himself as man and keeps his divinity for those who love him and keep his commandments, as his words to Philip show.
Sermon 127.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ, Son of God with life in himself, became son of man by taking our nature without losing his own; he died by what he took from us, and we live by what is his.
Sermon 127.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ will judge in the form of a servant, which both good and bad will see; the form of God is kept for the pure in heart.
Sermon 127.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The wicked will see Christ’s human form but not the glory of God, which he promised to show to those who love him.
Sermon 130.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ is the bread from heaven and the Merchant who took our birth, toil, and death and gave rebirth, resurrection, and eternal reign; his cross was the mousetrap and his blood the bait by which the devil lost his captives.
Sermon 130.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ is one person in two substances, God and man; since God has already fulfilled his promise to Abraham by blessing all nations in Christ, we must believe he will give his eternal promises.
Sermon 130.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · God becoming man and dying is more incredible than man living forever; since the greater has been done, we must believe the lesser, and rejoice that we are Christians, belonging to Christ.
Sermon 133.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The danger is that Christ, the Truth, be thought to have lied; but one who promises in good faith and is prevented by circumstances does not lie.
Sermon 133.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ can neither be mistaken nor lie; anyone who claims to teach the truth while calling Christ a liar destroys his own credibility.
Sermon 133.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Whoever says Christ lied relies on the Gospel to prove it, yet the Gospel is only the stream from the fountain, Christ; John, who drank truth from the Lord’s breast, calls him the true light, full of grace and truth.
Sermon 133.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Jesus said he was not going up “to this feast,” meaning the day his brothers expected; he went later, as it were in secret, to give his weak disciples an example of caution, as when he fled to Egypt.
Sermon 134.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Only Christ, free among the dead and sinless among sinners, can free from sin and death; the devil found mortal flesh in him, but only the likeness of sinful flesh.
Sermon 134.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ was “made sin” in that he became a sacrifice for sin, for in the Old Testament the sin offering itself is called “sin”; his blood blotted out the debtor’s bond.
Sermon 134.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The devil found nothing of his own in Christ’s flesh and was caught in the trap of killing the innocent; Christ, the Truth, frees his disciples from the devil and from sin.
Sermon 136.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · As Gehazi’s staff could not raise the dead boy but Elisha, stretching himself on him, did, so the Law could not give life, but Christ came in the likeness of sinful flesh and gave it.
Sermon 138.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ commends one shepherd because all good shepherds are his members, and he must gather his other sheep from the Gentiles into one flock; the bride of the Song, the Church, loves him, beautiful though he seemed without beauty to the blind who crucified him.
Sermon 140.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ has two births, from the Father without time and from the virgin in time; the Son receives all he is from the Father, including his equality, given not to one in need but in his very begetting.
Sermon 142.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · God gives all things with Christ; Christ the physician drank the bitter cup first though he needed no healing, and he invites the burdened to come and learn from him.
Sermon 144.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ’s coming in humility to the cross was mercy, his exaltation and return to the Father righteousness, as Phil 2:3–11 shows; so righteousness is fulfilled in us only through showing mercy.
Sermon 144.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ alone ascends to the Father, yet we ascend in him because head and members are one Christ; he is one with the Father by nature and one with us as the seed of Abraham.
Sermon 151.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Concupiscence, with which we are born and because of which infants are baptized, arose when Adam and Eve broke the first law and felt the shameful motion of their bodies; Christ, conceived without it, frees us from it.
Sermon 152.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ’s flesh, conceived by grace rather than desire, was not flesh of sin, but had its likeness, so that he could hunger, tire, and die.
Sermon 152.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ, who takes away the sin of the world, had no sin of origin or of his own, and went to death freely, not by necessity; so the question remains by what sin he condemned sin.
Sermon 152.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Some say Christ condemned sin by the sin of Judas and the Jews who killed him, a true but insufficient answer; 2 Cor 5:21 says that God made Christ himself “sin” for us.
Sermon 152.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ was made “sin” in that he became the sacrifice for sin, since the Law calls sin offerings “sins”; by this sacrifice he condemned sin, and the law of grace takes away the sin that the law of the letter only shows.
Sermon 153.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · “In the flesh” means trusting in oneself, as “flesh” often means man in Scripture; for those who so trust, the Law only increased sin and made them transgressors bound for death.
Sermon 153.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Sin and death passed from Adam to all, so that even infants are guilty; Christ, conceived by the Spirit and not from sexual desire, frees us from inherited and added sin, for where sin abounded grace abounded more.
Sermon 154.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Christian is delivered from the body of this death not by losing the body but by receiving it raised and immortal, through Christ, the second man who undoes Adam's death.
Sermon 155.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · What the Law could not do, God did by sending his Son in true flesh without sin, who, like the temple tax he paid without owing it, paid a death he did not owe to free us from ours.
Sermon 155.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ had no sin but was made “sin,” that is, a sacrifice for sin, so that we might become God's righteousness in him; why some do not share it lies in God's unsearchable judgments.
Sermon 156.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ is the one Mediator, God's arm stretched to fallen man; grace is medicine, not license to sin, and the faith that saves works through love, which itself is God's gift.
Sermon 157.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Patience in hope requires meekness that accepts God's discipline; Christ, handed over by the Father and handing himself over in one will, is the way and the example.
Sermon 157.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ's passion teaches patience and his resurrection grounds hope, since what we hope for is already accomplished in our head; being scourged is a mark of sonship.
Sermon 160.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Knowing Christ crucified is to hold a wrapped treasure of all wisdom; proud philosophers despise the humble wrapping and miss what eye has not seen, ear not heard, nor heart conceived.
Sermon 160.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Paul boasted in the cross rather than in Christ's wisdom or majesty, because humility is the way to the heights: where there is weakness and death, there is power and life.
Sermon 160.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ called the sons of Zebedee from the seats of glory to the cup of his passion; Christians boast in the cross and bear its sign on the forehead, the seat of shame.
Sermon 161.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Because Christ took a body and is our head, our bodies are his members; anyone who commits sexual immorality or adultery despises Christ in himself.
Sermon 163.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The new song belongs to the new man and the New Testament; Christ is God's salvation, longed for by the righteous of old and seen by Simeon, and the apostles, the heavens, proclaimed him to all the earth.
Sermon 164.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ asks us to learn from him not his divine works or miracles but gentleness and humility; his burden is light as feathers are to a bird, not a weight but wings.
Sermon 165.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The four dimensions of Ephesians 3:18 are found in the cross: the crossbeam for the hands, the upright, the top above the head, and the hidden part in the ground from which all the rest rises.
Sermon 165.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Infants dying in the womb have done no good or evil, so death comes from Adam's sin; Christ's grace alone saves young and old, and why one rather than another is unsearchable, so we should simply trust God's mercy.
Sermon 166.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Paul rebuked the Corinthians for being “men,” and the Psalm calls believers “gods”; lying belongs to the old man, Adam, and truth to the new man, Christ, so putting off Adam reconciles the two texts.
Sermon 166.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Believers are called not to be mere men but sons of God, made gods by grace and adoption, not by nature; truthfulness is God's gift, and the whole person, deified, will cling to unchanging truth in the resurrection.
Sermon 169.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · “We are the circumcision” means “we are righteousness,” not our own but God's, given to us in Christ, who did not grasp at equality with God but emptied himself to make us rich.
Sermon 169.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · True circumcision is done by Christ the rock, risen on the eighth day, the Lord's day; justification is from grace, which goes before all merit, as God saves “for nothing.”
Sermon 169.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The “power of Christ's resurrection” is not only the raising of his flesh, which ours will even surpass by rising from ashes, but our justification, the true circumcision by Christ the rock.
Sermon 170.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Psalm 51:4 is said by fallen humanity to Christ, who alone, born of a virgin without sin, was judged though innocent and so prevailed over the devil.
Sermon 170.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · “The world” means those who love the world, whose prince is the devil; in Christ alone the devil found nothing, while David, though lawfully born, confesses that he was conceived in iniquity, the inheritance of all born of man and woman.
Sermon 171.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Good Samaritan is Christ, near to us by mercy though far by nature; the name means “guardian,” and when called a Samaritan and demon-possessed he denied only the demon.
Sermon 171.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · God was far from us by unlikeness, not place; he became our neighbor by taking our mortality without our guilt, destroying both; the world's joy is wickedness unpunished, while God mercifully chastises now to spare us hell.
Sermon 174.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Paul calls the saying that Christ came to save sinners “human” because Christ, always present as God, came by his humanity; and he who took man into himself is supremely humane.
Sermon 174.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Adam shows what free will does without help, Christ what grace does; Christ's humanity, one nature with ours but sinless, was united to the Word with no prior merit, so we too must seek his gifts, not our merits, and be small like Zacchaeus.
Sermon 174.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Zacchaeus, small and hindered by the proud crowd, climbed the sycamore, the “foolish fig,” as the humble climb the cross that seems foolish to the world's wise, and so see Jesus.
Sermon 174.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The crowd that thought itself healthy blamed Jesus for entering a sinner's house, as if blaming a physician for visiting the sick; Christ made his own blood a medicine even for those who killed him.
Sermon 175.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Those who thought themselves healthy were delirious like fevered men who laugh while the sane weep; in their madness they beat and killed the Physician, who went on healing them as they did.
Sermon 175.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ prayed for his killers and was heard, making his blood their medicine; at Pentecost the apostles' speech in all languages, a sign of the Church's unity, humbled the hearers from mountains into valleys that receive grace.
Sermon 176.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · God made us and also saves us, for no one re-creates but the Creator; his grace goes before even our good will, so we should go before his anger by confessing that all good is from him and all evil from ourselves.
Sermon 179.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Mary's part does not pass, for she was fed on truth, receiving crumbs of the full feast to come; indeed she was eating Christ himself, the truth and the bread from heaven.
Sermon 182.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · John commands believers to test the spirits because of false prophets, and gives the test: every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ come in the flesh is from God; so the Manichees, who deny it, must be rejected.
Sermon 182.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Only Christ is the true light; we are lamps to be lit, and our evils are vices, not natures, to be healed until we become wholly light in the resurrection, when death and sin will be no more.
Sermon 182.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Human evil is error and weakness, healed by God as light and salvation; Christ took flesh without ceasing to be God, and those who believe pass from darkness to being light in the Lord.
Sermon 183.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Arian, though preaching the virgin birth, does not confess Christ come in the flesh, for Christ is the Son of the living God, as Peter confessed, not merely more than a man.
Sermon 183.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The full confession joins Christ's “Son of Man” with Peter's “Son of the living God”; the Arian, who says “in the beginning God made the Word,” denies John's “in the beginning was the Word” and so denies the Son.
Sermon 183.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The true Son is Son by nature, equal to the Father in the form of God, who emptied himself by taking the form of a servant without losing the form of God; the Arian who denies his equality denies the Son and so Christ come in the flesh.
Sermon 183.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Photinus, who calls Christ only a man, denies the form of God and so denies that Christ has come in the flesh.
Sermon 183.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ, the Bridegroom, defined his bride in Luke 24: repentance preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem; so his bride is the worldwide Church, not the party of Donatus, and to claim otherwise is to deny Christ.
Sermon 183.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Pelagian, by making every infant's flesh equal to Christ's sinless flesh, denies that only Christ came in the likeness of sinful flesh; mothers who bring infants to baptism to be saved testify against him, so he too denies Christ come in the flesh.
Sermon 183.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Peter's loving confession came from the Father's revelation, not from himself; when he spoke from his own, recoiling from Christ's passion, he was called “Satan,” showing that both right faith and good life are God's gifts.
Sermon 184.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christmas celebrates the humility of God, which the proud wise of this world despise, and the virgin birth, which they refuse to believe.
Sermon 184.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ has two births, from the Father without a mother and from a mother without a father, and the infant in the manger is the Word who rules all.
Sermon 185.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Truth that holds the world sprang from the earth for our salvation; without his birth and death we would have perished.
Sermon 185.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Psalm 85:11 is read of Christmas: Truth from the earth is Christ born of Mary, and righteousness from heaven is God's gift of justification, not our own achievement.
Sermon 186.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ, made visible by a perpetual virgin, became man without ceasing to be God: one person, God and man, so that the Trinity remains a Trinity.
Sermon 186.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Against those who say only that a son of man became Son of God, Augustine insists that the Son of God himself became son of man, as the creed confesses.
Sermon 186.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Philippians 2, Romans 1, and Galatians 4 all show that the eternal Son himself became son of man; fittingly he was born on the day from which daylight grows.
Sermon 187.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · A litany of paradoxes praises the incarnate Lord, great in the form of God and small in the form of a slave, without loss to either.
Sermon 187.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Just as a spoken word reaches every hearer whole without being divided, so the Word of God could take a body in Mary without leaving the Father.
Sermon 187.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · As a thought becomes speech without being changed into sound, so the Word became flesh without ceasing to be God; but unlike our words, God's Word remains forever.
Sermon 187.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ is both less than the Father as man and one with the Father as God, which would be impossible had the Word been changed into flesh.
Sermon 188.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · No human words can explain the eternal Word, since he formed the mind that makes words and was begotten, not made.
Sermon 188.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christmas celebrates the Word's birth in time, which can in some way be told, not his eternal birth, which cannot; and it shows the love of God who became small for us.
Sermon 189.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ is Day from Day, light from light; in the present night we have the lamps of Scripture until we see God in the morning.
Sermon 189.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Mary, descended from Adam, is the earth from which Truth sprang; righteousness comes from heaven by faith, not from ourselves.
Sermon 189.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Born into misery under God's anger, we are reborn because Christ was born; as Mary bore him in the womb, we must bear him in the heart.
Sermon 189.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The ox and the donkey at the manger stand for two peoples; believers are to be Christ's beasts of burden, carrying him to the heavenly Jerusalem.
Sermon 190.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ has two births, divine and human; by being born a man of a woman he honored both sexes, since the serpent had ruined both through the woman.
Sermon 190.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The speechless infant is the Word; as the ox and donkey know their master's manger, believers come to him as their food and carry him to the heavenly Jerusalem.
Sermon 190.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The psalms and Simeon's song proclaim Christ as God's salvation; the infant in the manger who holds the world shows the humility of God for our sake.
Sermon 191.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The eternal Word became man and endured every indignity, the Bread hungering and Life dying, to free the undeserving.
Sermon 191.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · As the risen Christ entered through closed doors, so he could be born without harming his mother's virginity.
Sermon 192.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · God became man to make men gods; the virgin birth shows his power, but his willingness to be born shows even greater mercy.
Sermon 192.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Psalm 85's righteousness from heaven was fulfilled when Christ ascended and sent the Spirit; the psalms guard against thinking him a mere man, and he chose the shortest day, from which light grows.
Sermon 194.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ's two births are contrasted; John, born when days shorten, and Christ, born when they lengthen, picture “he must increase, but I must decrease.”
Sermon 194.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Word is the angels' food at their heavenly table and, made flesh, our food in the manger; they praise by enjoying him, we by seeking him.
Sermon 195.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Isaiah's “Who shall declare his generation?” fits both of Christ's births: the eternal birth from the Father and the virginal birth from Mary are both beyond telling.
Sermon 195.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ, son of the Virgin Mary, is the bridegroom of the Church, which like Mary is both virgin and mother.
Sermon 195.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ came in the flesh as healing earth for our blinded eyes, the bridegroom coming from the Virgin's womb, to lead us to the eternal day.
Sermon 196.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Both of Christ's births are beyond words: the eternal begetting without beginning and the birth from a virgin who remained a virgin.
Sermon 196.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Word, the angels' bread, lies speechless in a manger for our sake; he will later speak, suffer, rise, ascend, and come to judge.
Sermon 204.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christmas and Epiphany both celebrate Christ's manifestation in the flesh, to the Jewish shepherds and to the Gentile Magi.
Sermon 207.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Almsgiving, which means mercy, imitates the supreme mercy of the incarnation and passion, and should increase as Easter approaches.
Sermon 212.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · At the handing over of the Creed, Augustine explains its name and summarizes its articles: the almighty Father, the Son equal to him who in the form of a slave was born, suffered, rose, and will judge, the Spirit from both, the forgiveness of sins, and the resurrection.
Sermon 213.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · As only Son, Christ is equal and coeternal with the Father; conceived of the Spirit and born of the Virgin, he is our only Savior and Redeemer.
Sermon 213.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The only Son of God was crucified and buried according to his flesh, as an injury to one's tunic is an injury to oneself; we worship the one clothed in that flesh.
Sermon 213.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The resurrection shows what we hope for, as the passion shows what we must endure; “sitting at the right hand” means dwelling in eternal blessedness, not a bodily posture.
Sermon 213.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ who will come as judge is now our advocate, so believers need not fear his coming but should long for it.
Sermon 214.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Son is begotten of the Father's substance, not made from nothing; he is God from God, coeternal and equal to the Father by nature.
Sermon 214.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ's two births are both wonderful; “born of the Holy Spirit” refers to the Spirit's sanctifying work, not to fatherhood, and the one Christ is Son of God by the Word and son of man by the man he assumed.
Sermon 214.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · What Christ suffered in soul, man, or flesh is said of the whole person, the only Son of God, as we say that Peter lies in his tomb though he rejoices with Christ.
Sermon 214.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ rose in true flesh and ascended after forty days; “sitting at the right hand” means dwelling in the height of honor and blessedness, as Scripture uses “sit” for “dwell.”
Sermon 214.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ will come to judge in the human form in which he ascended and was judged; all will see that form, but only the pure in heart will see the form of God.
Sermon 215.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Son is true God from true God, one with the Father; both his eternal birth and his virginal birth are beyond words, and can only be believed and praised.
Sermon 215.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Mary conceived Christ by faith before she conceived him in the womb; his virginal birth was a free gift of God to sinners, not a reward for merit.
Sermon 215.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ's death for his enemies shows a love greater than any; believers should not be ashamed of the cross, and faith in his resurrection is what sets Christians apart.
Sermon 215.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The risen Christ ascended and sits at the Father's right hand as our advocate, and will come as judge.
Sermon 218.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · On Good Friday Augustine introduces the meanings of the details of the passion, which Christ suffered by his will and not by necessity.
Sermon 218.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ commended his mother to the disciple at the hour of his human death; at Cana he had acted by his divinity, which was not from her.
Sermon 218.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ's words “It is finished” and his bowed head show that he died by his own power, as Jacob's blessing of Judah foretold.
Sermon 220.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ died and rose once, as truth declares; the yearly feast does not repeat but commemorates the event, as the “remnants of thought” in Psalm 76 keep festival.
Sermon 225.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Before his birth from Mary, Christ existed as the eternal Word, not made but through whom all things were made.
Sermon 225.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Holy Spirit and the Son himself wrought Christ's flesh in Mary, who, having resolved on virginity, asked how she would conceive.
Sermon 225.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Word was in Mary's womb without leaving heaven or the Father, as a spoken word reaches the hearer without leaving the speaker.
Sermon 231.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ, free of sin, shared our punishment of death to cancel both guilt and punishment; his resurrection on the eighth day, prefigured by circumcision, is our new life, as we die to evil and rise to good living.
Sermon 232.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The two on the road to Emmaus called Christ a prophet, falling back on outsiders' opinions, whereas Peter had confessed him the Son of the living God, a confession that merited the promise of the keys.
Sermon 232.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The eternal Word took death from us to give us his life, dying by his own power; yet the disciples, who had heard him foretell it, lost the hope that the thief on the cross held.
Sermon 233.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · True salvation is not on earth; Christ, the heavenly merchant, took our birth and death, born of a virgin without lust in the likeness of sinful flesh, and killed death.
Sermon 237.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The disciples who thought the risen Christ a spirit anticipated the Manichees, who deny his true flesh and so empty the whole work of redemption.
Sermon 237.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Against the Manichaean claim that a Christ of spirit alone is a nobler belief, Augustine answers that the Catholic faith says more: Christ is Word, human soul, and human flesh, true God and true man.
Sermon 237.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ did not leave the disciples in the error of thinking him a spirit but had them handle his flesh and bones; so those who share their error must share their correction.
Sermon 237.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Word, whose power is beyond even the inexplicable human word, took on a whole human being, including a rational mind, against those who denied Christ a human mind.
Sermon 238.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Against the Manichees and Priscillianists, who deny Christ's true flesh, the Church holds what Christ himself showed: he is the Word, a human spirit, and true flesh without sin.
Sermon 239.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The greedy should seek not the things Christ made but Christ himself, who though rich became poor for us, so that our poverty might be restored.
Sermon 242.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ, Word, soul, and body in one person, ascended with the flesh taken from earth; even Plato makes God keep created gods from dissolving by his will, so God can do what is otherwise impossible.
Sermon 243.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · To touch Christ is to believe in him; Mary stands for the Church, which believed once he had ascended, and whoever thinks him only a man has not yet touched him.
Sermon 244.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · “Do not touch me” means: do not believe me only a man; Christ ascends to the Father for whoever understands him as God equal to the Father, as well as the man who was crucified.
Sermon 244.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Photinians, who think Christ only a man, and Arians, who think him a lesser and created God, have not touched him; the Son is born eternally, without time, and his generation cannot be told.
Sermon 245.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The ascension came forty days later, yet the disciples and Thomas touched Christ before it; “Do not touch me” therefore means: do not believe me only a man, but equal to the Father.
Sermon 245.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Mary, figure of the Church, was to touch Christ once she knew him as the Word equal to the Father; the Church touches him when it confesses, as the baptized do, that he sits at the Father’s right hand.
Sermon 246.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · To touch Christ is to believe him God equal to the Father; those who, like Photinus, hold him only a man have touched him on earth and gone astray.
Sermon 246.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ says “my Father and your Father” because he is Son by nature and we by grace, and “my God and your God” because he was born of a virgin without sin, while we are born with the sin drawn from Adam, which is why infants are brought to baptism.
Sermon 247.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · That the risen Christ entered through shut doors should be believed, not reasoned out, like the virgin birth, his walking on the sea, and the daily miracles of nature.
Sermon 253.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · “I want him to remain” may mean either that John would not be martyred as Peter was, or that John’s Gospel of the divine Word will be fully understood only when Christ comes.
Sermon 254.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Lent signifies the present time of mourning, the Easter season the praise to come; the passion’s foulness, like dung in a field, gave birth to the beauty of the resurrection.
Sermon 255.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The psalm distinguishes “men,” who belong to Adam and receive health in common with beasts, from “sons of men,” who belong to the Son of man, through whom comes righteousness.
Sermon 258.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Thomas, in darkness while he would not believe, was made light when he touched the risen Christ and confessed him Lord and God, man and God, the fullness of faith.
Sermon 261.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The resurrection is our hope and the ascension our glorification; we must lift our hearts with the ascending Christ, but to the Lord, for a heart lifted to him is refuge and one lifted elsewhere is pride.
Sermon 261.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ is always God, equal to the Father; to ask what kind of God he is, piety seeks by believing and learning together under the one heavenly teacher, while vanity seeks by quarreling.
Sermon 261.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Through Christ the man we reach Christ God, who is both the way and the goal; one person, Word, soul, and flesh, he speaks sometimes as God, sometimes according to his soul, sometimes according to his flesh.
Sermon 261.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Both great commandments are fulfilled in Christ: we love God in the Word who was God, and neighbor in the Word made flesh.
Sermon 261.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ ascending led captivity captive by killing death, remains with us, and gives gifts to men.
Sermon 262.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The eternal Son became man, died, rose, and lived forty days with the disciples; the Ascension coincides with the anniversary of Leontius, founder of the basilica, but the star must yield to the sun.
Sermon 262.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · “Be exalted above the heavens, O God” is said not to the Father but to the Son, who was born, nursed, wearied, betrayed, and crucified for us and now sits in heaven, to come as judge with his apostles.
Sermon 263.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ’s glorification was completed by resurrection and ascension; he came hidden to be judged and will come manifest to judge; the devil, the roaring lion, was caught by Christ’s death as in a mousetrap by the Lion of Judah who was slain as a lamb.
Sermon 263.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · “No one ascended but he who descended” refers to the person, not to what he wore; Christ descended without a body and ascended with it, and we too shall ascend by our unity with him, as two in one flesh.
Sermon 264.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ stayed forty days to strengthen the disciples’ faith, but ascended so that they would stop loving him carnally and learn to see with the heart the Word equal to the Father.
Sermon 264.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ, equal to God by nature, not by robbery as Adam sought, emptied himself and chose the worst death, the cross, to free believers from all shame; strong to make all things, weak to remake them.
Sermon 264.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · “The Father is greater than I” rebuked and consoled disciples fixed on Christ’s flesh: he is less as man, equal as God, unchanged by taking flesh as a senator by prison clothes; he withdrew outwardly to fill them inwardly.
Sermon 264.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The forty days signify this age, in which faith in the Incarnation is necessary while the Church, like the ark in the flood, holds clean and unclean; in the end believers will enjoy Christ’s divinity.
Sermon 264.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The same flesh will rise, the wicked to punishment and the good to be changed into a heavenly body; Christ, true flesh, rose first as the firstfruits, and those who would believe a risen grandfather refuse to believe the risen Lord.
Sermon 264.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one equal God; the Son is called less only because of the flesh he took, which is why Scripture never calls the Spirit less.
Sermon 265.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The angels foretold that Christ will return in the same form, as God and man, to judge; his death is to be marveled at, his resurrection praised, and his coming awaited with readiness.
Sermon 270.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ had to go away so that the disciples, attached to his human form as Peter was when he feared the passion, might become spiritual and receive the Spirit; Peter’s confession was from the Father, his fear from the flesh.
Sermon 273.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The martyrs were men like us and are to be imitated; even Christ, God equal to the Father, as man chose to be priest and sacrifice rather than receive them, so we honor the martyrs and worship their God.
Sermon 277.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · We should not define the spiritual body rashly; but God is not a body, is not seen in a place, and is whole everywhere at once, as the Word is whole with the Father, in the Virgin, and in the infant.
Sermon 277.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · “All flesh will see the salvation of God” proves only that all, just and unjust, will see Christ in his human body at the judgment; the vision of his divinity is promised to those who love him, and the ungodly will not see God’s glory.
Sermon 277.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Simeon saw God’s salvation both with the heart and with his eyes in the infant Christ; and the angels at the ascension promised that Christ will return visibly, so that all flesh will see him.
Sermon 279.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ shows himself both “gentle and humble of heart” and the God who is “not silent nor gentle”; his gentleness appears above all on the cross, where he prayed for those who killed him, as a physician for the delirious sick.
Sermon 279.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Faith in the heart must be confessed with the mouth; many pagans privately see the prophecies fulfilled but are ashamed to confess the humble, crucified Son of God, and those ashamed of him now will be ashamed at his coming.
Sermon 279.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · We should not be ashamed of a crucified Christ: what died was the servant’s form he took from us, and his birth and death showed our condition, his resurrection and ascension our hoped-for reward.
Sermon 284.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ on the cross gave the example of patience and healed his persecutors with his blood; Peter, failing through presumption, was restored by grace, and we can imitate fellow servants like Stephen, Marian and James.
Sermon 285.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The cause, not the punishment, makes a martyr, as the three crosses show: the penitent thief changed his cause and was promised paradise, while Christ’s cross became a tribunal.
Sermon 287.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Church celebrates only two birthdays, John the Baptist’s and Christ’s; John was the greatest of men, and the one greater than he is the divine Word.
Sermon 287.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The eternal Word has a birthday in time only because he became flesh; his birthday is that of the flesh, not of the Word in himself.
Sermon 287.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Both births are miraculous, but John humbled himself before Christ, as the shortening days after his birthday and his beheading show, while Christ, conceived without lust, is exalted.
Sermon 288.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · John the forerunner, made through the Word whom he pointed out as the Lamb of God, was born of a barren woman as Christ was born of a virgin; Augustine asks for attention to explain a great mystery.
Sermon 288.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · John, so great he could have been taken for Christ, humbly bore witness as the bridegroom’s friend; foretold by Isaiah, he called himself the voice, while Christ is the Word.
Sermon 288.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The word precedes the voice in the speaker but follows it in the hearer; so Christ the Word is before John with God and after him with us, and John sums up all the voices, prophets and preachers, sent before the Word.
Sermon 288.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · ‘He must increase, I must decrease’ means that all voices, prophets, apostles and Scriptures, fall away as we advance to seeing the Word as he is, which the deaths and birthdays of John and Christ also signify.
Sermon 289.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · On John the Baptist’s birthday Augustine recalls his miraculous birth from aged parents and his father’s silence for unbelief, and asks prayers to explain why so great a man went before Christ.
Sermon 289.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Elizabeth bore only a man, Mary God and man; as the fall came through a woman’s heart receiving the serpent’s poison, salvation came through a woman’s womb receiving the Almighty’s flesh.
Sermon 289.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · John, so great he was taken for the Christ, called himself the voice crying in the wilderness of Isaiah 40; Augustine distinguishes voice from word and applies the leveling of mountains and valleys to the humbling of the proud and lifting of the humble.
Sermon 289.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · John could have deceived the Jews by claiming to be the Christ, but he knew himself to be only a lamp, not the true light that enlightens everyone, and so guarded against pride.
Sermon 289.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · John, the greatest of men, humbled himself so that Christ might be known as more than man; John and the apostles are lamps that shine from the fountain of Christ’s fullness, set on the lampstand of the cross, and must keep humility.
Sermon 290.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ testified that none born of women is greater than John, and John that Christ is greater than he; John knew himself and humbled himself rather than accept being taken for the Christ.
Sermon 290.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Church celebrates the birthday of John alone among the saints; announced by the same angel as Christ, he went before as servant, while Christ, his creator and Mary’s, followed in birth but goes before in rule.
Sermon 290.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · So that no one would think Christ only a man, John, the greatest of men, declared himself unworthy even to loosen his sandal strap, and his birthday is celebrated for that reason.
Sermon 290.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Zechariah and Mary asked almost the same question of the angel, yet he was struck dumb for unbelief while she was given an explanation; God judged their hearts, not their words.
Sermon 290.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Zechariah spoke in despair, Mary in inquiry; her grace and the incarnation are pure gift, and her words ‘he has filled the hungry and sent the rich away empty’ are illustrated by the Pharisee and the tax collector.
Sermon 291.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The barren woman’s son announces the virgin’s Son; John’s wonders, from his father’s silence to his leaping in the womb, are pure grace, since he could deserve nothing before he existed.
Sermon 291.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · ‘What will this child be?’ If John was so great because the Lord’s hand was with him, how great is that hand itself, the eternal Word through whom all things were made, who became flesh without ceasing to be God?
Sermon 291.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · ‘Blessed among women’ does not imply Mary was married: by a Hebrew idiom Scripture calls all females ‘women’, as with the virgins of Numbers 31 and Eve before her union with Adam.
Sermon 291.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Zechariah and Mary used similar words with dissimilar hearts, as David and Saul both said ‘I have sinned’; Mary’s question shows that she had vowed virginity, and she asked the manner without doubting God’s power.
Sermon 291.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Mary received, not merited, the incarnation of the Word in her womb, the bridal chamber of the Word and flesh; asked how, she points to the angel’s greeting, ‘full of grace’.
Sermon 292.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Church celebrates John’s birthday rather than any apostle’s or prophet’s because John’s very birth, in which he greeted Christ from the womb, was itself a prophecy of Christ.
Sermon 292.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · John had his own disciples and even baptized Christ, yet humbly confessed he was not the Christ; this shames those (the Donatists) who boast ‘I baptize’, and shows the greatest of men recognizing the God-man.
Sermon 292.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ was baptized out of humility, as he became man out of humility: equal to the Father by nature, he took the form of a servant without losing the form of God.
Sermon 292.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The voice baptized the Word, the creature the Creator, the lamp the sun of justice; John confessed his own need of Christ the Savior of all, and Christ was baptized to fulfill all justice by humility.
Sermon 293.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Only the births of John and Christ are celebrated; their births are contrasted (barrenness and virginity, unbelief and faith, waning and waxing light), and the similar questions of Zechariah and Mary were judged by their hearts.
Sermon 293.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The voice carries the word to the hearer and then passes, as John’s baptism passed and Christ’s remains; John, taken for the Christ, humbly called himself the voice preparing the Lord’s way.
Sermon 293.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · God prepared John as a lamp for Christ, the day, to confound his enemies: when the Jewish leaders challenged Christ’s authority, his question about John’s baptism exposed their unwillingness to believe.
Sermon 293.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Most High, above all creation, came in exceeding humility to the unworthy, taking human nature but not human fault, so as to heal it, and appeared as man while hiding as God.
Sermon 293.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The hidden God needed the witness of the greatest of men; John, who had his own disciples and could have been a rival, was all the more credible when he confessed Christ as the bridegroom above all.
Sermon 293.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · As the groomsman to the bridegroom, John stands to Christ, who as man is mediator between God and men, wholly God and wholly man; Paul calls the mediator ‘the man Christ Jesus’ because the one God is Father, Son and Spirit.
Sermon 293.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Through the mediator the whole mass of humanity estranged in Adam is reconciled to God; not merits but grace distinguishes the saved, and all, infants included, are saved only through Christ.
Sermon 293.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · ‘All die in Adam, all are made alive in Christ’ means that no one comes to death except through Adam and no one to life except through Christ.
Sermon 294.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · In answering Nicodemus, Christ said the Son of Man descended from heaven and is in heaven, showing one person in two natures: because of that unity the Son of God is on earth and the Son of Man in heaven.
Sermon 294.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Only Christ ascends to heaven, yet all the reborn ascend because they become his members: head and body are one Christ.
Sermon 294.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ alone is without sin, conceived without lust; sinners become his members as the bitten Israelites were healed by looking at the bronze serpent, by believing in the crucified.
Sermon 294.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The bronze serpent prefigures Christ sent in the likeness of sinful flesh, who took the punishment of sin without its guilt and so healed both; if infants are brought to him, they are confessed to be poisoned and in need of healing.
Sermon 296.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Peter, loving Christ carnally, tried to keep him from death and was called Satan just after being called blessed for confessing him; presuming to die for him, he denied him and wept.
Sermon 299.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · ‘Jesus’ means Savior, who came to save sinners; Paul, the ‘first’ sinner, was owed punishment but received mercy, so that no sinner should despair; now he can confidently claim the crown as owed.
Sermon 300.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · At the cross, when all the prophecies were fulfilled, the veil was torn and the hidden Christ was revealed; the Maccabees died for Christ veiled in the law as later martyrs for Christ revealed, so Christians rightly keep their feast and should imitate them and their mother.
Sermon 301.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Judas, the Father and the Son all ‘handed over’ Christ, but Judas from avarice and God from mercy; good was made from Judas’s deed, but he is repaid only for what he did.
Sermon 302.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · We are Christians not for temporal goods, which good and bad share alike, but for eternal ones; the cross marked on our foreheads recalls Christ, who prayed for those who killed him.
Sermon 304.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christians can follow Christ without martyrdom by imitating his humility and obedience even to the cross, by not seeking revenge, and by setting their minds on things above.
Sermon 305.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ, the first grain, teaches us not to love our lives in this world; though he had power to lay down and take up his life, he said ‘my soul is troubled’ because he took our weakness into himself as head of his body, the Church.
Sermon 305.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ laid down his life by his own power and took it up again, as the psalm ‘I slept and I rose’ shows; on the cross he used his persecutors’ madness for our salvation, making his shed blood their medicine.
Sermon 305.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ said ‘my soul is troubled’ not by his own power but to take into himself his weak members who are troubled at death, so that they do not despair but hope in the Lord who chose, called, justified and died for them.
Sermon 306.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The life and truth that all desire is Christ, the way, the truth and the life; love of him made the martyrs strong, and since men, women, old and young have walked the hard road, we should imitate them, not merely celebrate them.
Sermon 311.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The apostles died for what they had seen, the risen Christ, preaching not themselves but him; no one dies for what he has not seen, and they counted the whole world nothing against their faith.
Sermon 317.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Those who excuse themselves from loving enemies because Christ was God should look at Stephen, a man born and redeemed as they are, bought by the same Gospel, which is a deed of purchase for servants and a testament for sons.
Sermon 325.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Martyrs' feasts exist so that Christians may imitate the martyrs, whose example removes every excuse of weakness, down to the girls among the twenty martyrs from Fidentius to Victoria.
Sermon 334.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · God's giving of his Son, the Word through whom all was made, proves he is for us; Christ's death, received daily in the Eucharist, is the pledge of his life given to us.
Sermon 336.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The dedication psalm (Ps 30) is Christ's voice, rising from the underworld; his enemies did not rejoice over him, though those who believe may rejoice in him.
Sermon 336.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ's torn sackcloth is his flesh pierced in the passion, from which our price poured out; Judas and those who bought him lost, while the Christian gained.
Sermon 336.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ the head, risen and no longer pierced, is dedicated first and his members will follow; from his pierced side the church was born as Eve from Adam's; a bracketed passage gives thanks for the new church and its martyrs' relics.
Sermon 337.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · As the visible church is built for gathering, believers are being built as God's temple, with toil now and gladness at its dedication when Christ comes.
Sermon 341.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Augustine announces that Scripture presents Christ in three ways: as God before the incarnation, as God-man and mediator, and as the whole Christ, head and body.
Sermon 341.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Like a spoken word or the idea of justice, which reach everyone whole, the Word of God is whole everywhere, wholly with the Father and wholly in the womb.
Sermon 341.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The second way presents Christ as the Word made flesh, who became man without ceasing to be God, the mediator and head of the Church.
Sermon 341.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Philippians 2 shows both ways together: equal with God in the form of God, and emptied in taking the form of a servant, by which he became mediator.
Sermon 341.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Against the Arians, Augustine holds together “the Father is greater than I” and “I and the Father are one”: the Son is equal in the form of God and less in the form of a servant.
Sermon 341.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Before the incarnation the Word cannot be shown to be partly equal and partly less, as if God were a body with measurable qualities.
Sermon 341.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Since God has no parts or qualities, the Son is equal to the Father in every way according to divinity and less only in the form of a servant: this is the rule for reading Scripture.
Sermon 341.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The third way is the whole Christ, head and body, one Christ as bridegroom and bride, embracing all the just from Abel to the end and joined with the angels.
Sermon 341.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Paul's reading of “the two will be one flesh” as Christ and the Church, and the cry “Saul, why do you persecute me?”, show that head and body are one Christ.
Sermon 342.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The evening sacrifice of the psalm is the cross: the Word through whom we were created became flesh, and by his blood redeemed us.
Sermon 342.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · John the Baptist was a lamp lit from the day, a humble human witness for those who could not yet look at the true light that enlightens every man.
Sermon 342.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Word was in the world as God, containing rather than contained; the world made through him is both the creation and its inhabitants, and it is the inhabitants who did not know him.
Sermon 342.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · His own people, the Jews, did not receive him and were broken off through pride, while the humble Gentiles, like the centurion, were grafted into the olive tree.
Sermon 342.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The power given to believers is to become children of God; since the Son of God became son of man, the lesser promise is credible, and with him our old life dies in the evening sacrifice.
Sermon 344.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ voiced the human will that shrinks from death and taught us to put the spirit's will before it, as the martyrs did; we cannot escape the first death, but we can escape the second.
Sermon 344.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Everyone must suffer the first death, but the second death awaits only the wicked; as people pay ransom to barbarians for a short life, they should seek justice and the blood of Christ to be ransomed from the second death.
Sermon 344.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The life lost must be lost for Christ's sake, not, like a drowned merchant's, for gold; given to the faithful Creator it is found again and can never perish.
Sermon 345.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ is found on earth in his members, the poor, as his words to Saul and the judgment parable show; giving to them moves one's treasure and heart to heaven, as the liturgy's “Lift up your heart” demands.
Sermon 349.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ's passing by is everything he underwent in time; now, ascended and seated, he stands still, and as the unchanging Word he enlightens those who cry out to him.
Sermon 350.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Love grasps and keeps the whole teaching of Scripture; Christ, who died in the flesh and rose, made a new man by the new commandment of love, which is the root of all goods.
Sermon 352.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The crossing of the Red Sea, the manna, and the water from the rock were figures: believers among the Israelites who understood Christ in them ate and drank the same spiritual food as Christians, for Christ to come and Christ come are the same.
Sermon 352.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Moses' doubt when he struck the rock with the rod figured the disciples' doubt when the wood of the cross came to Christ the rock, and Joshua's leading the people into the land figured entry by grace through Jesus.
Sermon 352.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Moses' death on the mountain figures the death of the disciples' doubt when the risen Christ, now a mountain, made Peter confess his love three times for his three denials.
Sermon 354.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ preaches Christ through his body, the Church, which is one with its head; all his members, not only the apostles, must expect the world's hatred.
Sermon 359.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Brothers fall out because they love earthly property and covet each other's shares; the poor should hold to justice and take comfort in Christ, the poor brother who gave himself as our price and killed death.
Sermon 359.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Concord among Christians, love of every neighbour, and the Church's union with Christ answer Sirach's three goods; Augustine urges the congregation of the new basilica Florentia to be their bishop's true Florentia and to hope for the resurrection Christ showed in his flesh.
Sermon 361.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · To the demand that someone return from the dead, the Christian answers that the Lord of all has risen, shown himself bodily to his disciples, and been proclaimed through the whole world.
Sermon 361.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Believers should hold fast to the way, for Christ the head has risen as the pattern for his members, and he called blessed those who believe without seeing.
Sermon 361.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Pagans who dare not attack Christ attack Christians, but the body is joined to the head, as Christ's cry to Saul and the tongue's cry for the trodden foot show; Augustine warns against the claim that resurrection was allowed to Christ alone.
Sermon 361.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Unbelievers praise Christ as unique in order to make Christians despair of their own resurrection; the awakened faith will answer through Christ dwelling within.
Sermon 361.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ could rise because he is God, but he died and rose in the form of a servant he took from us; sinless, he bore our mortality as Jacob wore borrowed skins, so his resurrection gives hope to his members.
Sermon 361.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ's mortality was real but came from mercy, not sin; since he died and rose in the form of a servant taken from us, the servants may hope to rise, and even those who see him only as a just man must trust his promise.
Sermon 362.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The flesh will rise, though not for the same mortal life; the passing events of Christ's life were like builders' machines that raised the lasting building of his risen humanity.
Sermon 362.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Unlike earthly buildings, the heavenly Jerusalem has its foundation above: Christ, its head and foundation, has gone ahead into heaven.
Sermon 362.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christians should hope for a resurrection like Christ's, who rose in the body that was buried and ate on earth, as angels also truly ate with Abraham and Tobias.
Sermon 362.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · In the resurrection there will be the power to eat but not the need; the risen Christ ate and showed his scars to convince his disciples, not from hunger.
Sermon 362.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Some object from 1 Cor 15:50 that the flesh will not rise; but the gospel shows that Christ's true flesh, taken from Mary, died, was buried, and rose.
Sermon 362.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Read in context, 1 Cor 15:47–50 contrasts the earthly man, whose image all mortals bear, with the heavenly man, whose image believers now bear by faith as members of their risen head.
Sermon 362.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ is called "from heaven" though his body came from Mary, because he was born without earthly desire or sin and his citizenship never left heaven; his members ascend in him.
Sermon 364.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Samson signifies the whole Christ, head and body: his strength figures Christ, his lapses the sinners in the Church; his wife is the Church called from idolatry, and the riddle of the lion is Christ's resurrection.
Sermon 364.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Samson in the prostitute's house at Gaza figures Christ's descent into death; carrying off the city gates at midnight figures his secret resurrection, his breaking of death's power, and his ascension.
Sermon 364.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Samson's hair is the veil of the old Law over Christ; his shaving, blinding, and death between the pillars figure Christ's passion, the Jews' unbelief, and the redemption won by his death.
Sermon 369.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · A Christmas sermon on the eternal Son born in time: heaven, angels, shepherds, magi, John, Simeon, and Anna all bore witness to the infant Lord before his later miracles.
Sermon 369.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The Son's eternal generation from the Father, without before or after, surpasses every likeness in flesh or soul; the mind must ascend in the heart, and where it cannot understand, believe.
Sermon 369.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The birth in time, without a father, of the Son who is eternally born without a mother is to be praised and adored; as the devil deceived through a woman's corrupted mind, Christ freed us through a virgin's uncorrupted flesh.
Sermon 370.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · A Christmas sermon on the four ways man came to be (Adam, Eve, ordinary birth, Christ's virgin birth), the last of which saved the others; virgins, widows, and the married each have a witness at Christ's birth.
Sermon 370.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The saints of old longed to see Christ; Simeon, who would not see death before seeing him, recognized the infant, took him in his arms, and asked to be dismissed in peace.
Sermon 370.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Every state of life, boys, old men, the married, has its witness to Christ; as the days lengthen from Christmas, faith should grow, and those born of him should be reborn in him.
Sermon 371.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · A Christmas sermon on Christ's two births, eternal from the Father and temporal from his mother, attested by the openings of John and Matthew; as the days lengthen, the true light has come.
Sermon 371.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Since men could not see God and ought not to follow a mere man, God became man; his birth makes possible our second birth, and explains why he is both less than and one with the Father.
Sermon 371.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The union of God and man in Christ is no harder to accept than the daily union of soul and body; God's humility should teach humble men to love one another.
Sermon 371.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christians, bought by Christ's incarnation and blood and made his brothers and heirs, should hold themselves in such regard as to be ashamed to sin, and so ascend to God who came down to them.
Sermon 372.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · A Christmas sermon: Christ's two births, from the Father always and from his mother once, are both ineffable, yet the servant must not be silent on the Lord's birthday.
Sermon 372.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ came forth from the virgin's womb as bridegroom of the Church: slain as the lamb, he feeds the guests with his flesh and blood, pays his blood as dowry, and is both beautiful as a bridegroom and strong as a giant.
Sermon 372.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ ran the mortal course of human life, drinking from the torrent of birth and death without being swept away; as Ambrose's hymn sings, he went down to hell and back to God's throne, all for us.
Sermon 373.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · An Epiphany sermon: the cornerstone joins Jews and Gentiles, announced to Jewish shepherds by angels and to Gentile magi by a star; through the apostles the heavens' message reaches all the earth.
Sermon 373.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The magi sought the king of the Jews not as a powerful adult ruler but as a helpless newborn, asking the great Herod for the little one in whom true majesty was worshipped.
Sermon 373.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Augustine gathers the whole scene of the nativity and Epiphany into one spiritual spectacle and urges the faithful, celebrating in time, to desire the eternal rewards of the Word made flesh.
Sermon 374.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · An Epiphany sermon: the magi, worshippers of demons, learned by some revelation, probably from good angels, that the unusual star was Christ's, and came to worship him with their customary gifts.
Sermon 374.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · True sacrifice belongs to the one God, foreshadowed by the old victims; Christ is physician and medicine, priest and sacrifice, who changed the magi's way and changes the life of the wicked.
Sermon 375.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · An Epiphany sermon: the ox and donkey at the manger stand for Jews and Gentiles; Herod the fox killed the innocents, the first martyrs; Christ the cornerstone joins both walls into one, though salvation, coming from the Jews, has passed to believers.
Sermon 376.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ's entering through shut doors with a true body is no more against nature than his walking on water; both are works of omnipotence, like his birth from a virgin.
Sermon 377.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · An Ascension sermon: the eternal Word, everywhere present, took the form of a servant, fought death, and triumphed; the double "Lift up your gates" of Psalm 24 means the gates of hell at his descent and of heaven at his ascent.
Sermon 379.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · On John the Baptist's birthday: John, the greatest of those born of women, was the last herald sent before Christ, so that a great man might testify that Christ is more than man and point beyond himself to him.
Sermon 380.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · John went before Christ as forerunner, not teacher; Christ's two births, eternal and temporal, show God made small to heal human pride, the visible man whom we may follow because he is God.
Sermon 380.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · "Was made before me" does not mean the Word was created: as a faster walker overtakes a slower, Christ, coming after John, was set ahead of him in honor, just as God is said to be "made" our refuge.
Sermon 380.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ was rightly set before John because he existed before all things; John's humility ("he must increase, I must decrease") is the type of human humility, which gives God the glory that is also our good.
Sermon 380.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · John "was not the light" only in comparison with Christ, the true light; like the apostles, he was a lamp that had been lit, and must stay humble so that God is glorified.
Sermon 382.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ on the cross prayed for his persecutors, foreseeing that many would become friends; his blood, shed in their madness, became their medicine when they believed.
Sermon 391.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Wisdom 2 shows how the luxury of the ungodly, who despair of eternal life, turns into cruelty against the righteous man, which the preacher applies to those who killed Christ.
Sermon 395.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · An Ascension sermon: "Lift up your heart" means seeking the things above; hope belongs to this life and ends happily when its object, the life to come, is possessed.
Sermon 395.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ came down to lift us up; though in heaven he is with his members by love, as his cry to Saul shows; having already given his death for us, he will surely give us his life and kingdom.
On the Profit of Believing 33Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391–392 · Augustine urges prayer and obedience to the Catholic church and explains that the Wisdom of God took up a man, so that the foolish might have a wise man to imitate, and conquered fear by his death and resurrection.
Acts of the Debate with Fortunatus the Manichaean 9Augustine of Hippo · 28–29 August 392 · Augustine distinguishes Christ's humanity from God's own substance and repeats his dilemma; Fortunatus asks whether the soul is of God.
Acts of the Debate with Fortunatus the Manichaean 19Augustine of Hippo · 28–29 August 392 · Augustine cites Romans 1:3–4 on Christ's descent from David according to the flesh; Fortunatus rejects it, the first day breaks up after he says the Word of God is bound in darkness, and on the second day he restates that evils are foreign to God.
Commentary on Galatians 1.2John Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Paul's apostleship came directly from Christ; Chrysostom refutes Arian arguments from 'through' and 'raised him,' and Manichaean claims that the present life is evil.
Commentary on Galatians 2.8John Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · 'Christ lives in me': Paul's life in the flesh is by faith in the Son who loved him personally; if righteousness came through the law, Christ died for nothing.
Commentary on Galatians 3.3John Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Faith is older than the law; the law brings a curse because none fulfills it, but Christ became a curse to free us from it; the promise to Abraham's seed, Christ, cannot be annulled by the later law, which was added because of transgressions.
Homily 6.4 on 1 ThessaloniansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · The end of Homily 6 consoles widows (God is father to their children and their companion); Homily 7 explains the resurrection of those asleep in Jesus and answers objections from nature; Homily 8 describes Christ’s descent, the rapture and the last trumpet, and proves the reality of Gehenna from Sodom, the flood and God’s past judgments.
Homily 7.2 on 1 TimothyJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom urges prayer for pagans and heretics because God wills all to be saved, and argues that Christ, the “one mediator,” must share both the divine and the human nature, while “one God” excludes idols, not the Son.
Homily 7.3 on 1 TimothyJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom shows that Christ’s self-giving for his enemies should move Christians to love him in the poor, and attacks the love of money and the wearing of gold jewelry as self-imposed chains.
Homily 11.1 on 1 TimothyJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom explains the qualifications of deacons, applies “the women likewise” to women deacons, and expounds the “great mystery of godliness,” the incarnation, proclaimed and believed in all the world.
Homily 18.1 on 1 TimothyJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom explains Paul’s final charge before God and Christ, who confessed before Pilate, the doxology to the immortal and invisible King, which he applies also to the Son, and the command that the rich hope in God and be rich in good works.
Homily 3.4 on 2 CorinthiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · God’s promises are always ‘Yes’ in Christ, and the anointing, sealing, and pledge of the Spirit make believers kings, priests, and prophets; Abraham’s offering of Isaac shows all three, as a king mastering his thoughts, a priest at the altar, and a prophet who saw Christ’s day.
Homily 8.3 on 2 CorinthiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Paul preaches Christ, not himself, and makes himself the Corinthians’ slave; God the Father, who created light, has shone in their hearts with a light greater than Moses’ glory, revealing the Trinity, and has put this treasure in fragile earthen vessels to show that the power is his.
Homily 8.4 on 2 CorinthiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · God shows his power by working great things through weak means, as in the Old Testament and above all through twelve unlearned apostles who persuaded the world to believe in a crucified man and to embrace virginity and contempt for wealth, which no sorcery could achieve.
Homily 11.1 on 2 CorinthiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Mindful of the judgment, Paul acts so as to give no ground even for suspicion, and speaks of himself only to arm the Corinthians against the false apostles; the love of Christ, who died for all when all were dead, binds believers to live for him, and in him they know no one according to the flesh.
Homily 11.2 on 2 CorinthiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Christ still has his body, but freed from its weaknesses; whoever is in Christ is a new creation, receiving all things new, the heavenly realities in place of the old types; God, the one offended, took the first step to reconcile the world through the Son, not counting sins, and entrusted the apostles with the ministry of reconciliation.
Homily 11.3 on 2 CorinthiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · God himself, though offended, beseeches the world through Christ and his apostles to be reconciled; he made the sinless one to be ‘sin’, a condemned and accursed man, so that sinners might become God’s righteousness by grace; one who truly loves Christ fears offending him more than Gehenna.
Homily 17.1 on 2 CorinthiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom shows how Paul urges the Corinthians to give without commanding them, through their own past readiness and above all the example of Christ, who became poor so that we might become rich, while asking only for gifts according to their means (2 Cor 8:7–13).
Homily 23.1 on 2 CorinthiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom explains Paul's careful preface to his self-praise and his 'godly jealousy' for the Corinthians, whom he has betrothed as a pure virgin to Christ, comparing this with Abraham's servant seeking a bride, and his fear that they may be deceived as Eve was (2 Cor 11:1–3).
Homily 26.2 on 2 CorinthiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom explains that Paul's 'thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan' means the adversaries who persecuted him, not a headache, and that God's power is perfected in such weakness (2 Cor 12:6–10); affliction purifies the soul as Scripture and the church's own history show, and the honored tombs of the apostles, where emperors seek their intercession, prove that the Crucified lives.
Homily 29.2 on 2 CorinthiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom explains Paul's warning that Christ, though 'crucified out of weakness', lives and is powerful among the Corinthians, distinguishing three meanings of 'weakness'; Paul prays they will do no evil so that he need not prove his power by punishing them (2 Cor 13:3–9); Chrysostom ends by denouncing vainglory as the pursuit of shadows, a madness worse than frenzy.
Homily 2.1 on 2 TimothyJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · On 2 Tim 1:8–10, Chrysostom warns against measuring divine things by human reason, as the heretics did who were ashamed of the cross, and shows that Paul's bonds and Christ's death are matters for boasting, and that salvation comes by God's purpose and grace, not by works.
Homily 4.2 on 2 TimothyJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom explains the farmer's reward, why Paul reminds Timothy of the risen Christ against the heretics, that the word of God is not bound though the preacher is, and that Paul's sufferings for the elect repay the grace God first showed us.
Homily 2.2 on ColossiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom expounds Col 1:11–15: longsuffering and endurance, thanksgiving for God who made us fit for the lot of the saints, deliverance from the devil's authority, and transfer into the kingdom of the beloved Son.
Homily 3.1 on ColossiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Opening Homily 3, Chrysostom argues from Col 1:15 that the Son, as image of the invisible God, is exactly like the Father and cannot be a creature.
Homily 3.2 on ColossiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom expounds Col 1:15–20 against those who make the Son a creature: “firstborn” does not mean created, all things were made through him and hang on him, and through the blood of the cross he reconciled earth with heaven and men with angels.
Homily 4.1 on ColossiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Opening Homily 4, Chrysostom expounds Col 1:21–24: Christ reconciled those who had willingly become his enemies, did what the angels could not, and made them holy and irreproachable, provided they remain firm in faith and hope.
Homily 4.2 on ColossiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom explains Col 1:24–25: Paul's sufferings are Christ's own, borne for the church as by a lieutenant taking his general's wounds, and Paul's ministry to the Gentiles is God's stewardship, given at the fitting time.
Homily 5.1 on ColossiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Opening Homily 5, Chrysostom expounds Col 1:26–27: the mystery hidden from the ages is God's raising of idol-worshipping Gentiles, all at once and by faith alone, above the angels to share the throne of Christ.
Homily 5.2 on ColossiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom expounds Col 1:27–2:4: Paul admonishes and teaches every man so as to make all perfect in Christ, struggles for those who have never seen him, and wants them knit together in love and fully assured by faith in Christ, in whom all treasures of wisdom are hidden.
Homily 5.4 on ColossiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom shows from Jonah, the grain, Elijah, and Enoch that even visible wonders need faith, and explains how God trained his people little by little through types: barren women and Eve's formation foreshadow the Son's birth from the Father and from the Virgin, and Enoch, Elijah, and Jonah foreshadow the resurrection.
Homily 6.2 on ColossiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Continuing Homily 6, Chrysostom expounds Col 2:9–15: the fullness dwelling in Christ, the circumcision made without hands which is baptism, the handwriting against us torn up on the cross, and the public death by which Christ disgraced the devil.
Homily 20.4 on EphesiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom explains “the two shall become one flesh” and the “great mystery” of Christ and the church, and why the wife's respect and the husband's love together keep peace in the home.
Homily 6.1 on PhilippiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Paul urges humility by Christ's example, and Chrysostom, likening Phil 2:6–8 to a two-edged sword, sets out the errors of Sabellius, Marcion, Marcellus, Photinus, Arius, and others, and begins to refute them from “the form of God”.
Homily 6.2 on PhilippiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom argues from “equal with God” against Sabellius and from “the form of God” against Arius, rejecting a “small” and “great” God as a pagan idea, and explains that humility belongs only to one who could rightly claim more.
Homily 6.3 on PhilippiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Abstaining from wrongdoing earns no praise, so Phil 2:6 cannot mean that a lesser Son merely refrained from grasping at equality; Christ's example of humility works only if the Son is equal to the Father, and “being in the form of God” means being truly God.
Homily 6.4 on PhilippiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom closes his argument against the heretics, warns that God abandons to the devil those who bring his name into blasphemy, as with the vineyard of Isa 5 and with Judas, and condemns the love of money that drove Judas to betray Christ.
Homily 7.1 on PhilippiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom gives the true sense of “did not count it robbery”: the Son held equality with God by nature, not by seizure, and therefore could freely lay aside his glory and humble himself without fear of losing it.
Homily 7.2 on PhilippiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Against Marcion's phantom Christ, Paul of Samosata's mere man, the Arians, and those who deny Christ a soul, Chrysostom explains “likeness”, “fashion”, and “as a man”: the Word, remaining God, truly took human nature, obeyed as Son to the shameful death of the cross, and his exaltation and worship redound to the Father's glory.
Homily 11.2 on PhilippiansJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · The righteousness that counts is God's gift received by faith, not one's own from the law; faith, which alone grasps Christ's resurrection and still more his divine birth, is proved by sharing his sufferings, through which believers are conformed to his death.
Homily 1.1 on TitusJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Introducing his homilies on Titus, Chrysostom describes Titus as a trusted companion entrusted with Crete, dates the letter before 2 Timothy, and explains the greeting: Paul's apostleship as a trust given by grace for God's elect, eternal life promised before the ages, the herald's duty to preach boldly by command, and Titus as a true child in a common faith.
Homily 4.5 on TitusJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom ends Homily 4 with Joseph's kindness to his fellow prisoners and an appeal to slaves and free to win even the wicked by virtue; Homily 5 (Titus 2:11–3:7) explains the grace that trains us to deny worldly desires, argues that greed is worse than sexual sin, affirms that Christ is “our great God,” and describes pagan corruption before Christ, from which God saved us by the washing of regeneration.
On Illustrious Men 13Jerome · 392–393 · Josephus's works are listed, with his testimony to Christ from the Antiquities.
On Illustrious Men 60Jerome · 392–393 · Beryllus of Bostra, who denied Christ's pre-existence, was corrected by Origen.
On Illustrious Men 71Jerome · 392–393 · Malchion of Antioch disputed against Paul of Samosata and wrote the synod's letter against him.
On Illustrious Men 107Jerome · 392–393 · Photinus of Sirmium, disciple of Marcellus, revived Ebionite teaching and was deposed.
On Faith and the Creed 3Augustine of Hippo · 393 · The Son is the Word through whom the Father created all things and through whom the hidden Father is made known.
On Faith and the Creed 4Augustine of Hippo · 393 · Unlike our words, which we make, God begot his Word from himself, the perfect expression of what he is.
On Faith and the Creed 5Augustine of Hippo · 393 · The Son is neither made, nor begotten in time, nor inferior to the Father; both those who identify him with the Father and those who call him a creature are excluded.
On Faith and the Creed 6Augustine of Hippo · 393 · Augustine reads “The Lord created me” of Christ's humanity, the humble way back to God, and distinguishes the only-begotten Son by nature from sons by adoption.
On Faith and the Creed 8Augustine of Hippo · 393 · Christ, born of the Virgin through the Spirit, took up the whole human being, body, soul, and rational spirit, because what he did not take up would not be saved.
On Faith and the Creed 9Augustine of Hippo · 393 · Against those who deny that Christ had a human mother, Augustine explains Jesus' words at Cana and his question “Who is my mother?”
On Faith and the Creed 10Augustine of Hippo · 393 · Birth from a woman could not defile the Word, just as sunlight is not soiled by the filth it shines on.
On Faith and the Creed 11Augustine of Hippo · 393 · Christ also died a shameful death; Pilate's name dates it, and the new tomb, like the virgin womb, was used by no one before or after.
On Faith and the Creed 12Augustine of Hippo · 393 · Christ rose on the third day as the firstborn of the adopted children of God.
On Faith and the Creed 13Augustine of Hippo · 393 · Christ's body ascended into heaven as a spiritual body, wholly subject to the spirit; where and how it is there is not to be asked.
On Faith and the Creed 14Augustine of Hippo · 393 · Christ's sitting at the Father's right hand means supreme blessedness and judicial power, not a bodily posture.
On Faith and the Creed 15Augustine of Hippo · 393 · Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead; his temporal dispensation, unlike his eternal generation, is, was, and will be.
On Faith and the Creed 18Augustine of Hippo · 393 · Texts that seem to make the Son less than the Father refer either to his assumed humanity or to his receiving his being from the Father, not to an inequality of nature.
Unfinished Literal Commentary on Genesis 1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 393 · Augustine begins by insisting that obscure matters in Genesis be treated by inquiry, not assertion, within the bounds of the catholic faith, which he then summarizes: creation from nothing by the Trinity, evil as sin or its punishment, and redemption through Christ.
Unfinished Literal Commentary on Genesis 5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 393 · Augustine explains that God's “Let there be light” was spoken ineffably, distinguishes created light (bodily, sensory, or rational) from the begotten Wisdom of God, and treats darkness as a privation which God orders but does not make.
Unfinished Literal Commentary on Genesis 16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 393 · On “Let us make man to our image and likeness,” Augustine distinguishes image from likeness, presents the Son as Likeness itself in which creatures participate, places the image in the human mind, and concludes that man was made to the image of the whole Trinity.
Letter 1.23Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · "Every firstborn that opens the womb" refers properly to Christ alone, who opened his mother's womb at birth and left it sealed: truly man, truly God, one from two natures.
Letter 1.44Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · A wandering monk is compared to a timid hare and to the restless Euripus; a second letter reads Isaiah's coal and tongs as the divinity and the sinless flesh of the incarnate Word.
Letter 1.46Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Abraham's oath "under the thigh" pointed to Christ, who would take flesh from his descendants; a second letter warns a bishop that misusing the food of the poor is sacrilege.
Letter 1.54Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Against the objection that Christians, like the pagans, have a "mother of God": the pagan mother of the gods conceived in lust, while Mary conceived without seed or corruption, and her Son's miracles and resurrection show he is God made flesh.
Letter 1.66Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Christ told John to baptize him because the time of the incarnation was a time of humility, and he received baptism for humanity's cleansing.
Letter 1.75Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Christ's victory over temptation in the desert encourages a tempted hermit; a second letter says he refused to turn stones into bread because the request was idle; a third commends withdrawal from the city, since Christ blessed the pure on the mountain.
Letter 1.102Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · A reader is warned against teachers who, with fine words, lead the simple to confess one nature in Christ after the incarnation, which abolishes either the divine or the human.
Letter 1.117Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Christ did not ignore the day of judgment but declined to reveal it, so that we may watch every day; a second letter rebukes the presbyters Zosimus and Maron for defiling the priesthood.
Letter 1.123Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · The linen cloth on the altar recalls Joseph of Arimathea's shroud, and the bread consecrated on it is truly Christ's body; a second letter says the suffering belongs to God made flesh, not to bare Godhead.
Letter 1.139Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Paul's "did not count equality with God a thing to be seized" corrects pagan ideas of gods seizing power: Christ possessed the Godhead by nature, and without leaving heaven came to earth and to Hades to save all.
Letter 1.182Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · The merchant who buys the pearl is the new people of God, the pearl Christ; a second letter applies "those who go down to the sea in ships" to the apostles, fishers of men who calmed the sea of human affairs.
Letter 1.193Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Jacob's goatskins prefigure Christ, who took on sinful nature without sin and put its passions to death, winning the Father's blessing for us.
Letter 1.235Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Christ asked who people said he was in order to elicit Peter's confession, the foundation on which he built his church.
Letter 1.236Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Peter's confession "the Christ, the Son of God" expresses the union of the two natures.
Letter 1.239Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · The transfiguration foreshadows our resurrection, and Moses and Elijah attest Christ's lordship over the dead and the living.
Letter 1.251Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · The mock robe put on Christ exposed earthly power as a toy and, by touching him, became a sign of his everlasting reign.
Letter 1.303Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Evil comes from the will, not nature; Adam fell and Christ, truly God and truly man, one Son from two natures, restored him.
Letter 1.323Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Isidore reminds Cyril that the true God became truly man, one Son from two natures, as Athanasius taught.
Letter 1.353Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · "The Son can do nothing of himself" shows not weakness but the identity of will, and so of essence, between Father and Son.
Letter 1.360Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Christ is the bread of life both as food of salvation and as having united human nature to his Godhead, like dough baked in fire.
Letter 1.404Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Christ rose from the sealed tomb as he was born of a virgin; a second letter says the supernatural must not be judged by nature, since Christ is God made man, one Son in two natures.
Letter 1.415Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · The four mysteries of Prov 30:18–19 are read as the Son's divinity, Christ's sinlessness, his passage through death, and the resurrection.
Letter 1.418Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · A bishop is warned against Egypt's "reed staff" that now demands assent to heresies, and urged to hold that the incarnate Son is unchanged, unmixed and undivided.
Letter 1.426Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · The woman's seed in Gen 3:15 is Christ, born of a virgin.
Letter 1.453Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · The wrestler withheld his name from Jacob because it was to be revealed in the incarnation as Jesus, Savior.
Letter 1.473Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · "Glory as of the Only-begotten" does not imply inferiority; "as" confirms, as in "how good is God".
Letter 1.477Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · "Flesh" means either human nature or the fleshly mind, and only the latter excludes from God's kingdom; a second letter shows Christ's descent from David and his ascension with the flesh.
Letter 1.495Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · A zealot who expels the orthodox while teaching a confusion of the Word with flesh imitates not Christ cleansing the temple but the captain of the temple who persecuted the apostles.
Letter 1.497Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Christ is the cornerstone who joins the two peoples, Jews and Gentiles, into one body.
Letter 2.63Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · God wove prophecies into the Old Testament so that they served their own time and pointed to Christ; interpreters must not force every detail onto Christ.
Letter 2.155Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Since Christ's prophecies (the fall of Jerusalem and the temple, the spread of the gospel, the survival of the Church, the anointing at Bethany, his death and resurrection) have all come true, his prophecy of the judgment must be believed.
Letter 2.191Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Pride brings a great fall; the "mystery of piety" is the incarnation, beyond understanding: virgin birth, union of incorruptible and corruptible, salvation through suffering and death.
Letter 2.193Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Six short letters: unjust suspicion grieves the virtuous; ingratitude; not every Old Testament text should be forced onto Christ, though some speak of him plainly; Scripture's "testament" means an inviolable promise; carelessness makes us forget judgment; the mustard seed is the gospel overcoming Greek wisdom.
Letter 3.18Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Against the Arians, Isidore argues that the Son is eternal, and that the titles Radiance, Imprint, Word and Son each show something of his divinity.
Letter 3.31Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Isidore reads "firstborn of all creation" (Col 1:15) as "first-bearer", the Creator, and argues from Col 1:16–17 that the Son is not a creature.
Letter 3.58Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Heb 1:3 shows that the Son's generation is without passion, eternal, and that he subsists as a distinct hypostasis.
Letter 3.63Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Against the Arians and Eunomians: eternity is proper to God, so the Son cannot be later than the Father.
Letter 3.94Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Isidore refutes a Jew who applied Deut 18:15 to Joshua; (3.95) explains the image of God as rule and the likeness as virtue gained by choice; (3.96–3.99) urges diligence, rebukes Zosimus, praises a monk's progress, and defends a just bishop against slanderers.
Letter 3.129Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Remembrance of God heals grief (Ps 77:3); (another letter) Christ is beautiful in Godhead and virtue yet without form in his passion; (another letter) "Do not be very righteous" (Eccl 7:16) teaches the mean of virtue and mercy beyond strict justice.
Letter 3.140Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · A bishop should help the poor without contempt; (3.141) against the Sabellians, the Son is called Word yet subsists in himself; (3.142) Matt 5:16 and 6:1 agree, since good works should glorify God, not ourselves.
Letter 3.165Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Gal 1:8 guards the gospel against demons posing as angels; and (Letter 3.166) Christ's coming in the Father's own glory shows they share one essence.
Letter 3.257Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Isidore reads Dan 9:26 as foretelling that God, with Christ the coming leader, would destroy Jerusalem and the temple for rejecting him, citing Josephus.
Letter 3.266Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Isidore explains sophrosyne as soundness of mind and purity; and (Letter 3.267) shows that scriptural comparisons, like Christ the lion (Gen 49:9), apply only in the point intended.
Letter 3.334Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Against the Eunomians Isidore explains John 4:22 and John 14:28: Christ spoke as a Jew to the Samaritan woman and called the Father "greater" to comfort the apostles, while the Son is equal in essence.
Letter 3.335Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Isidore shows from many Scriptural examples that "cannot" often means "it is not fitting", so John 5:19 declares the Son's perfect unity of will and essence with the Father, not weakness.
Letter 3.339Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Not all of the Old Testament should be forced into prophecy of Christ; (3.340) a sacrament is valid even from an unworthy priest, who should nonetheless repent or withdraw; (3.341) Deut 8:3; (3.342) against the Arians, "greater" implies comparison and so excludes the Son's being a creature.
Letter 3.355Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Against the Arians, Heb 1:3 shows the Son eternal and subsistent; and (another letter) Dan 6:3 compares Daniel with all the officials because kings often promote the unworthy.
Letter 3.374Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Virtue is better than education; (3.375) Isidore praises a presbyter's firm gentleness; (3.376) Christ, the Word and Wisdom, does not reject learning unless it serves vice and idolatry.
Letter 3.402Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · John's repeated "was" in John 1:1 proclaims the Word's eternity against the Arian claim that he came from nothing.
Letter 4.22Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Christ's self-emptying is an example of humility only because he is equal with God by nature; a true son can stoop without risk to his rank, as an adopted slave could not.
Letter 4.46Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Two letters: Paul no longer knows Christ according to the flesh because kinship by virtue counts more than kinship by blood; God sees everything, punishes the unrepentant, and receives those who confess.
Letter 4.72Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Two letters: power is spoiled by the will of those who use it, not by fortune; the ark, mercy seat, cherubim, manna, and Aaron's rod signify the faithful soul and above all Christ, the propitiation.
Letter 4.93Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Five letters: the highest blessing belongs to those falsely reviled for Christ, whose words imply his divinity; God judges hidden motives, so we must not judge unclear things; the call to suffer wrong licenses no one to defraud; Christ refused pity for a willing passion; his crucifiers were guilty though God used their crime.
Letter 4.99Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Against the many errors about God, Christ, and the Spirit, one should follow the Council of Nicaea, which taught the truth by divine inspiration.
Letter 4.128Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Christ died willingly: he could have saved himself by his power, by a defence that Pilate favoured, or by appeal to Caesar, but chose none of them.
Letter 4.139Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Ten letters: rebuke sin with love and bear abuse; Scripture serves salvation, not glory; the law's exclusions of the unclean restrain incontinence and figure sinners; John 1:1 teaches the Son's consubstantial and eternal begetting; rulers must govern in piety and justice; an untitled protest against a peace sworn with pagan oaths; the pastor's art of varied remedies; Christ freed us from fear of death by teaching judgment and resurrection; Hebrews' rest is heavenly; flattery of the wicked shares their guilt.
Letter 4.165Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Two letters: virginity is given not by lot but to those who seek divine help and discipline themselves; the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ essentially, so his lowly words fit God made man, while his divine words could not fit a mere man.
Letter 4.202Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Two letters: the incarnate Word made all people taught by God; prophecy mixes present and future, as Psalm 72 speaks partly of Solomon and mostly of Christ, so interpreters must keep both the historical and the spiritual sense without forcing either.
Letter 4.217Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · The witnesses against Jesus testified falsely because he had said "You destroy, and I will raise," speaking of his body, not that he himself would destroy the temple.
Letter 4.225Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Isidore quotes Josephus's testimony to Jesus as evidence from a Jewish witness against the unbelief of the Jews.
Letter 5.20Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Whether advice succeeds depends on the hearer's free will, as Christ's failure to cure Judas's avarice shows; the blame belongs to the one who will not listen.
Letter 5.28Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Isidore consoles Didymus on his brother's death, attacks the buyers of church office, warns of the devil's hidden snares, argues from Scripture that the Son is not a creature, sums up ethics in the Golden Rule, and condemns those who worship creation; a second letter rebukes three clerics for luxury and lechery.
Letter 5.272Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Isidore agrees that wicked clergy threaten to obscure Christ's work by giving unbelievers cause to blaspheme.
Letter 5.335Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Christ bids us imitate God and himself so that, aiming at the highest, we may attain what we can, as children copy a master's fine letters.
Letter 5.339Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Since God's attributes exceed us, we imitate him in what is natural to us, humility, as Scripture calls us dust, worms and grass and as Christ humbled himself.
Letter 5.442Isidore of Pelusium · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Christ's failure to persuade Judas shows that persuasion depends on the hearer's free will, which is also why judgment is just.
Against Jovinianus 1.31Jerome · 393 · Jerome applies the "garden enclosed" of the Song to the Virgin Mary and finds further praise of virginity in the Song.
Against Jovinianus 1.32Jerome · 393 · Jerome defends the reading "virgin" in Isa 7:14 from the Hebrew almah and argues that God chose a virgin, not a married woman or widow, to bear his Son.
Against Jovinianus 1.36Jerome · 393 · Jerome answers the objections that universal virginity would end the human race and that the genital organs show we are made for intercourse.
Against Jovinianus 1.42Jerome · 393 · Jerome cites pagan and Indian traditions of virgin births and virgin women.
Against Jovinianus 2.2Jerome · 393 · Jerome answers from 1 John itself that the baptized can sin and need Christ as their advocate.
Against Jovinianus 2.29Jerome · 393 · Jerome argues that the temple and body of Christ have many parts and degrees, and that believers are one with God by grace, not by nature, through the sacrament and the Spirit.
Poem 6, lines 96–127Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · Zechariah is struck dumb and repents; Elizabeth conceives; Gabriel announces to the virgin Mary that she will conceive by the Word of God the eternal creator, who will take a mortal body.
Poem 6, lines 128–158Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · Mary believes and conceives; prompted by the unborn Christ, she visits Elizabeth, whose unborn son John stirs and fills her with prophetic understanding, and Elizabeth greets Mary as mother of the Lord.
Poem 8, lines 1–32 (VIII)Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · A verse paraphrase of Psalm 2: the nations rage against the Lord and his Christ, the Father declares him his Son and heir, and rulers are urged to serve God with fear and joy before the judgment.
Poem 10, lines 33–64Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · Christ forbids vain literature and philosophy, which obscure the truth; he is the light, way, and power of God, who became man to unite humanity with God, and claims the whole of a person's life.
Poem 19, lines 608–636Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · Paulinus describes the stolen cross: the cross is depicted either as a T-shape like a ship's mast or as a monogram combining the letters of Christ's name, signifying the Trinity and the incarnation.
Poem 19, lines 637–671Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · The central rod signifies Christ's reign, the four arms his reach to the whole world, and the alpha and omega his embrace of heaven and hell; the restored cross combines both forms.
Poem 19, lines 703–730Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · Paulinus rebukes the thief for fearing the cross yet stealing it, and ends the poem with a hymn of praise to the cross.
Poem 20, lines 32–64Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · Christ is the Christian's true music: by uniting God and man in himself he restored the broken lyre of human nature, renewed it on the cross, and made of all nations one body singing God's praise.
Poem 22, lines 33–63Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · Instead of Epicurean cosmology and pagan myths of creation, Jovius should learn from Moses how God made the world and humanity in his image, and from John that the Word, who is God, made all things.
Poem 23, lines 1–32 (XXIII)Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · Felix's feast is spring for Paulinus even in midwinter; he asks Christ, who saved the world with a drop of blood, to make him sing like the nightingale.
Poem 23, lines 282–316Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · Only the hand that made all things, Christ, could have held the hook without injuring the eye, the same Christ who healed the man born blind with clay as he had formed Adam from clay.
Poem 25, lines 129–160Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · Herod's pride in his robes brought a loathsome death; the cleric and his wife should love each other's inner beauty, with Christ as head, Christ present as at Cana, and Mary, the virgin mother of God, honouring their marriage.
Poem 26, lines 195–226Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · As Isaiah interceded for Hezekiah, Felix will intercede for Nola, bearing its burdens as Christ bore our sins; saints have always prayed for sinners, as Moses for Israel and Lot for Zoar.
Poem 27, lines 257–287Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · The three rods signify baptism in the threefold name, by which the church conceives children; allegorically the plane is the Spirit overshadowing Mary, the storax the virgin of David's line, the nut Christ, bitter in the cross and food within.
Poem 27, lines 288–319Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · Christ, our life, hung on the tree for us; nothing can repay his love, since he took the form of a servant and bought us with his blood; Paulinus attributes his lofty theme to Niceta's inspiring presence.
Poem 31, lines 31–62Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · Celsus died of a throat swelling; Paulinus urges his parents not to grieve excessively for a soul with God, and turns to Christ, who took the form of a servant to free humanity.
Poem 31, lines 63–94Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · When neither law nor prophets could heal humanity enslaved to sin and death, the Father sent the Son, who became man without sin, God and man together.
Poem 31, lines 95–126Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · Christ took a mortal body without sin, so death had no claim on him and, having unjustly seized him, lost its hold on humanity; he showed both his human weaknesses and his divine power.
Poem 31, lines 127–158Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · On the cross Christ suffered as man and acted as God, giving paradise to the believing robber; he rose in the same body and let Thomas touch it, so that believers may be sure of their own bodily resurrection.
Poem 31, lines 159–188Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · In Paulinus's paraphrase the risen Christ shows his wounds and declares that he has conquered death in the body and restored Adam; no greater consolation is possible.
Poem 31, lines 315–346Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · Ezekiel saw dry bones rise; Christ, the life, proved it when at his death he harrowed hell, the tombs opened, the sun was darkened and the temple veil was torn, foreshadowing the temple's destruction.
Poem 32, lines 161–190Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · The speaker confesses one God, Father and Son of one substance and power; Christ the Word made the world from chaos, ordering sky, earth, sea and air, above which, beyond seven heavens, God dwells in inaccessible light.
Poem 32, lines 191–220Paulinus of Nola · ca. 393–431 · The world, cosmos or mundus, was made by the Word; believing in one God is not enough without honouring his Word, who is as invisible as the Father, created all things with him, and saves the world.
Against Adimantus, a Disciple of Mani 9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 394 · Augustine answers the claim that Old Testament theophanies contradict John 1:18: the Son, the Word, made the Father known through angels and visible creatures, while God himself is seen only by the pure in heart.
Against Adimantus, a Disciple of Mani 21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 394 · Augustine answers the use of Deut 21:23 against Christ's call to take up the cross: the curse falls on the death and mortality Christ took on, as Paul teaches in Gal 3:13, prefigured by the bronze serpent.
Letters 11.8Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Continuing the image of the fleece, Paulinus says Christ the shepherd has shorn and watered Sulpicius, and that Christ himself, the shorn Lamb, is both priest and victim.
Letters 12.2Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus prays for speech and traces God’s work of restoring mankind from Abel and Seth through Noah and Abraham to Christ, who fulfilled the law and the prophets.
Letters 12.3Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus says that sin had made mankind incurable by human means, so the Creator himself came in the form of a servant and died to remake us.
Letters 12.4Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus explains that Christ undid pride by humility, and that the Christian must keep the king’s highway between sin and proud presumption, unlike the philosophers.
Letters 12.6Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus explains that Christ, crucified in the likeness of sinful flesh, broke down the wall of sin between God and man and ended the war of flesh against spirit within each believer.
Letters 13.25Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus rejects pagan teachings on the afterlife, such as transmigration of souls, and grounds Christian hope in Christ’s promise and his bodily resurrection.
Letters 13.26Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus says the resurrection is certain because the Spirit is God’s pledge in us and Christ’s flesh our pledge in God, Christ bridging the gap between mortal and divine.
Letters 19.3Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus asks Delphinus to pray that God tend the vines he planted, and interprets the “voluntary rain” of Psalm 68 as Christ, who freely humbled himself to the cross.
Letters 21.4Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus shows how the prologue of John refutes Arius, Sabellius, Photinus, Marcion, the Manichees and the Gnostics, and how the Word became flesh without ceasing to be God.
Letters 23.2Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus thanks Sulpicius for sending, besides his letter, a holy companion as bearer, and says that Christ grows to maturity in Sulpicius’s soul.
Letters 23.7Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus jokes that Victor’s bean porridge recalls Ezekiel’s bread and Elisha’s pot, and turns this into a meditation on Christ, who took our flesh like a pot to make it food of life.
Letters 23.14Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus reads Samson’s killing more enemies in his death than in his life as a figure of Christ’s passion, and expounds the Good Samaritan as Christ healing mankind.
Letters 23.15Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus explains that Christ, God and man, born of a virgin without sin, redeemed mankind by being unjustly killed by the devil, who therefore lost his claim over believers.
Letters 23.16Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus interprets Samson’s riddle of the lion and the honey as Christ, the Lion of Judah, who died and rose and gives sweet food, and who “eats” our sins to give us life.
Letters 23.39Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus contrasts the believing woman, saved by her faith and service, with the unbelieving Pharisee who invited Christ as a mere man.
Letters 23.44Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus explains that man, deceived by the devil, was punished only for a time, while the devil, the author of sin, is punished forever, and that God became man to defeat the devil through the nature he had deceived.
Letters 23.45Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus asks how he can repay Christ for his incarnation and passion, and answers that only love can be given in return.
Letters 24.9Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · The Christian must keep chaste and follow Christ, who came down to restore the divine likeness lost in Adam, and must above all guard his heart.
Letters 24.18Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus asks why one must ‘be still’ to see God, when all, even pagans and busy men, already see from creation that God exists.
Letters 24.19Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · That God exists all can see, but that God is in Christ is seen only by those freed from earthly cares, since the incarnation is foolishness to the world.
Letters 24.20Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Selling goods only prepares the price of the pearl and clears the ground for building; once cleared, the heart reveals its hidden sins.
Letters 24.23Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus asks for prayer that God give victory over flesh, devil, and death, as Abraham overcame the four kings by the figure of the cross, the T of three hundred.
Letters 29.7Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus justifies beginning Melania’s praise with her noble ancestry by Luke’s account of John the Baptist’s priestly parents and the genealogies of Christ.
Letters 29.9Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Like Hannah offering Samuel and Abraham offering Isaac, Melania gave her only son wholly to Christ, and was rewarded by seeing him again.
Letters 30.4Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Adam and Eve both saw and were blind; Christ came to blind the eyes of sin and open the eyes of innocence, killing the old man on the cross and raising the new.
Letters 32.17Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus sends the apse picture and inscriptions for his basilica at Fundi, depicting Christ as the lamb and judge, with relics of Andrew, Luke, Nazarius, Protasius, and Gervasius.
Letters 32.25Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Christ must often cleanse the temple of the heart and, as at the pool of Bethesda, heal the soul’s diseases and lead it to the house not made with hands.
Letters 36.4Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · True peace is Christ’s, who joins God and man in himself and, where body and soul agree, dwells with the Father and Spirit in the heart.
Letters 37.2Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus wishes Victricius had come as a physician to the sick; Christ’s medicine, his assumption of our flesh, is still at work against sin in him.
Letters 37.6Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Victricius confesses Christ truly God and truly man, with a human rational soul and mind, against Apollinaris, for only a whole assumption brings full salvation.
Letters 38.1Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus praises Aper’s confession of Christ crucified as God and reassures him that, though untaught, he possesses true wisdom, as Paul counted worldly learning as dung.
Letters 38.3Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Christ, who has suffered in all his saints from Abel onward, is the one the world hates in Aper; humility in Christ reverses Adam’s pride.
Letters 40.8Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · The lone sparrow on the housetop is Christ, Wisdom, who fell and rose; the penitent who follows him attains the height of perfection.
Letters 41.3Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus prays that Christ may be their head and their oil, and closes, fearing to weary Sanctus and Amandus.
Letters 42.2Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus praises Florentius as a shepherd chosen by Christ, who is both Lamb and Shepherd, God and man.
Letters 42.4Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus hopes to follow in Florentius’s footsteps to Christ, the rock that followed Israel, founds the house, and poured out water and blood.
Letters 50.4Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · God made his will wonderful among Israel by the law and by the incarnation and miracles of Christ, yet their unbelief multiplied their infirmities.
Letters 50.15Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus asks why the risen Christ, in the same body, was sometimes not recognized by those who knew him.
Letters 50.16Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus suggests that Christ’s ‘Do not touch me’ refers to Mary Magdalene’s not yet having grasped by faith that he is God.
Letters 50.17Paulinus of Nola · ca. 394–413 · Paulinus asks whether Simeon’s sword means a passion of Mary or her grief at the cross, and reads Christ’s giving her to John as showing she had no other son.
On Continence 11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 395 · In Scripture 'flesh' often means the whole man, so living 'according to the flesh' means living according to oneself rather than according to God.
On Continence 23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 395 · The three ordered pairs of Christ and church, husband and wife, spirit and flesh are all good, against the Manichaean teachings on Christ's flesh, the body and the sexes.
On Continence 24Augustine of Hippo · ca. 395 · Augustine answers Manichaean teachings on Christ's flesh, the church, the sexes and the body with Paul's own words.
On the Faith against the Manichaeans 21Evodius of Uzalis · ca. 400-424 · Christ suffered freely, out of mercy, to give an example of patience, unlike Mani's god, who suffered by necessity.
On the Faith against the Manichaeans 22Evodius of Uzalis · ca. 400-424 · Christ was truly born of the virgin Mary, as the Gospel says; rejecting parts of Scripture at will leaves no rule for correcting error.
On the Faith against the Manichaeans 23Evodius of Uzalis · ca. 400-424 · As death came through a woman, life came through a woman; God's power is no more defiled in Mary's womb than in the saints in whom it dwells.
On the Faith against the Manichaeans 24Evodius of Uzalis · ca. 400-424 · Mani himself had flesh; God's purity is not defiled by contact, so Christ's birth from a virgin shows rather than threatens his purity.
On the Faith against the Manichaeans 25Evodius of Uzalis · ca. 400-424 · Christ's words to his mother teach detachment from earthly kin, not that he had no mother; his showing of his wounds proves a real body.
On the Faith against the Manichaeans 26Evodius of Uzalis · ca. 400-424 · Christ took a true humanity and suffered, died and rose by his own will and power, not by necessity.
On the Faith against the Manichaeans 28Evodius of Uzalis · ca. 400-424 · Mani's Fundamental Epistle says the prince of darkness, not Christ, was crucified, so the Manichees' objection about the Jews does not fit their own teaching.
On the Faith against the Manichaeans 29Evodius of Uzalis · ca. 400-424 · The Manichees' objection does not fit their own view of the passion.
On the Faith against the Manichaeans 30Evodius of Uzalis · ca. 400-424 · Christ suffered when he willed, though those who sought his death were guilty by their will.
On the Faith against the Manichaeans 31Evodius of Uzalis · ca. 400-424 · Christ suffered in the humanity he took and is now held by no one, while Mani's god was devoured in his own substance.
On the Faith against the Manichaeans 32Evodius of Uzalis · ca. 400-424 · If Christ had no mortal flesh, his crucifixion and piercing would be a mere phantasm.
On the Faith against the Manichaeans 33Evodius of Uzalis · ca. 400-424 · Mani, unable to accept either a phantasm or a suffering divine substance, ascribed the passion to the prince of darkness.
Hymn 3, lines 211–240Synesius of Cyrene · ca. 395-413 · The Father pours himself forth to beget the Son, Wisdom and Craftsman; God is hymned as Monad that is Triad and Triad that is Monad, with no 'second' or 'third' ranked below the first.
Hymn 3, lines 421–450Synesius of Cyrene · ca. 395-413 · The poet offers his praise to the Father and to the wise Son, Wisdom poured forth from the Father's bosom yet remaining in him, who governs all things to the lowest depths and heals mortal cares.
Hymn 4, lines 61–90Synesius of Cyrene · ca. 395-413 · The Spirit is the outpouring through which the Son, God from God, is brought forth; God is Monad and Triad, the Son the one Word begotten by the Father's mind.
Hymn 4, lines 121–150Synesius of Cyrene · ca. 395-413 · The Son, sown by the ineffable Monad as the seed of all things, is in all things; through him the spheres and stars move in order.
Hymn 4, lines 151–180Synesius of Cyrene · ca. 395-413 · The Son distributes the works of heavenly, airy, and earthly beings, gives souls and life, and holds the visible cosmos together as image of the intellectual world.
Hymn 5, lines 1–30Synesius of Cyrene · ca. 395-413 · Hymn 5, for the evening of Christ's birth: the Son born of the Virgin is light from the Father's fount, creator of the cosmos and saviour of men.
Hymn 6, lines 1–30Synesius of Cyrene · ca. 395-413 · Hymn 6 crowns the Son, 'alone from the alone', Wisdom and principle of creation, who governs heaven, angels, and nature and frees mortals from death; it prays for calm, health, and freedom from passion.
Hymn 7, lines 1–30Synesius of Cyrene · ca. 395-413 · Hymn 7, the first hymn in a new metre to Jesus of Jerusalem: God, Son of God, corpse below the earth; the Magi bring incense for God, gold for the king, and myrrh for the tomb.
Hymn 7, lines 31–39Synesius of Cyrene · ca. 395-413 · Christ cleansed earth, sea, air, and the underworld, going down to Hades to help the dead.
Hymn 8, lines 1–27Synesius of Cyrene · ca. 395-413 · Hymn 8 asks the Virgin's Son to protect Synesius's household, his sister, children, and faithful wife, and to free his soul to join the heavenly choir.
Hymn 9, lines 1–30Synesius of Cyrene · ca. 395-413 · Hymn 9: after Christ's descent the dog of Hades fled; Christ ascended with the freed souls, and the spirits of the air trembled while the stars, moon, and sun celebrated his victory.
On the Christian Struggle 11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 396–397 · Our weakness comes from our own sinful will, not from God, who made man with free choice; the unchangeable Son took up this weakness in the incarnation.
On the Christian Struggle 12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 396–397 · Augustine answers those who ask why the Wisdom of God had to become man and suffer: the incarnation is the medicine that heals every vice and honors both men and women.
On the Christian Struggle 18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 396–397 · Augustine rejects the teaching that the Son was made from nothing and the Spirit after him, with three different substances, because it pictures divine generation by earthly images.
On the Christian Struggle 19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 396–397 · Augustine rejects those who say Christ was only a righteous man called Son of God.
On the Christian Struggle 20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 396–397 · Augustine rejects the teaching that Christ had only an apparent body, noting that its holders themselves say the sun's rays are not defiled by what they touch.
On the Christian Struggle 21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 396–397 · Augustine rejects the teaching that Christ had a human soul and body but no human mind.
On the Christian Struggle 22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 396–397 · Christ was not merely made wise by God's Wisdom like the saints; he bears the person of Wisdom and is head of the church, as the head is to the body.
On the Christian Struggle 23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 396–397 · Augustine rejects the teaching that the Word took only a body, without a human soul.
On the Christian Struggle 24Augustine of Hippo · ca. 396–397 · Christ was truly born of a woman, not given a body like the dove at his baptism; both bodies were real, and his birth from a woman honors both sexes.
On the Christian Struggle 25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 396–397 · Christ's suffering does not make the Son a changeable creature: he suffered in the humanity he took up, as martyrs die in body but not in soul.
On the Christian Struggle 26Augustine of Hippo · ca. 396–397 · Christ rose in the same body that was buried, as his words 'Handle me and see' show; his entering through shut doors no more disproves it than his walking on water.
On the Christian Struggle 27Augustine of Hippo · ca. 396–397 · Augustine answers the objection from John 3:13 that Christ's body could not ascend: the Lord ascended and took his body up with him, like a man who goes up a mountain clothed.
On the Christian Struggle 28Augustine of Hippo · ca. 396–397 · The Father's 'right hand' is not a bodily side but the everlasting happiness promised to the saints, as the catch on the right side and the sheep at the right hand signify.
Against the Epistle of Manichaeus Called Fundamental 6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 396–397 · Mani calls himself apostle of Jesus Christ rather than of the Paraclete because he wanted to be taken for the Paraclete himself, as the man Christ was taken up by the Son of God.
Against the Epistle of Manichaeus Called Fundamental 7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 396–397 · If the Holy Spirit was not defiled by taking up Mani, born of human intercourse, the Wisdom of God could not be defiled by birth from a virgin.
Against the Epistle of Manichaeus Called Fundamental 8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 396–397 · By leaving the Holy Spirit unnamed Mani implies that he is the Spirit, and the Manichaeans honor the Bema, the day of Mani’s death, far above the Pasch of Christ.
Against the Epistle of Manichaeus Called Fundamental 36Augustine of Hippo · ca. 396–397 · Mani asked where evil comes from before asking what it is; corruption arises because creatures were made by God from nothing, not begotten of him.
Against the Epistle of Manichaeus Called Fundamental 37Augustine of Hippo · ca. 396–397 · Only the Son, begotten of the Father, is supremely good; creatures made from nothing are lesser goods, and the rational soul should accept its place below God, while earthly things that now trouble it are a just punishment and a call to return.
On Christian Doctrine 1.11Augustine of Hippo · Books 1–3 ca. 396–397; completed 426–427 · Wisdom became man to give us an example of life, and so is both our homeland and the way to it.
On Christian Doctrine 1.12Augustine of Hippo · Books 1–3 ca. 396–397; completed 426–427 · Wisdom, present everywhere, came to us not by moving through space but by appearing in mortal flesh to those who could not know God.
On Christian Doctrine 1.13Augustine of Hippo · Books 1–3 ca. 396–397; completed 426–427 · The incarnation is compared to a thought taking the form of speech without ceasing to be itself.
On Christian Doctrine 1.14Augustine of Hippo · Books 1–3 ca. 396–397; completed 426–427 · Christ heals humanity like a physician, using contraries (humility for pride) and likes (born of a woman, a mortal for mortals).
On Christian Doctrine 1.34Augustine of Hippo · Books 1–3 ca. 396–397; completed 426–427 · Christ in the flesh is the way, which we must pass through without clinging even to the temporal things he did for us, to reach God himself.
Confessions 3.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · The Hortensius set Augustine on fire with love of wisdom, but it could not fully captivate him because it lacked the name of Christ, which he had learned from his mother.
Confessions 4.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · Augustine proclaims Christ, our Life, who came down through the virgin's womb, conquered death, and calls us to return to him by humility, going down in order to go up.
Confessions 5.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · The astronomers did not know the Word, Christ, the way by which to descend in humility and rise to God, and so, as Paul says, they failed to honor God and worshiped the creature.
Confessions 5.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · At Rome Augustine fell dangerously ill, unbaptized and still believing that Christ's death was only apparent, and recovered in answer to his absent mother's prayers.
Confessions 5.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · Augustine describes his former Manichaean conception of good and evil as two infinite material masses, which also made him deny that Christ truly took flesh from the Virgin Mary.
Confessions 7.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · Augustine read books of the Platonists which taught, in other words, what John's prologue says of the eternal Word, but not that the Word came to his own and made believers children of God.
Confessions 7.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · The Platonist books taught the eternal divinity of the Word, but not his incarnation, humiliation, and death for sinners, which God hid from the proud and revealed to the humble.
Confessions 7.24Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · Only the humble, incarnate Christ, the mediator, gives the strength to reach God; pride is healed by his humility.
Confessions 7.25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · Augustine then saw Christ only as a supremely wise man; Alypius had thought the catholics denied Christ a human soul.
Confessions 9.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · Psalm 4's "Why do you love vanity?" strikes Augustine, who sees in it the risen Christ and the gift of the Spirit.
Confessions 10.67Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · Those who sought purification through angels and magic found only the devil, a false mediator who shares men's sin.
Confessions 10.68Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · Christ is the true Mediator, mortal with men and just with God; as man he mediates, as Word he is equal to God.
Confessions 10.69Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · The Father's love is shown in the Son, victor and victim, priest and sacrifice, whose incarnation gives hope.
Confessions 10.70Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · Augustine gave up a flight into solitude to live for Christ, who redeemed him; he feeds on his ransom.
Confessions 11.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · Augustine prays through Christ, the mediator, to understand Scripture, which speaks of Christ.
Confessions 11.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · The eternal Word is the Beginning, who teaches us inwardly and to whom we return from error.
Confessions 11.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · God made heaven and earth in the Beginning, his Word and Wisdom, which shines on Augustine's heart.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 2.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Faustus argues that accepting the gospel does not mean accepting that Christ was born, since the genealogy in Matthew is not the gospel.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 2.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine answers from Paul that Christ’s descent from David belongs to the gospel, and that Christ constantly calls himself the Son of Man.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 2.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine sets Paul’s first man, Adam, and second man, Christ, against the Manichaean First Man, who fought by deceit.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 2.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine contrasts the Manichaean Christ bound in stars and food with the star of the magi, which served Christ’s birth rather than ruling it.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 3.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Faustus says the disagreement between Matthew’s and Luke’s genealogies led him to follow John and Mark, and that God should not be believed born from a womb.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 3.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine answers that Christ was born of a woman in the form of a servant, not in his divine nature, and turns the charge back on the Manichaean doctrine of divine substance bound in all wombs.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 5.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Faustus argues from Christ’s sayings that the kingdom is promised to those who keep his commands, never to those who confess his birth.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 5.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine answers that Christ, Son of God and Son of Man, promises eternal life to those who believe in him as he truly is, including as the Son of Man born of David’s line.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 7.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Faustus rejects the genealogy because Jesus never speaks of an earthly father and the evangelists were not eyewitnesses of his birth.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 7.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine answers that Christ is Son of God and of David, that renouncing kin was an example to disciples, and that the apostles were better witnesses than Mani, born centuries later.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 11.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Faustus argues that Paul’s statement that Christ was of David’s seed was either corrected by his later words in 2 Corinthians or is an interpolation.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 11.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine shows that Faustus rejects Paul’s teaching on Adam and Christ, on Christ’s birth, death, and resurrection, and on the resurrection of the body, despite claiming to accept the apostle.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 11.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine notes that all manuscripts and languages agree that Christ is of David’s seed, and rejects the idea that Paul corrected an earlier error.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 11.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine explains that “flesh” in 2 Cor 5:16 means mortality and corruption, which Christ has put off in his resurrection and believers have put off in hope, not the substance of the body.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 11.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · From the context of 2 Cor 5 and parallels in Ephesians and Romans, Augustine shows that Paul speaks of Christ’s risen, immortal state and of believers’ hope, not of a denial of Christ’s flesh.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 12.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine sets out to show that the prophets foretold Christ, that their testimony helps faith, and that they lived worthily, beginning with Paul’s words in Rom 1:1–3.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 12.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine reads the six days of creation as the six ages of the world, and Adam and Eve as figures of Christ and the church formed from his side.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 12.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine reads Cain and Abel as a figure: Abel’s accepted sacrifice as the faith of the New Testament, and Cain, who killed his brother, as the unbelieving Jewish people who rejected Christ.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 12.23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine reads Noah’s drunkenness and nakedness as Christ’s passion, Shem and Japheth as the believing peoples, and Ham as the Jewish people, who now carry the Scriptures as witnesses for the church.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 12.25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine reads Abraham’s departure, Isaac carrying the wood, and the ram in the thicket as figures of Christ.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 12.26Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine reads Jacob’s wrestling, the anointed stone, and the ladder as figures of Christ, citing Christ’s own words to Nathanael, with the angels as preachers who ascend to his divinity and descend to his humanity.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 12.28Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine reads Joseph’s sufferings and exaltation and the rod of Moses turned into a serpent and back as figures of Christ’s passion and resurrection and of the church’s.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 12.30Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine reads the wilderness journey, the bitter waters, the springs and palms, Moses’ raised hands, the bronze serpent, the passover, and the giving of the law as figures of Christ, the cross, and the Spirit.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 12.31Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine reads Joshua (in Latin “Jesus”), the cluster of grapes, Rahab’s scarlet cord, and the fall of Jericho as figures of Christ and the church.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 12.33Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine reads the changes of priesthood and kingship, David’s eating of the holy bread, and the division of the kingdom as figures of Christ, king and priest, and of the saved remnant.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 12.35Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine reads the mockers of Elisha, the raising of the Shunammite’s son, and the floating axe head as figures of Christ’s cross, incarnation, descent, and resurrection.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 12.42Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine reads Jacob’s blessing of Judah (Gen 49:8–12) clause by clause as a prophecy of Christ: his birth, passion, resurrection, the coming of Herod, the calling of the nations, and the church washed in his blood.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 12.43Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine lists plain prophecies of Christ needing no interpreter: Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, Psalm 57, Psalm 2, and Baruch 3.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 12.44Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine cites Daniel’s Son of Man and seventy weeks, the cessation of the temple sacrifice and anointing, and the Jewish expectation of the Messiah as proof that Christ was prophesied.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 13.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine shows from Isaiah and Psalm 110, as used by Jesus, that Hebrew prophecy foretold Christ as God and not only as man.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 13.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine reads Jeremiah 17 as forbidding hope in a mere man yet declaring that Christ is man, so that hope rests in Christ as God made man.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 13.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine allows that pagan seers' sayings about God may refute paganism, but says they carry no authority compared with the Hebrew prophets, whose whole kingdom was a prophecy of Christ.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 14.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine replies that, since the Manichaeans deny Christ had a real body and real wounds, the curse on hanging could not touch their Christ, and that charging Christ with deceit is worse than any curse.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 14.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine explains that death, the punishment of sin, is itself called sin, and that Christ took on not our sin but our death, which was cursed and condemned on the cross.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 14.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine argues that Christ, taking real flesh from Adam through Mary, took on the curse of death without guilt, to end both our guilt and our punishment.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 14.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine cites Paul, who calls Christ's mortal flesh the likeness of sinful flesh and says Christ was made sin, so Moses may rightly call him cursed.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 14.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine says Moses wrote “everyone” to forestall heretics who would deny Christ's true death by exempting him from the curse.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 14.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine argues that Moses' word “cursed” affirms Christ's true death, which the bronze serpent also prefigured, and that the Manichaeans, refusing to look at it, are not healed.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 14.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine calls the Manichaean teaching that Christ's suffering was unreal a doctrine of demons, and charges them with worshipping the creature.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 14.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine answers Faustus's dilemma: a Christian forced to worship the sun should accept the curse of bodily death, from which the resurrection frees, rather than the soul's death by idolatry.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 16.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Faustus rejects Deuteronomy 18:15 as a prophecy of Christ, since Christ is God and holy while Moses was a man and a sinner.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 16.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Faustus argues that Deuteronomy 28:66 refers to Israel's captivity, and that the curses and death penalty of the law cannot be about Christ without making Moses an enemy of Christ.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 16.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine replies that everything Moses wrote concerns Christ, and turns Faustus's image of fish and sea water against Manichaean food laws.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 16.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine defends Deuteronomy 18:15 as a prophecy of Christ, showing that likeness need not be in every respect and that Christ is both unlike and like Moses in different ways.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 16.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine reads Moses' doubt at the rock as a figure of the people under the law who doubted Christ crucified, and his death on the mountain as the death of fleshly unbelief in the exalted Christ.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 16.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine says Christ is rightly called a prophet, and turns to answer the Jew who denies that Moses wrote of Christ.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 16.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine argues that Moses' successor Joshua, whose name Moses changed to “Jesus” and of whom God said “my name is in him,” was a figure of Christ, the prophet foretold by Moses.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 16.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine invites the Jew to see in Joshua a figure of the living Jesus, and argues that a Gentile too would be moved by Hebrew books that named Jesus so long before.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 16.22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine defends Deuteronomy 28:66 as a prophecy of Christ, the life of men hung before unbelieving Jews, noting that prophetic curses are foreknowledge, not ill wishes.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 16.23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine argues that even Caiaphas prophesied Christ unknowingly through the priestly anointing, so Moses, who founded that anointing, certainly prophesied Christ knowingly.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 16.29Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine reads Christ's Sabbath rest in the tomb and his rising on the eighth day as fulfilling the Sabbath and circumcision, which signifies the stripping off of mortality, and explains the woe on the proselyte as about imitating the Pharisees.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 16.33Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine turns Faustus's appeal to Thomas against him: the scars Thomas touched prove Christ's true flesh, which the Manichaeans deny.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 18.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine explains the animal sacrifices as concessions to the people that also prefigured Christ, the bull, ram and goat, whose blood cleanses.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 19.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine answers that Christ fulfilled the Mosaic law itself: the law made the proud aware of sin, and grace through the Spirit and Christ’s priestly sacrifice fulfils its righteousness.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 19.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine raises, but sets aside, the question whether faith in the coming Christ benefited the righteous of old as faith in Christ come benefits believers now.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 20.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine mocks the placing of Christ’s power in the sun and his wisdom in the moon, arguing that it divides Christ and makes his wisdom weaker as the moon waxes.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 20.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine turns the Manichaean “suffering Jesus” born of the earth against their denial of the virgin birth, and asks how many Christs they believe in and how a bodiless Christ could be crucified.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 22.40Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine explains that the church's marriage to Christ is a hidden mystery, while his brotherhood with the saints is openly told, as Christ's humanity was known but not his divinity.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 22.64Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine suggests Faustus attacked Judah to discredit Christ's ancestry, and explains that Christ chose to be born of both good and bad ancestors, but of a virgin.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 22.85Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine interprets Judah's going to shear his sheep at Timnah with Hirah the Adullamite as Christ coming to the lost sheep of Israel when Judah's kingship had failed, with John the Baptist's testimony in water.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 22.94Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine concludes that all of Scripture speaks of Christ and his church, comparing passages without prophetic meaning to the frame of a lyre that holds the sounding strings.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 23.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Faustus recounts a debate in which he pointed out that Matthew's genealogy calls Jesus the son of David, not the Son of God.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 23.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Faustus argues that Matthew presents Jesus as son of David by birth and Son of God only from his baptism, contradicting the Catholic creed, so either the gospel is not Matthew's or Catholics do not hold the apostolic faith.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 23.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Faustus argues that if Jesus was not begotten by Joseph, he cannot be called the son of David through Matthew's genealogy of Joseph.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 23.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Faustus claims Mary was of the priestly tribe of Levi, daughter of the priest Joachim, so her son could not be David's descendant.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 23.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine replies that the apostolic faith confesses Christ as Son of God by divinity and son of David by the flesh, and points out that Matthew calls the virgin-born child “God with us” before the baptism.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 23.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine argues that the voice at the Jordan, like that at the transfiguration, did not make Jesus Son of God, since Paul says God sent his Son made of a woman, both David's Lord and David's son.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 23.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine explains that Matthew traces Christ's genealogy to Joseph because Joseph was truly Mary's husband by the union of souls though not of bodies, and that Mary too must have been of David's line.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 23.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine holds that Mary was of David's line because canonical Scripture says Christ was of David's seed through a virgin, and that the apocryphal story of her father Joachim, even if true, could be reconciled with this.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 23.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine answers that the incarnation does not confine the Son of God in Mary's womb, since the Word rules all things while taking a human body, whereas the Manichaeans confine their god in every womb from elephants to flies.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 26.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Faustus argues that Jesus’ death no more proves him a man than Elijah’s escape from death proves Elijah was not one, and holds that Jesus only appeared to die.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 26.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Faustus adds that Jesus’ miracles were all against nature, so the question of nature cannot decide whether he could die, though he himself holds that Jesus did not die.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 26.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine answers that God’s unchangeable nature cannot die, though Christ died in the flesh he took, and that Catholics believe Elijah’s translation and Christ’s real birth and death because Scripture testifies to them.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 26.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine says Christ could have had true flesh without being born, but Catholics believe in his virgin birth, crucifixion, and death because the gospel, which is truth, says so.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 26.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine argues that a Christ who feigned death would make Christ a liar, and that the gospel’s reports of his sleep, hunger, and sorrow are true, though he underwent them by his own will.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 27.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Faustus argues that if Jesus could be born without a father, he could also suffer without being born.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 27.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine answers that Christ could have suffered without being born but did not, as the gospel shows, and that Mani’s claim of falsehood in the gospel deserves no credence.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 28.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Faustus argues that inference cannot settle Christ’s birth and that one must instead examine whether the Gospel genealogies agree.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 29.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Faustus argues that the virgin birth is as contrary to nature as a passion without birth, and asks Catholics to admit that Christ’s birth too was only apparent.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 29.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine answers that Christ could have had true flesh without birth, but chose to be born of a virgin, and that the Manichaean view of an apparent death makes his resurrection and wounds a deception.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 29.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine asks why the Manichaeans grant Christ an apparent death but no birth at all, since the gospel attests both.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 29.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine defends the dignity of the bodily members, the holiness of marital procreation and of Mary’s virginal childbirth, and says Christ chose to be born though he could have appeared otherwise.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 30.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine answers that Catholics praise virginity as better than good marriage, while the Manichaeans truly forbid marriage by condemning procreation, which also explains why they deny Christ’s birth.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 32.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Faustus lists what Manichaeans reject in the Gospels—Christ’s birth, circumcision, sacrifice, baptism, and temptation—and what they accept: the mystic cross, his precepts, parables, and teaching on the two natures.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 32.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine charges that the Manichaeans make each man’s own mind the judge of Scripture, yet accept Mani’s fables on mere authority, and urges submission to the long-attested authority of the gospel.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 32.22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine contrasts the apostles’ preaching of Christ’s birth, circumcision, sacrifice, baptism, and temptation with Mani’s myth of God’s divided and defiled substance.
Canon 20Anonymous · ca. 397–400 · Bishops may not let presbyters make the chrism; the subscriptions follow, then the heading and creed of the later Rule of Faith against the Priscillianists.
Canon 21.5Anonymous · ca. 397–400 · Anathema on those who deny Christ a human soul.
Canon 21.6Anonymous · ca. 397–400 · Anathema on those who say Christ could not be born.
Canon 21.7Anonymous · ca. 397–400 · Anathema on those who say Christ's divinity could change or suffer.
Canon 21.13Anonymous · ca. 397–400 · Anathema on those who say Christ's divinity and flesh are one nature.
Tractates 3Gaudentius of Brescia · ca. 397-410 · On Easter Sunday Gaudentius reads the renewal of heaven and earth in the newly baptized and expounds the Passover lamb: taken on the tenth day and killed on the fourteenth, foretold but not caused by God's foreknowledge, perfect, male, and a year old as Christ was.
Tractates 9Gaudentius of Brescia · ca. 397-410 · Continuing on Cana: Mary, called 'woman' by sex, remained a virgin in giving birth as Christ entered through closed doors; the six stone jars are the dead senses of the Gentiles filled by baptism, the steward of the feast is Moses, and the Spirit's gifts show the equal power of the Trinity.
Tractates 10Gaudentius of Brescia · ca. 397-410 · On the 'first day' and 'seventh day' of the Passover law: God's rest does not end his working; Christ rested in the tomb on the Sabbath while his soul freed the saints below, made the first day holy by his resurrection, and points to the seventh millennium as the saints' final rest.
Tractates 11Gaudentius of Brescia · ca. 397-410 · On John 7:21 ('I have done one work'): healing the paralytic on the Sabbath fulfilled the Law, which permits work 'done for every soul' as circumcision does; 'judge a just judgment' forbids flattering the rich, admiring outward beauty, and judging Christ only as a man.
Tractates 12Gaudentius of Brescia · ca. 397-410 · On John 12:31 ('Now is the judgment of this world'): the 'judgment' is the world's judging of Christ in his passion, by which the devil, prince of the world by usurpation, is cast out, and Christ draws all things to himself from the cross.
Tractates 13Gaudentius of Brescia · ca. 397-410 · A Christmas sermon on the incarnation and Mary's virginity in giving birth, followed by an exposition of Christ's gentle answer to Judas at Bethany, which leads into a long appeal for almsgiving against the luxury of rich landowners.
Tractates 19Gaudentius of Brescia · ca. 397-410 · A letter to the deacon Paul on John 14:28 ('the Father is greater than I'): against the Arians, Gaudentius distinguishes Christ's two substances, divine and human, showing from the Gospels the works of God and the weaknesses of man in him, and reads the saying of the assumed manhood before its glorification (Phil 2:6–11).
Homily 1.1 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · On Heb 1:1–4, Chrysostom shows the Son’s superiority to the prophets and angels, explains Paul’s alternation of lofty and lowly language about Christ, and urges purity of speech, fear of hell, and almsgiving.
Homily 2.1 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · Chrysostom urges reverence in speaking of God and explains how Heb 1:2–3 (“radiance”, “imprint”, “upholding all things”) excludes both Sabellian and Arian errors.
Homily 2.2 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · Chrysostom shows how “through whom,” “heir,” “radiance” and “imprint” together refute Paul of Samosata, Arius, Sabellius, Marcellus, Photinus and Marcion, and observes that no name can express God’s essence.
Homily 2.3 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · On Heb 1:3–5, Chrysostom explains Christ’s upholding of creation, his session at the Father’s right hand, and his sonship, then warns against pride and praises the freedom of poverty over wealth.
Homily 3.1 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · On Heb 1:6–9, Chrysostom explains why Christ calls his incarnation a going out and Paul a bringing in, and shows from the angels’ worship and the Son’s throne the difference between Creator and creatures, against several heresies.
Homily 3.2 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · On Heb 1:10–2:3, Chrysostom shows that the Son is Creator, eternal and enthroned, that angels are ministering spirits sent for our salvation, and why the gospel demands more heed than the word spoken through angels.
Homily 4.2 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · On Heb 2:8–10, Chrysostom explains that all things will yet be subjected to Christ, that his death “for everyone” was by God’s grace, and that he tasted death to free us from fearing it.
Homily 4.3 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · On Heb 2:10–14, Chrysostom shows that the Father perfected the Son through sufferings and that Christ, though our Sanctifier and of a different nature, is not ashamed to call us brothers.
Homily 4.4 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · On Heb 2:14–15, Chrysostom shows that Christ truly shared our flesh and by death destroyed the devil, freeing us from slavery to the fear of death.
Homily 5.1 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · On Heb 2:16–17, Chrysostom marvels that Christ laid hold not of angels but of human nature, pursuing it as it fled, and became like his brothers in every respect.
Homily 5.4 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · On Heb 2:17–3:6, Chrysostom explains Christ’s merciful and faithful high priesthood and his superiority to Moses as Son over servant, then urges patience: the wicked may prosper here, but rewards and punishments come hereafter, and Christians should neither seek nor flee trials.
Homily 7.2 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · On Heb 4:14–16, Chrysostom explains that our high priest, who passed through the heavens, sympathizes with us because he was tested in every way without sin, and urges us to approach the throne of grace now, before the judgment.
Homily 8.1 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · On Heb 5:1–14, Chrysostom compares Christ with the Levitical high priest, explains his prayers “with loud crying” and his learning obedience as said of the flesh, and rebukes the Hebrews for remaining infants who need milk instead of solid food.
Homily 11.1 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · On Heb 6:13–17, Chrysostom shows that Abraham obtained the promise through patience, and that God confirmed his promise with an oath for our sake.
Homily 11.2 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · On Heb 6:17–20, Chrysostom explains the anchor of hope that enters within the veil, then describes the spiritual sacrifices of Christians, especially mercy to the poor, and rebukes those who despise beggars.
Homily 12.1 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · On Heb 7:1–3, Chrysostom explains how Melchizedek, “king of righteousness” and “king of peace,” without recorded parents or death, is a type of Christ, who is truly without beginning or end.
Homily 12.2 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · On Heb 7:3–10, Chrysostom shows Melchizedek’s superiority over Abraham and Levi as a type of Christ, then explains that salvation is both in our power and in God’s: we choose, God accomplishes, and the greater part is his.
Homily 13.1 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · On Heb 7:11–16, Chrysostom argues that a new priesthood after the order of Melchizedek, from the royal tribe of Judah, shows the imperfection of the Levitical priesthood and requires a change of law and covenant.
Homily 13.2 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · On Heb 7:16–25, Chrysostom explains that the law’s “fleshly commandment” was set aside for weakness, not wickedness, and that Christ’s priesthood, confirmed by an oath and resting on an indestructible life, is single, eternal, and able to save completely.
Homily 13.3 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · On Heb 7:25–28, Chrysostom explains Christ’s intercession as said of his humanity and as condescension, describes the holy and sinless high priest, and stresses that his one sacrifice, offered once, is never repeated.
Homily 14.1 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · On Heb 8:1–5, Chrysostom shows that Christ, seated at God’s right hand, ministers in the true tabernacle of heaven, that his priesthood could not be on earth, and that the church’s mysteries are heavenly things.
Homily 15.1 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · On Heb 9:1–9, Chrysostom interprets the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies as figures of the former time and of heaven, explains the contents of the ark as reminders of Israel’s ingratitude, and shows that the high priest’s yearly entry with blood foreshadowed Christ’s one sacrifice.
Homily 15.2 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · On Heb 9:9–14, Chrysostom contrasts the Law’s fleshly purifications with Christ’s blood, which cleanses the conscience from dead works, then compares covetousness to harlotry and rebukes laughter and frivolity in church.
Homily 16.1 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · On Heb 9:15–18, Chrysostom explains that a covenant becomes valid at the death of the one who makes it, that Christ as mediator reconciled us to the angry Father by dying for us, and that the first covenant too was sealed with blood.
Homily 16.2 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · On Heb 9:19–23, Chrysostom explains the sprinkling of the book and the people as a type of Christ’s blood, which cleanses not the body but the soul, so that believers themselves become the books, vessels and tabernacle of the new covenant.
Homily 17.1 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · On Heb 9:24–27, Chrysostom contrasts the famous Jerusalem temple with heaven itself, where Christ, both priest and victim, appears before God for us, having been sacrificed once at the consummation of the ages.
Homily 17.2 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · On Heb 9:27–10:9, Chrysostom explains that Christ, both priest and victim, died once for all, bearing to the Father the sins of the many who believe, and that the law’s repeated sacrifices were only a shadow, replaced by his doing of God’s will.
Homily 17.3 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · On Heb 10:1–10, Chrysostom argues that the law’s repeated sacrifices proved their weakness, while Christ’s single sacrifice sufficed forever, and explains that the church’s daily offering is not many sacrifices but the one sacrifice of Christ, offered as a remembrance.
Homily 18.1 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · Chrysostom shows from Psalm 40 that God never primarily willed the sacrifices and that Christ's one offering, followed by his sitting at God's right hand, has perfected believers and ended the need for any further offering for sin.
Homily 25.1 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · Expounding Heb 11:17–19, Chrysostom shows that Abraham's faith overcame the apparent conflict between God's command and God's promise, believing God could raise the dead, and that the ram received in Isaac's place was a type of the Son of God's sacrifice.
Homily 27.2 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · Chrysostom explains Rahab's faith, defends Paul's inclusion of Barak, Samson and Jephthah, applies Heb 11:32–38 to Daniel, the three youths, the return from Babylon, the prophets and the martyrs, and presents Joshua, whose name was a type of Jesus, commanding the sun and moon.
Homily 27.4 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · Chrysostom contrasts Joshua's command to the sun and moon with Christ's greater promise to dwell with believers, explains that Christ prayed by condescension to teach us to pray, and shows from the parables and the Canaanite woman the power of persistent prayer.
Homily 28.2 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · Expounding Heb 12:1–3, Chrysostom shows how the cloud of witnesses refreshes the afflicted, explains the race to be run looking to Jesus, and recounts the insults, mockery and sufferings of Christ and of Paul to show that disciples must follow their teacher by the way of affliction.
Homily 32.1 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · Expounding Heb 12:18–29, Chrysostom contrasts the terrors of Sinai with the joyful assembly of the heavenly Jerusalem to which believers have come, explains how the blood of Christ speaks better than Abel's, and warns that those who refuse him who speaks from heaven will not escape.
Homily 33.2 on HebrewsJohn Chrysostom · ca. 398-404 · Expounding Heb 13:8–16, Chrysostom teaches that Christ is unchanging, that faith and not food laws strengthens the heart, that believers must go out with Christ outside the camp bearing his reproach and offer the sacrifice of praise, and that affliction and poverty, borne with thanksgiving, lead through the narrow way to heaven.
Homily 1.3 on the CreationSeverian of Gabala · ca. 400 · Moses' “he made” and John's “was” share the opening “In the beginning” but distinguish creature from Creator, against those who say Christ came into being; the two Testaments are sisters with matching features.
Homily 2.2 on the CreationSeverian of Gabala · ca. 400 · As Christ's miracles proved him Creator, creation out of nothing refutes those who pry into how the Son was begotten; the “invisible” earth was unadorned, and the firmament was made of frozen water with waters above to protect it from the heavenly fires.
Homily 2.6 on the CreationSeverian of Gabala · ca. 400 · The lifted lintel and the smoke in Isaiah's vision signify the glory leaving the synagogue for the churches of the whole world; the vision was of Christ's glory (John 12:41), and the Sanctus, which a heretic wanted removed, is essential to the eucharistic mystery.
Homily 3.1 on the CreationSeverian of Gabala · ca. 400 · Opening the third homily, Severian describes the gathering of the waters, which broke the earth into bays, and argues that if every creature begets its like, God could not have begotten a Son unlike himself.
Homily 3.2 on the CreationSeverian of Gabala · ca. 400 · Distinguishing the Son as the Father's likeness from humans made according to likeness, Severian explains the third and fourth days: the sun and moon were made from the first day's light and fixed in the firmament, the moon created full.
Homily 3.4 on the CreationSeverian of Gabala · ca. 400 · Against those who say the Father made the Son and the Son made the world, Severian shows from the prophets that the maker of heaven is the one true God, and argues from Scripture that the heaven is a tent-like vault with ends, not a sphere.
Homily 3.6 on the CreationSeverian of Gabala · ca. 400 · Clouds that form overnight and release rain at God's command show how he made the firmament; Christ is the Creator, as his mastery over sea, wind, water, sun, earth, and rocks in the Gospel shows.
Homily 4.1 on the CreationSeverian of Gabala · ca. 400 · Opening the fourth homily, Severian follows the order of creation to the fifth day, reads the creatures brought forth from the waters as a figure of baptism, explains why only living things that reproduce were blessed, and argues that if soulless earth brings forth souls, God can beget from his own substance.
Homily 4.4 on the CreationSeverian of Gabala · ca. 400 · Against the objection that one begotten cannot always have existed, Severian argues that human fatherhood comes by stages bound to bodies and time, whereas the bodiless Father is always Father and the Son co-eternal, begotten without passion in a manner beyond knowing.
Homily 4.7 on the CreationSeverian of Gabala · ca. 400 · The counselor of “Let us make” is the Son whom Isaiah calls “Messenger of great counsel” and “mighty God”; unlike Moses or the apostles, who act under authority, Christ commands with his own authority, and heretics who call him a creature are worse than demons.
Homily 4.8 on the CreationSeverian of Gabala · ca. 400 · God spared Israel for the sake of the believers he foresaw, including the Virgin and the apostles; against heretics who set “firstborn” against “only-begotten,” Severian explains that Christ is Only-begotten in his divinity and firstborn among the many “firstborn” of each generation according to the flesh.
Homily 5.7 on the CreationSeverian of Gabala · ca. 400 · All the trees of paradise were good, so Adam sinned from abundance, not want; God, acting like a servant, brought the animals for Adam to name and accepted every name, which shows that bringing someone to another implies no inferiority in Christ, and that heretics who reject the Father's one name for the Son are at fault.
Homily 6.5 on the CreationSeverian of Gabala · ca. 400 · The forbidden tree stood like the emperor's image as a visible reminder of the invisible God's authority; the devil exploited the human longing for God, Eve was deceived and Adam persuaded, and Christ, suffering at the same hours as Adam's fall, answered Adam's wish to become a god by becoming man.
On Catechizing the Uninstructed 3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–405 · A full narration runs from creation to the present Church, selecting the striking points and relating everything to love, since all Scripture before Christ foretold him and his body the Church, as Jacob's hand preceded his head at birth.
On Catechizing the Uninstructed 4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–405 · Christ came chiefly to show God's love so that people might love him and their neighbour in return; all Scripture points to this love, and the catechist should narrate so that the hearer believes, hopes, and loves.
On Catechizing the Uninstructed 10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–405 · Augustine turns to the causes of the catechist's weariness, beginning with the gap between thought and speech, and answers it with the example of Christ and Paul, who stooped in love to the weak.
On Catechizing the Uninstructed 17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–405 · The model address continues: true Christians seek eternal rest and come to love God more than they fear hell; God's seventh-day rest signifies the saints' rest in him after six ages, made possible by Christ who became man.
On Catechizing the Uninstructed 19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–405 · The narration continues with the two cities of the wicked and the saints, the flood as a figure of the Church saved by the cross, the rise of idolatry, the call of Abraham, and Israel, whose saints already belonged to Christ's body.
On Catechizing the Uninstructed 20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–405 · The narration continues with the exodus as a figure of baptism, the Passover lamb as a figure of Christ's passion, the law written by the finger of God, and the earthly Jerusalem and King David as figures of the heavenly city and Christ.
On Catechizing the Uninstructed 22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–405 · The narration reaches the sixth age, begun by Christ's coming, in which grace is revealed to all nations; Christ, born of a virgin in humble circumstances, despised earthly goods, endured earthly evils, died, and rose never to die.
Against Secundinus the Manichaean 3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399 · Augustine takes Secundinus's phrase “Jesus Christ, King of all lights” and argues that a king rules lower beings, so the lights must have been created, not begotten from God or existing independently, contrary to Mani's two kingdoms.
Against Secundinus the Manichaean 5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399 · Augustine distinguishes Christ as only-begotten Son by nature from Christ as firstborn among brothers who are sons of God by adoption, against a Manichaean reading of “firstborn” as eldest of consubstantial lights.
Against Secundinus the Manichaean 6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399 · Augustine presses Secundinus on how Christ could be “firstborn” among divine lights: priority in time would make the divine nature changeable, and change belongs only to creatures made by God.
Against Secundinus the Manichaean 7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399 · From Romans 1:25 Augustine argues that Creator and creature are of different substances, while the Son, being of one substance with the Father, is not a creature, and explains “only-begotten” and “firstborn” accordingly.
Against Secundinus the Manichaean 9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399 · Augustine rejects Secundinus's claim that the soul sins only through mingling with flesh: an unchangeable soul could not be changed by mingling, and only the confession that creation was made from nothing avoids making God changeable.
Against Secundinus the Manichaean 25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399 · Augustine answers Secundinus's claim that Christ was only spiritual: it contradicts his hope in Mani, who had flesh, and makes Christ a deceiver in showing his wounds to Thomas, whereas Augustine prefers to believe Mani the liar.
On the Nature of the Good 20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399 · Pain exists only in good natures resisting loss; worse evils are painless, like rejoicing in iniquity, and the Lord's dead flesh, though wounded, did not see corruption.
On the Nature of the Good 31Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399 · Scripture shows that punishment belongs to God's judgment, that sins are forgiven through Christ who died in our nature, and that God is both good and severe without injustice.
On the Trinity 1.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine proves from Scripture that the Son is true God of the same substance as the Father, that texts such as 'who alone has immortality' refer to the whole Trinity, and that the Holy Spirit is not a creature, since he receives the service due to God alone.
On the Trinity 1.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine gives his rule for reading Scripture about Christ: in the form of God the Son is equal to the Father, in the form of a servant he is less, as Philippians 2 teaches, without either nature being changed into the other.
On the Trinity 1.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine explains that the Son's being 'subjected' to the Father and 'handing over the kingdom' (1 Cor 15) mean that Christ will bring believers to the contemplation of God, in which Father, Son and Spirit are seen together, since none of them can be shown or enjoyed apart from the others.
On the Trinity 1.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine explains that Christ's going away was needed so that the disciples would stop seeing only his servant form, and that whenever one person of the Trinity is said to be shown or to dwell in believers, the others are included.
On the Trinity 1.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine explains that when Christ hands over the kingdom, believers will pass from faith to the contemplation of the whole Trinity, prefigured by Mary of Bethany, and Christ as priest will no longer need to intercede for them.
On the Trinity 1.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine applies his rule to a series of texts: according to the form of God the Son is equal to the Father, according to the form of a servant he is less than the Father, than himself, and even than the Holy Spirit.
On the Trinity 1.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine explains, by his rule of the two forms, sayings in which Christ seems to deny knowledge of the last day, the power to give places of glory, his own judgment, his own teaching, and faith in himself.
On the Trinity 1.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine argues that at the judgment Christ will appear to good and wicked alike in the form of the Son of Man, while the vision of his divine form, the highest good and eternal life, is reserved for the pure in heart; this explains 'the Father judges no one' and 'no one is good but God alone.'
On the Trinity 2.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine adds a third rule for reading Scripture about the Son: some texts show neither inequality nor equality but only that the Son is from the Father, so that they express his birth, not his inferiority.
On the Trinity 2.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine says that ambiguous texts such as 'My teaching is not mine' can safely be read either of the servant form or of the Son's being from the Father, since the Son himself is the teaching.
On the Trinity 2.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine argues that being sent does not make the Son or the Spirit less: both are sent to where they already were, and 'sending' means their visible appearance in a creature, which the invisible Father and Son brought about together.
On the Trinity 2.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine explains why the Spirit is never called less than the Father: the dove and the fire were not united to the Spirit as Christ's humanity was united to the Word, but were passing signs, like the burning bush and the pillar of cloud.
On the Trinity 2.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine dismisses those who think the Son, as Word and Wisdom, is changeable and visible, noting that even the created soul is invisible and that texts on the 'invisible, only God' refer to the whole Trinity.
On the Trinity 2.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine discusses the burning bush, where the 'angel of the Lord' speaks as God, and leaves open whether an angel bore the person of the Son, the Spirit, the Father, or the Trinity, or whether a creature was formed for the occasion.
On the Trinity 2.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine interprets God's 'back parts' shown to Moses as Christ's flesh, seen by faith in his resurrection from the 'rock' of the catholic Church, and his 'face' as the form of God that no one can see in this life; he concludes that the Father too may have appeared through creatures, since the visions signified God without showing his substance.
On the Trinity 4.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine explains that God had to show us both how much he loved us, lest we despair, and what kind of people he loved, sinners, lest we be proud; and he describes the Word, in whom all created things exist unchangeably as life and who is the light of rational minds.
On the Trinity 4.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine explains that the Word became flesh to cleanse us for participation in him: the righteous God-man took our mortality to make us partakers of his divinity, and his single death fits our double death as one to two, like the octave in music.
On the Trinity 4.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine explains how Christ's single death and resurrection, in his body alone, answer our double death of soul and body: they are a sacrament of the inner man's death to sin and renewal, and an example of the outer man's bodily death and future resurrection.
On the Trinity 4.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine connects the forty-six years of the temple's building with the 276 days (46 × 6) from Christ's conception on 25 March to his birth on 25 December, since the temple signified his body.
On the Trinity 4.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine says that all the Old Testament signs foreshadowed the one Christ, priest and sacrifice, so that we who had fallen away into many things might be gathered by the one Mediator into unity with the one God.
On the Trinity 4.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine introduces Christ's prayer in John 17 that believers may be one as the Father and the Son are one.
On the Trinity 4.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine explains that Christ asks that believers be one in him, as the Father and the Son are one in substance and will, through a common nature and a common will united by love.
On the Trinity 4.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine contrasts the devil, the mediator of death, who leads the proud to ruin through pride, false philosophy and magical rites, with Christ, the humble Mediator of life.
On the Trinity 4.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine argues that souls are not cleansed by magical rites, since the devil, the false mediator, blocks the way; as the Magi returned by another way, so we return by Christ's humility. The devil brought our double death by his single death of the spirit, while Christ met us in bodily death by righteousness, making his death a sacrifice for sin.
On the Trinity 4.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine explains that Christ died not by necessity but by his own will, and that the devil, who brought death to man, was justly defeated when he killed the innocent Christ, so that by Christ's just blood unjustly shed the bond of death was cancelled and sinners redeemed; the proud who despise Christ's death will share the devil's eternal punishment.
On the Trinity 4.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine argues that a true sacrifice is owed to God alone and that Christ is the perfect priest and sacrifice: sinless, offering human and mortal flesh born of a virgin, at once the one who offers, the offering, one with God to whom it is offered, and making one those for whom it is offered.
On the Trinity 4.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine explains that we, being temporal and changeable, had to be cleansed through faith in temporal events, so the eternal Truth came into being as man, was born, died, rose and ascended, that our faith might become truth and our mortality be changed into eternity.
On the Trinity 4.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine defines the Son's sending as everything done in time to produce cleansing faith; all creation bore witness to him; he was sent as made of a woman, lesser insofar as made, yet equal to the Father who sends; and before and even after the incarnation his divinity was not seen.
On the Trinity 4.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine explains that the Son is sent not because he is less but because he is from the Father, as Wisdom is the 'brightness of eternal light' equal to its source; sending means being made known in time, by the incarnation or in the mind; the Father is never sent, since he is from no one; and the Spirit proceeds from the Father and also from the Son, the Father being the principle of the whole deity.
On the Trinity 4.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine explains that the inseparable Trinity is shown separably through visible creatures, as memory, understanding and will together produce each of their names; he restates that pre-incarnation theophanies were done through angels, that the Word became man with a human body and rational soul, and that being sent implies no inequality, closing Book 4.
On the Trinity 5.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine states the Arian argument that “unbegotten” and “begotten” name different substances, and answers it from John 10:30 and Phil 2:6.
On the Trinity 6.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine examines an anti-Arian argument from 1 Cor 1:24 that seems to imply the Father is wise only by the wisdom he begot.
On the Trinity 6.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Scripture calls things “one” without qualification only when they share one nature; the Father and the Son are one in substance, and equality in any one attribute means equality in all.
On the Trinity 6.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine asks how John 17:3 (“you, the one true God”) and 1 Cor 11:3 (“the head of Christ is God”) fit with the one God being the whole Trinity, and defers a full answer.
On the Trinity 7.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Scripture speaks of wisdom chiefly as the Son because he is the Image we are to imitate; yet the Father and the Holy Spirit are also wisdom and light, and the three are one wisdom, one essence, one God.
On the Trinity 8.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · We believe Christ's virgin birth and resurrection through our general knowledge of such things, but we have no such knowledge of any other trinity or God, so Augustine asks how we can love the Trinity we do not yet know.
On the Trinity 13.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Using the prologue of John, Augustine shows that some truths belong to wisdom and others, done in time, to knowledge, and that faith is seen by each believer within himself.
On the Trinity 13.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Philosophers barely reached the soul's immortality, but faith promises immortality to the whole man, made credible by the Word becoming flesh.
On the Trinity 13.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · No way of freeing humanity was more fitting than the incarnation and death of the Son, which shows God's love; even our merits are God's gifts.
On the Trinity 13.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Augustine raises the question how we are justified by Christ's blood if the Father already loved us before the world was made, and affirms that Father, Son, and Spirit act together.
On the Trinity 13.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · God chose to overcome the devil by justice rather than power, setting the order that justice comes first and power follows at the judgment.
On the Trinity 13.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · The devil was conquered by Christ's justice, since he killed one who owed nothing, and then by his power in the resurrection; for this Christ had to be both man and God.
On the Trinity 13.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · The devil was conquered at the very moment he seemed to win, when Christ's sinless blood was shed as the price of our redemption.
On the Trinity 13.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Death and the evils of this life remain after forgiveness as a field of trial for the faithful; Christ's undeserved death frees the predestined, and God's wrath is just retribution, not passion.
On the Trinity 13.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Other benefits of the incarnation: it shows man's place in creation, commends grace without prior merit, heals pride by God's humility, gives an example of obedience, and defeats the devil through the race he had conquered.
On the Trinity 13.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · God took the Mediator's humanity from Adam's race, yet from a virgin conceiving by faith without concupiscence, so that the devil was conquered by the race he had conquered.
On the Trinity 13.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · What the Word made flesh did in time belongs to knowledge, his eternal being to wisdom; Christ is both our knowledge and our wisdom, which the philosophers missed by refusing the Mediator.
On the Trinity 14.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · John's “we shall be like him” may refer to the full sight of God or to the immortal body, in which we are conformed to the incarnate Son alone.
On the Trinity 15.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Thought is the speech of the heart, as the Gospels show, and the inner word, prior to any language, offers some likeness of the Word who was with God.
On the Trinity 15.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · The inner word, not the spoken word, resembles the Word of God: as our word takes up voice without being changed into it, so the Word took flesh without being changed, and as works begin from a word, all things were made through the Word.
On the Trinity 15.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · The Word, wholly what the Father is but not the Father, knows all things from the Father as he is from him, and Father and Son see all things at once.
On the Trinity 15.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · Our word, unlike the divine Word, can be false, is not our essence, and depends on passing thought, so only God has a Word eternal and coeternal with himself.
On the Trinity 15.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · The Son is called God's Word, not God's thought, since nothing in God revolves or takes form; even in glory our likeness to God will never be equality of nature.
On the Trinity 15.26Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–419 · The Spirit of both Father and Son proceeds from both without time, principally from the Father, who gave the Son in begetting him that the Spirit proceed from him too; Christ gave the Spirit twice, as God, and received him as man from his conception.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 4.23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Of two men holding the same error, the one baptized outside is worse because of division, unless the other stays inside for worldly gain; in neither is the sacrament repeated, for it is God’s gift.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Paul baptized those who had John’s baptism because John’s was not Christ’s baptism but a temporary gift to prepare the way; Christ received it to teach humility.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · John alone was given a baptism of repentance to prepare for Christ; Christ received it to teach humility, but others received it too, and it ceased, lest Christ’s baptism seem inferior or insufficient.
On Baptism, against the Donatists 5.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Christ kept the power of his baptism to himself, so that it is his whoever ministers it; this is what John learned from the dove, not knowing before whether Christ would hand over his baptism as he had given John his.
The Harmony of the Gospels 1.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · Christ is both king and priest, as the title on the cross, the psalm on Melchizedek, David's eating the holy bread, and Luke's priestly details show.
The Harmony of the Gospels 1.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · Matthew and Luke both stress Christ's humanity; Matthew, writing of the king, has Mark as companion, while Luke, writing of the priest who enters alone, has none.
The Harmony of the Gospels 1.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · John, unlike the other three, sets out above all Christ's divinity, equal with the Father, as one who drank it from the Lord's breast.
The Harmony of the Gospels 1.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · Some pagans ask why Christ wrote nothing, and claim that his disciples made him more than the wise man he was.
The Harmony of the Gospels 1.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · If the pagans trust report, the far greater report of the church proclaims Christ as God; and if they have books by Christ, let them produce them.
The Harmony of the Gospels 1.46Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · Lucan called the Jews' God 'uncertain,' but Psalm 19 now shows him certain, as the apostles' preaching has gone out to all the earth.
The Harmony of the Gospels 1.47Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · Isaiah 52:13–54:5, quoted in full, foretells Christ's humility and passion and the church from all nations, whose God is called God of the whole earth.
The Harmony of the Gospels 1.48Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · Even pagans who accept Christ's passion must see that Isaiah's prophecy of the suffering servant is now fulfilled in his exaltation among the nations.
The Harmony of the Gospels 1.53Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · Christ, the wisdom of God, became man so that by faith in temporal things we might be cleansed and reach eternal truth; he is the mediator between God and humanity.
The Harmony of the Gospels 2.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · Matthew traces Christ's human descent to Joseph, who remained Mary's husband and Christ's father though Christ was born of a virgin, an example of marriage kept in continence.
The Harmony of the Gospels 2.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · Christ is the son of David through Joseph's legal fatherhood and also through Mary, who was related to both the royal and the priestly lines.
The Harmony of the Gospels 2.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · Even if Luke had said 'begot,' adoption can be called begetting, as believers are 'born of God' by adoption and grace, unlike the only-begotten Son.
The Harmony of the Gospels 2.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · Matthew's descending genealogy shows Christ coming down to our mortality; Luke's ascending one, placed at the baptism and ending in God, shows the priest who takes away sin.
The Harmony of the Gospels 2.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · Matthew and Luke agree that Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit; Luke tells the annunciation Matthew omits, and Matthew tells Joseph's dream Luke omits.
The Harmony of the Gospels 2.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · Augustine weaves Luke 1–2 and Matthew 1–2 into one continuous narrative of Christ's birth, infancy, and boyhood.
The Harmony of the Gospels 2.31Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · The variations in the words of the heavenly voice at the baptism convey one sense; the reading 'today I have begotten you' in some copies of Luke, if genuine, means both were spoken.
The Harmony of the Gospels 2.99Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · Christ walking on the water 'wished to pass by' the disciples so as to draw out their cry, which he then answered.
The Harmony of the Gospels 2.112Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · The transfiguration is told by three evangelists in the same order and with the same meaning.
The Harmony of the Gospels 2.124Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · Mark gives the sons of Zebedee's request as their own, Matthew as made through their mother; the saying on serving was spoken twice, as Luke's placement shows.
The Harmony of the Gospels 2.143Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · Whether or not the Pharisees first answered 'David's,' Christ's question about David's Lord taught the hearers that the Christ is God as well as David's son.
The Harmony of the Gospels 3.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · 'If it is possible' refers to the Father's will, not his power, as Mark's 'all things are possible to you' and Luke's 'if you will' show.
The Harmony of the Gospels 3.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · The false witnesses, the high priest's question, Christ's answer 'You have said it' (Mark's 'I am'), and the mockery agree across the Gospels.
The Harmony of the Gospels 3.35Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · John's longer account of the trial before Pilate includes charges (claiming to be Son of God and king) that agree with Luke's, though the Jews at first gave none.
The Harmony of the Gospels 3.55Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · The loud cry in Matthew and Mark was 'Father, into your hands I commend my spirit,' as Luke gives it; John's 'It is finished' came just before.
The Harmony of the Gospels 3.57Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · The centurion's words 'Son of God' and Luke's 'righteous' are both true or express the same meaning; he marveled at all the signs, including the manner of Christ's death.
The Harmony of the Gospels 3.86Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · 'Galilee' means 'passing over' (Christ's grace passing to the nations) and 'revelation' (the vision of Christ in his divine form in eternity).
The Harmony of the Gospels 4.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · The first three Gospels present Christ's humanity as king and priest, Mark sharing both; John, like an eagle, presents his divinity, as at Cana.
The Harmony of the Gospels 4.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · In John Christ says he will raise the temple of his body himself, showing that he raised himself as one God with the Father.
The Harmony of the Gospels 4.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · At the healing of the man ill thirty-eight years, Christ's words 'My Father is working, and I am working' show his equality with the Father.
The Harmony of the Gospels 4.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · In John Christ forgives the adulteress, writing on the ground, and calls himself the light of the world and the beginning, distinct from the lesser lights of disciples and the Baptist.
The Harmony of the Gospels 4.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · John's blind man, Good Shepherd discourse, Dedication feast, and raising of Lazarus show Christ's divinity; at Bethany he rejoins the others.
The Harmony of the Gospels 4.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 399–400 · John rises highest in Christ's discourses, especially at the Last Supper, and walks with the others only rarely, presenting Christ's divinity and the Spirit as also the Son's.
Against the Letter of Parmenian 2.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400 · Christians pray for one another, but Christ alone intercedes for all as the one mediator; even Paul asked the church’s prayers as a member of the body, and in Christ the members stay one by bearing with the bad.
Against the Letter of Parmenian 2.35Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400 · Parmenian cites ‘what is crooked cannot be adorned’, but even the Donatists would not rebaptize someone who had held a false belief about Christ when baptized; the sacrament does not adorn the crooked but remains whole in him for judgment.
Against the Letter of Parmenian 2.36Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400 · Christ’s baptism by John shows humility and that the baptizer does not matter, not that one must seek a holy minister; Christ was circumcised by Jews, presented in a temple full of the bad, and lived with Judas, untouched by their evil.
Against the Letters of Petilian 1.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Christ, not the minister, is always the origin, root, and head of the Christian, as Paul himself teaches.
Against the Letters of Petilian 1.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Augustine answers each of Petilian's maxims: Christ, not the minister, is the origin, root, head, and seed of the Christian.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Only Christ's conscience gives certainty.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Christ is the origin and head; the seed is the gospel, which bears fruit even when preached by unworthy ministers.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.57Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Christ is the author of baptism and the truth.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.87Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · John's baptism, like circumcision and the Passover, foretold Christ; Christ received them as an example, but Christian baptism is a different sacrament.
Against the Letters of Petilian 2.241Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian's text would make Donatist bishops sinless; Paul asked for prayers and John and Daniel confessed sin. The sinless priest no one prays for is Christ, foreshadowed by the high priest.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.51Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Augustine quotes his earlier argument (1.6–1.7) that Christ, not the minister, is always the origin, root, and head of the baptized.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.52Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Augustine quotes his earlier reductio (1.7–1.8): on Petilian's view a secretly faithless baptizer would be preferable.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.59Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Hope belongs in God who justifies; Christ baptizes not by bodily ministry but by invisible grace, cleansing the whole church through the washing of water in the word.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.64Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · Petilian's opening made the baptizer the origin, root, and head, yet later he concedes that Christ is origin, head, and root; so the truth has won.
Against the Letters of Petilian 3.66Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–403 · A minister is something for dispensing word and sacrament, but nothing for cleansing and justifying, which God alone does.
Homily 1, section 6Eustathius Latinus · 5th cent. · 'Beginning' fits all its senses: the first day of time, the Word as craftsman, the world's purpose, and the instantaneous, timeless act of creation.
Homily 3, section 2Eustathius Latinus · 5th cent. · God does not speak with a voice as humans do; Scripture shows God 'speaking' to point to the Word, the Only-begotten, who worked with him in creation.
Homily 3, section 4Eustathius Latinus · 5th cent. · Water can rest on the firmament, which may be flat above though vaulted below; 'firmament' means a strong, solid body; 'God said' and 'God made' point to the Father and the working Son.
Homily 8, section 6Eustathius Latinus · 5th cent. · The faithful turtledove commends widowhood over remarriage; the eagle's neglect rebukes parents who expose or disinherit children; vultures said to breed without mating make the virgin birth credible.
Homily 9, section 6Eustathius Latinus · 5th cent. · Faith overcomes harmful creatures; turning to man, 'Let us make man in our image' shows the Son as the Father's co-worker and single image, against Jewish readings (angels) and those who call the Son unlike the Father.
Opusculum 1.11Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · Bodily prayer is like the blind man's cry; spiritual sight confesses Christ as Son of God.
Opusculum 1.131Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · Receiving true words is receiving the divine Word.
Opusculum 2.20Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · Christ is Master as Creator and as Redeemer.
Opusculum 2.210Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · Christ hides his self-manifestation in his commandments, received by glad hearers.
Opusculum 5.8Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · Anger is rooted in pride and is uprooted by remembering Christ's humility.
Opusculum 5.9Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · Christ took on our condition and suffered every humiliation, and was exalted; remembering this humbles the soul.
Opusculum 5.10Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · Remembering Christ's humility destroys anger; forgetfulness, sloth, and ignorance let the passions in.
Opusculum 6.14Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · Christ appears to beginners as servant and to the advanced in the glory of the transfiguration.
Opusculum 7.2Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · Christ and the apostles bore our temptations in suretyship of love; we must believe God's justice and not couple with the flesh's movements.
Opusculum 10.1Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · Against those who make Melchizedek God by nature, Mark argues that his titles are interpretations of his name, not his nature.
Opusculum 10.2Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · “After the order of Melchizedek” concerns Christ's priesthood apart from the law, not divinity in Melchizedek.
Opusculum 10.3Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · Melchizedek is like Christ as a type, as Jonah and Moses are, not identical with him.
Opusculum 10.4Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · Melchizedek is without genealogy by Scripture's silence; Christ is truly without beginning because the Word was united to his humanity from the womb.
Opusculum 10.5Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · Melchizedek remains a priest as all saints remain with God; Paul's “how great” refers to tithes, not divinity, and types are not God.
Opusculum 10.9Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · A fleshless Word could not offer sacrifice; Melchizedek, like Abel and Jacob, was a human priest before the law.
Opusculum 10.11Mark the Hermit · early to mid fifth century · No prophet, apostle, martyr, or father called Melchizedek God; the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ alone.
Commentary on Daniel 2, scholion 44Polychronius of Apamea · ca. 400-430 · Polychronius interprets the kingdom God will 'raise up' as the manifestation of the eternal divine kingdom in Christ.
Commentary on Daniel 7, scholion 42Polychronius of Apamea · ca. 400-430 · Polychronius describes the one like a son of man coming on the clouds directly to the judge, a sign of the highest honor.
Commentary on Daniel 7, scholion 45Polychronius of Apamea · ca. 400-430 · The son of man receives an eternal, universal dominion.
Commentary on Daniel 7, scholion 52Polychronius of Apamea · ca. 400-430 · The holy ones are Christ's believers, who share his kingdom if they share his sufferings.
Commentary on Daniel 7, scholion 65Polychronius of Apamea · ca. 400-430 · The angel did not explain the son of man.
Commentary on Daniel 9, scholion 28Polychronius of Apamea · ca. 400-430 · Polychronius applies the anointing of the holy of holies to Christ, anointed by the Spirit for the dispensation.
Commentary on Daniel 9, scholion 29Polychronius of Apamea · ca. 400-430 · Polychronius works out the seven and sixty-two weeks: 49 years from Darius the Mede to the completion of the temple, and 434 years from Artaxerxes's thirty-second year to Christ's birth in Herod's thirty-second year, following Josephus and Eusebius's Chronicle.
Commentary on Daniel 9, scholion 33Polychronius of Apamea · ca. 400-430 · The anointed leader is Christ; the seven weeks are the 49 years of the rebuilding.
Commentary on Daniel 9, scholion 34Polychronius of Apamea · ca. 400-430 · The sixty-two weeks run from the rebuilding of the city walls to Christ.
Commentary on Daniel 9, scholion 35Polychronius of Apamea · ca. 400-430 · When the 434 years run out, Christ comes.
Commentary on Daniel 9, scholion 39Polychronius of Apamea · ca. 400-430 · Christ will confirm the covenant promised before his coming.
Commentary on Daniel 9, scholion 40Polychronius of Apamea · ca. 400-430 · The half-week is Christ's ministry, in which he confirmed the new covenant by his death and resurrection.
Commentary on Daniel 12, scholion 18Polychronius of Apamea · ca. 400-430 · Polychronius applies Dan 12:10 to the apostles, the baptized, and the faithful at Christ's coming.
Commentary on Daniel 12, scholion 19Polychronius of Apamea · ca. 400-430 · The lawless of Dan 12:10 are those who brought about Christ's death; the rejection of the Jews and calling of the Gentiles are veiled.
Commentary on Daniel 12, scholion 20Polychronius of Apamea · ca. 400-430 · Those who did not understand are those who crucified Christ.
Verses to the Grace of the Lord 121–132Pomponius · 5th century(?) · The Father plans the gift of eternal life, sends his message through the angel and the prophets, and the singer turns to address the Virgin.
Poem, lines 1–30Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Against the Patripassians, who make the Father suffer and die: the Father has never been seen; whoever in Scripture saw God (Abraham, Jacob, Moses) saw the Son, who shows the Father in forms men can grasp.
Poem, lines 31–60Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Moses saw Christ in human likeness and was granted only to see God’s back; the Word can be seen only in an assumed form, angelic or human, as in the burning bush, a figure of God entering our thorny, sinful flesh without being harmed.
Poem, lines 61–90Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Only the Son, the image of God, is seen; the Father, the fountain of the godhead, is invisible; the divine nature of the Word is impassible and eternal, and the scourging, spitting and nails fell on the flesh of the man he assumed.
Poem, lines 91–120Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Christ’s flesh, born of the Virgin, hungered, suffered and feared death; the Patripassians wrongly make the Father incarnate; Scripture says the Word, not the Father, became flesh; the Father is present everywhere through the Word and is seen in the Son.
Poem, lines 121–150Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Nebuchadnezzar saw the Son of God walking with the three young men in the furnace and confessed him; the idolatrous music fell silent and the three praised God; the Word has always come down to help and save mankind.
Poem, lines 151–180Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · The Word took human flesh so that man might become spiritual and immortal; the Son of man alone sees the Father; the Father did not come down into flesh, but the flesh went up to the Father; Sabellius, who denies the Son, also destroys the Father.
Poem, lines 211–240Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Christians, who have touched the wounds of the risen Jesus and seen the prophecies fulfilled, confess the Father who begot a king, Christ, God and man, who descended to death and rose to carry humanity to the Father; they confess Father, Son and Spirit, three yet one God, the Father not being the Son.
Poem, lines 241–270Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · The Father is not his own Son; the Son is begotten of the Father and equal to him, as shown by their identical works; the manner of the eternal generation is beyond human search, but it is known that the unbegotten Father begot the Son, whole of whole, co-eternal, without division or diminution.
Poem, lines 271–300Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · God loses nothing by begetting, but is light from light; the Father was always Father, and Christ is co-eternal with him; whoever doubts this is no catholic; Moses, taught by God himself, shows that the Father created man together with Christ.
Poem, lines 301–330Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · In creation God worked with God, for man was made in the image of Christ, the Father’s image; ‘the Lord rained fire from the Lord’ on Sodom shows the Son acting with the Father; Israel, having made the golden calf, could not see Christ veiled in the Law, but Christians see him with unveiled face.
Poem, lines 331–360Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Israel, the olive tree into which the Gentiles have been grafted, is urged not to envy; its Passover lamb and unleavened bread portray the Christian Passover, the true passion of Christ, whose blood marks believers and frees the true children of Abraham.
Poem, lines 361–390Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Abraham saw and believed in Christ, true God, whom the Law, pregnant with Christ, promised; the carnal observance of the Law misses him; every language, as on the title of the Cross, and all music proclaim Christ, whose name is the poet’s delight.
Poem, lines 391–420Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · If the Jews will not hear the praise of Christ, let them hear the demons, who in exorcisms confess his name and are driven out, as the legion confessed him in the Gerasene demoniac; Judea heard but did not understand, while the whole world received the gospel.
Poem, lines 421–450Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · The gospel has reached and tamed the barbarian peoples to the ends of the earth; since the incarnation the pagan oracles have fallen silent and the emperors adore the Cross; but in the poet’s boyhood one able emperor remained devoted to the gods.
Poem, lines 481–510Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · A baptized guardsman, signed with the cross, confesses Christ; the emperor flees and his soldiers call on Jesus; Judea is told to see in Christ the God who has conquered Rome, and that the destruction of Solomon’s handmade temple was deserved.
Poem, lines 511–540Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · The Christian temple is the Word made flesh, not built by hands: destroyed in its human nature by the passion, it was raised on the third day and ascended; the Jewish temple was destroyed by Titus, and the Jewish people scattered.
Poem, lines 541–570Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · The Jews who denied Christ are now subject to the believing nations; against those who hold that Christ is only a good man and not God, the poet argues from the virgin birth: conceived by the Spirit without man, Christ is to be believed God, and Mary remained a virgin mother.
Poem, lines 571–600Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · The unbeliever is urged to believe the angel’s message, as Mary believed and so conceived Christ; Elizabeth and the unborn John bear witness; Isaiah’s prophecy of the virgin and Emmanuel is fulfilled.
Poem, lines 601–630Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · The Magi worshiped the child with royal gifts, having seen his star; the constellations of the astrologers gave way before him and the sun foresaw its darkening at his death; the poet too would bring him gifts and worship him as king and God.
Poem, lines 631–660Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · The Magi would not have worshiped a mere mortal child; but even setting aside the signs of his birth, Christ’s miracles show him God: he stilled the storm and walked on the sea, commanding the winds as their maker.
Poem, lines 661–690Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Only the creator of the waters, whose Spirit hovered over them at creation, could walk on the sea; Christ healed the blind man with clay and sent him to wash in Siloam, as he had once formed Adam from clay and breathed into him.
Poem, lines 691–720Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · The blind man, healed by clay and the washing (a figure of baptism), proclaims Christ, the author of light; Christ fed thousands in the desert with five loaves and two fishes, which only the creator who made the world from nothing could do.
Poem, lines 721–750Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · The multiplication of the loaves reflects the creation of the world from nothing; the twelve baskets kept the fragments; then the poet asks Lazarus how he heard Christ’s voice in the depths of death as Christ stood before his tomb and called him.
Poem, lines 751–780Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Lazarus comes out alive, his body restored; only the creator could do this; death is called to confess Jesus as God; Christ, true God, assumed the whole man, body and soul, and redeems the whole; an objector asks whether the God-breathed soul can suffer.
Poem, lines 931–960Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Christ, born of an incorrupt mother, took a nature subject to punishment but not to sin, so death had no claim on him and was consumed in his body; only God is blameless, and the soul is not part of him; next the poet turns to the Manichees, who say Christ had only a phantom body.
Poem, lines 961–990Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Christ called himself the Son of man when healing and forgiving and foretelling his passion; if his body were a phantom, he lied, which God cannot do; Matthew’s genealogy of forty-two generations proves his true flesh, Christ completing the seventh week and the year of release.
Poem, lines 991–1020Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Christ, the perfect man, brings the sabbath rest to human flesh; Luke’s genealogy traces his descent through seventy-two generations back to Adam, who through Christ becomes son of God; to make Christ’s body airy is to make all his ancestors and humanity itself a fable.
Poem, lines 1021–1050Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Christ would not disdain human flesh, having formed Adam from clay with his own hands when all else was made by command; he made the earth his own so that it might become incorruptible; Christ is our flesh: in his death and burial the believer sees himself, and in his resurrection sees God.
Poem, lines 1051–1085Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · If Christ’s humanity were a phantom, so would be his divinity; his true death and resurrection prove him both man and God; the believer’s body will rise in Christ whole and the same, restored from every loss, so the poet bids his limbs fear nothing and follow the risen Christ.
Hymn 3, lines 1–32Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Before the meal the poet invokes Christ, the cross-bearer and Word, begotten of the Father before creation and born of a virgin, to bless food and drink, so that all the table’s talk and actions are governed by the Trinity; his Muse is to wear the garland of God’s praise instead of ivy.
Hymn 3, lines 129–160Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Fallen posterity followed Adam into sin and death; then the Word became flesh, born of a virgin without intercourse, and the ancient enmity of Genesis 3:15 was fulfilled as the woman’s offspring crushed the serpent and peace came to the flock.
Hymn 5, lines 65–96Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Pharaoh’s army drowned in the returning sea; Christ, who struck Egypt with plagues and parted the sea, also gave water from the rock, sweetened the bitter water with wood (a figure of the Cross), and sent manna.
Hymn 6, lines 65–96Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams and became ruler of Egypt; John in his revelation saw the slain Lamb open the sealed book and bear a two-edged sword, judge of soul and body, yet merciful.
Hymn 7, lines 161–192Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Nineveh’s fast, even of infants and cattle, turned God’s anger to mercy; Jesus, Emmanuel, fasted forty days in the desert, freeing the flesh from pleasure, and repulsed the tempter who tested whether God was in him.
Hymn 9, lines 1–32Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · The poet sings of Christ, foretold by David, begotten of the Father before creation, maker of all things, born of the Virgin by the Holy Spirit to save Adam’s race, and of his first miracles: water made wine and lepers cleansed.
Hymn 9, lines 33–64Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Christ’s miracles: he heals the blind with clay, stills the storm, heals the woman with the flow of blood, raises the widow’s son and Lazarus, walks on the sea, frees the demoniac of the tombs, feeds the thousands, and opens deaf ears; he is himself the bread that satisfies forever.
Hymn 9, lines 65–111Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Christ heals all sickness, descends to Tartarus and breaks its gates, darkens the sun at his death; from his side flow blood and water, the serpent is crushed, the saints rise with him, and he ascends to the Father’s right hand as judge, praised by all people and all creation.
Hymn 11, lines 1–32Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · At the winter solstice the returning sun heralds Christ’s birth from a virgin mother; he is the Mediator of twofold nature, the Word and Wisdom through whom all things were made, who stayed in the Father’s bosom until he came to the sinful world.
Hymn 11, lines 33–64Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Mankind, worshiping idols, had fallen under the devil’s power; Christ took a mortal body to break death’s chain and bring man to the Father; the Virgin’s childbirth increased her purity, and the Child’s first cry began a renewed world.
Hymn 11, lines 65–96Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · At Christ’s birth all nature blossomed; even the beasts of the manger adore him and the pagan nations come to him, while the descendants of the patriarchs reject him; the poet urges them to acknowledge their own prince.
Hymn 11, lines 97–116Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · The Child born in the manger will return on the clouds as judge when the last trumpet sounds and the world burns, giving everlasting light to some and Gehenna to others; then Judea will know whom it gave over to death.
Hymn 12, lines 1–32Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · The star of Bethlehem, brighter than the sun and never setting, announces that God has come in the flesh; the Magi in the east see it, and all other stars give way.
Hymn 12, lines 33–64Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · The Magi recognize in the star an eternal king, the seed promised to Abraham and the flower of Jesse’s root; they follow it to the Child and offer incense, myrrh and gold.
Hymn 12, lines 65–96Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · The gifts declare the Child king (gold), God (incense) and mortal (myrrh for his tomb); Bethlehem bore the only heir of the Father, man and God, to whom the Father wills a kingdom over all things; Herod hears of the new king.
Hymn 12, lines 129–160Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · The Holy Innocents play before the heavenly altar; Herod’s crime gained nothing, for Christ escaped, as Moses, a figure of Christ, escaped Pharaoh’s edict and became lawgiver and deliverer of Israel.
Hymn 12, lines 161–192Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Christ is the true leader prefigured by Moses, who led Israel through the sea, sweetened the water, followed the pillar of fire and defeated Amalek with arms outstretched like the cross, and by Joshua, who gave the land and set up twelve stones in the Jordan, figures of the apostles.
Quatrain 20: Regnum DavidPrudentius · ca. 400–410 · David’s royal insignia, scepter, oil, horn, crown, purple and altar, all apply to Christ.
Quatrain 25: Gabriel ad MariamPrudentius · ca. 400–410 · Gabriel announces to Mary that by the Holy Spirit she will bear Christ.
Quatrain 26: Civitas BethlehemPrudentius · ca. 400–410 · Bethlehem bore Christ as man, who was God before the sun and stars.
Quatrain 27: Magorum muneraPrudentius · ca. 400–410 · The Magi bring gold, incense and myrrh, and Mary marvels that she has borne God and King.
Quatrain 28: Pastores ab angelis admonitiPrudentius · ca. 400–410 · The angels’ light appears to the shepherds, who find the Christ child in the manger and adore him.
Quatrain 31: Pinna templiPrudentius · ca. 400–410 · A pinnacle of the ruined temple remains, and the rejected stone has become the head of the corner, joining two peoples.
Quatrain 37: Quinque panes et duo piscesPrudentius · ca. 400–410 · Christ feeds five thousand with five loaves and two fish, with twelve baskets left over.
Quatrain 43: Sepulcrum ChristiPrudentius · ca. 400–410 · Christ rises, conquering death; the saints rise with him, and he shows himself to many.
Quatrain 49: Apocalypsis IoannisPrudentius · ca. 400–410 · The twenty-four elders with harps, bowls and crowns praise the slain Lamb who alone can open the sealed book.
Poem, lines 31–60Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · God the Father is the one source of all things and of number itself; the Son, begotten one from one before all time and not adopted, is the true form of the Father, so that the Godhead is one, which Marcion’s two lords deny.
Poem, lines 481–510Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Whoever has Christ, the cornerstone, built into his walls is safe from every enemy, even from Marcion’s god, the ruler of this vain world; as Paul says, creation is subjected to vanity, and our struggle is not against flesh and blood.
Hymn 2, lines 385–416Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · The smell of the roasting martyr is a stench to persecutors and nectar to believers, for Christ is a fire that lights the righteous and burns the guilty; Lawrence jests from the gridiron and then prays to Christ for Rome.
Hymn 10, lines 449–480Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · From the rack Romanus proclaims Christ, God and sharer of our nature, who gives everlasting salvation to the soul, which either shines in glory or is cast into darkness; the body must fall anyway, and torture is no worse than disease.
Hymn 10, lines 545–576Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · With his face torn, Romanus thanks the prefect for giving him many mouths to praise Christ; the prefect orders a pyre and mocks Christ as a recent, crucified man, and Romanus answers that the Cross is the salvation of all.
Hymn 10, lines 577–608Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Romanus confesses that the eternal King begot an eternal King, the Son equal to the Father and outside time, who as man met death and overcame it; he answers the charge of novelty by pointing to Rome’s own recent founding, and says the Cross was foreshown from the beginning.
Hymn 10, lines 609–640Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · The Cross was foreshadowed by kings, prophets and judges and fulfilled before witnesses; because Christ raised his dead body and took it to the Father, believers trust in their own resurrection; Christ, of twofold nature, died and conquered death; Romanus proposes that a child be asked to judge.
Hymn 10, lines 929–960Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Romanus points to Christ’s walking on the sea and his healing miracles, of which his own speech is a proof; the bewildered prefect accuses the physician of having been bribed to cut badly.
Preface, lines 31–71Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · After Abraham rescued Lot, Melchizedek fed him and the three angels visited him, and Sarah bore Isaac; so the soul must free every captive part by an inner war, and then Christ, the true Priest, will enter it and the Spirit will make it fruitful.
Poem, lines 1–30Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · The poet asks Christ, one God with the Father, to tell how the virtues fight the vices in the soul; Faith enters the field unarmed and strikes down the Worship of the Old Gods.
Poem, lines 61–90Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Chastity taunts Lust: if Judith under the Law could overcome it, much more now that the Virgin has borne Christ, God and man, the Word made flesh who remained what he was and raised human flesh to the divine; Lust is to be cast into hell.
Poem, lines 361–390Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Sobriety reminds the deserters of the water from the rock and the manna, now fulfilled in the body of Christ, of their descent from Judah through which God became man by the Mother of God, and of Samuel, who would not spare the conquered king.
Poem, lines 751–780Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · Concord tells the Virtues that peace in the commonwealth and in the soul rests on unity; as Christ the mediator unites God and man, so one Spirit must unite all we do; no gift, not even martyrdom, pleases God without peace.
Poem, lines 871–915Prudentius · ca. 400-405 · In the inner shrine, on a throne of a great pearl bought by Faith, sits Wisdom holding an ever-green sceptre like Aaron’s budding rod; the poet thanks Christ for teaching us the soul’s inner warfare between flesh and spirit, which lasts until Christ makes the soul a temple where Wisdom reigns.
Exposition of the Right Faith 10Anonymous · early 5th century (probably Theodoret) · The Word came down without leaving heaven, formed for himself a temple from the Virgin, and as the one Son died as man and rose as God; contrary statements are to be assigned to the two natures.
Exposition of the Right Faith 11Anonymous · early 5th century (probably Theodoret) · The author weighs the comparison of the union of God and man in Christ with that of soul and body, accepting it in part but rejecting it because man is a third thing from two, and the soul suffers with the body.
Exposition of the Right Faith 12Anonymous · early 5th century (probably Theodoret) · The author confesses the limits of his knowledge, then proposes an image of the union: the primal light gathered into the body of the sun, one sun in light and body, as the Word and his body are one Son; he closes with thanks.
Exposition of the Right Faith 13Anonymous · early 5th century (probably Theodoret) · The author takes up a further question: how the Word is everywhere by substance and yet dwells in his own temple.
Exposition of the Right Faith 14Anonymous · early 5th century (probably Theodoret) · Asking “how” about God betrays unbelief: how, then, did he create heaven, earth and the questioner himself, and how is his power present to all things?
Exposition of the Right Faith 15Anonymous · early 5th century (probably Theodoret) · Against those who teach the mixture of the natures and the change of Christ's body into Godhead: such a change would add to God, produce two divine substances, or be pointless.
Exposition of the Right Faith 17Anonymous · early 5th century (probably Theodoret) · The Word is present to all by substance but received according to each one's measure, as the sun is equally present yet received by each eye according to its strength; only in his own sinless temple does the fullness of the Godhead dwell.
Exposition of the Right Faith 18Anonymous · early 5th century (probably Theodoret) · The author closes with a hymn of victory to the Word, the true light.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 16Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · Human offspring share their parents' essence but come later, because parents exist before they beget; God begets as he exists, so the Son is not later than the Father.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 23Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · Christ's prayer for the disciples' sanctification was answered, because it was offered after Judas had already perished by leaving the group at the Last Supper.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 24Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · The talismans of Apollonius of Tyana worked by natural science and materials, whereas Christ's miracles came by divine authority without matter; Christ silenced the demon in Apollonius' statue and the other pagan gods.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 28Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · Corpses are shunned for their stench, not their deadness, as the use of animal parts shows; the uncleanness of the dead signifies a soul dead in sin; and Christ, no longer under the law after his baptism, was not defiled by touching the dead.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 38Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · John the Baptist sent his disciples to Jesus because rumors attributed Jesus' miracles to Elijah or Jeremiah; Jesus answered with miracles showing he was the one John had pointed out.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 39Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · Christ's drawing of all to himself will be fulfilled at the end, when every power is abolished; and the Father draws to the Son by giving the Son power to draw all, so the two sayings agree.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 63–64Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · Psalm 19's “tent in the sun” means the heavens are the sun's tent, as the Syriac rendering and Psalm 104 show; and Jonah's three days in the fish are a type of Christ's three days in the tomb, not of his death, since the reality must exceed the type.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 65–66Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · Christ was betrayed on Thursday night, not Wednesday, since he was tried that night and crucified the next day; and “Son of man” does not imply a human father, for Luke says he was only supposed to be Joseph's son, and as Joseph was Heli's son by law, so Christ was Joseph's son without marital union.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 67Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · Isaiah's “Who will declare his generation?” refers to Christ's divine birth, which has no genealogy, while his birth in the flesh from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary is recorded.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 82–88Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · Seven questions: demons' names (Beelzebul, Belial) were learned from the demons through magic; sacrifices before the law were accepted but not commanded, and Abraham's served as prophecy; Elisha's double portion meant greater power, shown in raising two dead; the saints raised at the crucifixion rose complete and remain immortal; Origen's work explains Hebrew words and measures; Herod heard of Jesus' miracles late; and infants, unable to choose, do not sin, so Scripture's “no one is sinless” does not touch them or Christ.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 105Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · Christ prayed often, as he hungered and thirsted, by his own will, to show that he truly shared our human nature against those who would deny it.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 108Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · The answer argues that the Jews' ignorance in crucifying Christ was excusable only until the resurrection exposed it; persisting in unbelief afterward, they did not receive the pardon Christ prayed for, which is given only to those who acknowledge their sin.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 117Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · The risen Christ entered through shut doors with his real body, as he walked on the sea, by divine power and not by becoming spirit; the stone was rolled away only so that the empty tomb and grave clothes could be seen.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 130–131Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · The heaven is a vault resting on the waters, the waters on the earth, and the earth on God's command, so Christians are not caught in the Greeks' difficulties about place; and Luke's genealogy does not contradict Matthew's, since only Heli was Joseph's father by law, all others being natural fathers.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 132–133Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · Levirate marriage was lawful even for a married brother, since the law allowed more than one wife, and it gave the dead man an heir and kept the inheritance in the tribe; and Christ, born of Joseph's wife without his seed, was Joseph's son as Joseph was Heli's son by law, as the evangelists' written genealogies show.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 134–135Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · Scripture calls the law “Moses” as we call a book by its author's name; and Christ is truly Emmanuel, as Matthew shows and the Church confesses, even if no one called him by that name during his life.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 136–138Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · Three questions: Christ did not slight his mother, whom he honored and obeyed, but blessed her for hearing and keeping God's word; the baptismal anointings follow the right order, since Mary's anointing of Jesus anticipated his burial; and God justly struck the people for Saul's and David's faults, since a kingdom is one body and the people's suffering punishes the king.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 140–141Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · The Jews knew Jesus as the heir in the sense of the parable (a man above all men by his works) but did not know God would raise him and make him heir of all, so their ignorance was willing; and those called blameless under the law were cleansed by sacrifice and confession, whereas Christ alone was sinless.
On the Good of Marriage 22Augustine of Hippo · 401 · The patriarchs sought children to prepare Christ's lineage, a greater good than marriage itself, as shown by Abraham's sacrifice and his servant's oath.
On the Good of Marriage 26Augustine of Hippo · 401 · Christ ate and drank yet had the virtue of abstinence; so Abraham, though married, had continence in disposition as fully as John the Baptist had it in action.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 1.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Augustine asks how God said “Let there be light” and concludes that God speaks in his eternal Word, not by a sounding voice.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 1.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Augustine explains that “in the beginning” names the Son as Beginning of still-formless creation, while “God said” names him as the Word who forms it by turning it to himself.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 1.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Augustine contrasts the Son’s life, which is wisdom itself, with the creature’s life, which is formless until it turns to Wisdom.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 2.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Augustine rejects a reading that splits “God said” and “God made” between Father and Son and explains each formula as referring to the eternal Word, the creature’s bounds, and the Spirit’s goodness.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 4.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Augustine sets God's rest on the seventh day beside Christ's words “My Father is working until now,” and reads the Sabbath as a shadow fulfilled in Christ's rest in the tomb.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 5.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · The eternal reasons of creatures are in the Word of God, who knew all things before they were made; rational minds have the Word as their true light.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 5.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Augustine argues for reading John 1:3–4 as “What was made, in him is (or was) life,” meaning that created things existed in the Word as life before they were made.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 5.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · God needs no messengers to know; the angels, who are the first day, knew the mystery of Christ hidden from the ages, and God is said to know when he makes things known.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 8.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Adam learned good and evil by the experience of disobedience; evil is the loss of good, and Christ alone chose the good without experience of evil, the singular example of obedience.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 8.27Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · God speaks through his own substance only in creating and enlightening; to others he speaks through creatures, as in Adam's case; Augustine rejects the heretical view that the Son was visible in his own substance before the incarnation.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 9.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · That the woman was made from the man without intercourse is as credible as that Christ was born of a woman without intercourse; we lack a likeness only because we do not know how angels serve God's creating.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 10.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Wis 8:19–20 seems to favor souls coming from above, but it cannot mean that souls are sent into bodies for prior merits, which contradicts Rom 9:11; some refer it to Christ's soul.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 10.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · If Wis 8:19–20 is applied to Christ, his soul did not come by transmission from Adam, and his flesh, conceived of a virgin without the law of sin, was the likeness of sinful flesh; Augustine would say his soul came from where Adam's came.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 10.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · From Heb 7:4–10 Augustine argues that Christ, unlike Levi, was not tithed in Abraham, and so his soul did not come by transmission from Adam.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 10.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Traducianists may answer that Levi was in Abraham by seminal reason through concupiscence, Christ only by bodily substance; Augustine, still undecided, holds that both sides agree Christ's soul is not transmitted from Adam.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 10.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Augustine concludes that Christ's soul either came by transmission without the stain of sin or did not come by transmission; for other souls he still wavers, holding only that the soul is not a body or a bodily harmony.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 12.33Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · The underworld is real and receives souls after death; Christ descended to free some from its pains; but Augustine finds no place where Scripture calls the rest of the righteous, Abraham's bosom, the underworld.
On Holy Virginity 4Augustine of Hippo · 401 · Mary had vowed virginity before the annunciation, as her question to the angel shows, so that virginity would be a free choice rather than a command.
On Holy Virginity 35Augustine of Hippo · 401 · Christ, to whom all things are given, teaches above all 'Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.'
On Holy Virginity 55Augustine of Hippo · 401 · Virgins should give Christ, the most beautiful of lovers, all the love they would have given to marriage.
Letter 41, chapter 1Innocent I, bishop of Rome · 401–417 · Innocent orders Bishop Laurence to act against the Photinian heretics led by Marcus, who deny that Christ was begotten from the Father before the ages.
Letter 43Innocent I, bishop of Rome · 401–417 · A confession of faith ascribed to Innocent: the divine Word formed his own body in Mary’s womb and his divinity was never separated from his humanity, from conception to the cross and the ascension.
Apology against Rufinus 1.20Jerome · ca. 401–402 · Jerome contrasts Origen's speculations with his own legitimate discussion of Hebrew ambiguities.
Apology against Rufinus 2.4Jerome · ca. 401–402 · Jerome says Rufinus answers about the Trinity, which no one questioned, and demands his view on the origin of Christ's human soul.
Apology against Rufinus 2.10Jerome · ca. 401–402 · Jerome scorns Rufinus's professed ignorance on the origin of the soul as an evasion meant to avoid condemning Origen's doctrine of pre-existence.
Apology against Rufinus 2.12Jerome · ca. 401–402 · Jerome lists the doctrines in Origen's works that he holds heretical and challenges Rufinus to show where Origen contradicts them.
Apology against Jerome 1.4Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 401 · Rufinus recalls his baptism at Aquileia about thirty years earlier and sets out his faith in the Trinity, the incarnation, and the resurrection of this same flesh.
Apology against Jerome 1.6Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 401 · Christ's risen body, which the disciples could touch, is the pattern: we shall rise in this same flesh, freed from corruption and made spiritual.
Apology against Jerome 1.13Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 401 · Rufinus quotes his preface to Pamphilus's Apology, with its confession of the Trinity and of the resurrection of this flesh, as taught by Bishop John of Jerusalem.
Apology against Jerome 2.27Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 401 · Rufinus argues that Jerome's own translations of Origen's homilies omitted or softened passages on the Son, the soul, and the Trinity, which is exactly what Rufinus did.
Book 2, preface, lines 1–30Prudentius · ca. 402-403 · The preface to Book 2 tells how the disciples’ boat was caught in a storm at night and Christ came to them walking on the sea; Peter alone recognized him and asked for help, and Christ bade him come down onto the water.
Book 2, lines 241–270Prudentius · ca. 402-403 · God asks for a temple not of marble but of the mind, built on faith, piety and chastity; he made man upright to look to heaven, but man turned to earth, and God’s own Spirit descended to restore him; the poet asks Symmachus whether he prefers custom to these precepts.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 6Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · The names Jesus (Saviour) and Christ (Anointed) are explained, and why he is called the only Son and our Lord.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 7Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · The Son's generation is not fleshly; analogies are imperfect, but he is truly and uniquely Son and Lord, unlike sons by adoption.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 9Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · Christ's birth from the Virgin by the Holy Spirit, foretold by Isaiah and figured in Ezekiel's shut gate, shows the Trinity working together.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 11Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · Rufinus answers pagan mockery of the virgin birth by pointing to the phoenix, bees, and the pagans' own myths of strange births.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 12Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · Christ was not defiled by being born of a woman, any more than a rescuer by mud or the sun by shining into a pit; what God made is not foul by nature.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 13Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · The Word was united to the flesh through a human soul, as light is received by the eye; nothing shameful or weak attaches to this birth.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 14Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · The cross, with its height, breadth and depth, was chosen as the form of Christ's death because it was a triumph over the powers of heaven, earth and hell.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 15Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · The cross stripped the rebellious powers who ruled mankind of their bond over sinners and gave believers an example of obedience unto death.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 16Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · The incarnation was like bait on a hook: the devil seized Christ's flesh in death and was caught by the hidden Godhead.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 17Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · Christ went down into death not as its captive but as a king entering a prison to set the prisoners free.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 19Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · The cross is a stumbling block to Jews, folly to Gentiles, and the power of God to believers, as the prophets foretold the faith passing to the Gentiles.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 20Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · The prophets foretold Judas's betrayal with a kiss, the thirty pieces of silver, and Christ's being bound.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 21Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · The prophets foretold that the Lord would be judged, scourged, spat upon, and sent bound as a 'gift' between Pilate and Herod.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 22Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · The prophets foretold the crowd's cry, Christ's silence, the crown of thorns which undid the curse on the ground, and his hanging on the wood.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 23Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · The water and blood from Christ's side signify cleansing and condemnation, the two baptisms of water and martyrdom, and the new Eve from the second Adam's side.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 24Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · The darkness at the crucifixion was foretold by Amos and Zechariah, whose 'cold' even matches Peter warming himself at the fire.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 25Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · The dividing of Christ's garments and the scarlet robe of mockery were foretold in Ps 22 and Isa 63.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 26Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · The gall and vinegar given to Christ were foretold in the Psalms, by Moses, and in the Song of Songs.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 27Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · Christ's death and burial behind a great stone were foretold in the Psalms, Lamentations, Isaiah and Genesis.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 28Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · Christ's descent into hell is shown from the Psalms, from John the Baptist's question, and from 1 Peter's preaching to the spirits in prison.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 29Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · Christ's resurrection reveals the glory hidden in his weakness; he rose victorious, led out the dead, and set our flesh at God's right hand.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 30Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · Testimonies to the resurrection from the Psalms, Hosea's 'third day', Isaiah, and the Song of Songs on the women who sought him.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 31Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · The ascension is to be understood worthily of God: the Word made flesh entered heaven as victor, bringing back the captives and giving the Spirit.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 32Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · Christ's sitting at the Father's right hand belongs to the flesh he assumed, as the Psalms, the Gospels, Peter and Paul show.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 34Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · The prophets foretold Christ's coming to judge and his endless kingdom, and warned of Antichrist, who will imitate his coming.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 39Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · The one holy church keeps the whole faith; Rufinus warns against the 'councils of vanity' of Marcion, Ebion, Mani, Paul of Samosata, Arius and others.
Against Felix the Manichaean 2.9Augustine of Hippo · December 404 · Augustine explains that the Son, unable to suffer in his divine nature, took flesh in order to suffer for us out of mercy, whereas the Manichaean part of God descends to be bound and polluted.
Against Felix the Manichaean 2.11Augustine of Hippo · December 404 · Augustine explains that humanity was held by the devil through its own consent under God's just judgment, that Christ took up the curse and death to undo them, and that the law is good, revealing sin so that the proud might repent.
Against Felix the Manichaean 2.17Augustine of Hippo · December 404 · Augustine distinguishes what God begot of himself (the Word, equal to him and incapable of pollution) from what he made (the soul and all creatures), which could be polluted by sin and remade through the incarnate Word.
Against Felix the Manichaean 2.19Augustine of Hippo · December 404 · Augustine repeats that God begot a Son equal to himself but made the world from nothing, and presses Felix either to anathematize Mani or share his condemnation.
Dialogues 1.7Sulpicius Severus · ca. 404–406 · A passage of Origen on the redemption of the devil provokes a riot; the prefect expels the monks; Postumianus notes Jerome’s change of mind and leaves Alexandria.
Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists (On the Unity of the Church) 7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405 · Those who deny Scripture's teaching about Christ, or who agree about Christ but are cut off from his worldwide body, are both outside the church; since the dispute concerns the body, Christ's words in the prophets, gospels and apostles must decide.
Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists (On the Unity of the Church) 11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405 · God swore to Abraham that all nations would be blessed in his seed, which Paul says is Christ; the Donatists annul this testament by confining Christ's inheritance to Donatus' party.
Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists (On the Unity of the Church) 12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405 · The same promise that all nations would be blessed in the seed, Christ, was repeated to Isaac.
Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists (On the Unity of the Church) 15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405 · Isaiah foretold that Christ, the root of Jesse and the servant who brings judgment to the nations, would fill the whole world; the Donatists must hope in him with all nations or perish.
Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists (On the Unity of the Church) 17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405 · Isaiah describes Christ the bridegroom, who was handed over to death in order to possess many as his inheritance, so the Donatists cannot boast of being few.
Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists (On the Unity of the Church) 20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405 · Psalm 2, which Petilian himself cited, promises Christ the nations and the ends of the earth as his inheritance, the church holding good and bad together.
Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists (On the Unity of the Church) 21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405 · The psalms foretell Christ's passion and its fruit: the turning of all the ends of the earth to God; the Donatists confess Christ exalted above the heavens but refuse his glory over all the earth.
Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists (On the Unity of the Church) 24Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405 · After his resurrection Christ himself declared that Scripture foretold both his passion and resurrection and the preaching of repentance to all nations beginning from Jerusalem.
Letter to the Catholics on the Sect of the Donatists (On the Unity of the Church) 70Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405 · Converts are received as the church foretold in Scripture receives them, the church that began in Jerusalem and is spreading to all nations until the end, the pillar of truth, with grain and refuse mixed; Scripture nowhere names Africa or Donatus.
Against Cresconius 3.72Augustine of Hippo · ca. 405–406 · Augustine sets side by side prophecies that the Donatists accept of Christ and the verses next to them that foretell the church spread through the whole earth.
1 Corinthians 1:23Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · A crucified Christ offends Jews who expect an undying Messiah.
1 Corinthians 1:24Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Believers of both peoples see Christ as God's power over death and his wisdom.
1 Corinthians 1:28Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Christ's poverty, lack of letters and patient death rebuke the glory of the wise, rich and strong.
1 Corinthians 1:30Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Christ became wisdom and righteousness for us, to make us wise and righteous.
1 Corinthians 2:8Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Against Apollinaris and Arius: the assumed man is called Lord of majesty, and only the humanity suffered.
1 Corinthians 3:23Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · All things serve the saints, who may choose life or death; “Christ is God's” refers to his humanity.
1 Corinthians 9:21Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Paul won Gentiles by faith and reason; “the law of God… of Christ” shows Christ is God.
1 Corinthians 10:9Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Tempting Christ in the wilderness shows that Christ is God.
1 Corinthians 11:3Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · The man is subject to Christ, the woman to Christ and the man; God is Christ's head as to his humanity.
1 Corinthians 11:12Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · As Eve came from Adam, Christ came from Mary; God made the flesh, against the Manichees.
1 Corinthians 15:3Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Christ's death for sins fulfils Isaiah.
1 Corinthians 15:4Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Isaiah and Hosea foretold the burial and third-day resurrection.
1 Corinthians 15:25Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · “Until” does not set an end to Christ's reign.
1 Corinthians 15:28Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · The Son's subjection is an act of love, not inferiority; various explanations are offered.
1 Corinthians 15:45Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · The two Adams share one nature, against Manichees and Apollinarists.
1 Corinthians 15:47Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Christ is heavenly in his birth, yet truly shares our nature.
1 Corinthians 15:48Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Christ called heavenly is still of our race, as are heavenly believers.
1 Corinthians 15:57Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Christ overcame sin by the cross and by his example.
1 Timothy 2:6Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · The one God is three persons in one nature; Christ, God and man, is the one mediator who gave himself for all who will be redeemed.
1 Timothy 3:16Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · The mystery of godliness is Christ's incarnation, revealed, vindicated, seen by angels, preached, and taken up.
2 Corinthians 1:19Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Christ is the unchangeable "yes"; he kept his word to the centurion by spiritual presence.
2 Corinthians 4:4Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · God "blinds" unbelievers by permitting what their unbelief deserves; Christ is God's image.
2 Corinthians 5:15Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Christ, the spotless sacrifice, died for all so that they might live for him.
2 Corinthians 5:19Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · God is present everywhere, in the saints by grace, and in Christ by the fullness of divinity; he forgives by faith alone.
2 Corinthians 5:21Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Christ, offered for sin, was called "sin" like the sin offering; grace is received in vain without progress.
2 Corinthians 8:10Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Christ became poor for us, so giving to the poor is giving back to him; his prior riches refute Photinus.
2 Corinthians 13:4Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Christ crucified in weakness lives by God's power, and his power is in the faithful.
2 Timothy 2:8Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Christ's resurrection in the flesh refutes those who deny the resurrection or his coming in the flesh.
Colossians 1:15Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Christ is God's image and, as man, firstborn in honour, not in time.
Colossians 1:16Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · All things, visible and invisible, were created by Christ in his divinity, against the Manichaeans.
Colossians 1:17Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · All things subsist through Christ.
Colossians 1:19Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · In the saints God's gift was partial, but the whole Godhead abounded in Christ.
Colossians 2:9Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · The whole divine nature dwells in Christ's body.
Ephesians 1:20Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · God's greatest work was raising Christ and seating him in honour; "right hand" means honour, not a bodily God.
Ephesians 1:21Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · The risen Christ, the assumed man now one with God, is above every power.
Ephesians 4:9Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Christ, everywhere as God, descended in the form of a servant to hell and ascended body and soul.
Galatians 3:13Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · The sinless Christ bore the law's curse of the tree in place of all who broke the law.
Galatians 3:20Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Christ is mediator yet not divided from the one divine nature.
Galatians 4:4Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Christ came when bad habit made the law unkeepable; "woman" refers to sex, not loss of virginity.
Philippians 2:5Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Paul urges Christ's humility; Pelagius notes a common divinity-based reading and takes the passage of Christ as man.
Philippians 2:6Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Christ was in God's form, or sinless in God's image, and equal with God.
Philippians 2:7Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Christ hid his divinity in humility and truly became man, "likeness" implying reality.
Philippians 2:8Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Christ's death on the cross is the example of perfect obedience.
Philippians 2:9Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · The Godhead exalted the humbled man Christ, whose example of service believers must follow.
Philippians 2:10Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · All creation adores the man assumed with the Word, who shares the Father's glory.
Romans 1:3Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Christ is Son by nature, and "made" only according to the flesh, against Photinus and Arius.
Romans 1:4Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Christ was destined to rise first and open the way of resurrection to God's sons.
Romans 1:16Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · The gospel of the crucified Lord is no shame, unlike the pagan myths of Jupiter, and is God's saving power.
Romans 3:25Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · God set Christ forth openly; he suffered to turn aside God's decree to punish sinners.
Romans 4:25Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Christ's death abolished sins; his resurrection confirms believers' righteousness.
Romans 5:6Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Christ died undeservedly for the ungodly to show his love and draw ours.
Romans 5:8Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · God's love is shown in the sinless Lord dying for ungodly servants.
Romans 8:3Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Christ took true flesh like ours and, never sinning in it, condemned sin, showing that fault lies in the will, not in nature.
Romans 8:34Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · None can condemn God's elect; Christ intercedes by presenting his assumed humanity to the Father, against the Arians.
Romans 9:5Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Christ is from Israel according to the flesh and God blessed forever, against Mani, Photinus, and Arius.
Romans 15:12Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Christ, from Jesse's line through Mary, is the hope of the gentiles, proving he has already come.
Titus 2:13Pelagius · ca. 405–410 · Paul calls Christ the great God, whose coming believers await.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 1.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · To speak of the Word through whom all things were made, John had to rise in contemplation above every creature, visible and invisible.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 1.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Human words sound and pass away, but the inner word, the thought they signify, remains; by this analogy Augustine begins to show that the Word of God is not a passing sound.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 1.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · As a builder's unseen plan is admired through the building, so the Word of God, God's 'plan', is known from the beauty of the created world, visible and invisible.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 1.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Word must not be pictured like ordinary human words, for the evangelist adds that the Word was God.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 1.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Against the Arians, Augustine argues that the Word through whom all things were made cannot itself have been made, and that it is unchangeable.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 1.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Only a right faith in the uncreated Word allows one to be remade through him; the evangelist says the Word 'was', not that it 'was made'.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 1.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · 'Nothing' in John 1:3 is not something: sin and idols were not made through the Word, but every creature from angel to worm was, and the Word became a 'worm' for our sake.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 1.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Augustine discusses the punctuation of John 1:3-4 and rejects the Manichean reading that everything made is alive: what is life is the reason in divine Wisdom by which each thing was made.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 1.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · As a chest exists invisibly and alive in the craftsman's art before it is made, so all things exist as life in the Wisdom of God; the weak should cling to Christ in the flesh until they reach the eternal Word.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 2.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Word is unchangeable Being, which no changeable mind can reach by its own strength; it is seen as a far-off homeland across the sea of this world, which can be crossed only on the wood of Christ's cross.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 2.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christians must cling to Christ's humanity and cross; it is better to hold to the cross without seeing God than to see and despise it, and best to do both, as John did.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 2.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Some philosophers glimpsed through creation that all things were made through the Word, but in pride despised the humility of the cross, the only 'wood' by which the sea of this world can be crossed.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 2.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Word is in the world not as one creature among others, nor as a craftsman outside his work, but as the Maker present everywhere, governing what he made.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 2.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Unlike a human father who prefers an only son, God sent his only Son to make many adopted sons and co-heirs, who possess him as he possesses them.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 2.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · So that men might be born of God, God was first born of men: the Word became flesh, to assure us that our adoption is not incredible.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 2.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The incarnation is an eye-salve made of 'earth': flesh that blinded us by carnal desire is healed by the Word made flesh, so that we can see his glory.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 3.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The physician is the crucified Christ, who did not come down from the cross though he could, because the cross was an example of patience, and by his death he killed death.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 3.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The crucified Christ seen by the Jews is not the whole Christ, who is also the eternal Word; the life in him is the light of men, the light of the mind that bears God's image.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 3.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Those who receive Christ are born of God, and the proof is that the Word was born of man; the incarnation is the medicine that heals our sight so that we see his glory.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 3.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · John says that Christ, though coming after him, ranks before him because he was prior to him; indeed he was begotten before the morning star, before Lucifer and every enlightened creature.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 3.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ, who had no sin, died as a gift of mercy; believers still pay the debt of death from Adam, but Christ's death has destroyed their eternal death.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 3.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Augustine confesses that he cannot adequately explain even Christ's humility, let alone his divinity, and leaves his hearers to the inner teacher who dwells in their hearts.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 3.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Moses did not see God himself but created figures of him, a cloud, fire, an angel; only the Son, who is in the Father's 'bosom', that is, his secret, has declared the Father.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 3.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Against those who said the Son was visible before the incarnation, Augustine holds that the Old Testament appearances were created figures, since the Word and Wisdom of God cannot be seen with bodily eyes.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 4.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ, who came hidden and silent to be judged and crucified, paying the price of our redemption, will come again manifest and speaking as judge.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 4.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ alone is the Lamb who takes away sin, because, born of a virgin, he took flesh from Adam without inheriting sin; no minister may claim to take away sin himself.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 5.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · John alone received a baptism called his own, given him by Christ, who was then baptized by him, just as Christ created Mary and was born of her.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 7.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ is the Lamb in a unique sense, alone without any stain of sin, by whose blood alone men could be redeemed.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 7.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Andrew finds the Messiah, the 'Anointed' or Christ, who is anointed above all his fellows, from whom all Christians receive their anointing.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 7.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Philip tells Nathanael that he has found the one foretold by Moses and the prophets; Augustine notes that Nathanael's reply about Nazareth can be read either as an affirmation or as a question.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 7.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Nathanael, hearing that Jesus saw him under the fig tree, confessed him Son of God and King of Israel, as Peter later did in the confession on which the Church's firmness rests.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 7.23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Jacob's anointed stone signified Christ, and the angels ascending and descending are preachers like Paul, who ascended to the third heaven and descended to give milk to little ones, as a parent stoops to a child's speech.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 8.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ's turning water into wine is no greater than God's yearly turning of rain into wine in the vine; God, who made all things through the Word, works unusual miracles to awaken people dulled to the wonders of creation.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 8.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The God-man who made all things also turned water into wine, and the deed conceals a mystery: as water became wine, so we, once unwise, have been made wise by faith.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 8.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ, who came into the world to wed his bride the Church, bought with his blood, came fittingly to the wedding at Cana; the Virgin's womb was the bridal chamber where the Word was joined to human flesh.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 8.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ's apparently cold words to his mother at Cana hide a mystery; heretics who deny that he had real flesh use them to claim Mary was not his mother, but Christ is wholly true, with true flesh, birth, death, and resurrection.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 8.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The same evangelist who reports 'What have I to do with you, woman?' also says that 'the mother of Jesus was there' and spoke to him; whoever believes the one must believe the other.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 8.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The faithful should believe that Christ spoke these words to his true mother and seek their meaning by prayer; to deny that Mary was his mother makes the Gospel a liar and Christ's flesh, death, and resurrection false.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 8.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ, born of the Father without a mother and of Mary without a father, did speak these words to his mother; neither the Manichees, who deny her motherhood, nor the astrologers, who claim 'my hour' shows Christ was under fate, may exploit them.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 8.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Mary was mother of Christ's humanity, not his divinity, by which he was to work the miracle; so he 'did not acknowledge' her at Cana, but acknowledged her at 'his hour' on the cross, when the weakness she bore was dying and he commended her to the disciple.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 8.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Against astrologers who claim 'my hour' shows Christ was subject to fate, Augustine cites Christ's power to lay down his life and take it up again; the maker of the stars cannot be under the stars, and no human being is subject to fate either.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 8.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · 'My hour' means the opportune time Christ himself chose to suffer, after calling disciples and showing his divinity and humanity, an hour not of necessity but of will and power.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 9.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The first jar is the age of Adam: as Eve was formed from the side of the sleeping Adam, so the Church was formed from the sacraments flowing from the side of the dead Christ, who left his Father by taking the form of a servant and his mother, the synagogue, to cling to the Church.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 9.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The second jar is the age of Noah: the ark holding all the animals figured all nations, saved through wood, because the life of the world was to be fixed on the wood of the cross.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 9.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The third jar is the age of Abraham, whose only son carrying the wood for his own sacrifice figured Christ carrying his cross.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 9.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The fifth jar is the age of Daniel, who saw the stone cut from the mountain without hands, Christ born of the virgin from the Jewish kingdom, growing into a mountain that fills the earth.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 10.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ's flesh came from Adam, and both the Father and the Son raised it, for the Son is equal to the Father and they are one.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 10.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The letters of ADAM, initials of the Greek names of the four quarters of the world, add up to forty-six, the years of the temple, because Christ's flesh came from Adam.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 11.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Though many believed in Jesus' name, he did not entrust himself to them, not from fear, for he suffered only by his own will, but because he knew what was in man.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 12.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ's rebuke of Nicodemus was meant to humble his pride, since only the humble are born of the Spirit, after the example of Christ's own humility.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 12.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ, present on earth in the flesh and in heaven by his divinity, alone descended and ascended; believers ascend as his members.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 12.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Death entered through the devil's envy and man's consent, and Christ, the Word made mortal, freed us from death by his death.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 12.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The bronze serpent lifted up in the desert figures Christ's death on the cross, by which those who look in faith are healed from sin for eternal life.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 13.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · John the Baptist, though greatest of those born of women, declared himself unworthy to loose Christ's sandal, which shows Christ to be above all men and angels.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 13.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The psalm proclaims God king of all the earth, which the Donatists deny by confining him to Africa; Christ's hidden divinity must be seen with the inner eye of understanding.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 13.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ, baptized by his servant John, baptizes with his own baptism and is himself the way: by Christ the man we come to Christ the God, the bread of angels.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 13.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · When John's disciples disputed about baptism, John did not claim his baptism was greater for having baptized Christ, but humbly confessed Christ as God, from whose fullness all receive.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 14.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ is God and man, the light that enlightens; John is a light only as enlightened by him.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 14.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · John confessed that he was not the Christ but the bridegroom's friend, rejoicing in Christ's voice, not his own, and owing all he had to the true light.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 14.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · John's saying that Christ must increase cannot refer to bodily growth, since they were almost the same age and both grown men.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 14.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · John, as a man, is of the earth; whatever divine thing he speaks comes from the grace of Christ who enlightens him.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 14.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Son speaks what he hears from the Father, yet he is himself the Father's Word, begotten without time as a word is conceived in the heart before any language.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 14.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · “No one receives his testimony” refers to those foreknown as unbelievers; those who receive it set their seal that God, that is Christ, is true.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 14.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · God gives the Spirit to men by measure, distributing different gifts among the members of one body, but to Christ he gives without measure.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 14.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Father loves the Son as his only Son and has given all things into his hand, making him equal to himself; in sending the Son he sent his other self.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 14.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Philip asked to see the Father because he saw only Christ's flesh; Christ, equal to the Father, became visible man so that believers might be healed to see his hidden divinity.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 14.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · All are born under the wrath of God through Adam's sin and mortality; Christ shared our mortality so that those who believe in him might share his life and grace.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 15.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Jesus' weariness at the well begins the mysteries: strong as the Word through whom all was made, he became weak in the flesh to remake and seek us.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 15.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ, like a hen weakened with her chicks, became weak in the flesh, his “journey” to us, so that we might be strong in his weakness.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 15.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Eve formed from a rib of the sleeping Adam, with flesh put in its place, prefigures the Church born from the side of Christ asleep on the cross: his weakness is our strength.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 16.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ, made man in Zion, which as the Word he had himself created, was not honored by his own country; let him be honored by the people he has reborn.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 17.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · God's rest on the seventh day signified Christ, who completed his work on the cross on the sixth day and rested in the tomb on the Sabbath; through him, the Word, the Father both made and rules the world.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 17.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Jews rightly understood that Jesus made himself equal to God, which the Arians deny; the Son did not seize equality like the devil, but was begotten equal and emptied himself by taking the form of a servant.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 18.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Jews saw only Christ's flesh; as Word he is equal to the Father, and as flesh less than the Father: this is the Catholic rule by which all must be understood.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 19.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · To honor the Father is to honor him as Father of the Son, so honoring the Son as lesser dishonors the Father too.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 19.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The same believers rise twice, now in the mind by obedient faith and at the end in the flesh; “hearing” Christ's voice means obeying it.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 19.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · “He gave the Son to have life in himself” means that he begot the Son as life itself, coeternal and equal, not as one who shares in life.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 19.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Son of God raises souls; as son of man he received power to judge and will raise bodies; the Word having man is one Christ, as soul and body are one man.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 19.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ will judge in the form of a servant, visible to just and unjust alike, which is why “the Father judges no one.”
Tractates on the Gospel of John 19.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · At the bodily resurrection the good and the wicked will be openly separated, and after judging in the form of a servant Christ will show the form of God to those who love him.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 19.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ seeks not his own will, as son of man, but the Father's; doing God's command willingly is not doing one's own will.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 20.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ's walking on the sea, in which the flesh walked and the divinity governed, was an inseparable work of the Father abiding in the Son.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 21.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Augustine prays to understand truly, or at least not to err, and recalls that Christ, God hidden and man manifest, speaks as a little one to little ones.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 21.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Since the Son's knowledge is eternal and is the Son himself, the future “he will show” raises the question how anything could be shown to him in time.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 21.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ, God and man, speaks sometimes in majesty and sometimes in humility; the Father shows the greater works to Christ's members, in whom he learns as he suffers in them.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 21.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Believers have been made not only Christians but Christ: head and members together are the whole Christ.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 21.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · What is shown to Christ's members is shown to Christ through Christ, as the head guides the hand; the distant Word came near by becoming flesh.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 21.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Father “judges no one” because only the Son will appear at the judgment, visibly, in the risen human body in which he ascended.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 21.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · At the judgment all will see Christ's human form; the form of God, equal to the Father, is kept for the righteous who go into eternal life.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 21.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ promised to show himself, in the form of God, to those who love him; eternal life is to know the one true God and Jesus Christ.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 21.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · After the judgment the Son will appear equal to the Father, so that all honor the Son as the Father; whoever despises the Son dishonors the Father who sent him.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 22.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Augustine introduces the reading with confidence that Christ, who became small for us, wills that his words be understood and grants understanding to those who ask.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 22.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Those who hear Christ's voice live from Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 22.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Believers have life in Christ, not in themselves; the Son has life “in himself” as the Father does, because he is life itself.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 22.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · As a flame has light in itself while the eye only receives it, Christ is light and life in himself, given by being begotten, while believers are light only “in the Lord.”
Tractates on the Gospel of John 22.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · As Son of God he has life in himself; as son of man, the crucified one, he received the power to judge, appearing at the judgment in his human form.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 22.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Son, equal to the Father, does not seek his own will, while proud men seek theirs; the Trinity has one will, yet the Son is from the Father.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 23.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Prophets and apostles are lamps lit by grace and liable to go out; Christ alone is the true light that is never extinguished.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 23.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Above the witness of Moses, John, prophets, and apostles stands the witness of Christ's works, through which God makes himself known in the Son.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 23.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ is Word, rational soul, and flesh; souls rise from sin through Christ as God, and bodies rise from corruption through Christ as man.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 23.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The “greater works” the Father will show the Son, as man made in time, are the resurrection of bodies.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 23.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The resurrection of souls is the joint work of the Father and the Son in their one substance; the resurrection of bodies is the Son's work as man, in whom he is honored but not “as” the Father.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 23.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Father raises souls through the Son's divine substance, but raises bodies and judges through the son of man, who judges “as he hears,” seeking the Father's will.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 24.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ's miracles, deeds of the Word, are like writing: one must not only admire them but read and understand what they say.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 24.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The five barley loaves are the five books of Moses, whose kernel is hidden in husk; the boy is Israel, the two fish priest and king, both fulfilled in Christ.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 24.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The crowd called Christ a prophet; he is the prophet foretold to Moses, yet Lord of the prophets, and “Angel of great counsel” as Lord of the angels.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 25.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · After the feeding, Jesus, knowing they meant to make him king, fled again to the mountain alone; his descent to feed and his ascent are significant.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 25.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ, already king, fled because the crowds wanted to anticipate the time of his kingdom, which will be manifest after the judgment.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 25.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Like the Emmaus disciples and the apostles asking about Israel's kingdom, the crowd wanted the kingdom too soon; Christ first ascends and gathers the nations.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 25.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ's “flight” was a sign, not a necessity: his height could not be understood; he ascended alone, the firstborn from the dead, to intercede for us.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 25.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ is Son of man in a unique way, “sealed” by the Father with something proper to him, so that through him the human race is set free.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 25.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The true bread from heaven, which the manna signified, is Christ himself; like the Samaritan woman, the crowd asked for it in a bodily sense.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 25.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ, the bread of life, will not cast out those who come to him; the place within from which none is cast out is the joy of the Lord.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 25.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Pride is the root cause of all sin; the Son of God came humble, doing the Father's will, to cure it and to make humble those who come to him.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 25.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ, teacher of humility, incorporates those who come to him as his members; only pride casts out.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 26.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · We come to Christ by believing, not walking; to “touch” him, like the woman with the flow of blood, is to believe, and Mary was told not to touch him as though he were only what she saw.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 26.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Father draws to the Son those who believe him equal to the Father, unlike Arius and Photinus; Peter's confession shows that revelation is itself the drawing, as a branch draws a sheep.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 26.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Father teaches through his Word, the uncreated Son, whom men in the flesh can hear because the Word became flesh.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 26.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · To believe in Christ is to have him, eternal life itself, who took death from us in the flesh in order to slay death and gave eternal life to his risen flesh.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 26.19Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Son lives because of the Father, as one sent and emptied in the form of a servant, while we live because of the Son by participation in his body and blood; this shows the grace of the mediator, not equality between us and him.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 27.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Son of man is said to have been in heaven before because Christ, God and man, is one person, not two, lest the Trinity become a quaternity.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 27.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · “The flesh profits nothing” means flesh alone, understood as dead meat; quickened by the Spirit, as knowledge by love, Christ's flesh profits greatly.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 28.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ, remaining God, hid as a man to give his members, who lack his power, an example; the whole Christ is head and body.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 28.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ's avoiding Judea was an example for his weak members, not a loss of power, which he showed when his captors fell back.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 28.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Lord's “brothers” are Mary's kin, by Scripture's custom of calling relatives brothers; Mary bore no other child.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 29.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · “My teaching is not mine” is solved by John 1:1: Christ is himself the teaching, the Word, which is his own and yet the Father's.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 29.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Passing sounds point to the abiding Word who is God; seeing that he is God and the Father's Word solves “mine” and “not mine.”
Tractates on the Gospel of John 29.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · “My teaching is not mine” means “I am not from myself”: the Son, equal to the Father, is God from God, Light from Light, one Light with him.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 29.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Believe in order to understand: to do God's will is to believe in Christ, which means to love him and be incorporated into his members by faith working through love.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 29.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Antichrist will seek his own glory; Christ, though equal to the Father, sought the Father's glory and so gives us an example of humility.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 30.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Circumcision on the eighth day signified Christ, the stone knife, whose resurrection on the eighth day strips us of the fault of birth and of our sins.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 31.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Jews' saying that no one knows where the Christ is from reflects Scripture's twofold witness: his human origin was foretold, but his divine generation none can declare.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 31.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Jews knew Christ's human origin, except the virgin birth, but not the Father who sent him, whom only the Son reveals.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 31.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · “I am from him” means the Son is God from God and Light from Light; “he sent me” refers to the incarnation and implies the Father's authority as begetter, not a different nature.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 31.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ's “hour” was not fate but his own will; he came in the fullness of time to free us from time into eternity.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 31.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The manner of Christ's death, waiting until all was fulfilled and then dying while the robbers still lived, showed that he died by power, not necessity.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 31.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Those who killed Christ later sought him and found forgiveness; he is always where he returned to, and “you cannot come” described their present state, not a hopeless one.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 33.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Nicodemus urged a fair hearing; the Pharisees replied that no prophet arises from Galilee, though the Lord of the prophets did.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 33.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ, the Anointed, fittingly taught from the Mount of Olives, the mount of chrism; he anointed us as wrestlers against the devil.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 34.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · “I am the light of the world” does not mean, as the Manichees held, that Christ is the sun; he is the one through whom the sun was made.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 34.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Beyond the health shared with beasts, men hope for the drink of God's house and the fountain of life; Christ, light from light, was made under the sun, his light tempered by the cloud of the flesh.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 34.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ is the light of life: in God light and fountain are the same, shining that we may see and flowing that we may drink.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 34.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ, who healed the man born blind with spittle and earth, enlightens us by faith; he is the way, as man, to the truth and life that he is with the Father.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 35.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ sent prophetic lamps before him, among them John the Baptist, whose witness he used to confound those who questioned his authority.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 35.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · John was a lamp enlightened by Christ, the true light; as bodily eyes need outside light, the mind needs the light of truth to walk the way of justice.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 35.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Light shows both itself and other things, so Christ's witness to himself is true; he is present everywhere, though unbelievers lack the eyes of the heart to see him.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 35.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ came without leaving the Father and returned without leaving us, as he is God, unlike the sun.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 35.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ is fit to witness to himself, but because he came humbly to our weakness and we are still in the world's night, the lamps of prophecy are needed too.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 36.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · John, compared to the eagle, soared above the other evangelists to speak of Christ's divinity, which he had drunk from the Lord's breast.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 36.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Lowly sayings of Christ refer to the form of a servant, lofty ones to the form of God; against heretics who deny either, the Catholic faith confesses him both God and man.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 36.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Jews judged by the flesh, seeing only a man; self-praise is arrogant in weak men who can lie, but not in Christ, the light who cannot lie.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 36.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · “I judge no one” means either not yet, since Christ came first in mercy, even to the death of the cross, or not according to the flesh.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 36.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Heretics who erred about Christ's divinity forced spiritual men, and Augustine himself, to expound these lofty matters for the protection of the faithful.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 36.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ's judgment is true because the Father, who sent him, is with him; his being sent is his incarnation, which is believed before it is understood.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 37.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Jews, judging by the flesh, asked where Christ's father was; they saw the garment of flesh and despised the hidden God within it.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 37.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ will not show the Father to those who think him only a man; they must first know who he is.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 37.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · No pedant should fault the Word's “perhaps”: even a human word remains in the speaker while passing by sound to the hearer, and the Word of God is God.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 37.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ was not under fate: he is the Word in whom all things existed before they were made, and the maker of the stars to which fate is ascribed.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 37.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ's hour was not fated but chosen: he waited until all the prophecies were fulfilled and then gave up his spirit by his own power.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 37.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ did not come down from the cross, deferring his power to teach patience; that hidden power will be manifest at the judgment, for he is one Christ, God and man.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 38.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Augustine recalls that Christ's “hour” meant no fated necessity but the time at which he would be killed willingly.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 38.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Those who savor earthly things are “from below”; Christ is “from above,” not from sky or angels but from the Father, before all creation.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 38.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ's unqualified “I am” recalls God's name to Moses, “I am who am,” which no mind can grasp; God therefore added the name we can grasp, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 38.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Only God truly is, without change, past, or future; Christ's “I am” means “I am God,” which we cannot grasp but must believe.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 38.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Asked “Who are you?”, Christ answered “The Beginning,” meaning “Believe me to be the Beginning,” who became lowly and speaks to men so that they may believe.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 39.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ will judge in the future, having come first to save; by giving glory to the Father, though equal, he rebukes the pride of servants.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 40.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · “When you have lifted up the Son of man” refers to the cross: some of those who would crucify him were foreknown to believe afterward, so that no one need despair of forgiveness.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 40.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Father's teaching of the Son must not be pictured in human form; human form belongs to Christ's servant form from Mary, while the Word, like wisdom and justice, has no bodily shape.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 40.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Father sent the Son without leaving him, since the sending is the incarnation of the Son alone and both are everywhere; the Son always does what pleases the Father, in equality without beginning.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 41.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · To those who believed, Christ promised that by remaining in his word they would know the Truth, himself, which would set them free, that is, make them truly free.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 41.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Only Christ, sinless, frees from sin's slavery, which even infants inherit from Adam; as mediator he removed the sin that separated us from God by becoming a sacrifice for sin.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 41.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Law itself calls the sin offerings “sins,” so Christ was “made sin” by becoming the sacrifice for sin.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 41.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ alone was “free among the dead,” having no sin for the devil to find; he died by doing his Father's will, not by necessity.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 42.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ speaks what he has seen with the Father, namely himself, the Truth; the Jews do what they have seen with another father, whom they imitate in evil.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 42.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ's coming from the Father is his incarnation; his proceeding from God is eternal, for God was never without the Word; his humanity is our way to his divinity.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 43.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ denied having a demon but not being a Samaritan, which means “keeper”: he is our keeper, the Samaritan of the parable who cared for the wounded man.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 43.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · “Judgment” can mean condemnation or distinction; the Father “judges” by distinguishing the Son's glory, even in his servant form, from the glory of sinful men.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 43.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Abraham saw Christ's day with the eyes of the heart and rejoiced; his oath by the God of heaven with a hand under his thigh foretold that God would come in the flesh from his lineage.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 43.17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · “Before Abraham came to be, I am” contrasts the creature's coming to be with the Creator's eternal being.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 43.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · When they took up stones, Christ, though he could have destroyed them, hid himself as man, commending patience rather than power.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 44.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ works while it is day; since night itself was made through him, the night in which no one can work needs explaining.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 44.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ the light of the world is the day, and he has not departed, as the apostles' greater works after the ascension show.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 44.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Cast out by the Pharisees, the man is found by Jesus and, his heart now washed, confesses and worships the Son of God.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 45.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Heretics such as Sabellius, Arius, and Photinus do not enter by the door, for they preach a Christ of their own making; the fold is the Catholic Church, and the door is entered only by humility.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 45.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ is the door; the prophets were not thieves and robbers, since they came with the eternal Word, but all who came apart from him were.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 46.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ explained that he is both the door and the shepherd; the doorkeeper remains to be sought, but no one may be thought greater than the door.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 46.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ may be taken as the doorkeeper too, since by likeness he is door, shepherd, sheep, lion and rock, whereas properly he is the eternal Word, equal to the Father, who became man.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 47.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Augustine recalls the earlier sermon and proposes to show how Christ, being both shepherd and door, enters through himself.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 47.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ enters through himself because he preaches himself, as light shows itself; he shares the office of shepherd with apostles and good bishops but keeps being the door as his own.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 47.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ speaks in those he sends, so the Gentiles hear his own voice; from Jews and Gentiles he makes one fold, as the cornerstone joins two walls.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 47.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ is rock, door, cornerstone, shepherd, lamb and lion by likeness; properly he is the eternal Word who became flesh.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 47.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ lays down his life by his own will and power, so the Jews cannot boast; he also raised himself, as the temple saying shows, though he gives the glory to the Father.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 47.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ is the Word, a human soul, and flesh; Augustine warns against the Apollinarians, who deny Christ a rational human soul, as he earlier warned against Sabellians, Arians, Photinians and Manichees.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 47.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · In Christ's death the soul was separated from the body but never from the Word; so neither the Word nor the soul itself is properly what lays the soul down.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 47.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · To lay down the soul is to die; the flesh lays down the soul by breathing it out, and in Christ this happened when the Word willed, by the Word's power.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 47.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · As soul and body are one man, so Word and man are one Christ; hence what the flesh does can be said of Christ, as one says that Paul both rests with Christ and lies in his tomb.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 47.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Even Christ's dead flesh in the tomb is called Christ, as the creed confesses; so when the flesh laid down and took up the soul by the Word's power, Christ did so.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 47.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Son's receiving a commandment from the Father shows his generation, not inferiority; the Jews were divided over his words.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 48.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Jews, cold in heart, demanded that Jesus say plainly whether he was the Christ, thinking of him only as David's son; Christ is truly David's son but also David's Lord.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 48.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Jesus answers the demand that he call himself the Christ by pointing to his works as the Son of God; those who do not believe are not his sheep.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 48.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ's sheep, the predestined, cannot be snatched from him; what the Father gave the Son by begetting him, coeternal and equal, is greater than all.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 48.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · When Jesus said “I and the Father are one,” the Jews tried to stone him, understanding, as the Arians do not, that he claimed equality with the Father.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 48.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · If men to whom God's word came are called gods, how much more is the Word himself God; the Father sanctified the Son by begetting him holy.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 49.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The raising of Lazarus is no wonder for the Creator; it is a sign given so that we may believe and prepare for the final resurrection to life.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 49.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Lazarus' sickness was for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified, which shows indirectly that the Son is God.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 49.18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ’s troubling of himself shows his power: as the Word made flesh in one person, he hungered, grieved, and died because he willed to.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 50.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Augustine invites the Jews to find Christ in the Church and to hold him, absent in body, by faith.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 50.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Alternatively, Christ meant his bodily presence, which ascended into heaven, while by his majesty he remains with the Church always.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 50.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The chief priests' plan to kill Lazarus was folly, since the Lord who raised the dead could raise the slain, as he raised himself.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 51.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · "In the name of the Lord" means in the Father's name, for Christ, equal to the Father in divinity, teaches humility in the form he shares with us.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 51.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ's kingship over Israel was not earthly rule but the rule of minds unto eternal life, an act of condescension by the eternal Word.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 51.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ is the grain of wheat that must die to bear much fruit among the nations.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 52.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ's troubled soul was not love of this world but his voluntary sharing in the weakness of his members.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 52.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ's trouble does not discourage his followers but carries their weakness, so that the fearful in his body may not despair.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 52.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ's prayer in his trouble teaches the tempted to set God's will above their own, as he did in Gethsemane and as Peter did in martyrdom.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 52.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Father glorified Christ's name before creation and in his earthly life, and would glorify it again in his resurrection and exaltation.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 52.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The voice from heaven, like Christ's trouble of soul, was for the sake of others.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 52.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · "All things" that Christ draws when lifted up on the cross are the whole human person, or the predestined, or every kind of person, joined to him as head.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 53.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Isaiah's "arm of the Lord" is the Son, the Word through whom God made all things, not a bodily member of the Father.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 53.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Isaiah saw Christ's glory only in a figure; the Son is invisible in the form of God and became visible in the form of a servant; the pure in heart will see God as he is.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 54.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · To believe in Christ is to believe in the Father who has a Son equal and co-eternal with him, not merely in the man who was seen.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 54.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · No apostle could say "he who believes in me"; Christ could, because he is equal to the Father, so that whoever sees him sees the Father.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 54.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The saints are lights lit by Christ, but only Christ is the light in whom we believe, who came to bring all out of darkness.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 54.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The word Christ spoke, which is himself, will judge on the last day; those who heard and despised will be judged differently from those who never heard.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 54.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Father's command to the Son is not a word spoken in time but is given in the eternal begetting of the Son, who is the Father's Word, Wisdom and life.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 54.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Son himself is the Father's command and the truth begotten by the truthful Father, who speaks inwardly to understanding minds, beyond the passing sounds of words.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 55.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · "Unto the end" means unto Christ, our end, or that his love brought him to death; it does not mean his love ended at death.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 55.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Even the betrayer was in Christ's hands, and his evil served the good Christ intended; Christ neither left God in coming nor leaves us in returning.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 55.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · John first stresses Christ's majesty so that his humility in washing the disciples' feet, even the betrayer's, may stand out.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 55.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The foot-washing figures the incarnation and passion: Christ emptied himself, washed us with his blood, and taught humility by example.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 58.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ rightly calls himself Master and Lord, for the Truth cannot be arrogant in speaking the truth, and we profit by knowing it.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 59.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The saying commends the authority of the sender in the one sent: Christ is received in the apostle and the Father in the Son.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 60.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Jesus was not troubled by new knowledge of the betrayal, which he had long foretold, but by his approaching passion, as when his soul was troubled before.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 60.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ, troubled by his own power and will, took on our weakness so that we might see ourselves in him and not despair when troubled.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 60.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ's trouble was not joy, as some philosophers would say, but sorrow, as at Gethsemane, as the betrayer was about to go out.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 60.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ was troubled not from weakness but by his own power, to console the weak in his Church who are troubled at death.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 62.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · In saying "What you are doing, do quickly" the Lord did not command the crime but hastened toward our redemption, for Christ handed himself over.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 63.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · God glorifies the Son of Man in himself by raising the human nature assumed by the Word to immortality at once in the resurrection.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 64.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · "Yet a little while I am with you" may mean either the forty days after the resurrection or his time in mortal weakness before the passion.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 64.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The "little while" is not Christ's abiding presence to the end of the age but his mortal life or his bodily presence before the ascension.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 64.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Luke 24:44 shows that "with you" can mean sharing their mortality, which supports that reading of "Yet a little while I am with you."
Tractates on the Gospel of John 66.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Peter truly denied Christ, for to deny Christ the man is to deny Christ himself; his tears refute those who would excuse him.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 67.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · In bidding the disciples believe in him as in God, Christ testifies that he is God, whose divine form will raise his servant form from death.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 69.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Since Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, the disciples who knew him already knew the way without knowing it.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 69.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ goes through himself to himself and to the Father, and we go through him to him and to the Father; such heights are grasped only by God's gift.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 69.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ, one person as Word and flesh, came to us and returned to himself through the flesh, so that he is the way even for himself.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 69.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · As a speaker goes out to his hearers without leaving himself, so, far more, the Son, God born of God, came to us and returned without leaving himself.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 70.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ is the eternal life in which we shall be; he is life in himself, while we only share in that life by abiding in him.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 74.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ alone received the Spirit without measure; to others he is given by measure and increased until each measure is filled.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 75.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The world saw Christ's flesh but not the Word hidden in it; after the resurrection he showed himself only to his own.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 78.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ goes to the Father as man, by which the Father is greater, while as God he remains everywhere and is one with the Father.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 78.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · In the form of a servant the Son is less than the Father, the Spirit, and even himself; the Arians wrongly use what he says as man to diminish his divinity.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 78.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ, one person who is God, rational soul, and flesh, goes to the Father as man, so that human nature is made immortal and seated at the Father's right hand.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 79.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The devil is ruler not of creation but of sinners, the lovers of the world; he had nothing in Christ, who died without debt at the Father's command to redeem us.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 80.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ is the vine as man, sharing the nature of the branches; he is the true vine in contrast with the foreign vine that bore thorns.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 82.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Our good works come from love, and our love from being loved first; Christ's words show the grace of the mediator, not an equality of nature.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 82.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Father's love for the Son as man is grace, by which human nature, with no prior merits, was taken into the person of the only-begotten Son.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 84.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Martyrs imitate Christ's love but are not his equals; his blood alone remits sins, and no one may claim to be without sin as he was.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 91.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The works "which no one else did" are Christ's many healings done in the people themselves; the virgin birth and resurrection, though greater, were not done before them.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 94.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ had to withdraw his bodily presence so that the disciples, no longer clinging to him in a fleshly way, could receive the Spirit and know him spiritually.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 95.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · "You will no longer see me" means they would no longer see Christ in his mortal lowliness; believing in him unseen is the righteousness of faith.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 98.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Solid food does not contradict the milk of faith; the incarnate Wisdom became milk for little ones, and Christ crucified remains the foundation to which understanding is added.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 98.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Believers must grow in understanding without abandoning the rule of faith, rejecting both those who deny Christ's humanity, the creation, or the Old Testament and those who know God truly yet turn from the one Mediator.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 99.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Son's "I cannot do anything of myself" is said as man; but the Holy Spirit took no creature into unity of person, so "he will not speak from himself" needs another explanation.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 100.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Heretics and pagans who praise a false Christ do not give him true glory; true glory is given him by the Spirit only in the catholic church.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 102.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ came from the Father without leaving him, and returns to the Father without deserting the world he governs.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 103.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ, who knew all things, needed no questions; he let himself be questioned for the sake of the questioners, and told the disciples that the Father was with him so they would not think he had left the Father.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 104.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ prayed aloud to teach us; the hour of his passion came not by fate or the stars but by the ordering of God, who with the Father fixed all times.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 104.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ's glorification is his resurrection, the reward of the humility of his passion; it was done in the form of a servant, while in the form of God his glory is eternal.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 105.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Son glorifies the Father by making him known to all nations through the preaching of his resurrection.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 105.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The Son, given power over all flesh as man, glorifies the Father by making him known to all and giving them eternal life.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 105.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ says he has accomplished the work "given" him, showing grace, and speaks of his passion as done because he foreknew it certainly.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 105.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ speaks of glorifying the Father as already done because it was certain in predestination; the Father glorifies the Son by seating him at his right hand, and the Son glorifies the Father by being preached to the nations.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 105.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The glory Christ had before the world was is the glory predestined for his humanity; it does not mean that his human nature was converted into the Word.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 105.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · As we were chosen in Christ before the world, so the Father glorified Christ's humanity in predestination before the world was.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 105.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ as man was predestined, as Rom 1:4 shows; the glory he had with the Father before the world was is the glory of his resurrection, predestined then and now fulfilled.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 106.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · "They were yours, and you gave them to me" is said of Christ as man; as God he chose them with the Father, for Father and Son are equally almighty and have all things together.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 106.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · As eternal Son, Christ received the Father's words not in time but by being begotten, for the Father speaks all things in his Word.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 107.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ prays as man for his disciples, but "that they may be one as we are" shows that as God he is one in nature with the Father.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 108.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The disciples are not of the world by rebirth from the Holy Spirit; Christ was never of the world, being born of the Spirit even in the form of a servant.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 108.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · "Your word is truth" means Christ, the Word (logos); the Father sanctifies his own in his only-begotten Son.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 108.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ sanctifies himself for his members because head and body are one Christ; the man was sanctified in the Word at the incarnation, and his members are sanctified in him.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 110.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The glory given to the disciples is immortality, which Christ gives together with the Father, for the works of the Trinity are inseparable.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 110.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · "I in them and you in me" is said as mediator; "perfected into one" points to the final blessedness, when the world will know by sight what it now believes.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 110.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · God's love is unchanging: he loved us before the world and before reconciliation, hating our sin while loving his own work in us.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 111.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ's prayer that those given him by the Father may be with him is a sure promise, for the will of Father, Son and Spirit is one.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 111.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · To be with Christ means to be in heaven with the risen Christ and, beyond all bodily images, to see him as God, which the blessed alone enjoy.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 112.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · At Christ's word 'I am he' the armed band falls back, showing that he is arrested only because he wills it.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 115.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Pilate asks Jesus whether he is king of the Jews, and Jesus answers that his kingdom is not of this world, removing both Jewish and Gentile fears.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 115.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Jesus's answer 'You say that I am a king' neither denies his kingship nor accepts Pilate's worldly idea of it.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 115.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ was born in time to bear witness to the truth, and those who are 'of the truth' hear him because grace has given them to believe, not by prior merit.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 116.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · The accusers add the charge that Jesus made himself the Son of God; both this and his kingship are true, but he chooses patience.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 116.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Jesus's silence before his judges fulfils the prophecy of the silent lamb, showing him innocent and sacrificed for others' sins.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 117.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Pilate refuses to change the title, and Augustine explains that Christ is king of the true Jews, the children of the promise, Gentiles included.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 119.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · From the cross Jesus entrusts his mother to the beloved disciple; this is the 'hour' he spoke of at Cana.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 119.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Christ arranges even his sufferings, saying 'I thirst' to fulfil Scripture; the vinegar, sponge, and hyssop are given figurative meanings.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 119.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Having fulfilled all that was foretold, Christ dies by his own will, showing a power that makes his coming judgment to be hoped for or feared.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 121.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Mary stays weeping at the tomb and sees two angels, who in forbidding her tears announce the joy to come.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 121.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · 'Do not touch me' teaches Mary to believe in Christ as equal to the Father; God is his Father by nature and ours by grace.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 121.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · Thomas sees the risen man and confesses him as God; Christ blesses those who believe without seeing, which points to the faith of the Gentiles.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 1.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · The Word who was from the beginning became flesh, so that what could be seen only by the heart might be seen and handled, to heal our hearts.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 1.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · The apostles were witnesses (martyrs) of the Word made visible in the flesh, the bridegroom joined to his bride in the Virgin's womb, to which the Church is joined as the whole Christ.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 1.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · Forgiveness is no licence to sin; but if we sin, we have Christ as our advocate with the Father, to whom we can confess with confidence.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 2.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · The 'fathers' are those who know the eternal Christ, who existed before his mother, Abraham, and all creation, and who in his divinity simply 'is'.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 2.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · The desires of the world pass away with time; Christ, made temporal without ceasing to be eternal, stands like a tree by the river of time for us to hold.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 2.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · Christ was tempted by the devil in the same three ways and answered each from Scripture; we too must resist them and love God, for each person becomes like what he loves.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 3.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · The newly born in Christ must grow by drawing milk from the two Testaments of the Church, from Christ humble to Christ equal to the Father.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 3.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · 'Do not touch me' teaches spiritual touching, that is, understanding Christ as coequal with the Father, not only reaching his flesh.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 3.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · The liar denies that Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed; those who stumble at Christ in his humility will be crushed by him when he comes in judgment.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 4.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · We are already God's children, but what we shall be is not yet seen; the pure in heart will see Christ as God, while the wicked will see only the form of a servant at the judgment.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 6.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · The sign that a spirit confesses Christ come in the flesh seems not to distinguish, since Arians, Eunomians, Macedonians, Montanists, and Novatians all confess it, yet they are antichrists.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 6.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · To confess that Christ came in the flesh is to have the love for which he came and died; schismatics who divide the Church deny it by their deeds, whatever they say.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 7.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · Believers overcome the antichrist, who violates love, not by their own strength but by Christ in them; they must humbly carry the Lord like a beast of burden.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 7.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · God loved us first by sending his Son; the Father, the Son, and Judas all 'delivered up' Christ, but love distinguishes the deed of the Father and Son from Judas's betrayal.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 7.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · God's love was first, sending his Son to offer himself as the pure sacrifice for our sins; so we ought to love one another.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 9.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · God first loved us when we were foul, to make us beautiful by loving him; Christ is both 'fair beyond the sons of men' in his divinity and 'without form' in his humanity, as Paul's Philippians hymn shows.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 10.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · To believe that Jesus is the Christ is to believe with love, as Peter did, whose confession is the rock on which the Church is built; the demons confessed the same words without love.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 10.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · The children of God are the members of the one Son, so love of God, of Christ, and of his members in the Church cannot be separated; love fuses them into one like gold in fire.
Homilies on the First Epistle of John 10.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 407 · Christ's last words before his ascension commended his body, the Church spread over the whole earth; if heirs keep the last words of a dying father, how much more should Christians keep the last words of the ascending Christ.
On the One Baptism, against Petilian 17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 410–411 · As the demons’ true confession of Christ is not denied, so heretics’ true baptism is not destroyed; James compared faith without works to the demons’ belief without denying its truth.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.18Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Paul speaks of Christ's “justification,” which Christ alone gives and which cannot be imitated, so that Adam's offense likewise passes by propagation, not imitation.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.39Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Christ came to give life, salvation, freedom, redemption, and light to sinners; since the church baptizes infants, they too need these benefits, which can only be because of original sin.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.50Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Though some doubt Hebrews, Augustine accepts it with the Eastern churches and cites its texts on Christ's purification of sins, his priesthood, and his once-for-all sacrifice.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.54Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Old Testament witnesses (Psalm 16, Psalm 119, Isaiah 53 and 61) show that all have gone astray and are healed only by Christ, who bore the sins of many.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.56Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · The whole church holds that all are separated from God by sin and reconciled only through Christ, the son of the virgin who conceived without lust.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.60Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Christ's answer to Nicodemus, that only he who descended ascends, means that spiritual regeneration makes believers members of Christ, so that head and body ascend as one Christ, just as God and man are one person in him.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.61Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · The bronze serpent signifies Christ's death, which bore punishment without guilt; those conformed to it in baptism are healed of sin and death, which implies that infants too have been poisoned by sin.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 1.68Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Adam was created with mature reason, we are born weak because of his sin, and Christ took our weakness in the likeness of sinful flesh; infants' bodily helplessness itself may be penal.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 2.16Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Though Scripture says Job did not sin with his lips, God later rebuked him; seeing Christ's sinless righteousness, Job despised himself, as Paul counted his own legal righteousness as dung.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 2.19Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Zechariah, though righteous, belonged to the priesthood that had to offer sacrifice for its own sins; only Christ, the sinless high priest, did not.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 2.27Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Pride is the cause of all human vices; its remedy is the humility of God in Christ, whose union with the Word came from grace, not merit, teaching us that knowing and delighting in good are God's gifts.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 2.34Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · To the fourth question Augustine answers that no one but Christ has ever been, or will be, wholly without sin from birth, as the case of infants shows.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 2.38Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · The Word became flesh so that those born of flesh might be born of God; Christ, born in the likeness of sinful flesh of a virgin without concupiscence, never had sin, yet was baptized as an example, so sinful flesh needs baptism all the more.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 2.48Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Jesus, whose name means Savior, saves infants as well as adults; though he took the likeness of sinful flesh and passed through infancy, he did not share infants' ignorance and went freely to a death he did not owe.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 2.51Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Christ died without sin to destroy the devil, who has the power of death through sin, and believers' victory over the fear of death belongs to the contest of faith.
On the Spirit and the Letter 10Augustine of Hippo · 412 · Baptism into Christ's death and resurrection signifies the end of the old life and the beginning of the new, a benefit that comes through faith in Christ, not the letter of the law.
On the Spirit and the Letter 37Augustine of Hippo · 412 · The reward of the new covenant is God himself, known and seen in eternal life, when believers will be like him; this likeness now begins to be restored.
On the Spirit and the Letter 47Augustine of Hippo · 412 · Doing the law “by nature” means nature restored by grace, which rewrites in the heart the law that sin had erased.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 1, part 3Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril explains that God reared Israel like a son with manna and the law, yet Israel, less grateful than the ox and the donkey, turned to idols and did not understand Christ when he came.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 1, part 4Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads the woe of Isa 1:4 as the prophet’s lament over Israel, an evil seed of evil fathers which filled up the measure of its sins by rejecting Christ.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 1, part 9Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril explains why Jerusalem is called Sodom and Gomorrah, for its lack of righteous men like Sodom, and reads “hear the law of God” as a call to recognise Christ, the prophet foretold by Moses, since God needs no sacrifices.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 1, part 11Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · On Isa 1:14–16 Cyril says the shadow of the law cannot forgive those who refuse Christ, reads the bloody hands as the killing of the prophets and of Christ, and reads “wash yourselves” as a call to baptism, foreshadowed by the purification of the Levites.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 2, part 18Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · On Isa 3:9–11 Cyril reads “Let us bind the righteous one” of the Jews’ plot against Christ, who rose as God, and says they reaped what they sowed when they were handed over to the Romans.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 3, part 9Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril rejects an allegory of the seven women as the seven spirits, preferring to read them as souls who take hold of Christ and become fruitful in virtues, and reads Isa 4:2–3 of the incarnate Word’s glory and the saved remnant of Israel, first of all the apostles.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 3, part 16Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril urges believers to abide in Christ the true vine, and on Isa 5:7 explains Israel’s “cry” instead of righteousness as a life of anger and tumult and as the cry “Crucify him”; he begins on the greed of Isa 5:8.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 4, part 7Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril explains that God's silence ended at Uzziah's death, and reads the vision of Isa 6:1 as Isaiah's sight of the Son in the Father's glory, enthroned above all creation.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 4, part 8Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads the seraphim's six wings as a sign that God has neither beginning nor end, their threefold 'Holy' as the one Godhead in three hypostases, and the earth full of glory as the incarnation and the calling of the nations.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 4, part 11Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads the seraph's coal from the altar (Isa 6:6–7) as Christ, who offered himself as a sacrifice and in whom, as fire fills the wood of a coal, the fullness of the Godhead dwells by union.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 4, part 12Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril explains that Christ, the coal, touches our lips when we confess faith in him, received through the law and the prophets; then on Isa 6:8 he reads God's question as a reproach of Israel's stubbornness and Isaiah's answer as the readiness of the cleansed.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 4, part 21Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads the sign of Isa 7:13–16 as the virgin birth of the only-begotten Son by the Holy Spirit, rejecting the Jewish reading 'young woman' and its reference to Hezekiah, and explains Emmanuel as God appearing in human form.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 4, part 22Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril explains that the butter and honey show Christ's true humanity and his 'refusing wickedness' his divine holiness, and reads the land left free of the two kings as the Church, safe through Emmanuel.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 5, part 6Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · On Isa 8:1–2 Cyril reads the new, large volume as the new covenant revealing the mystery of Christ, and the 'man's pen' as human words fit to tell the incarnation, while the eternal begetting of the Son needs a pen beyond man.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 5, part 7Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads the witnesses Uriah and Zechariah (Isa 8:2) as priesthood and prophecy testifying to Christ, as Moses and Elijah did at the transfiguration, and the prophetess of Isa 8:3 as the Virgin, whose conception by the Spirit is figured as a union.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 5, part 8Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril explains the second name of the child, 'Quickly despoil, Swiftly plunder' (Isa 8:3–4), as Christ's despoiling of Satan, and the taking of Damascus and Samaria before he could speak as his victory over the demons worshipped by the nations.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 5, part 9Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril shows Christ's despoiling of Satan in the magi's worship, then introduces Isa 8:5–8 as foretelling the Jews' rejection of the humble Christ, the 'gently flowing' kingdom of God, in favour of Caesar.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 5, part 10Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads the gently flowing Siloam ('sent') as Christ and the kingdom of God, rejected by the Jews, who were overwhelmed by the Babylonian flood and spiritually by Satan; Isa 8:9–10 voices the apostles' joy that God is with us.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 5, part 11Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads Isa 8:9–10 as calling the nations to yield to the apostles and warning the Jews, who seemed to prevail at the cross, that they would be defeated; on Isa 8:11–12 he explains God's 'strong hand' as the Son, whom Israel disobeyed.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 5, part 12Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads Isa 8:12–14 as encouraging the apostles not to fear the Jews who rejected the Gospel way of life, but to sanctify Christ, who makes believers partakers of the divine nature while unbelievers stumble on him.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 5, part 15Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads Isa 8:18 as spoken by Emmanuel of believers made his brothers and the Father's children through the Spirit, and the signs and wonders as Christ's miracles, which the Jews blasphemed; then he gives the lemma of Isa 8:19–20.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 5, part 21Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads Isa 9:5–6 of the Jewish leaders' rage at the birth of the Son, refutes the Manichaean denial of Christ's real flesh from 'a child was born,' and explains 'rule upon his shoulder' as the cross or, preferably, as his strength.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 5, part 22Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril explains Christ as the Father's arm and 'Angel of great counsel,' receiving peace as the nations are brought to him and 'health' as his self-wrought resurrection, ruling an endless kingdom; the 'zeal of the Lord' is God's jealousy against the devil's seizure of mankind and Israel's provocation.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 6, part 4Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · On Isa 9:12–13 Cyril explains that God's hand stayed raised because Israel did not repent, culminating in the rejection of Christ and the Roman destruction of Jerusalem, and urges his hearers to repent.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 6, part 7Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril charges the Jews with lawlessness for the death of Christ and reads the burning of Isa 9:18–21 as the civil strife in the cities of Judea during the Roman war, as Josephus relates.
Commentary on Isaiah 2, Tome 1, part 1Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Opening the second book, Cyril recalls the Assyrian's defeat, reads it as a type of Satan's defeat by Christ's cross, and begins Isa 10:33–34 as the overturning of the old law by the mystery of Christ.
Commentary on Isaiah 2, Tome 1, part 2Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril applies Isa 10:33–34 to the Jewish leaders who opposed Christ and perished in the Roman war, and to Satan and the demons, then introduces the prophecy of the rod from the root of Jesse (Isa 11:1–3).
Commentary on Isaiah 2, Tome 1, part 3Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril explains that Isaiah now goes back to the incarnation, and interprets the rod from Jesse's root as Christ the king, the support of weak human nature, the shepherd, the judge, and the budding rod of Aaron.
Commentary on Isaiah 2, Tome 1, part 4Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril explains Christ as the flower of human nature renewed, and argues that the Spirit resting on him (Isa 11:2) does not make him a Spirit-bearing man: the Word, full by nature, received the Spirit as man for us, so that the Spirit lost by Adam might rest again on humankind.
Commentary on Isaiah 2, Tome 1, part 5Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril says the Spirit was in Christ not as a partial grace but as the fullness of the Godhead dwelling in his ensouled flesh, explains the one Spirit's many operations, and begins Isa 11:3–5 as a portrait of the Word made man.
Commentary on Isaiah 2, Tome 1, part 7Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads Isa 11:4–5 as signs of Christ's divine power: he strikes the cursed earth and abandoned Jerusalem, destroys demons by his word, and is girded with the righteousness and truth of the gospel; then he quotes Isa 11:6–9.
Commentary on Isaiah 2, Tome 1, part 10Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads the child leading the beasts and the infant at the asps' den (Isa 11:6–9) as the guileless believers who overcome demons and heretics in the Church, and begins Isa 11:10: the root of Jesse as the hope of the nations.
Commentary on Isaiah 2, Tome 1, part 11Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril gives two readings of “his rest will be honour” (Isa 11:10): Christ's willing death, which ended in glory, and his dwelling in the souls of believers; then he begins Isa 11:11 on the Lord's hand shown at Christ's coming.
Commentary on Isaiah 2, Tome 1, part 17Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads the springs of salvation as the apostles and their writings, founded on Christ the cornerstone, and on Isa 12:4–6 calls the converted to proclaim among the nations the works that show Christ to be God by nature.
Commentary on Isaiah 2, Tome 2, part 7Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Babylon's fall was the just historical punishment of idolaters who enslaved Israel; spiritually it figures Satan's overthrow by Christ and the saints, whose war is against spiritual powers; then Isa 13:17 begins.
Commentary on Isaiah 2, Tome 2, part 10Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Spiritually, Christ the Redeemer with his apostles sacked the devil's realm and brought the deceived into the Church; Isa 14:4–6, the lament over the king of Babylon, shows the end of the tyrant who taxed the whole earth.
Commentary on Isaiah 2, Tome 4, part 1Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Introducing Isa 19:1, Cyril explains how idolatrous Egypt was won to faith in Christ, and reviews readings of the 'light cloud' (Christ's flesh, or the Virgin) against other prophetic visions of God's glory.
Commentary on Isaiah 2, Tome 4, part 6Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads Isa 19:11–12 as mockery of Egypt's magi, who sell false divination, and cites the law's ban on divination and its promise of the prophet like Moses, fulfilled in Christ, the Master of the prophets.
Commentary on Isaiah 2, Tome 4, part 10Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads Isa 19:20–21 as the cry of humanity oppressed by Satan, answered by the man God sends, Christ, who judged and cast out the devil and drew the Egyptians to worship God with spiritual sacrifices.
Commentary on Isaiah 2, Tome 5, part 7Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Somnas lost his office in captivity, and God called Eliakim to replace him as a father to Jerusalem; spiritually, the faithless scribes and Pharisees were removed and Christ called as the great high priest (Isa 22:20–24).
Commentary on Isaiah 2, Tome 5, part 8Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Christ receives the glory of David as king of the spiritual Israel, justified by faith, while the Israel that spoke against him became “foreign sons”; Eliakim's name points to God's rising, and the man fixed in a sure place will fall (Isa 22:22–25).
Commentary on Isaiah 2, Tome 5, part 20Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · God does not destroy the righteous with the wicked, as Ezekiel's Noah, Daniel and Job and the marked ones show; those spared will rejoice in the glory of the Lord, who is Christ, the glory of the Father (Isa 24:14–15).
Commentary on Isaiah 2, Tome 5, part 23Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · God's opened windows mean his inspection of the earth's lawlessness; the hand on the “ornament of heaven” means that Christ's coming ended the worship of sun, moon and stars, which had infected even Israel, and points also to Satan (Isa 24:18–22).
Commentary on Isaiah 2, Tome 5, part 24Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The ornament of heaven is Satan, the fallen Morning Star, and the kings of the earth are the hostile powers; Christ shut them in the prison of the abyss and overthrew Satan like a wall, freeing the nations for faith (Isa 24:21–23).
Commentary on Isaiah 2, Tome 5, part 25Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Once idolatry and the hostile powers are overthrown, the Lord reigns in Zion, the church, the watchtower and vision of peace, which is Christ, and is glorified before the “elders”, the spiritually mature (Isa 24:23).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 1, part 1Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Opening Book 3, Cyril reads Isaiah's hymn (Isa 25:1–2) as praise for the ancient counsel of the incarnation, and the strong city overthrown for ever as Satan and the hostile powers.
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 1, part 2Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The poor and wronged who bless God are the nations, rescued by Christ from the devil, and the faithful of Israel who thirsted for the Saviour, like Simeon and Zechariah; the “wicked men” are the demons and the pagan teachers and poets (Isa 25:3–5).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 1, part 4Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · God wiping away every tear means the resurrection, confessed at baptism: Christ, firstfruits of the dead, abolished death's reign, so believers do not grieve without hope; Israel's faithful will confess the incarnate Son as their God, and the church is the mountain of rest (Isa 25:8–10).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 1, part 6Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The song of the strong city is sung by those freed from idolatry: Christ, or hope in him, is the impregnable city with wall and outer wall, and so is the church; the apostles are bidden to open its gates to those who keep the righteousness and truth of the gospel (Isa 26:1–3).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 1, part 7Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Those received by Christ are at peace with God and hope in him for ever; the proud demons and Satan, lofty as strong cities, God has thrown down to be trampled by the meek who imitate Christ (Isa 26:3–8).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 1, part 9Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Christ, the teacher of all nations, bids the whole earth learn the righteousness and truth of the gospel, which the law only foreshadowed; whoever refuses will perish and not see the Lord's glory (Isa 26:9–10).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 1, part 10Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · God the Word, the Father's mighty arm, emptied himself and became man, but Israel did not recognize his glory and killed him; they were shamed by his resurrection, and will be at his coming in glory (Isa 26:11).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 1, part 11Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Israel, though heir to the promises, is consumed by envy as the nations are received; the prophet prays for peace, which is Christ himself or reconciliation with God through faith, and confesses God alone (Isa 26:11–15).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 1, part 16Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · God will avenge the slain saints, the Son executing judgment; the holy sword, the Word, will slay the dragon Satan; then the prophet turns to Israel, the fair vineyard and strong city that God watered in vain (Isa 26:21–27:3).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 1, part 25Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Unlike Moses' feeble trumpet, the gospel's great trumpet sounds through all the earth, calling idolaters of Assyria and Egypt to worship in the church; the “crown of insolence” is the teachers of the Jews who led the people to reject and crucify Christ (Isa 27:13–28:1).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 1, part 28Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · After the punishment of the Lord-slayers, the believing remnant of Israel, with the nations, is crowned by the Lord with hope and glory; Christ, the shield of God's good pleasure, judged between humanity and Satan and cast out the murderer (Isa 28:5–6).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 1, part 30Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The accursed counsel is the plot of the Jewish leaders against Christ, like the wicked husbandmen who killed the heir from greed; the prophets announced both threats and good news to a people that would not hear (Isa 28:8–9). The tome ends with a doxology.
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 2, part 4Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The leaders scoffed that the threatened judgment would fall only after their death, as if they had a pact with death; against this God lays in Zion the chosen cornerstone, Christ, the foundation of the church, uniting Israel and the nations (Isa 28:15–17).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 2, part 25Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Those who cling to God are blessed; many of Abraham's seed would repent at Christ's coming and be heard, though most refused the Redeemer; the bread and water of affliction are Christ, the bread of life and river of delight, found only with toil (Isa 30:18–21).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 2, part 30Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Historically God showed mercy after seventy years, when Cyrus fell on Babylon like fire and flood for its boast against God; spiritually the Word, appearing after Satan's long tyranny, cast the boastful dragon and his powers into the abyss (Isa 30:27–29).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 2, part 32Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · God bore long with the Assyrian before requiring his penalty, waiting for repentance until his sin was full, as with the Amorites; the Assyrian, and Satan above all, will not reign for ever but inherit fire, while Christ alone reigns eternally (Isa 30:33).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 3, part 2Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · God will defend Jerusalem like a roaring lion and like a bird guarding its nest, as he did when the exiles returned under Zerubbabel and Jesus son of Josedek; so Christ overcame Satan and gathered believers, the spiritual Zion, under his wings (Isa 31:4–5).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 3, part 4Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The blessed of Isa 32:1–2 are the members of the church, the spiritual Zion; Christ is the righteous king, a man and brother yet truly God, who spoke in parables, escaped those who plotted against him, and is the glorious river that waters the nations.
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 3, part 6Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The worldly wise attack the teaching of the apostles, but the counsel of the godly endures (Isa 32:6–8); in Isa 32:9–10 Christ speaks to the cities of Judea as rich women, bidding them remember the year of his preaching, the acceptable year of the Lord.
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 3, part 14Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · In Isa 33:9 Lebanon and Sharon, once rich, are the synagogue and land of the Jews laid waste by the Romans, while Galilee and Carmel are the nations and the church made manifest; the lemma of Isa 33:10–12 follows, introduced by the self-emptying of the Word (Phil 2:6–8).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 3, part 15Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · After the cross Christ rose as God and brought judgment on those who killed him, while calling the nations to the light (Isa 33:10–12); Isa 33:13–14 means that the nations far off heard of his works, while the scribes and Pharisees who slandered him as possessed lost their share in him.
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 3, part 17Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Believers receive Christ the bread of life and the sure water of baptism, and look from afar to the promised land (Isa 33:16–18); in Isa 33:18–19 the prophet reproaches the scribes and priests who failed to recognize the Word made flesh, incited the people against him, and so lost their hope.
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 3, part 18Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril applies the obscure Isa 33:18–19 to the scribes, priests, and Pharisees who stirred up the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to crucify the sinless Christ, the “deep-voiced” one who spoke in parables; the lemma of Isa 33:20–21 on Zion, the unshaken tent, follows.
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 3, part 19Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Zion, the rich city with unbreakable cords, is the church on earth and in heaven, founded firmly, where Christ is worshipped as God; its rivers are the evangelists, apostles, and church leaders, fed by Christ the river; Satan, who once plundered the world, can no longer pass through it (Isa 33:20–22).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 3, part 26Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The thirsty desert of Isa 35:1–2 is the church of the nations, once barren, made fruitful and fragrant by Christ, receiving the Jordan's stream in baptism and the glory once given to Jerusalem and the temple; Isa 35:3–4 bids the teachers strengthen those still weak from error.
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 4, part 4Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Samaria fell because it worshipped golden calves, not because God was weak; Hezekiah's officials keep silence as David did before the wicked, and Hezekiah tears his garments and goes to the temple (Isa 36:22–37:1); Cyril compares the high priest's tearing of his robes at Jesus' trial.
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 4, part 15Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Hezekiah's lament (Isa 38:11–13) and his thanksgiving: rescued by looking to God, he confesses that God cast away his sins, since no one is pure of sin; only the living can praise God, and his promise of children who would declare God's righteousness was frustrated by Manasseh (Isa 38:14–20); the fig poultice and the sign follow (Isa 38:21–22).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 4, part 20Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The levelling of the road (Isa 40:4) is the work of the incarnate Christ, who abolished sin in the flesh and overthrew the hostile powers, making the way of godliness easy; the glory seen is that of the only-begotten Word, equal to the Father, shown in his works, and the salvation offered to all flesh is God's purpose, even if some refuse it (Isa 40:5).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 4, part 21Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Those who would see God's salvation must count human glory as grass and keep in their hearts the Word of God, which remains for ever (Isa 40:6–8); the heralds on the mountain are the apostles, who preach boldly the coming of the Redeemer, who comes not as a prophet praying but with his own authority (Isa 40:9–10).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 4, part 22Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Christ acts not as a suppliant but as the Son with his own authority; his reward is the fruit of his death, the nations who worship him, and the flock he gathers, the Gentiles as lambs and believing Israel as those with young (Isa 40:10–11); Isa 40:12–14 shows that God's wisdom, like the mystery of Christ, is beyond comprehension.
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 4, part 23Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · As Isa 55:8–9 says, God's ways are above ours; God, who is wisdom itself, needs no counsellor (Isa 40:13–14), so the unbelievers who ask why the Word had to become flesh rather than save by a mere nod are rebuked; some read Isa 40:12 as describing God's knowledge and mastery of all creation.
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 5, part 8Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The righteousness raised from the east (Isa 41:2) is Christ, the sun of righteousness, who walks in the Father's footsteps, doing his works and his will as one equal to him in power; Isa 41:2–4 describes his victory over the powers that enslaved the nations, whom he justified and enlightened by the Spirit.
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 5, part 9Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Christ, the righteousness raised like the sun, was given to the nations; the evil powers were routed and plundered, so that he accomplished salvation unhindered (Isa 41:2–3); this mystery was foreordained before the world, even before Adam's fall, as believers too were foreordained to be conformed to the Son (Isa 41:4).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 5, part 11Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Israel, Jacob, and the seed of Abraham in Isa 41:8–10 are the Israelites who believed in Christ, the apostles, whom God encourages by recalling Abraham's call from Chaldea and Israel's election as firstborn, strengthened by God's right hand, the Son; the lemma of Isa 41:11 follows.
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 5, part 14Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · God pitied the thirsting nations (Isa 41:17) and opened rivers on the mountains, holy men who pour out the divine word, and watercourses, the teachers of the churches; the fragrant, incorruptible trees are the saints, and all this is the work of God's hand, the Son, not of idols or of the god of this age (Isa 41:18–20).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 5, part 15Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The judgment of the idol-makers, who taught the world to worship wood and stone, has come near, as the true God, King of Jacob, scatters their error (Isa 41:21); only God knows the beginning and the end, as he revealed creation through Moses and the last things through Christ, while idols can neither foretell nor do good or harm (Isa 41:22–24).
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 5, part 16Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Idols, made from earth, could not even foresee their own burning (Isa 41:24); God, who wills all to be saved, raised up the nations from the north and the east, called by Christ's name as Christians, or, as some read, Christ himself, the “Rising” (Isa 41:25); the lemma of Isa 41:25b–26 follows.
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 5, part 17Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The idols were destined to be burned and trampled, and the rulers of Isa 41:25–26 are the apostles, who armed believers against them; the oracles fell silent when the Word shone forth; in Isa 41:27–29 God gives Zion, the church, its ruler, Christ, who as God is King by nature but receives rule by the dispensation in the flesh.
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 5, part 18Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Idols cannot answer or guide anyone (Isa 41:28–29); the servant of Isa 42:1–4, called Jacob and Israel because of his descent in the flesh, is Christ, King eternally as the Word but receiving rule and the Spirit at his baptism as man, not as God; he brings just judgment to the nations by condemning Satan.
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 5, part 19Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Christ condemned Satan and saved the deceived (Isa 42:1); he came quietly, harming not even the weakest (Isa 42:2–3), and turned the “judgment” of the law, its shadows, into the truth of the gospel; though the Jews put him to death he rose and was not broken, and the gospel now fills the earth, so that the nations hope in his name (Isa 42:3–4); the lemma of Isa 42:5–7 follows.
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 5, part 20Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Because of the many false prophets, even true ones and Christ himself were disbelieved, so the Father bears witness through Isa 42:5–7 that he called Christ in righteousness; “I will hold your hand” is said of Christ as man, since as God he is the Father's own right hand, and the next words show him God by nature, light from light.
Commentary on Isaiah 3, Tome 5, part 21Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Christ, born of Israel according to the flesh, gave the new covenant and became a light to the nations, showing himself God by nature; he preached to the spirits in Hades and freed the imprisoned (Isa 42:6–7); God gives his glory to no creature, yet gives it to the Son, consubstantial with him, one nature in three hypostases (Isa 42:8); his promises of the life to come will be fulfilled as the old ones were (Isa 42:9). Doxology.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 1, part 1Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Opening the fourth book, Cyril presents Christ as the covenant of Israel and the light of the nations, and introduces Isaiah's call to sing a new hymn (Isa 42:10).
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 1, part 3Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Isaiah's call to the desert towns of Kedar and Petra to rejoice foretells the conversion of the idolatrous Arab peoples, while those shouting from the mountains are the apostles proclaiming Christ's divinity and miracles.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 1, part 5Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · God waited patiently until the incarnation of his Word to rescue the nations from Satan; drying up rivers and marshes (Isa 42:15) means silencing the Greek poets and orators who spread polytheism.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 1, part 14Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The gathering of God's sons and daughters from east, west, north and south (Isa 43:5–6) is the gathering of Jews and Gentiles into one by the incarnate Word, as Caiaphas unknowingly prophesied.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 1, part 15Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The people called by God's name is the new creation formed in Christ, the Father's glory, and the blind people brought out into light are believers renewed in his image (Isa 43:7–9).
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 1, part 17Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · No one bears witness that the demons foreknow; God calls the prophets, and himself with his Servant, the Son, as witnesses that he alone is the eternal God and the only Saviour (Isa 43:10–13).
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 1, part 19Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · God sent Cyrus against Babylon for Israel's sake, a type of Christ freeing humanity from the demons into the church; the God who promises this is the Holy One who showed forth Israel's king, whom Cyril takes as Christ (Isa 43:14–15).
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 1, part 20Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Beyond the partial redemption from Babylon stands the universal redemption through the self-emptying of the Only-begotten; the exodus through the sea and the drowning of Pharaoh's army (Isa 43:16–17) recall God's power to a forgetful Israel.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 2, part 8Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Worshipping a man-shaped idol is worshipping a lesser copy of oneself; and no lie is in God's right hand, the Son, who is truly God, Lord and Creator, God from God and true light from true light (Isa 44:13–20).
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 2, part 10Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Forgetting God means apostasy; his “I have blotted out” promises forgiveness fulfilled in Christ, at whose coming heaven and earth rejoice, as the angels sang at his birth (Isa 44:22–23).
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 2, part 12Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The Creator who alone stretched out the heavens, not to the exclusion of the Word but of the false gods, promises in Isa 44:24–26 to scatter the oracles of the demons, which Christ, the true light, did.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 2, part 17Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · God's wrath against Babylon, voiced by Zechariah, Jeremiah and Isaiah, was carried out by Cyrus; Scripture then rises from this history to Emmanuel, who frees captives from the devil, reconciles them to the Father, and builds the church (Isa 45:7–8).
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 2, part 18Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Heaven's angels rejoice at the salvation of the world; the clouds raining righteousness are the heavenly powers or the apostles, withheld from the Jews who rejected Christ, and the righteousness springing from the earth is Christ himself, born of a woman (Isa 45:8).
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 2, part 19Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The Creator's “I am” explains the Son's self-emptying: humanity, though earth, bears God's image and is his pride; and the ploughing that must give way to sowing pictures the law yielding to the gospel, which the Jews resisted (Isa 45:8–10).
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 2, part 22Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · God's works surpass understanding, as the new birth did for Nicodemus; we must yield to him as clay to the potter, since he who made earth, man and heaven, by his hand the Son, can remake human hearts (Isa 45:11–12).
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 2, part 23Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The king raised up in righteousness (Isa 45:13) is not finally Cyrus but Christ, righteousness itself, who built the church on himself and freed his people not with silver but with his own blood.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 2, part 25Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The converted nations, bound by love of Christ, confess that God is in him and there is no God besides him (Isa 45:14–16); Cyril explains this of the Son's oneness with the Father and of the one incarnate Son, not divided into two.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 3, part 20Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Israel, chosen as God's portion, served the elements of the world; but God alone is first and eternal, and created heaven and earth by his hand and right hand, the Son.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 3, part 21Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · No idol or diviner foretold the captivity; God foretold it, and out of love for Israel he brought Cyrus against Babylon, as he had openly announced through the prophets.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 4, part 1Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads the islands addressed in Isa 49:1 as the churches of the nations and begins to explain how the Word, who had divine names before the incarnation, was “called from his mother’s womb.”
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 4, part 2Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril explains how the Word received the names Emmanuel, Jesus, and Christ at his birth in the flesh, and reads the “sharp sword” of Isa 49:2 as the gospel that overthrows the devil’s tyranny.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 4, part 3Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads the hand that shelters and the quiver that hides the “choice arrow” of Isa 49:2 as the Father’s protection and foreknowledge of the incarnate Son, who is called “servant” and “Israel” because of the economy in the flesh.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 4, part 4Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril explains how the Father is glorified in the incarnate Son, and reads the Servant’s complaint of labouring in vain (Isa 49:4) as Christ’s rejection by Israel, illustrated by the parable of the wicked tenants.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 4, part 5Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads the Servant “formed from the womb” (Isa 49:5) as the free Son who willingly took the form of a servant at his birth in the flesh, illustrated by the didrachma episode.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 4, part 6Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril explains that the Word became a servant to gather Israel and Jacob, meaning the Jews or, equally well, all who are saved through faith and have circumcision of the heart.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 4, part 7Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril explains that being called “servant” was a small thing for the Word yet brought him glory from all, and reads the “light of nations” (Isa 49:6) as God’s turning to the Gentiles when the Jews rejected Christ.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 4, part 8Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads Isa 49:7 as the Father’s command to honour as holy the incarnate Word who “held his life cheap” by dying for sinners, while suffering nothing in his own divine nature.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 4, part 9Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril explains “sanctify him” (Isa 49:7) as honouring as holy the one who suffered mockery and death in the flesh, whom kings will worship, and calls the time of the incarnation the “day of salvation” (Isa 49:8).
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 4, part 10Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril rejects the view of earlier interpreters that Isa 49:8 answers Christ’s unheard prayer in Gethsemane, explaining the prayer instead as an act of the economy and a pattern for Christians in temptation.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 4, part 15Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril interprets the walls painted on God’s hands (Isa 49:16) as the nail-pierced hands of the crucified Christ, whose passion is the church’s wall, or as believers held safe in the Father’s hand.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 4, part 20Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads Isa 49:25 with Matt 12:29: Christ, entering the world in the flesh, bound the strong man Satan and took his captives, and gives believers the power to despoil him in turn.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 4, part 23Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads Isa 50:2–3 as Christ’s reproach to Israel for not recognizing him, though he is the God who of old dried up the Red Sea and the Jordan, and so able to rescue the world.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 5, part 1Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads Isa 50:5–8 as Christ’s own words: obedient where the Jews disobeyed, he willingly gave his back to scourges and his face to spitting to fulfil the Father’s will for the life of believers.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 5, part 2Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads “the Lord became my helper” (Isa 50:7–8) as the Father’s vindication of the crucified Son through the punishment of his persecutors, and the challenge “Who contends with me?” as a declaration of Christ’s sinlessness.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 5, part 3Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril affirms Christ’s sinlessness as the one respect in which the incarnate Word was beyond our nature, and reads “the Lord helps me” (Isa 50:9) as the Father raising the Son, though the Word himself had power to raise his own flesh.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 5, part 4Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads the threat of the moth (Isa 50:9) as the ruin awaiting Christ’s persecutors, and the call to hear “the voice of his Servant” (Isa 50:10) as an invitation to the believing remnant to accept the gospel, which confirms rather than abolishes the law.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 5, part 5Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads Isa 50:10 as Christ mixing comfort with reproof: he convicts the Jews of walking in darkness yet calls them to trust in him as Lord and God, the light of the world.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 5, part 11Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads the nations’ hope in God’s “arm” (Isa 51:5) as hope in the Son, the Father’s power, who freed the Gentiles from Satan, and introduces Isa 51:6 as God’s lesson that heaven and earth are creatures, not gods.
Commentary on Isaiah 1, Discourse 5, part 12Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads Isa 51:6 as a lesson that heaven and earth, being creatures, will grow old and be renewed, while God’s salvation and righteousness, the eternal Son and Word, will never fail.
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 1, part 4Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The Roman destruction of Jerusalem came on Israel for killing the prophets and the Lord; God will not allow his name to be blasphemed, and those who believe, from Jews and nations, will know his glory in Christ, God by nature though made flesh.
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 1, part 5Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Christ, God made man and one Son, came like spring upon barren mountains and like a herald of peace, reconciling humanity to the Father.
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 1, part 10Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The servant of Isa 52:13 is the Son, who took the form of a slave and wrought salvation with divine wisdom; believers are amazed at him, unbelievers dishonored him, but nations and kings will honor him.
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 1, part 12Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The barren earth blossomed when watered by Christ and the Spirit; the Word did not come in overwhelming divine glory, as at Sinai, but emptied himself, so that his form seemed without honor.
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 1, part 13Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Christ's lowly station and his downcast face before the Passion, when he was troubled, mocked, and beaten, show that he truly became man; though impassible as God, he let his human nature feel grief.
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 1, part 14Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Christ, the true Lamb, bore our sins and suffered for all, since the sacrifices of the law could not remove sin; the Father gave him up out of love, that he might be Lord of the living and the dead.
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 1, part 15Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Christ did not suffer for his own sins, as some thought, but bore the chastisement owed by sinners; at his trial he kept almost silent before the Jewish leaders and Pilate, as Isa 53:7 foretold.
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 1, part 16Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Christ, slaughtered like a sheep and shorn like a lamb, suffered in his flesh while his divine nature remained impassible; he was condemned because he seemed lowly, though his generation is beyond telling.
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 1, part 17Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Christ's generation is twofold and beyond telling, eternal from the Father and virginal in the flesh; his life is lifted above the earth by his sinlessness; he died for the people's sins and at the hands of those who acted lawlessly against him.
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 1, part 18Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Cyril reads 'the wicked and the rich' of Isa 53:9 as the Jewish leaders, who killed Christ, bribed the guards to deny the resurrection, and loved gain; their punishment, he says, clears Christ of the charge laid against him.
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 1, part 20Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · After the Passion Christ's sorrow turned to joy as the nations, once darkness, were enlightened and reshaped into his image; he is the righteous servant who served many, vindicated by Israel's punishment and his reign over the nations.
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 2, part 16Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Christ, David's descendant, is given to the nations not merely as a witness like the prophets but as ruler and commander, God speaking with his own authority; the nations call on him as God, glorifying the Son with the Father.
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 2, part 17Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The name above every name was given to Christ as man, though as God he had glory before the world; the Father subjects the nations to the Son and calls them to seek God, not in a place but by eager faith, and to forsake sin, for he forgives completely.
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 4, part 9Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The Jews conceived envy against Christ and brought forth his death, expecting profit, but like those who break asps' eggs or weave spiders' webs they found only a basilisk and a covering that does not cover (Isa 59:4–6).
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 4, part 10Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Isaiah lists the sins of Israel, swift to shed blood and ignorant of peace, which is Christ; expecting light from the Messiah, they refused the true light and became blind guides of the blind (Isa 59:6–11).
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 4, part 14Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · After the wrath, the Deliverer comes for Zion: the Word became man to call Israel first and then the gentiles, and his covenant is the gift of the Spirit and the word of faith confessed with the mouth, which justifies the ungodly (Isa 59:20–21).
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 4, part 15Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Isaiah's “Be enlightened, Jerusalem” announces Christ, the glory of the Lord who shone first on Israel and showed himself God and Son of God by nature through his miracles, while the gentiles still sat in darkness (Isa 60:1–3).
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 5, part 1Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · With rulers in peace and bishops in righteousness, the injustice of the old leaders of the synagogue ceases; the walls and gates of the church are its holy teachers, and above all Christ, who is the door and the exact image of the Father (Isa 60:18).
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 5, part 2Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Some refer the sun and moon that no longer shine to the end of the age, when Christ's glory will light the saints; Cyril accepts this and adds that the light Christ gives the mind through the Holy Spirit never sets, for he is the light of the world (Isa 60:19–20).
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 5, part 4Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Christ, who as God gives the Spirit, receives it as man, and this is his anointing; he was sent to the poor, the broken-hearted and the blind, the idolatrous gentiles and also Israel, and the acceptable year is the year of his cross (Isa 61:1–2).
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 5, part 10Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The church rejoices in being clothed with Christ, the tunic of gladness, who gives abundant life; the saints are like bridegroom and bride in strength and fruitfulness, and Christ is the flower that springs up before the nations (Isa 61:10–11).
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 5, part 11Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Zion is the church, first gathered from Israel; God will not rest until Christ, his righteousness and salvation, shines like a torch on a darkened world and is seen by the nations (Isa 62:1–3).
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 5, part 16Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The daughter of Zion, the church, is told that her Saviour has come bringing his reward: as God he gives gifts and sees each one's work, as he did for Peter, the apostles and the thief; his people are redeemed by the Lord himself, and the church is sought after, not forsaken (Isa 62:11–12).
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 5, part 17Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Christ ascends to the Father still showing the marks of his passion, and the astonished powers ask who comes from Edom in red garments; he answers that he has judged the world and cast out Satan, and that no one from the nations stood with him in his suffering (Isa 63:1–6).
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 5, part 20Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The prophet laments that Israel forgot the God who brought up the shepherd of the sheep, a hint of Christ's coming as man, put his Spirit among them, and by Moses' hand made the sea solid and led them through it like cattle on a plain (Isa 63:11–14).
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 6, part 3Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Christ himself answers Israel's complaint: he came of his own accord, taught, healed and raised the dead, and said “I am”, yet the people would not call on his name but stayed disobedient and called him demon-possessed (Isa 65:1–2).
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 6, part 18Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · The church's breasts are the simple teaching given to new believers, from which they must grow to maturity and delight in Christ, the glory who entered the world by taking flesh; Christ, sent first to Israel, turned like a river of peace to the nations (Isa 66:11–12).
Commentary on Isaiah 5, Tome 6, part 20Cyril of Alexandria · before ca. 428 (probably 420s) · Pagans who purified themselves with fire and water in groves, ate swine's flesh and honoured mice will perish with unbelieving Israel; Christ, summing up the prophecy, gathers all nations to see his glory as God made man, seals them with the Spirit, and sends the apostles to the ends of the earth (Isa 66:17–19).
Commentary on Luke 1:2Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Luke calls the apostles eyewitnesses of the Word because the invisible Word became visible in the flesh, and the Son called Son of the Most High lost nothing of his equality with the Father by becoming man.
Commentary on Luke 1:76Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · John is called prophet of the Most High, and the Most High is Christ, whose forerunner he was, which refutes those who lessen Christ’s Godhead.
Commentary on Luke 2:4Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Mary was of David’s tribe like Joseph; and the one Christ is formed from two natures united without confusion or division, which is why the Virgin is proclaimed Mother of God.
Commentary on Luke 2:5Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ was conceived without seed during the betrothal so that as second Adam he might pass rebirth by the Spirit on to us; the census brought Mary to Bethlehem, and the shut gate of Ezekiel shows that her virginity was not lost in giving birth.
Commentary on Luke 2:7 (part 1)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ is Only-begotten by nature as God and firstborn by the economy, as brother and firstfruits of those adopted; “firstborn” does not make him one of many sons or one of the creatures, against Eunomius.
Commentary on Luke 2:7 (part 2)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ lay in a manger so that men grown beastlike might find the bread of life; the shepherds prefigure the Church’s pastors; and the birth of Emmanuel undid the curse of painful childbirth, he alone having flesh free of sin.
Commentary on Luke 2:7 (part 3)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · The swaddled infant is the Lord whom the seraphim praise; Isaiah’s Emmanuel, fed on the Virgin’s milk, chose the good as God alone does; at his birth the devil was despoiled, the nations tamed, and peace made between God and men.
Commentary on Luke 2:10Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · An archangel announced the birth; Christ, the Lawgiver, submitted to circumcision and the purification to redeem those under the law, circumcision prefiguring baptism; the Virgin needed no purification, and Christ is the turtledove, the dove and the coin paid as ransom for two peoples.
Commentary on Luke 2:40 (1)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · The child’s growth in body and wisdom belongs to his humanity: the all-perfect Word let the laws of human growth govern his flesh and manifested his wisdom gradually, body growing in stature and soul in wisdom.
Commentary on Luke 2:40 (2)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Jesus’ advance in wisdom is shown when, at twelve, he questioned and answered the teachers in the temple and became known to many for his wisdom.
Commentary on Luke 2:49 (1)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · In calling God his Father the boy Jesus first openly reveals his Godhead, teaching Mary that she served the economy by bearing his flesh.
Commentary on Luke 2:49 (2)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Against the Valentinians, the God of the temple is Christ’s Father; and Jesus’ advance in wisdom and grace belongs to his humanity and to the growing wonder of those who saw him, not to the Word as God.
Commentary on Luke 3:10Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · John gave fitting counsel to crowds, tax collectors and soldiers, and refused to be thought the Christ; his unworthiness to touch Christ’s sandals and Christ’s power to baptize with the Spirit show that the incarnate Word is one Son, God and man.
Commentary on Luke 3:17Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ will separate wheat from chaff; he was baptized not from need but to sanctify the waters and give us a pattern, the Spirit being his own though proceeding from the Father; heaven was opened and the Father’s voice declared him Son so that sonship might pass to us.
Commentary on Luke 3:22Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ received the Spirit as man, not as God; against Paul of Samosata, he always was as God and began as man at thirty; and delaying baptism to the end of life is harmful, bringing forgiveness but no fruit.
Commentary on Luke 4:1 (part 1)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · In Christ, full of the Spirit, human nature is anointed as in its firstfruits, so that the promised outpouring of the Spirit and adoption pass to us; the giver of the Spirit received it as our brother.
Commentary on Luke 4:2Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ fasted not from need but to give a pattern to those who live in the desert, showing that self-control and fasting defeat Satan; his hunger after forty days shows him one and the same, God and man.
Commentary on Luke 4:10Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Satan misapplied Ps 91 to Christ as if he needed angels; the Arians, reading the psalm as Christ taking the Father as his refuge, follow Satan’s error, for the psalm speaks of every righteous man, while the Son is himself the Most High and refuge of all.
Commentary on Luke 4:14Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Having conquered Satan in the desert and crowned human nature in himself, Christ returned to Galilee working signs by the power of the Spirit, which is his own, not borrowed as by the saints.
Commentary on Luke 4:16Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · At Nazareth Christ revealed the mystery of the incarnation by reading Isaiah’s prophecy of his anointing; as God he gives the Spirit and as man he receives it.
Commentary on Luke 4:18Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ, who has the Spirit by nature, was anointed as man for our sake, since humanity had lost the Spirit; he released Satan’s captives, enlightened the blind nations and Israel, proclaimed the acceptable year of salvation, and declared the prophecy fulfilled in himself.
Commentary on Luke 4:28Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · The people of Nazareth, angry at his claim, tried to throw Jesus from the hill; he passed through them because his time to suffer had not come, showing that his later suffering was voluntary.
Commentary on Luke 4:31Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ added signs to his teaching for the unbelieving, especially at Capernaum, taught openly, and spoke not as a prophet saying “Thus says the Lord” but as Lord of the law, the ruler and commander foretold by Isaiah.
Commentary on Luke 4:35Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ cast out demons by his own authority as God; in him human nature is crowned with victory over Satan, and he silenced the demons’ flattering confession.
Commentary on Luke 4:38Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ lodged with the poor Simon; his rebuke of the fever suggests a hostile power behind it; his touch healed because his flesh, united to the Word like fire in bronze, bore divine power, which we receive through the mystical blessing; he silenced the demons’ confession.
Commentary on Luke 5:12Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · The leper’s faith confessed Christ’s divine power; Christ’s will to cleanse was divine and his outstretched hand human, one Christ from both.
Commentary on Luke 5:14Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ forbade publicity to teach healers humility and sent the leper to the priests as a testimony that he surpasses Moses, who could only pray for Miriam; the two birds of Lev 14 depict the one Christ who died in the flesh and lives as God, not two sons, as a painter shows one Abraham in several scenes.
Commentary on Luke 5:17Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · The power to heal in Christ was not borrowed but his own as God, unlike the intermittent gifts of the saints.
Commentary on Luke 5:18Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · The paralytic, let down through the roof, was healed through the faith of those who carried him; Christ first forgave his sins, since God often uses sickness to discipline sinners and sin is the root of disease; by reading the scribes’ thoughts he showed himself God, who alone forgives sins.
Commentary on Luke 5:24Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · The visible healing proved the unseen forgiveness; Christ forgives sins as God and has also given the apostles, filled with the Spirit, authority to forgive and retain sins.
Commentary on Luke 6:12Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ’s night of prayer on the mountain teaches us to pray in secret, intently and patiently; it does not show the Son lacking anything, against the Arians, nor that a separate man prayed, against the followers of Nestorius, since the Word made flesh prayed as man for our example.
Commentary on Luke 6:46Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Lordship belongs to Christ alone as God, so to call him Lord without obeying him deserves punishment; obedience to his word brings freedom and sonship, and the obedient man is a house founded on rock that withstands temptation, the hearer only a house on sand.
Commentary on Luke 7:14Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ touched the bier to show that his body, being the Word’s own flesh, is life-giving, as iron heated by fire does the work of fire.
Commentary on Luke 7:17Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · John knew who Jesus was but feigned ignorance so that his envious disciples might be convinced; “the one who is coming” is Scripture’s title for the divine Lord, not a question about Christ’s descent to Hades.
Commentary on Luke 8:22Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ slept in the storm so that the disciples, in real danger, might experience his power; calming the sea, he showed himself God and calmed their little faith; the storm also figures the Jews’ rage at the passion and the trials of the Church, which Christ, seeming asleep, ends when his people cry to him.
Commentary on Luke 8:45Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ made known the healing of the woman with the flow of blood, not for glory but to strengthen Jairus’s hope; the power going out from him as his own shows that he is true God.
Commentary on Luke 9:1Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ crowned the apostles with his own power over demons and disease, which belongs to God alone, so that they might despoil Satan, as Isaiah and Habakkuk foretold, and so that their preaching might be confirmed by miracles for those slow to believe.
Commentary on Luke 9:18Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ’s prayer after the miracle of the loaves might have confused the disciples, so he drew from them, through Peter, the confession that he is the Christ of God—not one of many anointed ones but the Father’s own Son made flesh, one Christ, not two.
Commentary on Luke 9:21Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ forbade the disciples to proclaim him as Christ until the passion and resurrection had shown him to be God; after rising he sent them to preach to all nations and baptize.
Commentary on Luke 9:26Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Those ashamed of Christ will be shamed at his glorious coming, while the faithful will be rewarded; to encourage the disciples he showed three of them a foretaste of his glory, with Moses and Elijah, the law and prophets, speaking of his passion; Peter’s proposal of tents was untimely, since the passion was still to come.
Commentary on Luke 9:29Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · The transfiguration gave a pattern of the resurrection body: not a change of human form but a clothing of the flesh with divine glory, as the righteous will shine in the kingdom.
Commentary on Luke 9:35Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · The Father’s voice commanded the disciples to listen to Jesus, found alone, rather than to Moses and the prophets; their fear shows the need of the incarnate Mediator, without whom no one could bear God’s glory; the father of the possessed boy wrongly blamed the disciples.
Commentary on Luke 9:44Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ foretold his passion to the disciples privately so that, when it came, they would not doubt his divinity, while the crowd was not to know it in advance.
Commentary on Luke 10:21Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ’s thanksgiving to the Father does not make him less, since he rules with the Lord of heaven and earth; the Father revealed the mystery of the incarnation, hidden before the ages, to the guileless believers, but hid it from the worldly wise and from the scribes who rejected the Word.
Commentary on Luke 10:22Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · “All things have been delivered to me” is said by the economy of the incarnate Son, who is Lord of all; that only the Father knows the Son and only the Son the Father shows their equality, for the Trinity alone knows itself and reveals itself through the Spirit.
Commentary on Luke 10:23Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ spoke privately to his disciples, his friends; their eyes are blessed not by mere sight but by enjoying what they saw: the Word made man to make us sons, Satan’s fall, and human nature victorious in him—what prophets and kings longed to see.
Commentary on Luke 11:1Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ, full of all that is the Father’s, needed nothing, yet prayed as man by the economy, as he ate and slept, to teach us to pray earnestly, alone and quietly, not for show like the Pharisees.
Commentary on Luke 11:20Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · The finger of God is the Holy Spirit, joined to the Son as the finger to the hand by consubstantiality though proceeding from the Father; one working shows one nature, against the Pneumatomachi; in Christ human nature received the kingdom by defeating Satan.
Commentary on Luke 11:33Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Against the charge that he worked miracles for applause, Christ compares himself to a lamp set on a stand: the Father gave him to dispel Satan’s darkness, and he shows himself so that men may believe that God became man, shining in the Church through preaching.
Commentary on Luke 12:8Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · To confess Christ rightly is to confess the Word as Lord by nature, equal to the Father, and his resurrection as man; such confessors he will acknowledge at his coming, while apostates and heretics he will deny; words spoken against the Son of Man in ignorance of his divinity can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit, the whole Godhead, cannot.
Commentary on Luke 13:11Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Satan, by God’s permission, afflicts some with bodily illness to turn them to better things, and he caused bodily weakness through Adam’s fall; Christ, the incarnate Word, heals the bent woman with a word of divine authority and the touch of his own flesh.
Commentary on Luke 13:14Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Unlike Moses, who prayed for Miriam and could not heal her, Christ heals by his own power through his own flesh; the synagogue ruler, pretending zeal for the Sabbath, is really moved by envy, since God’s Sabbath rest was given for relief, and a word of healing is no forbidden work.
Commentary on Luke 13:32Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ will continue his works until he freely accepts his perfecting on the cross in Jerusalem, the killer of the prophets; leaving the city as unworthy, he returns at the triumphal entry when the crowds cry “Blessed is he who comes,” and then suffers for us.
Commentary on Luke 14:16Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · The man giving the great dinner is God the Father; the dinner is the festival of salvation in Christ in the last times, where he gives his flesh as food; the servant sent is Christ in his humanity, who invites Israel first to forgiveness, the Spirit, adoption and the kingdom, but they refuse.
Commentary on Luke 14:18Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Those who excused themselves for fields and marriage are the money-loving leaders of the Jewish synagogue; the servant’s sending refers to Christ’s incarnate economy, and the rulers’ refusal brought the master’s anger.
Commentary on Luke 15:1 (part 2)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ came to save, not judge, sinners, so the Pharisees’ murmuring against his meals with tax collectors is empty; the hundred sheep are the rational creation, the lost one is humankind on earth, which the chief shepherd sought while the ninety-nine angelic flocks remained safe in heaven, and he gathered us into the church.
Commentary on Luke 15:16Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · The prodigal starved for heavenly teaching; calling God Father requires a worthy life; the sinner who confesses is near to salvation; and the fatted calf is Christ, the spotless sacrifice foreordained before the world, shared by those who return from sin.
Commentary on Luke 17:20Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · The Pharisees mockingly ask when the kingdom comes, expecting Christ’s death; he answers patiently that the kingdom of God is within them, lying in their power to attain by faith and virtue, and present among them in Christ himself.
Commentary on Luke 17:24Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ’s second coming will be sudden and glorious like lightning, unlike his humble first coming; he must first suffer, abolish death and sin, ascend, and then come to judge; as in the days of Noah and Lot, the end will find people unprepared, so we must always keep watch.
Commentary on Luke 18:18Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · The ruler addresses Christ as “good” to test him; Christ replies that goodness belongs to God by nature, so the ruler should recognize him as God; against the Arians Cyril argues that the Son, consubstantial with the Father, is good as God, the good fruit and image of the good Father.
Commentary on Luke 18:31Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ foretold his passion so that the disciples would not stumble at it, showing that he foreknew it and accepted it willingly for the world’s salvation; by rising he planted his life in human bodies, all human nature returning in him to incorruption.
Commentary on Luke 18:38Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · The blind man calls Jesus Son of David yet approaches him as God, believing the Word took flesh from the Virgin, a rebuke to those who divide Christ into two; his persistent faith, undeterred by rebukes, brings him near to Christ, who heals both his bodily and spiritual blindness.
Commentary on Luke 19:11Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · The parable of the nobleman sketches the whole economy: the Word’s incarnation, his ascension to receive the kingdom, his return as king and judge; it corrects the crowd’s expectation that he would take the kingdom at once in Jerusalem; the Father gives the kingdom to the Son as incarnate.
Commentary on Luke 19:39Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · The envious Pharisees object that Jesus, a man, accepts praise fit for God; he does not rebuke the children but says the stones would cry out, bearing witness to his own divine glory; he is not a man sharing another’s glory but the one Lord, God and Most High.
Commentary on Luke 19:41Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Though Israel was rejected for refusing God’s word, Christ, who wills all to be saved, wept over Jerusalem as he wept over Lazarus, showing by a human act God’s grief at fallen humanity; the things that make for peace were faith, obedience, and worship in spirit and truth through Christ.
Commentary on Luke 20:2Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · The leaders question Christ’s authority as one not of Levi, but he is priest after the order of Melchizedek, whom Abraham honoured, and as God may change the law; they evade his question about John’s witness; the parable of the tenants sums up Israel’s history of rejecting the prophets and finally the Son, so the vineyard passes to the ministers of the new covenant.
Commentary on Luke 20:20Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · The spies, outwardly reasonable but wicked, approached Christ as a mere man, forgetting that God sees hidden counsels and that his signs showed him to be God as well as man.
Commentary on Luke 20:40Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ’s question how David’s son is David’s Lord confounds the Pharisees, and Cyril puts it to the “new Pharisees” who divide Christ into two sons: seated at the Father’s right hand, consubstantial and equal with him, the Word made flesh is David’s Lord as God and his son according to the flesh, as Isaiah’s Emmanuel prophecy shows.
Commentary on Luke 21:5Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ predicts the temple’s destruction by Rome after the cross; the disciples take it to mean the end of the age, so he speaks of false christs before his glorious second coming, which unlike his hidden first coming will be manifest, and of the signs of the end, interweaving the fall of Jerusalem.
Commentary on Luke 22:19Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ’s thanksgiving is a pattern for the church’s eucharistic prayer; since death came through the devil, the Word, life by nature, made our flesh his own and life-giving, as fire fills iron; eating his flesh and drinking his blood we have life in us; his indwelling in us by participation differs from his becoming flesh; God transforms the bread and wine on the holy tables into the life-giving energy of his flesh, so we must believe his words, “This is my body.”
Commentary on Luke 22:24Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ rebukes the disciples’ dispute over rank, a love of glory unlike the rulers of the nations; the Lord of glory served and washed their feet as our example; he speaks humanly before the cross when he promises them a kingdom and a place at his table, meaning not food but the first honours in his presence.
Commentary on Luke 22:32Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ prays for Peter as man, though God by nature; Peter, weak even untested, would have failed under Satan’s trial; Christ foretells his denial yet gives him hope, forgiving him before the sin and restoring him to strengthen his brothers.
Commentary on Luke 22:39Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · In Gethsemane Christ’s grief was not fear of death, for he knew his death would save the world, but sorrow for Israel and Jerusalem, which he disclosed to the disciples; the divine nature of the Word cannot suffer grief, but the incarnate Word willed to enter the measures of humanity, as he hungered and grew weary.
Commentary on Luke 22:40Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Christ prays alone, as a pattern of quiet prayer, not needing help as the Father’s own power; his request to be spared the cup shows human reverence and grief at Israel’s guilt, yet he freely chose the cross; his human fear was real but mastered by the Word’s power, so that human nature, transformed first in him, might be healed and strengthened in us.
Commentary on Luke 22:57Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Peter denied Christ three times, even under oath; Cyril rejects the view that he only denied that Jesus had become man, since Peter knew and confessed the Word made man as Son of God; his denial came from human weakness, foreknown but not caused by Christ, and his bitter tears of repentance brought forgiveness and restoration.
Commentary on Luke 22:63Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Heaven is amazed that the Lord of all endures being mocked and struck like one of us, giving us an example of perfect forbearance; he who searches hearts knew well who struck him.
Commentary on Luke 22:66Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · The council asked whether Jesus was the Christ though they could have learned it from the law and prophets, and he had shown them before that they would neither believe nor answer; he then declares that the Son of Man will sit at God’s right hand with his flesh, and they seize on this as blasphemy, turning the way of salvation into their ruin.
Commentary on Luke 23:24Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Pilate granted the crowd’s demand, a victory that brought their ruin; Christ carrying his cross was prefigured by Isaac carrying the wood; he carried it himself and Simon of Cyrene carried it part of the way; the cross on his shoulder is the rule foretold by Isaiah, by which he reigns.
Commentary on Luke 23:33Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · At the crucifixion Christ neither fully revealed nor wholly hid his Godhead, showing both divine and human activities; to refute the coming heresy that his body was a phantom or heavenly, he let his flesh suffer what is proper to it, the one and same Christ suffering as man and acting as God.
Commentary on Luke 23:44Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · The darkness at the crucifixion fulfilled Amos and signified the spiritual darkening of those who crucified the Lord of glory, while creation mourned its Master; after his passion Christ began to draw many to faith, the centurion and some of the Jews; the women came to care for his body, thinking he would remain dead.
Commentary on Luke 24:4 (3)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · A scholion on Christ’s last words: through him the souls of the justified no longer go to Hades but into God’s hands, as Stephen and Peter show; then, on the women at the tomb: for their love they saw angels who announced that the living one, who tasted death as the death of death, had risen, as angels had announced his birth.
Commentary on Luke 24:45Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · The risen Christ opened the disciples’ minds to the prophecies of his passion, promised them the Spirit foretold by Joel and baptism in the Spirit beyond John’s water, and ascended to sit with the Father in his united flesh; the commentary ends with a doxology to the incarnate Word who suffered, rose, ascended and will come to judge.
Letter 1 (Cyril to the monks of Egypt)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Cyril warns the Egyptian monks against those questioning whether Mary should be called Mother of God, and argues from Athanasius, the Nicene Creed, and Scripture that the one born of the Virgin is the Word of God made flesh, one Christ, not a man used as God's instrument.
Letter 2 (Cyril to Nestorius (second letter))Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Cyril answers Nestorius's anger over his letter to the monks, says the disturbance came from Nestorius's own sermons, reports Celestine of Rome's concern, and urges him to call Mary Mother of God.
Letter 4 (Cyril to Nestorius)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Cyril's second letter to Nestorius sets out how the Word became man by a union according to hypostasis, so that one Christ is born, suffers, and rises, and Mary is rightly called Mother of God.
Letter 5 (Nestorius to Cyril)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Nestorius replies to Cyril's second letter, arguing that the Nicene Creed and Scripture ascribe birth and suffering to Christ's humanity, not his Godhead, so Mary is more exactly called Mother of Christ.
Letter 8 (Cyril to those who had reported Nestorius)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Cyril defends his letter to the monks by pointing out that Nestorius stood by while Bishop Dorotheus anathematized anyone who calls Mary Mother of God.
Letter 10 (Cyril to his clergy at Constantinople)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Cyril instructs his clergy at Constantinople how to answer Nestorius's supporters, quotes Nestorius's sermons, explains how the Word is said to suffer in his flesh, and says he will refuse Nestorius as his judge.
Letter 11 (Cyril to Celestine, bishop of Rome)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Cyril reports to Celestine of Rome on Nestorius's teaching and conduct, asks whether he should break communion with him, and attaches a memorandum summarizing Nestorius's views and his deposition of the presbyter Philip.
Letter 12 (Celestine, bishop of Rome, to Cyril)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Celestine of Rome praises Cyril's defence of the faith and commissions him, acting with Rome's authority, to give Nestorius ten days to recant in writing or be removed from communion.
Letter 13 (Cyril to John of Antioch)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Cyril informs John of Antioch that the Roman synod has condemned Nestorius's teaching and that he himself will follow Rome's judgement, urging John to consider his course.
Letter 14 (Cyril to Acacius of Beroea)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Cyril tells Acacius of Beroea of his grief that Nestorius tolerated an anathema against all who call Mary Mother of God, a term used by Athanasius, Theophilus, Basil, Gregory, and Atticus.
Letter 15 (Acacius of Beroea to Cyril)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Acacius of Beroea, replying for himself and John of Antioch, urges Cyril to calm the dispute over Nestorius's words rather than inflame it, warning by the example of Apollinarius against probing mysteries.
Letter 16 (Cyril to Juvenal of Jerusalem)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Cyril sends Juvenal of Jerusalem Celestine's letters condemning Nestorius and urges joint action: letters to Nestorius, his people, and the emperor.
Letter 17 (Cyril and the synod of Alexandria to Nestorius (third letter, with the twelve anathemas))Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Cyril and the Egyptian synod give Nestorius a final warning, set out at length the faith in the one incarnate Word, the Eucharist, and Mary as Mother of God, and append twelve anathemas he must accept.
Letter 18 (Cyril to the clergy and people of Constantinople)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Cyril and the Egyptian synod tell the clergy and people of Constantinople that Nestorius has been warned, urge them to keep the faith of their former bishops, and declare communion with those he has deposed.
Letter 19 (Cyril and the synod to the monks of Constantinople)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Cyril and the synod praise the monks of Constantinople for resisting Nestorius's blasphemies and tell them Nestorius has been given a final warning to recant or be removed.
Letter 23 (Cyril to some of the clergy of Constantinople)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Cyril reports to his agents in Constantinople how Nestorius refused three summonses at Ephesus and was deposed, and warns that the official minutes are being delayed.
Letter 24 (Cyril to the clergy and people of Alexandria)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Cyril tells his church that about two hundred bishops at Ephesus deposed Nestorius on 22 June 431 and that the city celebrated with a torchlight escort.
Letter 27 (Cyril to the clergy and people of Constantinople)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Cyril reports from Ephesus that the council refuses communion with John of Antioch's party or any compromise statement of faith, and that the bishops are under guard and in hardship.
Letter 31 (Cyril to Maximian of Constantinople)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Cyril welcomes Maximian as Nestorius's successor at Constantinople, restates the faith in one Christ against Apollinarius and Nestorius, and compares Nestorius's fall and Maximian's rise to Shebna and Eliakim.
Letter 35 (John of Antioch and others to Xystus and Maximian)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · John of Antioch and his bishops tell Xystus of Rome, Cyril, and Maximian that, for the sake of peace, they now accept Nestorius's deposition by the Council of Ephesus and Maximian's ordination.
Letter 36 (Libellus of Paul of Emesa to Cyril)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Paul of Emesa, John of Antioch's envoy, formally accepts Maximian's appointment and Nestorius's deposition, anathematizes Nestorius's teaching, and restores communion with Cyril on the basis of the agreed statement of faith.
Letter 37 (Cyril to Theognostus, Charmosynus and Leontius)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Cyril reassures his agents at Constantinople that the peace talks with Paul of Emesa have kept every safeguard: Paul confessed Mary as Mother of God, and John's letters of communion will be handed over only if he signs Nestorius's deposition.
Letter 38 (John of Antioch to Cyril)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · John of Antioch sends Cyril the agreed statement of faith (the Formula of Reunion), accepts Nestorius's deposition and Maximian's ordination, and restores communion.
Letter 39 (Cyril to John of Antioch (the Formula of Reunion))Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Cyril welcomes the reunion with John of Antioch, quotes the agreed Formula of Reunion, denies that he teaches a heavenly body of Christ or a mixing of natures, and insists the Nicene Creed must not be altered.
Letter 40 (Cyril to Acacius of Melitene)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Cyril explains to Acacius of Melitene how the reunion of 433 came about, defends the Antiochene confession as no new creed and not Nestorian, and sets out his own teaching of one incarnate nature of the Word, the union of two natures, and the right way to distinguish Christ's sayings.
Letter 41 (Cyril to Acacius of Melitene (second))Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Answering Acacius of Melitene, Cyril rejects the view that the scapegoat of Lev 16 was sent to a demon and reads the two goats, and the two birds of Lev 14, as a double picture of the one Christ who dies in the flesh and lives as God.
Letter 42 (Cyril to Rufus of Thessalonica)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Cyril sends Rufus of Thessalonica a copy of his long letter to Acacius of Melitene explaining the Easterners' confession of faith.
Letter 44 (Cyril to Eulogius)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Cyril explains to his agent Eulogius why he accepted the Easterners' talk of two natures: knowing the difference of natures is not dividing Christ, and after the union there is one Son and one incarnate nature of the Word.
Letter 45 (Cyril to Succensus)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Answering Succensus, Cyril traces Nestorius's teaching to Diodore, explains that Christ is from two natures but after the union is one Son and one incarnate nature of God the Word, and denies that Christ's risen body was changed into Godhead.
Letter 46 (Cyril to Succensus (second))Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · In a second letter to Succensus, Cyril answers four objections to his formula “one nature of the Word, incarnate,” arguing that it implies neither suffering in the Godhead nor confusion, nor any loss of Christ's full humanity.
Letter 48 (Cyril to Donatus of Nicopolis)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Cyril tells Donatus of Nicopolis how the reunion with John of Antioch was reached without retracting anything he had written, and that the bishops deposed for supporting Nestorius were not restored.
Letter 50 (Cyril to Valerian of Iconium)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Cyril arms Valerian of Iconium against Nestorius's followers, refuting their readings of Phil 2, 2 Cor 5:19, and Acts 10:38, defending the Word's own suffering in the flesh and the one person of Christ, and assuring him that the Eastern bishops have condemned Nestorius.
Letter 53 (Cyril to Xystus (fragment))Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · A fragment of Cyril's letter to Xystus of Rome denying that he ever called the divine nature of the Word passible and confessing one Christ in and from both natures.
Letter 54 (Cyril to Eusebius, presbyter)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Cyril reassures the presbyter Eusebius that the peace with John of Antioch kept every condition set at Ephesus, that the deposed Nestorian bishops were not restored, and that the charges against himself of teaching a passible Godhead or a heavenly flesh are slanders.
Letter 55 (Cyril to Anastasius, Alexander and others (explanation of the Creed))Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Cyril explains the Nicene Creed clause by clause to a group of monks, insisting that the one only-begotten Word himself became man, suffered in his own flesh, and is the one Lord into whose death Christians are baptized, against the followers of Nestorius and Theodore.
Letter 63 (Cyril to John of Antioch (on the slanders of Theodoret))Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Cyril complains to John of Antioch that Theodoret still holds to Nestorius's slanders and has neither anathematized him nor signed his deposition, and asks John to bring him into line.
Letter 67 (Cyril to John of Antioch and the synod of Antioch)Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Cyril and his synod to John of Antioch and his synod: they anathematize Nestorius and anyone who speaks of two sons and two Christs, confess one Son, the Word made flesh from the holy Mother of God, warn against ascribing the views of Diodore and Theodore to Athanasius, Basil, Gregory and Theophilus, ask that repentant Nestorians be received, and that accusations against clergy be heard in church courts.
Letter 69 (Cyril to Acacius of Melitene (second))Cyril of Alexandria · ca. 412-444 · Cyril tells Acacius of Melitene that the archimandrite Maximus has visited him, that the Easterners now praise Theodore of Mopsuestia, Nestorius's teacher, and claim the great fathers taught the same, and that he has written against Diodore and Theodore and an explanation of the Nicene Creed, which he sends.
Book 1, chapter 1Hesychius of Jerusalem · ca. 412-450 · Hesychius expounds Lev 1: the burnt offerings of the herd, the flock and the birds stand for the doer of the law's righteousness, the simple and innocent (including converted sinners), and the contemplative, and every rite of the sacrifice is read of self-offering in imitation of Christ, who is the altar.
Book 1, chapter 2Hesychius of Jerusalem · ca. 412-450 · Hesychius reads the grain offerings of Lev 2 as offerings of the knowledge of God: the fine flour as the gentiles' faith, oil and frankincense as almsgiving and prayer, the oven, pan and gridiron as Christ's birth from the Mother of God, his cross and his death, leaven and honey as foreign and pagan teaching, and salt as apostolic wisdom.
Book 1, chapter 4Hesychius of Jerusalem · ca. 412-450 · Hesychius reads the sin offering of the anointed priest (Lev 4) as a figure of Christ's sacrifice: the calf is his flesh, the blood carried into the tabernacle his entry into heaven, the burning outside the camp his passion at Golgotha; the offerings of the multitude, the ruler and the common people teach repentance, confession, mutual prayer, and the forgiveness given through priests.
Book 1, chapter 5Hesychius of Jerusalem · ca. 412-450 · On Lev 5, Hesychius explains the sacrifices for sharing in others' sins, rash oaths and offences against holy things as different ways of repentance suited to different persons, including the weak and those who have often relapsed, and teaches that no repentance gains forgiveness without the sacrifice of Christ, the ram.
Book 2, chapter 6 (second part)Hesychius of Jerusalem · ca. 412-450 · Opening Book 2 with Lev 6:8–30, Hesychius reads the perpetual fire as the Spirit kept alive by meditation on Scripture, the grain offering eaten by Aaron's sons as theology kept within what Christ revealed and practised in the church, the priest's offering as Christ's passion, and the sin offering as repentance, whose 'blood' is baptism.
Book 2, chapter 8Hesychius of Jerusalem · ca. 412-450 · On the consecration of Aaron and his sons (Lev 8), Hesychius reads the assembly as the church, the washing as baptism, the high priest's vestments as Christ's incarnation and divinity, the anointing as the incarnation shared by Christians through the Spirit, the second ram as the mystical Passover of the Last Supper, and the seven days at the tabernacle door as the days until Pentecost.
Book 2, chapter 10Hesychius of Jerusalem · ca. 412-450 · On the death of Nadab and Abihu (Lev 10), Hesychius reads their strange fire as heretical teaching that blasphemes the Spirit and misreads Scripture; the priests must keep to the doctrine of Christ, confess both his divinity and humanity, abstain from wine when ministering, and teach the people, while those who sin wilfully against the Spirit lose the offering of repentance; Book 2 ends with a doxology.
Book 4, chapter 14Hesychius of Jerusalem · ca. 412-450 · Hesychius reads the cleansing of the leper in Leviticus 14 as Christ's work: the two sparrows are his humanity and divinity, the rites figure baptism, repentance and the Trinity, the poor man's offering is meditation on the law, and the leprous house is a church infected by false doctrine.
Book 5, chapter 16Hesychius of Jerusalem · ca. 412-450 · On Leviticus 16 Hesychius reads the Day of Atonement as the sacrifice of Christ: the veil is his flesh, the calf and the slain goat his humanity offered for Israel and all mankind, the scapegoat his impassible divinity, and the prohibition of entering at all times a warning against prying into God's substance.
Book 6, chapter 21Hesychius of Jerusalem · ca. 412-450 · On Leviticus 21 Hesychius reads the priest's defilement by the dead as his responsibility for his household's and people's sins, the high priest as Christ, who weds the virgin church and not the harlot, widowed and divorced synagogue, and the bodily blemishes that bar priests from service as defects of soul, matching Paul's qualifications for a bishop.
Homily 4 (Homily on the Mother of God (Deipara))Hesychius of Jerusalem · ca. 412-450 · A festal homily on Mary: Gabriel's greeting reverses Eve's grief, the magi adore without prying, and the preacher answers the denial of John 9:29 with the prophecies of Christ.
Homily 5 (Second homily on the Mother of God)Hesychius of Jerusalem · ca. 412-450 · A second homily on Mary gathers the prophets' titles for her (ark, burning bush, closed gate, sealed fountain) and reads Isaiah 7:14 and the annunciation as a virginal conception and birth.
Homily 6 (On the Presentation of the Lord (Hypapante))Hesychius of Jerusalem · ca. 412-450 · A homily on the Presentation explains that the purification offering was for humanity, not for the Virgin, and expounds Simeon, his song and his prophecy of the sword; the scan then runs into the opening of a homily on Andrew.
City of God 7.31Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine gives thanks for the special gift to the faithful: the incarnation and unique sacrifice of the Son, and the love poured out by the Spirit.
City of God 7.32Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine explains that the mystery of redemption in Christ was always proclaimed by signs, and that the whole worship of Israel foretold what is fulfilled in Christ.
City of God 7.33Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine says that only the Christian religion reveals the pagan gods as demons, from whom Christ's humility sets people free, and that Varro's natural explanations cannot excuse their rites.
City of God 9.15Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine presents Christ, mortal for a time yet ever happy, as the one true mediator who brings men to happy immortality, against the immortal and wretched demons who separate them from God.
City of God 9.17Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine argues, citing Plotinus' 'flight to the fatherland' by likeness to God, that we need a mediator who is mortal with us yet just and divine — Christ, uncontaminated by the flesh he took.
City of God 9.20Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine explains that 'demon' derives from knowledge, and that knowledge without love puffs up, making demons proud; against their pride stands the humility of God in Christ.
City of God 9.21Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine explains that Christ made himself known to the demons not as eternal light but by signs of power, enough to terrify them, and that Satan tempted him because he was not sure who he was.
City of God 10.20Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine teaches that Christ, the Mediator, is both priest and offering, and that the church's daily sacrifice is the sacrament of this one sacrifice, prefigured by all the ancient ones.
City of God 10.22Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine teaches that the saints overcome demons by prayer to God, and that purification from sin comes only by grace through Christ the Mediator.
City of God 10.24Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine confesses one God in three persons against Sabellianism and teaches that Christ, the Word made flesh, is the one Principle who purifies human nature, which Porphyry's pride would not accept.
City of God 10.27Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine accuses Porphyry of placing human vices in the heavenly gods and sending the unlearned to theurgists, while Christ, whom even Porphyry's oracles called holy and immortal, purifies the whole man.
City of God 10.28Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine argues that Porphyry, who held that only the paternal Mind purifies, rejected Christ, the Wisdom of God, out of pride at the incarnation and the cross.
City of God 10.29Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine urges the Platonists, who glimpse the Trinity and even confess grace, to accept the incarnation, virgin birth, and bodily resurrection of Christ, rejected only out of pride.
City of God 11.2Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Knowledge of the unchangeable God is reached only through faith in Christ the mediator, who as man is the way and as God the goal.
City of God 12.17Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Paul's “eternal times” past were not coeternal with God; God's promise of eternal life before them was fixed in his eternal predestination and fulfilled in his Word.
City of God 13.23Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Adam was created with an animal body, mortal only through sin, not a spiritual one; the spiritual body is Christ's risen body, which believers receive now in sacrament and hope and fully at the resurrection.
City of God 14.2Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · In Scripture “flesh” often means the whole man, so living according to the flesh includes vices of the mind, such as idolatry, enmity, and heresy, as well as bodily pleasures; Stoics as well as Epicureans live according to the flesh.
City of God 14.9Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Citizens of God's city rightly fear, desire, grieve, and rejoice out of charity, as Paul and Christ himself did; Stoic apatheia belongs not to this life but, as freedom from fear and grief, to the life to come, where love and joy remain.
City of God 15.18Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Seth's son Enosh, who 'hoped to call on the name of the Lord', prefigures the city of God, which lives by hope in the resurrection of Christ.
City of God 15.19Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Enoch, seventh from Adam and translated to God, prefigures the future 'dedication' of the whole house of God at the resurrection, already accomplished in Christ the head.
City of God 15.26Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · The ark, with its human proportions, its side door, and its three stories, is a figure of Christ and of the Church saved through the wood of the cross.
City of God 16.2Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine reads Noah's drunkenness and nakedness as a figure of Christ's passion: Shem and Japheth (Jews and Gentiles in the Church) honor it, while Ham figures heretics and bad Christians.
City of God 16.22Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Abraham rescued Lot and was blessed by Melchizedek, whose offering first showed the sacrifice now offered by Christians, fulfilled in Christ, priest for ever after his order.
City of God 16.26Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · In Gen 17 God promises Isaac, renames Abraham and Sarah, and institutes circumcision, which signifies regeneration, and the eighth day Christ's resurrection.
City of God 16.29Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · The three visitors at Mamre were angels in whom Abraham recognized the Lord, as Lot did in the two at Sodom; they renewed the twofold promise.
City of God 16.32Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac, trusting in resurrection, prefigures God's giving of his Son; the ram caught in thorns figures Christ, and God confirms the promise by oath.
City of God 16.33Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Abraham's oath 'under the thigh' when seeking Rebecca for Isaac foreshadowed the Lord's coming in flesh descended from Abraham.
City of God 16.37Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Jacob's obtaining Isaac's blessing was not fraud but a mystery: the blessing proclaims Christ among the nations, Isaac figuring the law and prophets.
City of God 16.38Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Jacob, blessed as heir of Abraham's promise, saw the ladder to heaven, which Christ applied to himself; he took four women for offspring, not from lust.
City of God 16.39Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Jacob's wrestling with the angel figures Christ's passion; blessed and lame, he represents Israel's believers and unbelievers.
City of God 16.41Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Jacob's blessing of Judah (Gen 49:8–12) foretells Christ from the tribe of Judah: his death as a lion's sleep, his resurrection by his own power, and the Church washed in his blood.
City of God 17.4Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Hannah's song (1 Sam 2:1–10) goes beyond thanks for Samuel: it prophesies the Church, the humbling of the proud, Christ's death and resurrection, his ascension and judgment, and the new priesthood.
City of God 17.5Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · The prophecy to Eli (1 Sam 2:27–36) foretold the end of Aaron's priesthood and the faithful priest Christ, whose Christian sacrifice of bread the remnant of Israel would share.
City of God 17.6Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · The 'eternal' priesthood and kingdom promised to Eli's house and Saul were shadows; their eternity belongs to what they figured, Christ's priesthood and kingdom.
City of God 17.8Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · God's promise to David of an eternal house and kingdom for his son (2 Sam 7) was not fulfilled in Solomon, who fell into idolatry, but in Christ, who builds God's house of people.
City of God 17.9Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Psalm 89 repeats the promises to David, which apply to Christ, while the sins to be punished belong to his body, the Church.
City of God 17.10Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Psalm 89's lament over the fall of David's kingdom shows that the promise was 'deferred' to Christ, the one true Anointed.
City of God 17.11Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · The psalmist's prayer points to Christ as the 'substance' of Israel, who alone died and rescued his own soul from hell.
City of God 17.12Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · The psalm's plea over the 'reproach' of God's servants fits Christians persecuted for Christ, who await the eternal house of David, built of people by God.
City of God 17.16Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Psalm 45 plainly sings of Christ the anointed king and of his bride the Church, gathered from all nations, the true city of God.
City of God 17.17Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Psalm 110 proclaims Christ's eternal priesthood after Melchizedek, and Psalm 22 foretells his crucifixion and the conversion of the nations.
City of God 17.18Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Psalms 3, 41, 16, and 68 foretell Christ's death as 'sleep', his betrayal by Judas, his resurrection without corruption, and salvation through his death.
City of God 17.19Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Psalm 69's prophecy of gall and vinegar and of darkened eyes explains why many Jews did not accept the fulfilled prophecies.
City of God 17.20Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine praises David's repentance, notes Solomon's fall, and finds prophecies of Christ and the Church in Wisdom, Sirach, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs.
City of God 18.6Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine dates Jacob's death and his prophecy of Christ in the blessing of Judah to the reign of Argus, who with others was later worshipped as a god.
City of God 18.23Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine gives a Latin version of the Erythraean Sibyl's acrostic poem on the judgment, whose Greek initials spell “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour” and form the word ichthys (“fish”), and gathers the Sibylline prophecies of Christ's passion quoted by Lactantius.
City of God 18.28Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine reads Hosea's prophecies of the calling of the nations, the later conversion of Israel, and the third-day resurrection, and Amos's prophecies, as foretelling Christ and the church.
City of God 18.29Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine quotes Isaiah's song of the suffering servant as prophecy of Christ and Isaiah 54 as prophecy of the church.
City of God 18.30Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine reads Micah's mountain of the Lord and Bethlehem prophecy, the sign of Jonah, and Joel's promise of the Spirit as prophecies fulfilled in Christ and the church.
City of God 18.31Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine interprets Obadiah's saved ones going up from Zion, Nahum's messenger of peace and the one who breathes into Judah's face, and Habakkuk's vision as prophecies of Christ and the gospel.
City of God 18.32Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine interprets Habakkuk's prayer, verse by verse, as a prophecy of Christ's coming, passion, preaching, ascension, and the church's tribulations, ending with “I will rejoice in God my Jesus.”
City of God 18.33Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine dates Jeremiah and Zephaniah and quotes their prophecies of Christ's passion, incarnation, righteous reign, rejection by the Jews, and the calling of the nations.
City of God 18.34Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine cites Daniel's vision of the Son of Man and Ezekiel's prophecy of one shepherd, “my servant David,” as prophecies of Christ and his kingdom.
City of God 18.35Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine reads Haggai's shaking of the nations, Zechariah's humble king and the blood of the covenant, and Malachi's pure offering among the nations, the angel of the covenant, and the day of judgment as prophecies of Christ and the church.
City of God 18.44Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine explains the Hebrew “forty days” and the Septuagint “three days” of Jonah's warning to Nineveh as both pointing to Christ's resurrection and ascension, and resolves to use both the Hebrew and the Septuagint as authoritative.
City of God 18.45Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine traces the afflictions of the Jews from the rebuilding of the temple to Herod, arguing that the greater glory promised by Haggai belongs to the church, and that Jacob's prophecy was fulfilled when a foreign king ruled at Christ's birth.
City of God 18.46Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine dates Christ's birth to the reign of Herod and Augustus and argues that the Jews, dispersed among the nations with their Scriptures, bear unwilling witness that the prophecies of Christ were not invented by Christians.
City of God 18.47Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine allows that people outside Israel, like Job, belonged to the heavenly city through faith in the one Mediator, but holds that prophecies preserved by the Jews are the strongest evidence for Christ.
City of God 19.23Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Augustine examines oracles quoted by Porphyry, in which Apollo condemns Christ while praising the God of the Hebrews and Hecate praises Christ as a pious man while cursing Christians, and argues that the demons' aim is to keep men from becoming Christians and that justice, and so a true people, exists only where the one God alone receives sacrifice.
City of God 20.30Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Old Testament passages where the Lord God speaks as judge are shown, from Isaiah and Zechariah, to refer to Christ; Augustine lists the events of the end: Elijah, the Jews' faith, Antichrist, Christ's judgment, resurrection, separation, and the world's burning and renewal.
City of God 22.6Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · Contrasting Rome's belief in Romulus with the church's faith in Christ, Augustine argues that Rome made its founder a god by love, while the church, persuaded by miracles and prophecy, loved Christ by believing him God, and its martyrs died rather than deny him.
City of God 22.18Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · From the context of Eph 4, the “perfect man” is Christ with his body the church, whose fullness is completed in its members; even if it referred to the resurrection, “man” would include women.
On Faith and Works 14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 413 · The eunuch's short confession did not exclude further teaching: to “preach Jesus” includes both the whole creed and how believers must live.
Commentary on Jeremiah 1.2Jerome · ca. 414-419 · Jeremiah was known and set apart before birth by God's foreknowledge, not by pre-existence of the soul; some apply the verse to Christ.
Commentary on Jeremiah 1.6Jerome · ca. 414-419 · Jeremiah's commission to uproot and to build is read of the destruction of false doctrine and the building of the church, and by some of Christ.
Commentary on Jeremiah 1.61Jerome · ca. 414-419 · God's promise to make Israel his sons and give them a glorious inheritance is fulfilled in Christ, who gives believers from all nations power to become God's children.
Commentary on Jeremiah 2.110Jerome · ca. 414-419 · Jerome, with the consensus of the churches, reads the lamb led to slaughter and the wood put into his bread as Christ and his cross, against those who apply it only to Jeremiah.
Commentary on Jeremiah 2.111Jerome · ca. 414-419 · The men of Anathoth (“obedience”) stand for the Jews who once obeyed God; the prophets' experiences are types of Christ.
Commentary on Jeremiah 3.6Jerome · ca. 414-419 · Even Judah's kin, Edom, Moab and Ammon, will turn against it; so Christ's own people cried out for his crucifixion.
Commentary on Jeremiah 3.7Jerome · ca. 414-419 · God abandons his inheritance, which roared against him like a lion; Jerome reads this of Christ's passion and his rejection by his people.
Commentary on Jeremiah 3.30Jerome · ca. 414-419 · God seems like a passing traveller or a sleeper to those he forsakes; Christian interpreters read it of Christ passing from Israel to the nations.
Commentary on Jeremiah 3.52Jerome · ca. 414-419 · Jeremiah's lament at being a man of strife fits Christ, set for a sign spoken against; the one Son speaks sometimes according to the flesh, sometimes as the Word, without dividing his person.
Commentary on Jeremiah 3.53Jerome · ca. 414-419 · Read of Christ, no one received his gifts or made him debtor, and all heretics curse him; God promises that the prophet's end will be good, and the prophet, like Christ, interceded for his persecutors.
Commentary on Jeremiah 3.68Jerome · ca. 414-419 · The converted nations mock the folly of man-made gods; God reveals his hand and power, Christ, openly through the Son's passion.
Commentary on Jeremiah 3.72Jerome · ca. 414-419 · Trust in man is cursed: Jerome turns this against those who hold Christ a mere man, explains that Christ's flesh has passed into the majesty of his Godhead, and against those who rely on their own strength rather than God's mercy.
Commentary on Jeremiah 3.74Jerome · ca. 414-419 · Only God searches the human heart, which is prone to evil; since Jesus saw people's thoughts, he is God.
Commentary on Jeremiah 4.8Jerome · ca. 414-419 · The plot against Jeremiah prefigures the plot against Christ and heretics' slanders of his servants; Jeremiah's imprecations are fulfilled in the Roman destruction of Jerusalem for the killing of Christ (Jer 18:18–22).
Commentary on Jeremiah 4.10Jerome · ca. 414-419 · The sudden robber is Nebuchadnezzar or, better, the Roman army; the prayer that their sin not be forgiven follows the lapse of the time for repentance; their stumbling recalls the stone of stumbling (Jer 18:22–23).
Commentary on Jeremiah 4.26Jerome · ca. 414-419 · Only God tests the righteous and sees the heart, so Christ, who knows thoughts, is God by nature; Jeremiah commits his cause to God's vengeance (Jer 20:12).
Commentary on Jeremiah 4.40Jerome · ca. 414-419 · Jerusalem, trusting in Egypt, will groan like a woman in labor; Jeconiah will be torn off like a signet ring and die in exile. Jerome attacks Rufinus's 'Ring' (the Sentences of Sextus under the name of Pope Xystus) and Origen's reading of the passage as about Christ (Jer 22:20–27).
Commentary on Jeremiah 4.42Jerome · ca. 414-419 · Coniah is a discarded vessel and is not a type of Christ; the prophecy that none of his seed will sit on David's throne applies to his own days, since Christ came from his line; the bad shepherds give way to the apostles, and Christ is the righteous Branch, 'the Lord our righteousness' (Jer 22:28–23:6).
Commentary on Jeremiah 5.46Jerome · ca. 414-419 · Jeremiah sends yokes to the neighboring kings, with the same message to Zedekiah; Jerome rejects Origen's reading about souls descending into bodies, and identifies God's 'strength' and 'arm' with Christ (Jer 27:2–5).
Commentary on Jeremiah 6.1Jerome · ca. 414-419 · Jerome opens Book 6: the promises of restoration, which Jews and judaizing Christians expect at the end of the world, are fulfilled spiritually in Christ and the church, the true seed of Abraham.
Commentary on Jeremiah 6.5Jerome · ca. 414-419 · God will break the yoke from Israel's neck so that they serve the Lord and 'David their king,' that is, Christ, David's son through Mary; the yoke is the devil's, figured by Nebuchadnezzar (Jer 30:8–9).
Commentary on Jeremiah 6.6Jerome · ca. 414-419 · God promises to save Jacob and Israel while chastising them, which shows that no one is sinless in this life, against the Pelagians; Jerusalem's incurable wound comes from God the physician, who will heal her, rebuild the city and temple, and raise a prince from among them, fulfilled in Christ and the church (Jer 30:10–22).
Commentary on Jeremiah 6.15Jerome · ca. 414-419 · The remnant gathered from the north at Passover is the church born from Christ's passion, including the spiritually blind and lame; they return weeping and rejoicing on the straight way of faith, and Ephraim, who took Manasseh's birthright under Jacob's crossed hands, figures the Gentile church (Jer 31:8–9).
Commentary on Jeremiah 6.22Jerome · ca. 414-419 · Ephraim is called to set up watchmen and return; the 'new thing' that 'a woman will encompass a man' is the virginal conception of Christ, perfect man in Mary's womb; Jerome corrects the Septuagint's 'Zion' for 'watchmen' (Jer 31:21–22).
Commentary on Jeremiah 6.23Jerome · ca. 414-419 · Restored Judah will bless 'the holy mountain,' who is Christ, fulfilled spiritually in his comings; God satisfies the thirsty and hungry soul, and the people wake from a sweet sleep, as Christ slept and rose (Jer 31:23–26).
Commentary on Jeremiah 6.37Jerome · ca. 414-419 · Jeremiah's prayer praises God as Creator, merciful and just, whose strength and arm are Christ and whose delayed punishments give time for repentance; it leads to his question why he must buy a field when the city is lost (Jer 32:16–19).
Reminder concerning the Error of the Priscillianists and Origenists 3Orosius · 414 · Orosius reports how Origenist teachings came into Spain through the two Aviti and lists the doctrines they taught.
On Nature and Grace 26Augustine of Hippo · 415 · Augustine teaches that Christ, sinless, died by his own power as the price of our redemption, which the Pelagian defense of nature makes void.
On Nature and Grace 71Augustine of Hippo · 415 · Augustine begins answering the patristic testimonies Pelagius cited, holding that they neither support nor refute his case, and interprets an unnamed author's words on Christ's victory over sin and the desires of the flesh.
On Man's Perfection in Righteousness 7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 415 · God wills man to be sinless, which is why he sent his sinless Son; the healing proceeds day by day until righteousness is perfect.
On Man's Perfection in Righteousness 29Augustine of Hippo · ca. 415 · Against “every man is a liar,” Caelestius cites texts calling men truthful; Augustine notes that Scripture calls men blameless but only Christ sinless.
On Man's Perfection in Righteousness 42Augustine of Hippo · ca. 415 · The conditional promises of the law were given to humble the proud and lead them to grace; the righteous of old too were saved by Christ, the one mediator.
Apologetic Book 15.1Orosius · ca. 415–416 · Some do not fear the coming judgment.
Apologetic Book 15.3Orosius · ca. 415–416 · Only the sinless dwells on God's mountain: Christ.
Apologetic Book 15.4Orosius · ca. 415–416 · Christ alone is without sin.
Apologetic Book 15.6Orosius · ca. 415–416 · Only the Lion of Judah can open it.
Apologetic Book 15.7Orosius · ca. 415–416 · The book is the book of judgment, given to the Son.
Apologetic Book 16.1Orosius · ca. 415–416 · Pelagius's claim makes him rival Christ.
Apologetic Book 16.3Orosius · ca. 415–416 · Christ won through suffering; Pelagius claims it at ease.
Apologetic Book 16.11Orosius · ca. 415–416 · Only Christ has the fullness; we run after his fragrance.
Apologetic Book 17.3Orosius · ca. 415–416 · Only Christ is sinless.
Apologetic Book 17.4Orosius · ca. 415–416 · Follow Christ or confess to being the other.
Apologetic Book 17.5Orosius · ca. 415–416 · Grace is given by measure from Christ's fullness.
Apologetic Book 17.9Orosius · ca. 415–416 · The fullness dwells in Christ.
Apologetic Book 17.11Orosius · ca. 415–416 · Christ is the true light; the apostles reflect it.
Apologetic Book 18.6Orosius · ca. 415–416 · Children of wrath made children of mercy.
Apologetic Book 25.4Orosius · ca. 415–416 · Christ set forth as propitiation.
Apologetic Book 25.5Orosius · ca. 415–416 · Christ the mediator and the Word.
Apologetic Book 25.6Orosius · ca. 415–416 · The sinless Word made flesh.
Apologetic Book 25.7Orosius · ca. 415–416 · Christ creates, redeems, and judges.
Apologetic Book 27.1Orosius · ca. 415–416 · One man's sin brought death to all.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 3.8.7Orosius · ca. 417–418 · Christ was born in the reign of Augustus.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 3.8.8Orosius · ca. 417–418 · The peace of Augustus came from the power of the Son of God.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 4.17.9Orosius · ca. 417–418 · Rain comes only through Christ.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 4.17.11Orosius · ca. 417–418 · Christ preserved Rome then and chastises it now.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 6.1.7Orosius · ca. 417–418 · Under Augustus God sent his Son.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 6.1.16Orosius · ca. 417–418 · The gods raised the empire just when Christ came.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 6.1.17Orosius · ca. 417–418 · Christ's power exceeded that of the gods.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 6.1.18Orosius · ca. 417–418 · The known and unknown God is grasped only through Christ.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 6.17.10Orosius · ca. 417–418 · Christ was born to teach humility.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 6.20.3Orosius · ca. 417–418 · The day of Augustus's triumph is the Epiphany.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 6.20.4Orosius · ca. 417–418 · Augustus's empire was prepared for Christ.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 6.20.5Orosius · ca. 417–418 · A halo around the sun at Octavian's entry.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 6.20.6Orosius · ca. 417–418 · The spring of oil foretold the Anointed One.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 6.20.7Orosius · ca. 417–418 · Orosius's allegory of the spring of oil.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 6.20.8Orosius · ca. 417–418 · The triumph of Augustus prefigured the Epiphany.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 6.22.5Orosius · ca. 417–418 · Christ is born in the year of universal peace.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 6.22.6Orosius · ca. 417–418 · Christ is enrolled in Augustus's census.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 6.22.7Orosius · ca. 417–418 · The census was unique in history.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 6.22.8Orosius · ca. 417–418 · Christ raised Rome and became her citizen.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 7.1.11Orosius · ca. 417–418 · The Roman peace was predestined for Christ.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 7.2.14Orosius · ca. 417–418 · Christ was born in Augustus's forty-second year.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 7.2.15Orosius · ca. 417–418 · Christ was born on 25 December.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 7.3.1Orosius · ca. 417–418 · Christ, the rock and the fire.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 7.3.2Orosius · ca. 417–418 · Christ's sufferings began with Herod.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 7.4.5Orosius · ca. 417–418 · Pilate reports to Tiberius about Christ.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 7.4.13Orosius · ca. 417–418 · An earthquake at the crucifixion.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 7.4.14Orosius · ca. 417–418 · The sun is darkened at the crucifixion.
Letter 3, chapter 8Zosimus, bishop of Rome · 417–418 · Zosimus asks the Africans to rejoice, like the father of the prodigal son, that Pelagius and Caelestius have not left the church, and sends Pelagius’s writings.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 2.28Augustine of Hippo · 418 · The Christian faith rests on the two men, Adam and Christ; even the righteous of old, including Job, were justified only by faith in the one mediator's incarnation, death, and resurrection.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 2.31Augustine of Hippo · 418 · The righteous of old belong to Christ's body and will rise in him, because they believed in his future incarnation, just as we believe in his future judgment.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 2.32Augustine of Hippo · 418 · Abraham rejoiced to see Christ's day and made his servant swear with a hand under his thigh, showing that the righteous of old believed in the coming incarnation.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 2.33Augustine of Hippo · 418 · Melchizedek's offering foreshadowed Christ's flesh and blood; Christ is mediator as man, lower than the Father in the form of a servant and higher than us because sinless.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 2.37Augustine of Hippo · 418 · Baptism in Christ is the true circumcision, freeing infants from the debt contracted by carnal birth through Christ, who was made 'sin', that is, a sacrifice for sin.
On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin 2.47Augustine of Hippo · 418 · Augustine quotes Ambrose on original sin: all fell and died in Adam, all are born under sin, and only Christ, conceived without intercourse, was free of it.
On the Soul and Its Origin 1.31Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Arguing from “flesh of my flesh” resembles the Apollinarian argument from “the Word was made flesh”; both sides need unambiguous texts.
On the Soul and Its Origin 2.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Victor avoids Tertullian’s corporeal God but makes the incorporeal God breathe out a corporeal soul from himself, unlike the Son who is begotten of the same nature.
On the Soul and Its Origin 4.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–420 · Recognition and form do not require a body: we know ourselves and God, and Scripture speaks of the form of doctrine and the form of God.
On Marriage and Concupiscence 1.27Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–421 · Even lawful marital intercourse involves the heat of lust, the daughter of sin, so every child born of it is bound by original sin except Christ, born of a virgin.
On Marriage and Concupiscence 1.40Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–421 · Augustine cites Ambrose, whom Pelagius praised, as teaching that everyone conceived through intercourse is bound by sin, and closes the book to Valerius.
On Marriage and Concupiscence 2.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–421 · All sinned in Adam's will; Ambrose taught the same about conception, and the Pelagians who call this Manichaean must say the same of Ambrose, as Jovinian did.
On Marriage and Concupiscence 2.60Augustine of Hippo · ca. 419–421 · Augustine closes by urging Julian to let infants come to Christ, whose name Jesus means Savior from sins.
The Institutes 3.3John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · The day offices at the third, sixth, and ninth hours commemorate Pentecost, the crucifixion, Peter's vision, the descent to hell, and Cornelius; morning and evening prayer also have scriptural grounds.
The Institutes 8.9John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · "Be angry and do not sin" means to be angry with our own vices; Christ, the sun of justice, must not set on an angry heart.
The Institutes 8.10John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · Christ the sun of justice sets for the angry; or the mind itself, the soul's sun, is darkened by anger, which the elders forbid even for a moment.
The Institutes 12.8John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · God heals pride by humility: Cassian contrasts the proud boasts of the devil and his agents with Christ's humble words.
The Institutes 12.17John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · Since even Christ in his humanity said he did nothing of himself, we must confess our need of God's help in every step, praying with the Psalms.
The Institutes 12.28John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · A young Gallic monk asked whether he had humbled himself only to be subject for ever; his abbot could only sigh and think of Christ, obedient unto death.
Canon 10Anonymous · 419 · The Latin text of the Nicene creed as held in Africa.
Canon 13Anonymous · 419 · The Nicene creed in the new Latin translation made from the Greek copies sent from Constantinople, as forwarded to Boniface of Rome.
Commentary on Hosea, Joel and Amos 1.10.5Julian of Eclanum · ca. 420-440 · Ephraim, a heifer proud of the threshing floor, will be broken, while Judah plows in righteousness; Julian applies the ‘teacher of righteousness’ first to Hezekiah and more fully to Christ.
Commentary on Hosea, Joel and Amos 1.11.1Julian of Eclanum · ca. 420-440 · Israel’s kingdom vanished like the dawn; Julian contrasts this with God’s love in calling Israel his son out of Egypt, a verse Matthew rightly applied to Christ, and with Israel’s ready lapse into idolatry.
Commentary on Hosea, Joel and Amos 1.14.5Julian of Eclanum · ca. 420-440 · Hosea ends by calling Ephraim from idols to the God who gives life and asking who is wise enough to understand; Julian adds that the promises fulfilled under Hezekiah also signify Christ’s victory over death and the Church’s flourishing.
Commentary on Hosea, Joel and Amos 2.2.9Julian of Eclanum · ca. 420-440 · God will send rain and restore the years the locusts ate; Julian discusses the Septuagint’s ‘as at the beginning,’ explains the locusts as God’s ‘strength’ in judgment, and reads the ‘teacher of righteousness’ as Hezekiah and, more fully, Christ.
Commentary on Hosea, Joel and Amos 2.3.5Julian of Eclanum · ca. 420-440 · Joel’s picture of a holy Jerusalem with mountains dripping sweetness describes the joy of deliverance, and Julian applies it to the Church, kept holy by Christ, and to the apostles, from whom saving teaching flowed like honey, before closing with the judgment on Egypt and Edom and the promise fulfilled in Christ.
Commentary on Hosea, Joel and Amos 3.8.6Julian of Eclanum · ca. 420-440 · Julian explains the ‘famine of hearing the word of the Lord’ first as the loss of prophets and teachers in exile, and then as foreshadowing the fate of the Jews after rejecting Christ, which he describes in harsh polemical terms.
Commentary on Hosea, Joel and Amos 3.9.8Julian of Eclanum · ca. 420-440 · The promise to raise David’s fallen tent refers historically to the restoration after exile, foreshadowed under Hezekiah, and, as James taught in Acts, to Christ’s body raised from death and the resurrection of the faithful.
Against Lying 10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420 · To pose as a Priscillianist is to deny Christ before men, which Christ warns he will repay by denying such a person before the Father.
Against Lying 27Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420 · Christ's questions about the woman with the flow of blood and about Lazarus were not lies but figures signifying the gentiles and those cast out from God's sight.
Against Lying 28Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420 · Christ's making as though to go farther at Emmaus was a figure of his ascension, not a lie, just as parables, the fables of Horace and Aesop, and Jotham's fable of the trees are not lies.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 1.24Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine concludes that in Romans 7 Paul speaks for himself and all believers under grace, and that the apostles resisted concupiscence without consenting to it.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 1.25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine rejects Julian's charge that Catholics say Christ was not free from sin.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 1.36Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine answers Julian that God does not compel the will, but that God's grace helps a man even to will the good.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 2.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine shows that Manichees and Pelagians both attack grace, baptism, and Christ's flesh, though in opposite ways.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 3.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine explains that the righteous of old, including Moses, were saved by the same faith in Christ as Christians, while those who obeyed the law from fear belong to the Old Covenant.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 3.16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine answers the charge that he attributes sin to Christ, explaining that Paul calls Christ 'sin' because he took the likeness of sinful flesh and became a sacrifice for sin.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 4.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine argues that the Pelagians' correct statements against the Manichees are made useless by their denial of original sin.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 4.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine argues that the Pelagian claim that only death, not sin, passed from Adam makes infants suffer undeserved punishment, a prerogative that belongs to Christ alone.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 4.29Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine cites several works of Ambrose, whom Pelagius praised, to show that Ambrose taught original sin while honoring creation and marriage.
Carmina 1.1–7Orientius of Auch · 5th-6th century(?) · A short poem on the feast of Christ's birth: he who reigns with the Father took flesh, and after his death carried man back into heaven.
Carmina 2.1–10Orientius of Auch · 5th-6th century(?) · A list of the names of Christ drawn from Scripture, ending with the confession that God is greater than all his names.
Carmina 3.1–30Orientius of Auch · 5th-6th century(?) · A hymn of praise to Christ, the eternal Word, one with the Father in substance, with the Spirit completing the equal Trinity, followed by a long series of his titles.
Carmina 3.31–59Orientius of Auch · 5th-6th century(?) · Christ, eternal judge and mediator of two natures, suffered on the cross, was mocked and given gall and vinegar, and rose and ascended to the Father's throne, from which he will return.
Carmina 3.60–89Orientius of Auch · 5th-6th century(?) · The cross is Christ's trophy; its four arms signify his rule over the world, its shape the hands of one praying, and its Greek letters, the rho, the iota, alpha and omega, Christ himself; blood and water from his side signify martyrdom and baptism.
Carmina 3.90–95Orientius of Auch · 5th-6th century(?) · Death came through the tree of Eden and life through the tree of the cross; Christ's miracles have earned him a thousand titles, and praise cannot equal them.
Carmina 4.96–125Orientius of Auch · 5th-6th century(?) · The first part of an explanation of the names of Christ listed in poem 2, from Door to Hand.
Carmina 4.126–146Orientius of Auch · 5th-6th century(?) · The explanation of Christ's names continues, from Head to Eagle, including the corner-stone joining two peoples, the second Adam, the high priest who offers himself, and the fish as author of baptism.
Carmina 5.147–176Orientius of Auch · 5th-6th century(?) · The last names of Christ, Eye, Prophet, Angel, Arm, Agios, Emmanuel, Lord Sabaoth, lead into a prayer to the crucified Christ for mercy and protection under the sign of the cross.
Commonitorium 2.361–390Orientius of Auch · ca. 420-450 · All souls from the beginning of the world will be gathered before Christ, enthroned in the flesh he took to heaven, and he will pronounce the final sentence on the just and the wicked.
Prayers 60–65Orientius of Auch · 5th-6th century(?) · A damaged fragment that ends in a short threefold prayer to the Father and to Christ, the living Son of God and judge.
Against Julian 5.12.46Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421-422 · Augustine defends his view that Joseph and Mary had a true marriage without intercourse, since marriage has three goods, faith, offspring, and sacrament (no divorce), and says the end of intercourse is not a divorce.
Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 34Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–423 · The Word became flesh by taking up a whole human nature free of sin, conceived by a virgin through faith, whose virginity remained intact in his birth.
Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 35Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–423 · Christ is one person, both God and man: equal to the Father as the Word, less than the Father as man.
Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 36Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–423 · The union of a human nature with the Son, with no prior merit, shows the free grace by which we too are justified; Mary was full of grace to be the Lord's mother, Christ full of grace and truth.
Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 37Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–423 · Christ's human birth from the Holy Spirit, the gift equal to the giver, shows grace, as the annunciations to Mary and Joseph declare.
Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 38Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–423 · Christ born of the Holy Spirit is not the Spirit's son; the whole Trinity made his humanity, and he was born of the Spirit not as of a father but of Mary as of a mother.
Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 39Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–423 · Not everything born of something is its son, nor is every son born of the one whose son he is called; so Christ, born of the Spirit, is the Son of the Father.
Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 40Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–423 · Christ's birth from the Spirit, not as his son, signifies the grace by which his humanity was united to the Word from its first moment without prior merit, so that it could admit no sin.
Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 41Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–423 · Christ, sinless in conception and life, was “made sin,” that is, a sacrifice for sin, so that we might become God's righteousness in him and rise to new life.
Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 49Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–423 · John's baptism did not regenerate; Christ, needing no rebirth, accepted baptism out of humility and death without sin, so that the devil might justly lose those he held.
Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 108Augustine of Hippo · ca. 421–423 · Only a Mediator who is both God and man could reconcile sinners, rebuking pride by God's humility, giving an example of obedience, opening grace, prefiguring the resurrection, and defeating the devil.
Discourse 2.4Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · Since Christ, the Sun of righteousness, has risen, unbelief has no excuse.
Discourse 2.68Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · David's psalms also speak of the Word, the Spirit, and the Son.
Discourse 2.88Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · Amelius paraphrases John's prologue about the Word who became flesh.
Discourse 2.89Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · Even a Platonist confessed the Word's divinity and incarnation as John teaches.
Discourse 2.90Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · John 1:14 teaches that the incarnate Word still showed his divine glory.
Discourse 2.99Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · Christians name God by many names, positive and negative.
Discourse 2.103Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · The names Son, Word, and Radiance express the Son's eternal birth.
Discourse 3.86Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · Christ has freed the world from this error.
Discourse 5.6Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · God threatens and invites, through prophets and in person in the Gospels.
Discourse 6.60Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · Plotinus, later than the apostles, borrowed from John's Gospel.
Discourse 6.74Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · Providence makes the incarnation fitting.
Discourse 6.77Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · God took human form to rescue humanity from sin and death.
Discourse 6.78Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · God chose the incarnation to show the justice of providence, not mere power.
Discourse 6.79Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · God saved humanity by being born of a virgin, eternal and newly human.
Discourse 6.80Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · The two natures of Christ remain unconfused: one suffers, the other works miracles.
Discourse 6.81Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · It is folly to claim to know a better way of salvation than God.
Discourse 6.82Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · God's love in the incarnation is so great that unbelievers cannot credit it.
Discourse 6.86Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · After nature and the law, God gave the final remedy of salvation.
Discourse 6.88Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · Prophecies and Gospels confirm each other.
Discourse 6.92Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · Theodoret uses the orators so that his readers may accept the incarnation.
Discourse 8.8Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · The Gospels tell of a lowly birth and a shameful death.
Discourse 8.9Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · The apostolic message persuaded many to die as martyrs.
Discourse 10.4Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · The oracles fell silent after Christ came, proving they were demonic.
Discourse 10.43Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · When Christ came, the demons fled like robbers at dawn.
Discourse 10.44Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · Demons confessed Christ and his apostles.
Discourse 10.54Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · At Christ's birth Augustus united the world, as foreseen.
Discourse 10.62Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · Isaiah 42 foretells the gentle Servant, light of the nations.
Discourse 10.63Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · The Servant is Christ, named Israel according to the flesh.
Discourse 10.64Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · The blind and bound are those in ignorance and sin.
Discourse 10.68Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · God turns darkness to light and makes a new chosen people of believers.
Discourse 10.71Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · Isaiah foretells the nations calling on Christ.
Discourse 10.76Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · Rejected by the Jews, the gospel went to the nations; Christ is the good way.
Discourse 10.77Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · The prophets lead to Christ, the way.
Discourse 10.83Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · The tent of David is the Word made flesh.
Discourse 10.87Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · In Zechariah the Son speaks of being sent by the Father.
Discourse 10.88Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · Zechariah foretells the humble king on a colt.
Discourse 10.93Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · The blessing promised to the patriarchs is fulfilled in the mission to all nations.
Discourse 10.94Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · Jacob and Moses foretold the nations' hope and joy.
Discourse 10.95Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · Psalms 2 and 8 foretell Christ's rule over the nations.
Discourse 10.100Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · The psalms foretell the whole story of Christ and the church.
Discourse 11.68Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 437 · Christ will judge in the human nature he assumed, since the Godhead is invisible; hence he calls himself Son of Man, and Paul told the Athenians God will judge by a man raised from the dead.
Prayer, lines 92–116Claudius Marius Victor · ca. 425-430 · Adam's fall gave way to Christ's victory over death; the poet prays for understanding as he sets out to teach the young what Moses tells of creation, the spread of error and the return of truth.
Book 3, lines 481–505Claudius Marius Victor · ca. 425-430 · God shows Abram the stars as the measure of his offspring; Abram believes and it is reckoned to him as righteousness; Christ, the Father's voice, then orders the sacrifice of a heifer, goat, ram and two birds.
Book 3, lines 636–662Claudius Marius Victor · ca. 425-430 · Three shining figures appear to Abraham at Mamre; he adores one Lord though he sees three, entertains them, and in this appearance of God in human form the poet sees a sign of the incarnation of Christ.
Sermon 15Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Chrysologus presents the centurion of Matt 8:5–13 as a teacher of prayer and faith whose humility and trust in Christ's word model the Gentile believer.
Sermon 23Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · On Luke 12:32–33, Chrysologus praises the ‘little flock’ that conquered the nations by suffering like the Lamb, defends the Son's equality with the Father against those who misuse his humility, and urges almsgiving as transferring wealth to heaven.
Sermon 24Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · On Luke 12:35–38, Chrysologus praises vigilance, explains the girded loins as chastity and the lamps as good works, marvels that Christ will serve his servants in heaven against the heretics who belittle him, and reads the watches as Christ's birth, resurrection, and return.
Sermon 35Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Chrysologus praises the woman who touched Christ's fringe as wiser than the teachers of the law and more believing than Thomas, explains that God is not defiled by touching our wounds, and interprets her as the Church wounded by Adam's sin.
Sermon 37Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · On the sign of Jonah (Luke 11:29–31), Chrysologus reads Jonah's flight, the storm, his voluntary casting overboard, and the whale's three days as figures of Christ's incarnation, voluntary passion, descent to hell, and resurrection, which the unbelieving were bribed to deny.
Sermon 40Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · After the Lenten work of preparing candidates for baptism, Chrysologus preaches on the good shepherd (John 10:11), explaining that Christ's voluntary death conquered the devil and death, so that his persecuted sheep, the martyrs, will follow him to resurrection and glory.
Sermon 45Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · On Psalm 6, Chrysologus explains that God's ‘anger’ is not passion but punishment, presents David as frail humanity pleading for mercy and longing for Christ's coming, and urges his hearers, amid famine, plague, and invasion, to repent with tears.
Sermon 48Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · On the rejection at Nazareth (Matt 13:54–58), Chrysologus explains the Jews' naming of Christ's earthly family as envy that hides his divinity, interprets ‘carpenter's son’ as the Son of the Creator, defends Mary's perpetual virginity by identifying the ‘brothers’ as cousins, and denounces envy.
Sermon 49Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · On Mark's account of the rejection at Nazareth (Mark 6:1–4), Chrysologus explains that Christ's human ‘country’ serves our return to paradise, denounces the hearers' envious curiosity, shows how even hostile words like ‘the carpenter's son’ unwittingly confess his divine Father, and again defends Mary's perpetual virginity.
Sermon 50Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · On the healing of the paralytic (Matt 9:1–8), Chrysologus explains why Christ accepted human necessities, reads the boat as the Church, notes that the man was healed through others' faith as a physician treats unwilling patients, and argues from Christ's forgiving sins and reading thoughts that he is God.
Sermon 57Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · In a sermon handing over the Creed to candidates for baptism, Chrysologus begins from Isaiah's unclean lips cleansed by the coal and then explains each article: the one God and Father, the eternal Son, Christ's names, the virgin birth, crucifixion, burial, resurrection, ascension, judgment, the Spirit, the Church, forgiveness, resurrection of the flesh, and eternal life, urging that the Creed be kept in memory, not on paper.
Sermon 58Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · In another sermon handing over the Creed, Chrysologus urges candidates to receive the faith by faith and to write it on their hearts, not on paper, and briefly explains each article, stressing the Son's coeternity, the virgin birth, the reality of Christ's death and resurrection, the Spirit's consubstantiality, and the resurrection of the flesh.
Sermon 59Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Handing over the Creed, Chrysologus calls the candidates to purity like Israel before Sinai, explains each article (one God and eternal Son, the anointed Savior, the virgin birth, the cross and the three days, the Son's equality at the Father's right hand, judgment, the Spirit, the Church, forgiveness, bodily resurrection), and bids them keep the Creed in memory.
Sermon 60Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Handing over the Creed at the end of Lent, Chrysologus encourages late candidates by the examples of the Canaanite woman, the eunuch, Cornelius, and the thief, contrasts Moses' song with the grace he brings, refutes heretics who make the Son later than the Father, and explains each article of the Creed, ending with the charge to keep it in memory.
Sermon 61Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Handing over the Creed to candidates for baptism, Chrysologus explains each article briefly and forbids them to write it down.
Sermon 62Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Chrysologus, speaking as a nurse to infants, explains the Creed as a contract of faith with God and comments on each article, warning against inquiring how the Son is begotten.
Sermon 63Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Chrysologus begins expounding the raising of Lazarus (John 11), showing why Christ delayed four days and how he leads Martha from half-belief to faith.
Sermon 64Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Chrysologus explains why Martha, standing for Eve, meets Christ first, and why Christ wept at Lazarus's tomb: not from grief but from joy at the coming resurrection of all.
Sermon 65Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · On the raising of Lazarus, Chrysologus explains Christ's groaning and his thanksgiving to the Father, and imagines Tartarus protesting to heaven until the Son pleads for the dead and Lazarus is released.
Sermon 74Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · In his first sermon after the Easter vigil Chrysologus reads Matthew's account of the empty tomb: the women undo Eve's fall, the earthquake marks the defeat of death, and the angel seated on the stone teaches the resurrection.
Sermon 75Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Back from a journey, Chrysologus explains the evening that dawns at the resurrection, the two Marys as a figure of the church from Jews and Gentiles, and why the angel rolled back the stone and sat on it.
Sermon 76Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Chrysologus reads the two Marys as the church, argues from Christ's wounds that we will rise in our own flesh, reconciles Christ's greeting to the women with “Do not touch me,” and denounces the bribing of the guards.
Sermon 77Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Explaining his silence during the passion, Chrysologus reads the resurrection account as the reversal of the fall: the evening turns to light, the sabbath yields to the Lord's day, and the woman who brought death now brings the news of life.
Sermon 78Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Chrysologus reads the appearance at the Sea of Tiberias as Christ restoring a shaken world and calming his fearful disciples, and explains Peter's girding himself and plunging into the sea.
Sermon 79Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · On Luke's account of the empty tomb, Chrysologus explains why the women, who brought death, are the first to bring news of the resurrection, why the apostles were kept for greater sufferings, and why their slowness to believe was prudence.
Sermon 80Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Chrysologus explains why the women, not the apostles, first meet the risen Christ, contrasts the women's holy fear with the bribery of the guards, and reads the Great Commission as Christ's giving to his humanity what his divinity always had.
Sermon 81Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Chrysologus explains Christ's “Peace to you” as calming the war of faith and doubt in the disciples' hearts, and his showing of his wounds as proof that he rose in a real body.
Sermon 82Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · On Mark's resurrection account Chrysologus explains the women's spices and fear, the sun rising early, the young man in white as a picture of the risen body, and Christ's appearing “in another form.”
Sermon 83Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Chrysologus explains that the eleven “reclining” when Christ appeared were not feasting but prostrate in grief, and expounds the commission to preach, the faith required for baptism, and the signs that follow believers.
Sermon 84Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Chrysologus explains Christ's entry through shut doors, his repeated gift of peace, the apostles' power to forgive sins, and Thomas's demand to touch the wounds, which ends in the confession “My Lord and my God.”
Sermon 85Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Defending a feast in the middle of the fifty days of Easter, Chrysologus reads the temple Christ entered at the middle of the feast as the believer’s heart and rebukes the Jews’ wonder that Christ knew letters without study.
Sermon 87Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Chrysologus explains that God sent the conception of John by a barren old woman ahead of the virgin birth to accustom faithless eyes to the light, and reflects on nature's long sorrow in childbearing, healed by Christ's birth.
Sermon 88Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Chrysologus argues that Zacharias prayed not for a son but for the salvation of all, and that the angel's promise of John answered that prayer; he then turns Baruch 3:36–38 against the heretics as a witness to Christ's deity.
Sermon 90Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Chrysologus explains Zacharias's doubt as awe at learning that his prayer for the world's redemption would be answered in a son who would baptize the Lord, and draws the lesson that nothing is impossible for God.
Sermon 93Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · On the sinful woman who anointed Christ's feet in the Pharisee's house, Chrysologus describes her tears as a banquet of repentance, a new baptism and a sacrament of Christ's humanity.
Sermon 98Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Chrysologus explains why the kingdom of heaven is compared to a tiny mustard seed: Christ, sown in the Virgin and crushed in his passion, grew on the cross into a great tree, the church, whose branches are the gifts of the Spirit.
Sermon 111Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Expounding Rom 5:12–14, Chrysologus laments that through Adam sin and death passed to all, explains sin as an accident hostile to nature rather than a nature, and answers the objection that it is unjust to suffer for another's sin by pointing to Christ's righteousness given for others.
Sermon 117Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Expounding 1 Cor 15:45–50, Chrysologus contrasts the first Adam, formed from mud, with Christ, the last Adam born of the Virgin without pain or loss of virginity, and urges the reborn to bear the image of the heavenly man in conduct.
Sermon 123Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Concluding Luke 16:25–31, Chrysologus explains Abraham's answer, describes the underworld before Christ broke its gates and freed the saints, and urges giving to the poor, since those who reject Moses and Christ will not believe even one risen from the dead.
Sermon 131Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Showing that God, though invisible, often appeared in human form, Chrysologus expounds John 8:51–59, explaining that “he will not see death forever” promises resurrection, that Christ is greater than Abraham, and that the Father's “let us make man” is spoken to the Son.
Sermon 140Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Expounding the Annunciation (Luke 1:26–29), Chrysologus explains the angel's greeting, Mary's troubled reflection, and her faith; the passage also contains Sermon 141, which warns against prying into the manner of the Virgin's conception and calls for faith that God can do what he wills.
Sermon 142Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Expounding the angel's words to Mary (Luke 1:30–38), Chrysologus contrasts Eve and Mary, explains Mary's name as “lady,” defends the virginal conception and birth, distinguishes Mary's question from Zechariah's doubt, and holds up her consent as the faith by which she conceived the Word.
Sermon 143Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Reluctant to explain the mystery of the Virgin's childbirth, Chrysologus expounds the angel's greeting (Luke 1:26–29), reads the rain on the fleece as the Godhead hidden in flesh, and answers those who think the incarnation an insult to God: the Creator restores his own work, and was born to heal a wounded human nature.
Sermon 144Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Continuing the Annunciation (Luke 1:30–33), Chrysologus insists that Christ's conception and body were real, explains the name Jesus as Savior, answers heretics who use “the Lord God will give him” to make the Son lesser, and urges his hearers to seek the everlasting offices of Christ's kingdom.
Sermon 145Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Expounding Joseph's decision to put Mary away quietly and the angel's message (Matt 1:18–21), Chrysologus shows that Joseph's justice was joined to kindness, urges his hearers to leave unclear cases to God, and defends the title Theotokos against those who say Christ was born of Mary only as man.
Sermon 146Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · On Matt 1:18, Chrysologus explains that Christ's generation “was” eternally with the Father, that Mary is both betrothed and mother, that Joseph prefigures Christ like the patriarch Joseph, that the name Mary recalls the gathered waters and Miriam, and that a betrothed woman was chosen to hide the birth from Herod.
Sermon 147Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Chrysologus explains the incarnation as God's answer to a world paralyzed by fear: through Noah, Abraham, Jacob and Moses God drew humanity from fear to love, and since love longs to see what it loves, God made himself visible by taking a human nature, his own image.
Sermon 148Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Continuing on the Nativity, Chrysologus argues that God's taking flesh honors rather than injures him, since the world was made for man and man made in God's image; he contrasts the devil's approach to the virgin Eve with the good angel's to Mary, and describes Christ's birth as restoring fallen nature.
Sermon 150Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · On Christ's flight into Egypt (Matt 2:13–15), Chrysologus asks why the Gospel records a flight that seems shameful, and answers that Christ yielded to the time, not to Herod, in order to fulfil prophecy, defeat the devil openly at the cross, and teach that in persecution it is better to flee than to deny.
Sermon 151Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Continuing on the flight into Egypt, Chrysologus lists all that Christ came to do, which would have been lost had he died as an infant, and teaches that Christ's flight sanctions Christians who flee persecution when not yet arrested, while Egypt's welcome prefigures the faith of the gentiles.
Sermon 153Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · On the Holy Innocents, Chrysologus calls them martyrs of grace who conquered before they could know it, and explains that Christ fled so that the Church, not the synagogue, might have them as martyrs.
Sermon 156Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · On the Epiphany (Matt 2:1–2), Chrysologus warns against reading the story as approval of astrology: the star was God's servant, not a god or a fate, the magi came by God's revelation, and their question shames Jerusalem for not seeking the King born among them.
Sermon 157Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Explaining the feast of Epiphany as the threefold manifestation of Christ's Godhead, Chrysologus treats the magi, whose star was Christ's servant and whose gifts came from ancient tradition, the changing of water into wine at Cana, and the Father's voice and the Spirit's descent at Christ's baptism.
Sermon 158Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Chrysologus explains that Christ came as an infant so as to be loved, not feared, yet Herod, the priests and the scribes were troubled even at a child; expounding Matt 2:3–12, he exposes Herod's secret plot, plays on “report” and the baptismal “renounce,” and interprets the magi's gifts.
Sermon 159Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Comparing the shepherds and the magi, who came from near and far to the one manger, the preacher reads the ox and ass of Isa 1:3 as Jews and gentiles who both recognized Christ, and urges hearers to offer the gifts of faith and return to paradise by another way.
Sermon 160Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · On the Epiphany, Chrysologus describes the magi abandoning astrology to worship the infant God with gifts, Christ's baptism with the Father's voice and the Spirit's descent, and the miracle at Cana as a figure of his blood, three testimonies to his Godhead.
Sermon 164Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Expounding Luke 12:49–56, Chrysologus explains Christ's fire as a farmer's burning that clears the ground for the Gospel among the gentiles, his baptism as his passion, and the division of the household as the split between Church and Synagogue; the end of the sermon is lost.
Sermon 168Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Expounding the parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15:1–7) against the Pharisees' murmuring, Chrysologus explains the hundred by the ancient finger-counting that moved from the left hand to the right, and reads the lost sheep as Adam's whole race, sought by Christ in the incarnation and carried on the cross to heaven.
Sermon 169Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · On the parable of the lost coin (Luke 15:8–10), Chrysologus reads the woman as the Church, who after Pentecost lit her lamp and swept the house of the Synagogue to find the lost coin, Christ, hidden in the ten commandments, beginning with “the Lord your God is one God.”
Sermon 175Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · At the consecration of Marcellinus as bishop of Vicohabentia, the first bishop consecrated by Ravenna as a metropolitan see, Chrysologus compares the hard-won birth of this “firstborn” to Mary's journey and childbirth, complains of a bishop who resists the decree of Peter and the Christian emperor, and defends the virginal birth by Joseph's example.
Sermon 176Peter Chrysologus · ca. 425-450 · Explaining why Christ healed the blind man of Bethsaida in two stages (Mark 8:22–26), Chrysologus draws lessons on serving the poor with one's own hand and on the resurrection, and reads the blind man as the Jewish people led out of the Synagogue to see first the passing shadow of the law and then the eternal light of grace, as Paul did.
7.14Philostorgius · ca. 425-433 · During Julian's attempt to rebuild the temple a workman finds in a cave a pristine copy of John's Gospel; on the earlier history of Jerusalem as Jebus.
8.3Philostorgius · ca. 425-433 · Philostorgius criticizes Theodosius, a bishop of his own party, for immorality and for teaching that Christ was by nature changeable.
8.13Philostorgius · ca. 425-433 · Photius accuses Philostorgius of misrepresenting the Christology of Basil and Gregory and the views of Apollinaris.
9.14Philostorgius · ca. 425-433 · Dorotheus moves to Antioch; Philostorgius criticizes him and Demophilus, who taught that Christ's body was absorbed into the Godhead like milk in the sea.
Book 1, lines 17–42Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Since pagan poets sing lies and crimes, Sedulius, a singer of the Psalms, will sing the miracles of Christ, who shares one power and glory with the Father, and he urges readers to leave pagan philosophy for the law of life.
Book 1, lines 141–162Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · The crossing of the sea was a baptism under Christ's leadership; Christ was the manna, the rock that gave water and the waters themselves; and Balaam's ass spoke.
Book 1, lines 288–311Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Christ is the rejected cornerstone; having told the Father's miracles in the Old Testament, Sedulius will tell the Son's in the New, all works of the one triune God, and he condemns Arius, who made the Son less than the Father as among men.
Book 1, lines 312–336Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Christ is the Father's Word and Wisdom, light from light, begotten not made, equal to the Father; against Arius, the Father and Son are one, and against Sabellius they are two, both heresies being as foolish as the quarrelling sects of philosophers.
Book 1, lines 337–368Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · At the gate of Christ's camp, marked with the cross, the poet asks a humble place in the heavenly city and prays to Christ, who took human nature without losing his divinity and is proclaimed by the four evangelists and twelve apostles; Book 1 ends.
Book 2, lines 30–53Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Mary, the new virgin, undoes the sin of Eve: announced by the angel, she conceives and bears Christ, the Word made flesh, remaining a virgin, and he comes forth like a bridegroom in beauty.
Book 2, lines 54–75Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · The Lord took the form of a servant and lay in a manger; the poet hails Mary, mother and virgin without equal; angels announce the birth to the shepherds, and the magi come to Herod.
Book 2, lines 76–96Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Herod, fearing a rival, plots to kill the child while pretending to seek him for worship; the magi follow the star and offer gold to the King, incense to God and myrrh for his burial.
Book 2, lines 123–149Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · The mothers mourn the slain infants, with whom Christ suffered; at twelve he sits among the teachers, and at about thirty comes to the Jordan, where John, who leapt for him in the womb, hails him as the Lamb of God.
Book 3, lines 273–301Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Christ's divinity, though veiled in flesh, shone out at the transfiguration before three disciples, with Moses and Elijah beside him and the Father's voice declaring him Son; afterwards a father begs him to heal his possessed son.
Book 4, lines 271–296Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Christ weeps at the tomb of Lazarus, in his human nature, and by his divine word raises him from four days' death; then, to show himself God, he enters Jerusalem not in a chariot or on a horse.
Book 4, lines 297–309Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Christ enters Jerusalem humbly on a donkey, while the people spread their garments and greet him with palms and hymns, a glory given to no other king; Book 4 ends with praise of the Trinity.
Book 5, lines 176–199Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Christ tastes and refuses the wine with gall; hung on the cross, he makes it a sign of salvation whose four arms embrace the four quarters of the world; the title 'King of the Jews' in three languages proclaims him king.
Book 5, lines 252–275Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Christ is given vinegar, a figure of a people turned sour; he gives up his spirit, dying as man but not as God; the earth quakes, rocks split, the dead saints rise, and the temple veil is torn, opening the law to all.
Hymn 1 (108 lines)Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · In a hymn of repeating couplets Sedulius traces sacred history from the devil's fall and Adam's sin through the figures of the Old Testament (Abel, the flood, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, the Exodus, the conquest, Gideon, Jephthah, David) to their fulfillment in Christ's birth, death, resurrection and coming judgment, ending with a doxology to the Trinity.
Hymn 2 (92 lines)Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · In an alphabetical hymn Sedulius sings the life of Christ from the virgin birth, the shepherds, the magi and the holy innocents, through his baptism and miracles, to his betrayal, crucifixion, resurrection, victory over hell and return to heaven.
Book 1, section 1Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Since pagan poets celebrate lies and crimes, Sedulius, a singer of the Psalms, will tell the saving miracles of Christ, who is equal to the Father in power and glory, and he calls the Greeks from pagan philosophy and idolatry to the waters of baptism.
Book 1, section 9Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Israel crossed the sea on dry ground, a rudimentary baptism with Christ the Word as leader, who by his coming opened the depths of the old law to the safe path of the new teaching.
Book 1, section 11Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Water flowed from the rock for thirsty Israel; Christ was present in the sea, the manna and the rock.
Book 1, section 29Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Arius, who made the Son less than the Father as among men, died a shameful death; Christ is begotten not made, equal to the Father, one with him, against Arius, and distinct from him, against Sabellius; both heresies are as foolish as the quarrels of philosophers.
Book 1, section 31Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Sedulius prays to Christ, who took human nature without losing his divinity and is proclaimed by the four evangelists, symbolized by man, lion, ox and eagle, and the twelve apostles; Book 1 ends with the hope of reaping joy in Christ.
Book 2, section 2Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · God in mercy restored his fallen image: as a rose springs from thorns, Mary, the new virgin, came from Eve's stock to undo Eve's sin, and through Christ's birth humanity is reborn.
Book 2, section 3Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Foretold by the prophets and announced by Gabriel, Christ is conceived in the virgin Mary, who will be mother of her own Creator.
Book 2, section 4Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · In the tenth month Christ, the Word made flesh, is born of Mary, who remains a virgin; he comes forth like a bridegroom, fairest of men and free of original sin, and the Lord of all lies as a servant in a manger.
Book 2, section 5Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Sedulius hails Mary, mother of the eternal King, at once mother and virgin, without equal among women.
Book 2, section 6Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · The angels announce Christ's birth to the shepherds with 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will'; Sedulius explains the peace given to those who will the good, which God accomplishes in them.
Book 2, section 8Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · The magi follow the star to Christ and adore him as true worshippers; they represent the Gentiles called into the one fold; their three gifts proclaim Christ king, God and mortal man, and their number the triune God, who is eternal, as Christ's 'before Abraham was, I am' shows.
Book 2, section 12Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · At about thirty Christ, supposed son of Joseph but born of a virgin, comes to be baptized; John hails him as the Lamb who takes away sin, which Christ destroyed without bearing it as his own, and his baptism sanctified the waters.
Book 3, section 24Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Though Christ bore a mortal body, his divinity shone out at the transfiguration, brighter than sun and snow; the apostles recognized Moses and Elijah, and the Father's voice proclaimed him his beloved Son, the Alpha and Omega.
Book 4, section 21Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · At Bethany Christ weeps for Lazarus as man and raises him, four days dead, as God, at the command 'Lazarus, come out.'
Book 4, section 22Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Christ enters Jerusalem humbly on a donkey, while the people spread their garments and greet him with palms and hymns, a glory given to no earthly king; Book 4 ends.
Book 5, section 1Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Book 5 begins as the Passover nears: Christ, troubled as man, prays to the Father, who answers from heaven; many say it thundered, fulfilling Isaiah's word about blindness, but the voice revealed the Father in the Son.
Book 5, section 15Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · On the cross Christ turned the punishment into a sign of salvation; the cross, stretched to the four quarters of the world, deserves veneration.
Book 5, section 17Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · The title 'King of the Jews' in three languages proclaims one King in threefold speech; Pilate wrote 'of the Jews' to avoid offending Caesar, but spiritually it means Christ is King of all who become sons of Abraham, as Gentiles are grafted into the olive by the anointing of chrism.
Book 5, section 22Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Christ freely lays down his soul, with power to take it up again, dying in body but not in divinity; the gates of hell break, rocks split, and the bodies of the saints rise.
Book 5, section 29Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · The church is represented in Mary, ever mother and ever virgin, to whom, Sedulius says, the risen Christ first appeared.
Book 5, section 38Sedulius · ca. 425-450 · Christ ascends from Bethany and sits at the Father's right hand, showing the disciples the way, since he is the way, the truth and the life; they worship him and go to teach all nations, having written only a few of his countless deeds.
Retractations 1.23Augustine of Hippo · 426-427 · Reviewing his Exposition of Galatians, Augustine explains “wholly God” of the risen Christ, refines his punctuation of Gal 3:19, and applies Gal 5:17 also to those under grace.
The Conferences 4.10John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Daniel distinguishes four scriptural senses of “flesh”: the whole person, sinful people, sins, and kinship; in Gal 5:17 it refers to activities, not substances.
The Conferences 5.5John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Christ was tempted in all things yet without sin, never feeling the goads of fleshly desire, since his conception was by the Holy Spirit.
The Conferences 5.6John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Christ, the second Adam, was tempted in the same vices as the first Adam, gluttony, vainglory, and pride (or, in Luke's order, love of money and pride), but not in the passions that follow from sin; he came in the likeness of sinful flesh.
The Conferences 7.22John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Demons have no power to harm except by God's permission, as Job and the Gadarene swine show; otherwise no one could live alone in the desert.
The Conferences 8.7John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · God created the angels before the visible world, since they praised him at the creation of the stars; Christ is the true “beginning” in whom all things, including all ranks of angels, were made.
The Conferences 9.17John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Christ gave examples of all four kinds of prayer, singly and combined in his great prayer in John 17, and Paul in Philippians shows they can be offered together.
The Conferences 10.6John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · According to its purity the mind in prayer sees Jesus either in his humility or in his glory; the glory is shown, as at the Transfiguration, to those who withdraw with him to the mountain of solitude, as he himself withdrew to pray.
The Conferences 11.13John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Perfect love produces a higher fear, the loving reverence of a son or friend who dreads only to offend, which Scripture calls a treasure and which filled Christ, unlike the servile fear that love casts out.
The Conferences 22.9John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Theonas distinguishes being holy, that is, consecrated to God, from being sinless, which belongs to Christ alone, who was tempted like us but without sin.
The Conferences 22.10John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Christ was tempted like us by gluttony, vainglory, and pride in the desert, by the offer of kingship, and by the sufferings of his passion, yet always without sin.
The Conferences 22.11John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Christ came in the likeness of sinful flesh, with real flesh but without sin; his hunger, thirst, sleep, and anguish showed the likeness of sin, while his knowledge, gifts, and power showed he had none.
The Conferences 22.12John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Christ, born of a virgin, alone bore only the likeness of sin, though his enemies called him a sinner; anyone who claims to be sinless blasphemously claims equality with him.
The Conferences 23.8John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · The saints treat even a moment’s distraction from God as a sacrilege and repent at once; yet no one but Christ has kept his mind fixed on God without ever straying.
The Conferences 24.17John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · The devil attacks each soul at its weakest part, as Balaam did Israel through lust and the Syrians deceived Ahab through vain mercy; he tempted Christ in all three parts but found nothing to seize.
On Rebuke and Grace 11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 427 · Adam had a grace “without which” he could not persevere, left to his free choice; the saints receive through Christ a more powerful grace “by which” they actually will and persevere; Christ's own humanity was taken up into union with the Word by grace, not merit.
In Praise of the Desert 22Eucherius of Lyon · ca. 427-428 · Christ, though sinless, was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert after his baptism, an example for sinners.
In Praise of the Desert 23Eucherius of Lyon · ca. 427-428 · In the desert Christ, the new Adam, defeated the devil who had conquered Adam in paradise, and angels served him.
In Praise of the Desert 25Eucherius of Lyon · ca. 427-428 · Christ was transfigured on a remote mountain, and Peter said, “It is good for us to be here.”
On the Predestination of the Saints 15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 428/429 · Christ himself is the brightest example of predestination and grace: his human nature was united to the Word with no prior merit; as he was predestined to be our Head, we are predestined to be his members.
Instructions 1.10Eucherius of Lyon · ca. 428-434 · Christ is less than the Father as man and one with him as God; the Magi's gifts and their return by another way are explained figuratively.
Instructions 1.14Eucherius of Lyon · ca. 428-434 · “At the head of the book” refers to Christ, the Beginning in Gen 1:1 and John 1:1.
Instructions 1.17Eucherius of Lyon · ca. 428-434 · “A brother does not redeem, a man will redeem”: Moses did not redeem, Christ did.
Instructions 1.25Eucherius of Lyon · ca. 428-434 · He who “ascends above the setting” is Christ, who overcame death.
Instructions 1.28Eucherius of Lyon · ca. 428-434 · Bashan means “confusion”; the verse is read of the cross, which Christ endured willingly.
Instructions 1.31Eucherius of Lyon · ca. 428-434 · Salvation “in the midst of the earth” is the cross in Judea, or the incarnation in the virgin's womb.
Instructions 1.37Eucherius of Lyon · ca. 428-434 · “No new god” excludes idols or the antichrist, not Christ, the eternal Word who appeared to the patriarchs.
Instructions 1.41Eucherius of Lyon · ca. 428-434 · Psalm 87:5 is read of Christ, born in Zion, who is also the Most High who founded her.
Instructions 1.42Eucherius of Lyon · ca. 428-434 · “Free among the dead” is Christ, sinless among sinners.
Instructions 1.48Eucherius of Lyon · ca. 428-434 · “Iron passed through his soul” refers to Christ's nails, or to hard tribulation.
Instructions 1.51Eucherius of Lyon · ca. 428-434 · Christ drank of the torrent of the passion in the world and was therefore exalted.
On the Gift of Perseverance 24Augustine of Hippo · ca. 428/429 · Augustine concludes that both the beginning of faith and perseverance are God's gifts, urges prayer rather than dispute, and presents Christ, whose humanity was united to the Word without prior merit, as the supreme example of predestination; he invites correction.
Commonitorium 14Marius Mercator · 429-431 · Marius argues that Julian's denial of original sin empties infant baptism of meaning, since every title of Christ (Saviour, Redeemer, Reconciler, Regenerator, Life) presupposes sin; he defends the twofold death from Adam with 1 Corinthians 15 and closes with Augustine's authority.
Lines 871–900Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 429-432 · The depth of the fall is shown by the incarnation and death of the Word, by which alone captives are redeemed; the redeemed must not be proud of what nature retains or credit their recovered sight to free will, as the serpent persuaded Adam.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 1.2John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Cassian lists earlier heresies, from Ebion to Apollinaris, and a recent one from Gaul that taught that Christ was born a mere man and earned his Godhead, a forerunner of the present heresy.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 1.3John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · That heresy, rooted in Pelagianism, held that Christ was a mere man who lived sinlessly, so that anyone could, and that he came as an example rather than a redeemer; Nestorius, Cassian says, shares this view and so protects the Pelagians.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 1.5John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Cassian quotes Leporius’ retraction: Christ is one person, one and the same God and man, the two substances neither divided into two Christs nor blended into one.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 2.2John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Against Nestorius’ refusal of the title Theotokos, Cassian argues from Luke 2:11 and 1:35 that the one born of Mary is Lord, Savior and Son of God, and that his conception required the coming of the whole Trinity.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 2.3John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Cassian proves from Isa 7:14, Isa 9:6 and Mal 3:8 that the one born of the virgin and crucified is God.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 2.4John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · From Titus 2:11–13 Cassian argues that the names God, Savior, Jesus and Christ all name one and the same God, born of Mary.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 2.5John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Since saving grace can only come from God, and grace came through Christ, Christ is God and Mary is Mother of God; Paul’s blessing “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” would be absurd if Christ were a mere man.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 2.6John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Even granting Nestorius’ claim that grace was given to Christ later, Cassian presses him: Gabriel’s words show that the one born of Mary was Son of God from his conception, and so God, the giver of grace.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 2.7John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · The whole fullness of the Godhead was always in Christ, from his conception, so every name of Christ names the Son of God, who cannot be separated from God.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 3.1John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Rom 9:3–5 says that Christ, born of Israel according to the flesh, is God over all; the two cannot be separated.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 3.2John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · “God over all, blessed forever” excludes reading the title God as a borrowed name, such as was given to Moses or to the judges in Ps 82.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 3.3John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · 2 Cor 5:16 agrees with Rom 9:5: Christ once known according to the flesh is now known only as God, since after the resurrection the weakness of his flesh has been swallowed up in divine majesty.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 3.4John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Gal 1:1, where Paul says he was sent not through man but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, shows Christ to be God, one in power with the Father though distinct in person.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 3.5John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · By adding “who raised him from the dead” Paul confesses Christ’s true body against Marcion as well as his Godhead against Ebion; Paul himself saw the risen Lord at his conversion.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 3.6John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Paul’s vision on the Damascus road, where the voice of Jesus came with the blinding majesty of God, shows that Jesus and God cannot be separated; the heretic, unlike Paul, would hesitate and deliberate.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 3.7John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · The Christ who spoke in Paul must be God; and since Scripture speaks interchangeably of the judgment seat of Christ and of God, and of the Spirit of God and of Christ, Christ is God.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 3.8John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Paul preached Christ crucified as the power and wisdom of God, unashamed that God born and crucified was a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 3.9John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Paul’s preaching offended Jews and Gentiles only because he proclaimed the crucified man as God; Nestorius’ teaching, offending no one, would never make him a martyr.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 3.10John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Christ crucified is the power and wisdom of God and, according to 1 Cor 2:6–9, the Lord of majesty; to deny that God was crucified is to side with those who crucified him.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 3.11John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Besides Paul, Martha confesses Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, a confession the heretic should not be ashamed to learn from a woman.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 3.12John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Peter, prince of the apostles and head of the Roman church, confessed Christ as the Son of the living God; Nestorius cannot set himself above Peter.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 3.13John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Christ’s blessing of Peter shows that his confession was revealed by the Father’s Spirit, so it carries the authority of the whole Trinity; denial comes from a demonic spirit.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 3.14John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Christ’s promise to build the church on Peter’s confession shows that whoever rejects that faith is outside the church and bound in heaven.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 3.15John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Thomas, touching the risen Lord’s body, confessed “My Lord and my God”, without any of Nestorius’ distinctions between the man and the God dwelling in him.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 3.16John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · As the sign from heaven Nestorius might demand, Cassian points to Christ’s baptism: the opened heavens, the descending Spirit and the Father’s voice all declare that the one baptized is the Son of God.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 4.1John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Having shown Christ to be God in the flesh, Cassian now shows that he was God before the incarnation, beginning with Gal 4:4: God sent his Son, who therefore existed before.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 4.2John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · “God sent his Son” shows the Son existed before Mary; so Mary bore one older than herself, her own Creator, against Nestorius’ argument; God must be believed about himself.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 4.3John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Rom 8:3, “God sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,” confirms that the Son was sent, with true flesh but without sin; Moses’ prayer “send him whom you will send” looked for his coming.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 4.4John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Christ says he was sent, David says God sent his Word to heal, and John says God sent his Son as Savior: the one sent is the Word, united with the man in one Son.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 4.5John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Since the one sent is called both Word and Jesus Christ (1 John 4:15; John 17:3), there is no distance between Christ and the Word.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 4.6John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · 1 Cor 8:6 says all things were made through Jesus Christ, John 1:3 through the Word; and Christ says the Son of Man came down from heaven and is in heaven: so the Son of Man and the Word are one.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 4.7John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Scripture says variously that the Son of Man, Christ Jesus and the Word came into the world; the names differ, the one who came is the same.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 4.8John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · The Creator of the world came into it and became son of man by his own will; whatever he is called, he is one and the same God.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 4.9John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · The prophets also proclaim the incarnation: “This is our God … he was seen on earth” (Bar 3:36–38, cited as Jeremiah) can only mean the Son, and Isa 45:14–15, “You are our God, and we did not know it,” is the church’s answer.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 4.10John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Jews who come to faith rightly say “You are our God, and we did not know it,” for those who still refuse believe in God but deny the Son.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 4.11John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Isa 45:14 foretells the nations passing over to Christ in bonds of love, as Paul rejoiced in his chains; “God is in you” means God was in Christ, the natures distinguished without denying the unity.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 4.12John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · The God and Savior of Isa 45:15 is Jesus, whose name means Savior; unlike the judges, he saves his own people from their sins.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 4.13John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Both Jewish and Gentile believers can say “You are our God, and we did not know it”; Nestorius should believe God’s own word and confess Christ in the Father’s glory.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 5.1John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · The new heresy revives the Pelagian claim that Christ was a mere man; its argument that no one bears one older than herself ignores that the birth was God’s work, not Mary’s.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 5.2John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Nestorius’ calling Christ a God-receiving image, honored for the God within him, repeats the Pelagian view; his comparison of Christ to an imperial statue goes even further.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 5.3John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · If Christ is only a receiver of God, he differs in nothing from the prophets and saints in whom God dwells; this makes the Creator equal to his creatures.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 5.4John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Christ differs from the saints as the dweller from the dwelling: they are sons by adoption, he Son by nature, eternally begotten, in whom the whole fullness of the Godhead dwells from the beginning and who himself dwells in the saints.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 5.5John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · The prophets foretold the one to be born of the virgin as both man and God: “From my mother’s womb you are my God,” “Truth has sprung from the earth,” and Isa 2:22, “Cease from the man … for he is reckoned the Most High.”
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 5.6John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · 1 John 1:1–2 matches Isaiah: the Word of life who was from the beginning was seen and handled, so that Christ is one and the same, God and man, “yesterday and today and forever.”
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 5.7John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Col 1:12–20 speaks of one subject who is image of the invisible God and Creator and also firstborn from the dead who made peace by the blood of his cross; the apostle joins them so that no one should divide Christ into two persons.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 5.8John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Christ calls himself a man sent from God and says “Before Abraham came to be, I am,” echoing “I am who I am”: the man born lately speaks with the eternity of the Word united to him.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 5.9John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Scripture says Jesus led Israel out of Egypt, Christ was tempted in the desert, and the fathers were saved by his grace; so Christ, in unity with God, was God before his birth, and one who calls him a mere man falls under a curse either way.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 5.10John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · John’s warning that whoever “dissolves Jesus” is of antichrist applies to anyone who divides him, whether Manichaeans who deny his manhood or Ebion and Nestorius who deny his Godhead; the catholic faith confesses him both God and man.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 5.11John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Christ’s word on marriage, “What God has joined, let man not separate,” applies more deeply to the union of God and man in him, as Paul shows by calling the marriage text of Gen 2:24 a great sacrament spoken of Christ and the church.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 5.12John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · The great sacrament of Gen 2:24 is the incarnation (1 Tim 3:16): the Son left his Father and the heavenly Jerusalem and was joined to human flesh, so that God and the soul are one in one flesh.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 5.13John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · The prophets and Moses longed to see God come in the flesh, as Christ said many prophets desired to see what the disciples saw.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 5.14John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · If God dwelt in Christ as in a statue or instrument, as he did in the prophets, the saints would not have longed for his coming; but in Christ dwells the whole fullness of the Godhead, from which they received a portion.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 5.15John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · All the saints longed for God’s coming in the flesh, knowing that only one free from sin could free sinners, and that none, however holy, could be saved except by Christ’s coming and redemption.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 6.3John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Cassian now refutes Nestorius from the baptismal creed of Antioch in which he was baptized, quoting it and explaining that the creed (symbolum) gathers the whole of Scripture into a short word.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 6.4John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · The creed carries both divine and human authority, since God shortened his word in it through the apostles; Cassian quotes it again.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 6.6John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · The creed of Antioch brought Nestorius to baptism, the Eucharist and the episcopate; it confesses Christ as only-begotten, firstborn of all creation, born of the Father before the ages and not made, which leaves no room for his statue and instrument comparisons.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 6.7John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Having confessed in the creed that Christ is true God of true God, consubstantial with the Father and Creator, Nestorius cannot now call him a mere man, statue or instrument; he has grown worse with age and office.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 6.8John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · The creed says that the true God, Creator of all, “came and was born of the virgin Mary,” agreeing with Gal 4:4; only one who already existed could come, so it was God who came.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 6.9John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Nestorius once confessed in the creed that God was born, suffered and rose; now he says that to speak of God the Word buried wounds the ear and that God cannot be born a second time.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 6.10John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · As a former catholic now an apostate, Nestorius condemns his own baptismal confession; Cassian denounces his holding the altar and chair while denying the God whose bishop he is.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 6.12John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Nestorius finds God born and suffering a wound to his ears, as the cross was folly and offense to Gentiles and Jews; his guilt is greater, since he denies after faith and as a bishop.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 6.13John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Against Nestorius’ claim that offspring must be of one substance with the mother, Cassian answers that the one Christ is consubstantial with the Father in Godhead and with his mother in the flesh.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 6.14John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · If the one born of Mary is not the one born of God, there are two Christs, as in the Pelagian view; Nestorius goes further than the Pelagians, who at least confessed Christ God after the passion.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 6.15John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Since the creed confesses Jesus Christ as Son of God, Nestorius must either deny the creed or confess that the Christ born of Mary is the same Son of God; otherwise he makes two Christs.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 6.16John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · One conceived of the Holy Spirit cannot be a mere man; if he is other than the eternal Son, Nestorius makes two Sons to be worshiped and adds a fourth person to the Trinity.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 6.17John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Denying Christ’s Godhead overthrows the whole creed: the Father, the birth, passion, resurrection, ascension and judgment all stand or fall together.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 6.18John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Cassian calls Nestorius to repentance, to return to the sacraments and full creed of his baptism, confessing one Christ of twofold birth and one majesty.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 6.19John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · The incarnation advanced the man without lessening God; Martha, Peter and Thomas confessed one Christ, and the faith confesses the same Lord as Creator and Redeemer, “the same yesterday, today and forever.”
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 6.20John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Cassian clarifies that the man born of Mary did not pre-exist; rather God, who always was, became flesh in the virgin’s womb; otherwise the incarnation would be no different from God’s dwelling in the prophets.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 6.21John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Yet Scripture and the creed speak of Jesus Christ as existing and creating before his birth from the virgin.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 6.22John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Because God and man are united in Christ, Scripture and the creed speak of the Son of Man as eternal and of the Lord of majesty as crucified, though the man had a beginning and God cannot suffer; in Christ one cannot be named without the other.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 6.23John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · By synecdoche Scripture names the whole by a part, as in the four hundred years, the three days and nights, and John the Baptist’s words; so whatever is said of the Son of God or son of man is said of the one Christ.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.1John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Opening the last book, Cassian prays to Christ for strength to crush the serpent of heresy and to purify the minds it has infected, so that all may confess him true man and always true God.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.2John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Cassian answers Nestorius’ argument that no one bears one older than herself: that law binds creatures, not their Creator, for whom nothing is impossible.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.3John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Against the claim that offspring must share the mother’s substance, Cassian cites the quails, the manna, the multiplied loaves, the water made wine and the blind man healed with mud: God produces unlike from unlike.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.4John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · If God’s birth from Mary is judged by human impossibilities, so must his crucifixion, his blood, his death and his presence in heaven be; Scripture affirms all these of God.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.5John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Even in nature unlike comes from unlike, in the ancient lore of bees born from flowers, locusts appearing suddenly and basilisks hatched from ibis eggs; how much more can God be born as he wills.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.6John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Cassian quotes a treatise in which Nestorius likens God restoring his image to an emperor restoring his statue and compares Christ’s seedless birth to Adam’s; behind the pious words he makes Christ no more than a new Adam.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.7John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Nestorius cites 1 Cor 15:21 but ignores Paul’s many statements of Christ’s Godhead; Paul calls Christ man while confessing the same man as God, the Lord of majesty who was crucified.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.8John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Nestorius’ proposal to honor the God-receiving form together with God, as a statue or image of the hidden God, separates Christ from God under the guise of honoring him.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.9John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Christ is not the image of a hidden God: his birth was announced by star, Magi and angels, and even Jacob, wrestling with a man, recognized God in human form.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.10John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · The prophets openly proclaimed God who would come, and Peter, Martha and all who sought healing from Christ recognized God in him.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.11John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Even the devil, having heard John the Baptist and the voice at the baptism, suspected that the man Jesus might be the Son of God and tempted him to find out.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.12John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Though the devil knew Jesus’ lowly human birth, he still thought he might be the Son of God; Nestorius, denying it outright, outdoes the devil in faithlessness.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.13John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · The devil’s suspicion lasted to the cross, where the signs of the passion drove him, through the mockers, to test whether Jesus was the Son of God; Nestorius denies even after the resurrection what the devil suspected.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.14John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Nestorius quotes Heb 7:3, “without mother, without genealogy,” to deny that God had a mother, but omits “without father”; the verse rather describes Christ’s twofold birth, without mother as God and without father as man.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.15John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Matthew gives Christ’s genealogy through his mother, while Hebrews says he has none as begotten of the Father; both describe the twofold birth.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.16John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Nestorius quoted Heb 7:3 selectively, as the devil quoted Ps 91 to Christ while omitting the verse about trampling the serpent.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.17John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Nestorius says the Spirit created, justified, empowered, consecrated and raised Christ, as if he had nothing of his own; Cassian answers that Wisdom built her own house, the Spirit cooperating, since the works of the Trinity are inseparable.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.18John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · 1 Tim 3:16 speaks of the mystery of godliness being justified in the Spirit, not of Christ lacking righteousness; he is our righteousness and justifies all in his name.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.19John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · The apostles cast out demons and healed in Christ’s name, never their own; Christ healed and raised by his own word and authority, so his power was his own, not lent by the Spirit.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.20John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Christ gave his disciples power in his own name; no saint could say “in our name,” so the one who could bestow divine power must have had it by nature.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.21John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · The Spirit’s descent at the baptism pointed out Christ’s dignity without making the Spirit greater; the three persons share equal honor; Nestorius’ view echoes the Pelagian claim that Christ became Christ at his baptism.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.22John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Nestorius distorts Acts 1:2, which, read as a hyperbaton, means that Christ chose the apostles through the Spirit; Christ ascended by his own power, being always in heaven.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.23John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Christ did not receive glory as a gift: Ps 24 calls him the King of glory entering heaven, and he speaks of coming in his own glory, which he shares with the Father and the Spirit.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.24John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Cassian closes with witnesses of the faith, beginning with Hilary of Poitiers, whose On the Trinity and Commentary on Matthew confess God born of the virgin.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.25John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Ambrose, in On Virgins, a Christmas sermon and his commentary on Luke, confesses that the one born of the ever-virgin Mary is God.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.26John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Jerome, in his letter to Eustochium and on Isaiah, speaks of the Son of God waiting months in the womb and of the Lord of glory entering the virgin, against Nestorius’ denial that God was born after months of gestation.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.27John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Rufinus on the creed and Augustine in his Tractates on John and his letter to Volusian confess God born of a virgin.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.28John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · From the East, Gregory of Nazianzus speaks of the new mixture in which the Creator is created and the Son of God becomes son of man without change.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.29John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Athanasius, in the Orations against the Arians, calls Mary Theotokos and says that the Word of the Father took flesh from her.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.30John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · John Chrysostom, whose successor Nestorius was as bishop of Constantinople, confessed that the virgin’s womb bore God; Nestorius, who accuses his predecessors Gregory, Nectarius and John of error, is refuted by them.
On the Incarnation of the Lord, against Nestorius 7.31John Cassian · ca. 430–431 · Cassian, ordained by John Chrysostom, urges the people of Constantinople to separate from Nestorius and follow their former bishops, and closes with a prayer that the humility of the incarnation may increase love for God.
Celestine, ACO I.2, letter 1.8Celestine I, bishop of Rome · 430-432 · Celestine commissions Cyril, in the name of the Roman see, to give Nestorius ten days to recant in writing, or else to depose him.
Celestine, ACO I.2, letter 2.3Celestine I, bishop of Rome · 430-432 · Cyril's report and Nestorius's own letters, now translated, show open blasphemy; Nestorius's books evade, but his letters declare his position.
Celestine, ACO I.2, letter 2.8Celestine I, bishop of Rome · 430-432 · Celestine prepares to cut off the wound: Nestorius's letters show that he has taken from the apostolic faith words that carry the hope of salvation.
Celestine, ACO I.2, letter 2.18Celestine I, bishop of Rome · 430-432 · Celestine's sentence: Nestorius must condemn his teaching in writing within ten days of notice or be excommunicated; Cyril is to act for Rome.
Celestine, ACO I.2, letter 5.2Celestine I, bishop of Rome · 430-432 · Nestorius's writings and Cyril's report show that he preaches abominable things about the virgin birth and divides the human and divine natures in Christ.
Celestine, ACO I.2, letter 6.3Celestine I, bishop of Rome · 430-432 · Nestorius's teaching against the virgin birth is attested by the faithful, by his books, and by his signed letters.
Celestine, ACO I.2, letter 7.4Celestine I, bishop of Rome · 430-432 · Christ himself is put on trial by the new teaching; the bishops are to arm themselves, confident of peace.
Celestine, ACO I.2, letter 25.11Celestine I, bishop of Rome · 430-432 · By hiding from the council Nestorius imitated Adam, but no one can hide from God, who is everywhere present, as the psalm says.
Cyril, Second Letter to Nestorius (doctrinal part) §1Anonymous · 430–433 · Cyril explains the Nicene creed's "became incarnate and became man": the Word united to himself, according to hypostasis, flesh with a rational soul; the natures stay distinct but form one Christ, born eternally of the Father and in time of a woman.
Cyril, Second Letter to Nestorius (doctrinal part) §2Anonymous · 430–433 · The Word was united to his flesh from the womb, so its birth, suffering, death, and resurrection are rightly called his, though the divine nature itself is impassible and immortal.
Cyril, Second Letter to Nestorius (doctrinal part) §3Anonymous · 430–433 · Christ is worshipped as one, not as a man alongside the Word; rejecting the union according to hypostasis leads to two sons. The fathers therefore called Mary Theotokos, and Cyril urges Nestorius to teach the same for the peace of the churches.
Cyril, Twelve Anathemas, Anathema IAnonymous · 430–433 · First anathema: Emmanuel is truly God, and Mary is therefore Theotokos.
Cyril, Twelve Anathemas, Anathema IIAnonymous · 430–433 · Second anathema: the Word is united to flesh according to hypostasis and is one Christ, God and man.
Cyril, Twelve Anathemas, Anathema IIIAnonymous · 430–433 · Third anathema: Christ's hypostases may not be divided after the union or joined only by dignity or power.
Cyril, Twelve Anathemas, Anathema IVAnonymous · 430–433 · Fourth anathema: the sayings about Christ in Scripture may not be divided between two persons.
Cyril, Twelve Anathemas, Anathema VAnonymous · 430–433 · Fifth anathema: Christ is not a God-bearing man but truly God, the one Son by nature.
Cyril, Twelve Anathemas, Anathema VIAnonymous · 430–433 · Sixth anathema: the Word is not the God or Master of Christ; Christ himself is God and man.
Cyril, Twelve Anathemas, Anathema VIIAnonymous · 430–433 · Seventh anathema: Jesus was not a man moved by the Word and clothed with a glory not his own.
Cyril, Twelve Anathemas, Anathema VIIIAnonymous · 430–433 · Eighth anathema: Emmanuel receives one worship and one doxology, not a man worshipped alongside the Word.
Cyril, Twelve Anathemas, Anathema IXAnonymous · 430–433 · Ninth anathema: the Spirit by whom Christ worked miracles is his own, not a foreign power lent to him.
Cyril, Twelve Anathemas, Anathema XAnonymous · 430–433 · Tenth anathema: the Word incarnate himself is our high priest, and he offered himself for us alone, not for himself.
Cyril, Twelve Anathemas, Anathema XIAnonymous · 430–433 · Eleventh anathema: the Lord's flesh is life-giving because it is the Word's own flesh.
Cyril, Twelve Anathemas, Anathema XIIAnonymous · 430–433 · Twelfth anathema: the Word of God suffered, was crucified, and died in the flesh, and is the firstborn from the dead.
Formula of Reunion (433), with Cyril's introductionAnonymous · 430–433 · The Formula of Reunion of 433: Christ is perfect God and perfect man, of one substance with the Father and with us; the two natures are united without confusion, so Mary is Theotokos.
Carmen de Christo 1–30Flavius Merobaudes · ca. 430-450 · A short hymn to Christ: the eternal Son, born of the Virgin, recognized by the Magi, who raised the dead, descended to the realm of death, rose and ascended, and is one with the Father in a threefold light.
Oration 1.1Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Proclus opens a feast of the Virgin by hailing Mary, the Theotokos, as the bush, the cloud, the fleece, and the loom on which the Word wove the tunic of his union with our flesh.
Oration 1.2Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · The Word, born of a woman as God and man, turned the door of sin into the gate of salvation; the Virgin's lasting virginity shows that the child is God.
Oration 1.3Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Birth from a woman was no defilement to God but the occasion of salvation: the Virgin's womb was the workshop where the bond of our freedom was drawn up and the weapon against the devil forged.
Oration 1.4Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Christ is not a man deified but God made man: as Creator he has no mother, as man no father, so that Hebrews' “without father, without mother” fits him alone.
Oration 1.5Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Gabriel's name points to God and man; humanity, bound to the devil by the bond of sin, could be redeemed neither by a man nor by an angel, but only by the sinless God dying for sinners.
Oration 1.6Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Only the God-man, whose worth outweighs all the condemned, could redeem humanity; the prophets, seeing the wound beyond human skill, cried out for the Physician from heaven.
Oration 1.7Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · The prophets' cries for help were answered when God came and paid his own blood and the flesh taken from the Virgin as a ransom, redeeming the world from the curse of the law.
Oration 1.8Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · The Redeemer is neither a mere man, against the Jews, nor God without a body, against the Manichees; to divide Christ into two would make the Trinity a quaternity, and the Psalms name the one who appeared as God and Lord.
Oration 1.9Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · As God Christ saved and as man he suffered: the same one, crowned with thorns by the synagogue, was in the Father's bosom and the Virgin's womb, judged by Pilate and adored by seraphim.
Oration 1.10Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Christ was born as he was conceived, leaving the Virgin's virginity intact, as Ezekiel's shut gate foretold; the sermon ends with a doxology.
Oration 2.2Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · The Creator who made all things in wisdom was seen on earth through the Virgin; he freed us by the cross, conquered death by the tomb, foreshadowed baptism in the Jordan, and showed himself God by calming the sea and the demons.
Oration 2.3Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Adam's formation from virgin earth, without labour or corruption, answers Jewish mockery of the virgin birth; Adam was a type of Christ, the second Adam, from whose death the church was bought as Eve was taken from Adam's side.
Oration 2.4Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Adam slept while Eve was formed so that he would not suffer pain and hate her, and so that humanity would learn not to pry into the incomprehensible birth of God.
Oration 2.5Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Answering an imagined Jewish objector who denies that God was ever seen or born of a woman, Proclus cites Deuteronomy and introduces Zechariah's vision of the golden lampstand as a prophecy of the incarnation.
Oration 2.6Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Proclus interprets Zechariah's vision: the day is the incarnation, the angel Gabriel, the sleep the time of the law, the golden lampstand the ever-virgin Mary (who is God's temple, not God), and the lamp the incarnate Word.
Oration 2.8Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · The prophet asks about what he has seen because the vision was an image of a hidden mystery; the angel answers like an evangelist, “This is the Word of the Lord.”
Oration 2.9Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · God showed the incarnation in the figures of Zechariah's vision to silence Jewish objections, and Isaiah too calls the Saviour a lamp; the sermon ends with a doxology.
Oration 3.3Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · The wonder of the Nativity, celebrated the day before, is the unconfused union of Godhead and manhood in one Son, born of the Virgin without change, who is God from the Father and man from us.
Oration 5.2Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Of all the saints honoured in Scripture none equals Mary the Theotokos, who carried the incarnate Word whom all creation, angels, and elements approach only with fear.
Oration 5.3Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Through Mary the curse on women is lifted and the women of Scripture are honoured; she is mother, handmaid, cloud, bridal chamber, and ark of the Lord, blessed among women, and her fruit is God, not a creature.
Oration 5.4Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Isaiah's prophecy of the virgin and Emmanuel says enough in praise of Mary; “God with us” has overthrown error, circumcision, demons, and death, so that the freed dead cry that God himself has saved them.
Oration 6.1Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Proclus launches his sermon as a voyage toward Havilah, land of gold and precious stones, which he reads as the Virgin and Christ, and warns that the sea of the Virgin's mystery is perilous for the unpractised.
Oration 6.2Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Virginity is an angelic garment that Christ himself put on; like Aaron's linen and purple, Christ's priesthood and kingship show the two orders of virginity and of chaste married life.
Oration 6.5Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Virginity is God's choice gift, which crowned the saints of Scripture and made Mary the mother of the Lord; the sermon passes to the inner tent of the incarnation, where the burning bush figures the Virgin who bore the true light.
Oration 6.7Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Against those who infer from Matthew 1 that Mary and Joseph lived as husband and wife after Christ's birth, Proclus urges a spiritual reading that holds to her lasting virginity.
Oration 6.8Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Joseph, not knowing the mystery, saw Mary with child, suspected her, and, though the angel spoke to him, resolved to separate from her until he should see the birth.
Oration 6.9Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · In an alphabetical dialogue Joseph accuses Mary and thinks of divorcing her, and she patiently answers with the prophecies, until he resolves to wait for the birth, and she foretells that they will be called blessed as parents of the Creator.
Oration 6.10Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Joseph came to know the truth only through the angel, the star, the Magi, and Simeon, and then honoured Mary whom he had suspected; his ignorance was no fault, for even Mary questioned Gabriel.
Oration 6.11Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · In an alphabetical dialogue Mary questions Gabriel about how she can conceive, and the archangel answers that the eternal Son takes flesh from her without losing anything of his Godhead.
Oration 6.12Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Gabriel, whose name Proclus takes as “man God,” urges Mary to believe, recalling Zechariah's punishment and Elizabeth's late conception, which he reads as a figure of synagogue and church, and teaches that mysteries are to be marvelled at, not investigated.
Oration 6.13Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Mary, torn between joy and fear, is steadied by the Word himself, who tells her that unless he takes an earthly body from her, humanity cannot receive the Spirit, immortality, or the glory of the Master.
Oration 6.14Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · The Word continues: only by taking flesh, dying, and being laid in the tomb could he ratify the covenant that makes humanity his heirs; dwelling in Mary does not defile him, and she will be at once virgin and mother.
Oration 6.15Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · In an imagined speech the devil, alarmed at the Virgin's conception, plots against her, comparing her with Eve, and resolves to slander her before the Jews and to use Herod's sword against the child.
Oration 6.17Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Proclus closes with a litany of Old Testament figures for the Virgin, the temple, altar, lampstand, ark, red heifer, shut gate, three measures of meal, fleece, olive, and paradise, ending with the angel's words in Luke 1:35.
Oration 7.1Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · At the feast of the Theophany Proclus contrasts Christ's baptism with his birth: then the earth rejoiced, the star and Magi announced him, and he lay in swaddling bands; now the waters are sanctified, the Father bears witness, and he loosens the chains of sin.
Oration 7.2Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Christ, the sun of righteousness, is baptized in the Jordan; the Psalm's “Blessed is he who comes” fits him who always comes through his providence in creation, and his grace in baptism is offered to all.
Oration 7.3Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Christ's baptism is a new flood that gives life, with Christ as the spiritual Noah whose ark is his body from Mary; he is baptized not for cleansing but to sanctify the waters and lead all to baptism.
Oration 7.4Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · As Jesus comes to the Jordan, John falls at his feet and protests that he, a sinner, cannot baptize the sinless Lord whom he had proclaimed from his mother's womb.
Oration 7.5Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · John protests that creation would rise against him for baptizing the sinless Lord; Proclus proclaims what Christ's appearing has brought, and the Father's voice and the Spirit as a dove identify the one baptized as the beloved Son.
Oration 8.1Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Following Luke, Proclus describes the Transfiguration on the high mountain where Moses and Elijah, law and prophets, met Christ, and explains that Christ took only three disciples so that Judas, unworthy of the vision, would have no excuse.
Oration 8.2Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Peter's offer to build three tents wrongly made the Master equal to his servants, who did nothing like Christ's works; earth is no place to stay, and the Transfiguration foreshows our own transformation and Christ's coming in glory.
Oration 8.3Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · The Father's voice from the cloud answers Peter: the one he would house in a tent is the Son who created all things with the Father and took the Virgin's womb as his tent, one and the same Son in whom the Father is well pleased.
Oration 8.4Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · The Father's voice, heard at the Jordan and on Tabor, fulfils the psalm “Tabor and Hermon will rejoice in your name”; Christ must not stay on the mountain, for he came down to suffer and redeem, and he is to be heard in faith.
Oration 9.1Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · For Palm Sunday Proclus calls the congregation to welcome Christ the King with lighted lamps, works of love, and the crowd's Hosanna, preparing for him as cities prepare for an earthly king's entry.
Oration 9.2Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · The meek King enters on a borrowed colt with no royal pomp, yet the crowds, as if taught by the seraphim, hail him as King of Israel; the congregation is to prepare their souls to receive him.
Oration 9.3Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · The crowds' cry, inspired by the Spirit, angered the chief priests and moved the Greeks to seek Jesus, whose coming Jesus called his glorification, meaning the cross, which now glorifies and guards every part of Christian life.
Oration 9.4Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Proclus closes by calling his hearers to take palm branches, answer the chief priests' scorn, and hail the one who raised Lazarus as mighty God.
Oration 10.1Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · On the evening of the Last Supper Christ gave his flesh and blood, washed the disciples' feet, and went willingly to his passion; Proclus imagines his appeal to Judas, whose greed betrayed the apostleship and its gifts.
Oration 10.3Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Christ warned Judas to bring him to repentance, but Judas chose disobedience and Satan entered him; Christ hastened willingly to his passion, being light and life, who suffered in the flesh and not in his Godhead.
Oration 11.1Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Celebrating Christ's death and descent into Hades, Proclus proclaims that the dead Christ, swallowed as a man, despoiled Hades as God, freed the captives from Adam onward, and opened paradise to the robber.
Oration 11.2Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Death swallowed all the righteous of old, but in swallowing Christ it had to give back the world; the devil stirred up Judas, Peter, the servants, soldiers, Pilate, and the crowd, while Christ bore it to undo the curse.
Oration 11.3Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · All creation mourned at the crucifixion; the prophets ask Christ about his wounds, and he answers that he was wounded in the house of his beloved, the vine he brought from Egypt that bore thorns.
Oration 11.4Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Proclus closes the Good Friday sermon with acclamations of the passion and its instruments, the cross, nails, thorns, gall, sponge, and reed, as the power and wisdom of God that abolished death.
Oration 12.1Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · At Easter the newly baptized shine like flowers and stars; Proclus praises the empress, a consecrated virgin who spent her wealth in piety and honours the tomb, the cross, and the font, and proclaims the reversal of Adam's fall.
Oration 12.2Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Nature and the prophets refute the Jews' unbelief; the dead hail Christ's victory over the devil, and through his resurrection the true light, become man from the Virgin without change, confusion, or division, has given eternal life.
Oration 13.1Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · No word can match the wonder of Easter: never before had a cross redeemed nature, a tomb become a bridal chamber, or nature risen in three days; the birth shows Christ man, the tomb shows him God, the Lamb of God whose flesh is life and blood ransom.
Oration 13.3Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Isaiah's “God will shine upon the earth” is fulfilled in the incarnation: God could not appear or face death and Hades without flesh, so he took human nature as a covering, like a sheep's form to lure the wolf.
Oration 13.4Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Against a Jewish objector Proclus questions the sun, heaven, earth, temple, sea, and Hades, which mourned at Christ's death as they had not at the deaths of righteous men, and confess him God; the angels answer with the psalm, “He is the King of glory.”
Oration 14.1Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · At Easter heaven and earth celebrate together: angels receive the risen King, the saints proclaim him, the earth and sea are honoured by him, the newly baptized are reborn, and Adam is freed from the curse.
Oration 14.2Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · The Jewish Passover in Egypt foreshadowed the Christian Pascha: the lamb, the blood, the death of the firstborn, the Red Sea, the song of Moses, and the manna are fulfilled in Christ's sacrifice, baptism, the liturgy, and the bread from heaven.
Oration 14.3Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · The Passover rites were types, like a sculptor's clay model, to be set aside when Christ, the truth and the true Lamb, appeared; Proclus urges the Jews to leave the old leaven and keep the feast with the church.
Oration 15.1Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · John the Theologian alone spoke of the eternal birth of the Word; the five phrases of John 1:1–3, like David's five stones, defend the church against Greeks, Jews, Manichees, and heretics and confess the consubstantial Trinity.
Oration 15.2Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · The Son's eternal birth from the Father had no witness, for before it there was no time, angel, heaven, sun, moon, or earth, all of which the Son himself made.
Oration 15.3Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Neither John's lake, trade, father, village, nor the law and prophets could have taught him to say “In the beginning was the Word”; faith gave him wings to rise above the angels to God's throne.
Oration 15.5Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · John's “The Word became flesh” reveals the paradoxes of the incarnation, from the virgin birth, manger, and flight into Egypt to the betrayal, crucifixion, burial, resurrection, and descent into Hades.
Oration 15.6Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · The one John saw is the eternal Word, consubstantial Son, who came down without leaving the Father's throne, was born of the Virgin, and took a beginning as man; the sermon ends by calling down defeat on all enemies of the church.
Oration 17.1Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Christ, the sun of righteousness born of the Virgin, has Stephen the first martyr rising with him as the visible sun has its stars; Proclus contrasts the two suns and praises the manger as heaven, throne, and altar.
Oration 17.5Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Stephen's dispute with the synagogues concerned the virgin birth of the incarnate God and the difference between the law, which condemns, and grace, which forgives.
Oration 17.7Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Christ, usually seated at God's right hand, stood up at Stephen's death to award the prize to his athlete, and the stones thrown at Stephen became a ladder to heaven.
Oration 19.4Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · Andrew, though called after Peter in birth, brought him to Christ, saying “We have found the Messiah”; Proclus has him urge Peter to leave the law and the old life for the Messiah whom the prophets saw.
Oration 19.5Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 430-446 · The Messiah Andrew found is the one seen by the patriarchs and Moses, begotten without beginning; many were called anointed, but all died, while the one Christ is God by nature and man by compassion.
Confession of FaithAcacius of Beroea · ca. 431-437 · Acacius of Beroea confesses one God in three persons and one Son of God from two natures, passible in the flesh and impassible in the divinity.
Homily at EphesusAcacius of Melitene · 431 · Preaching to the Council of Ephesus (431), Acacius likens the council to the disciples in the storm, confesses one Christ who is both God and man, explains Isa 9:6 of the incarnate Word, and defends the title Theotokos against Nestorius.
Letters 2Capreolus of Carthage · 431-433 · Capreolus answers Vitalis and Constantius against the Nestorian heresy: the Son of God and son of man are one inseparable person, as many Scriptures show, so that God was born, suffered and descended to the dead in the man he took.
Canon 4Anonymous · 431 · Clergy who hold the views of Nestorius or Celestius are deposed.
Canon 7Anonymous · 431 · No creed other than that of Nicaea may be composed or offered to converts, and those who hold the Nestorian exposition produced by Charisius are deposed or anathematized.
Part 2Eutherius of Tyana · ca. 431-440 · The author defends the study of Scripture against those who would forbid it, and then, in a new chapter, argues that 'the Word became flesh' means union with flesh, not change into flesh, so that two natures must be confessed.
Part 4Eutherius of Tyana · ca. 431-440 · The author argues that one nature in Christ would empty the promises to Abraham and David, since Christ must be both David's Lord and his son according to the flesh.
Part 5Eutherius of Tyana · ca. 431-440 · The author denies that confessing the flesh as a nature adds a fourth to the Trinity, since the flesh is not of the divine substance, comparing it to the garment whose hem healed the woman.
Part 6Eutherius of Tyana · ca. 431-440 · The author answers the charge that confessing Christ's manhood is hoping in a man, citing the Scriptures on Christ as man and arguing that our hope is in God the Word acting through his flesh.
Part 7Eutherius of Tyana · ca. 431-440 · The author ridicules the formula 'God the Word suffered impassibly', arguing that it makes Christ's passion, endurance, and death a mere appearance and voids the new testament.
Part 8Eutherius of Tyana · ca. 431-440 · The author rejects the formula 'God suffered as he willed', arguing that will cannot overturn nature and that Scripture nowhere says the impassible God suffered by his will.
Part 10Eutherius of Tyana · ca. 431-440 · The author rejects the formula 'God the Word suffered in the flesh' as unscriptural, insisting that Scripture and Nicaea say 'Christ suffered', a name that signifies both natures.
Part 11Eutherius of Tyana · ca. 431-440 · The author answers the argument that the Jews' guilt requires that God was killed, insisting that the Godhead is impassible and that the insult to the united manhood reaches God, so that the Jews are still culpable.
Part 12Eutherius of Tyana · ca. 431-440 · The author turns back the charge that those who deny that God was crucified are Jews, arguing that calling the Godhead passible is worse than Judaism, close to Manichaeism, and bolder than the devil.
Part 13Eutherius of Tyana · ca. 431-440 · The author rejects the argument that the angels' eating at Abraham's table shows that Christ's Godhead could eat without flesh, arguing that the angels only appeared to eat, while Christ truly ate in his flesh.
Part 14Eutherius of Tyana · ca. 431-440 · The author argues that each of Christ's miracles is great only if his flesh is real, and, in a new chapter, that denying that Christ took our nature empties the promises, the fulfilment of the law, and our hope of resurrection.
Part 16Eutherius of Tyana · ca. 431-440 · The author argues against blind acceptance of words, showing that apparently contrary texts about Christ (only-begotten and firstborn, eternal and recent, without genealogy and with one) agree only when referred to his two natures.
Part 17Eutherius of Tyana · ca. 431-440 · The author rejects the claim that the two natures are no longer distinct after the ascension, citing Christ's return in the same form, his intercession, Paul's 'by a man', and the marks of the nails.
Letter to John of AntiochEutherius of Tyana · ca. 431-433 · Eutherius warns against communion with Cyril unless he retracts his Twelve Chapters, refutes the anathemas one by one, and reports the embassy of Paul of Emesa to Egypt.
Letter to Helladius of TarsusEutherius of Tyana · ca. 431-433 · Eutherius praises Helladius for standing firm like the three young men in the furnace and reports what he thinks of the latest letters from Egypt.
Letter to Sixtus III (with Helladius of Tarsus)Eutherius of Tyana · ca. 431-433 · Eutherius and Helladius appeal to Pope Sixtus III against Cyril's Twelve Chapters, the condemnation of Nestorius at Ephesus, and John of Antioch's reconciliation with Cyril.
Mercator 15Marius Mercator · after 431 (ca. 431-450) · Mercator introduces his Latin translation of Theodore of Mopsuestia's creed, warning that Theodore misled Nestorius and that Julian of Eclanum, who sought Theodore's support, was later condemned by him.
Mercator 18Marius Mercator · after 431 (ca. 431-450) · Mercator compares Nestorius with Paul of Samosata: Nestorius confesses the eternal Word but, by Mercator's account, calls only the one born of Mary Son, joined to the Word by merit, and so was justly condemned.
Mercator 19Marius Mercator · after 431 (ca. 431-450) · Mercator prefaces his literal Latin translation of Nestorius's sermons, defending its plain style as faithful to the Greek.
Mercator 17Marius Mercator · after 431 (ca. 431-450) · Mercator anathematizes the creed he ascribes to Theodore, arguing from Scripture and from the union of soul and body that Christ is one Son and one person, the Word made flesh, not a man joined to the Word by grace.
Lines 1–23Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 431-435 · In an epitaph the Pelagian heresy speaks of the Nestorian heresy as both its offspring and its mother, says both were condemned and lie in one tomb because they made salvation and even Christ's divinity a reward of merit, and warns the reader.
Objection and reply 9Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 431-432 · Christ died for the whole world in that he took the nature of all, yet his death profits only those reborn and joined to him in baptism, the children of the promise from Jews and Gentiles.
Chapter 1Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · Theodotus praises his addressee's inherited faith, which protects the empire, and introduces the parable of the sower and the tares as a picture of true teaching and heresy.
Chapter 2Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · Christ, one and the same, shows himself both God and man; by the union the sufferings of his flesh are truly God's, as Paul's “Lord of glory” and Peter's “Author of life” show.
Chapter 4Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · The union of God and man is a wonder beyond reason, like the virgin birth, and must be held by faith rather than investigated; God willed to suffer and so chose to be born.
Chapter 5Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · Denying that Mary bore God undoes God's saving condescension; Christ's warning against being ashamed of him and Paul's “I am not ashamed of the gospel” concern God who suffered in the flesh.
Chapter 6Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · The “weakness” and “foolishness” of God in 1 Corinthians are his acceptance of sufferings, which healed humanity and conquered the world's wisdom.
Chapter 7Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · Those who divide Christ into two abolish the economy: only a real union explains Paul's self-emptying, the crucified Lord of glory, and the one who descended and ascended.
Chapter 8Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · Theodotus quotes the Nicene Creed of the 318 Fathers as a rule of faith that speaks of one Son and is to be believed, not argued over.
Chapter 9Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · The Nicene Fathers, facing Arius as the church now faces Nestorius, began the creed with the one Father so that the Son too would be confessed as one.
Chapter 10Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · Theodotus rejects the claim that “Son” and “Christ” are one name for two realities, and introduces Nestorius's reply to Cyril, which quotes the Nicene Creed.
Chapter 11Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · Theodotus accuses Nestorius of omitting the word “one” from the creed's article on the Son so as to make room for two subjects, one Son by nature and another by grace.
Chapter 12Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · Against Nestorius's claim that “Jesus” names only the human nature, Theodotus argues that the creed gives “Jesus”, “Christ”, and “Son of God” to one and the same subject.
Chapter 13Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · Against Nestorius's contempt for the infant and circumcised Jesus, Theodotus argues that by the union the Word himself, impassible, is the crucified Lord of glory and the one Lord through whom all things were made.
Chapter 14Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · As the Virgin became a mother without losing her virginity, so God suffered in the flesh without ceasing to be impassible; Peter's Pentecost speech shows one and the same Jesus who died and could not be held by death.
Chapter 15Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · The creed calls the Jesus whom Peter confessed the consubstantial Son, not an adopted son; its words “came down … made flesh … became man … suffered” express a real union in which God suffered without a passible nature.
Chapter 17Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · God's suffering, like the virgin birth, is a wonder to be believed; “passible” describes a nature able to suffer, so God, who suffered by union with the flesh, is not thereby passible.
Chapter 18Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · The creed says the impassible Word came down, was made flesh, became man and suffered; as one virgin giving birth does not make virgins child-bearers, so God's suffering once in the flesh does not make him passible.
Chapter 19Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · The creed's “rose on the third day” shows the fruit of God's suffering, which raises us with him; Paul's hymn in Philippians shows that God himself emptied himself by becoming man.
Chapter 20Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · Theodotus charges that Nestorius, quoting Philippians 2 in his letter to Cyril, left out “he emptied himself” because those words show God himself entering human life.
Chapter 21Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · By quoting “obedient to death” Nestorius convicts himself, since the one in God's form is the one who died; the creed teaches that God the Word suffered in his flesh, and comes as our kinsman to judge the living and the dead.
Chapter 22Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · The birth from the Virgin was the beginning not of the Son's Godhead but of his manhood; the Nicene anathemas exclude both Arius and those who make Christ a mere man.
Chapter 23Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · The creed's anathema on calling the Son changeable shows that the incarnation is a wonder of God, not a change; Zechariah's punishment for demanding proof teaches us to receive God's wonders in faith.
Section 1Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · Opening his sermon on the Presentation, Theodotus calls for thanksgiving with the Psalms and Isaiah's child “born to us” and recalls how the star, the Magi, the angels, and the Spirit announced Christ, last of all to Simeon.
Section 2Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · The preacher sings with prophets and apostles of God seen on earth: the Virgin of Isaiah conceived the Word through hearing, and her pregnancy undid Eve's deadly “conception” passed on to Adam.
Section 3Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · Theodotus calls the congregation to praise God the Word and his Mother, and takes up Gabriel's greeting in a string of salutations to Mary.
Section 4Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · The birth of the eternal one in time is a wonder beyond words, which draws the mind between the Godhead and the real flesh; the Virgin's feast feeds an ever-growing thirst for divine things.
Section 5Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · Those who reject the title Theotokos deny the power of the faith: the God who fashioned Eve without disgrace also fashioned the Virgin, and dwelling in her was no outrage to him.
Section 6Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · Whoever accepts that God formed Eve must accept the incarnation from a Virgin; as fire purifies iron and water poured on the head soaks the whole body, the Spirit wholly sanctified Mary before she received the Word.
Section 7Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · Returning to the feast, the preacher sees in the Virgin, Simeon, and Anna the firstfruits of both sexes meeting the Redeemer, and reads Isaac's blessing of Jacob as a riddle of the children of God who worship the Son.
Section 8Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · We are made sons by grace, not equal to Christ; the saying that the least in the kingdom is greater than the Baptist compares the Baptist with other prophets and with John the Evangelist, not with Christ.
Section 9Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · Scripture calls the Spirit-led “gods” and sons, but Christ is above all even as man; the Baptist's own witness shows that no mere man can be compared with the incarnate God.
Section 10Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · Simeon fearlessly takes in his arms the God before whom Moses trembled and hails him as the light of the nations; that light reached the world through the apostles, whom the Jews of Thessalonica accused of rebellion.
Section 11Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · Christ's kingship conquered the tyrant not with weapons of iron but, hidden in weak flesh, with the armour of righteousness, judgement, and holiness, triumphing through apparent defeat.
Section 12Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · Christ sent out unarmed apostles who won the world by persuasion; converts left pagan myth and Jewish unbelief to confess the Trinity and Christ, complete in Godhead and perfect in manhood, worshipped by angels, by Simeon and Anna, by the Magi, and by all the adopted sons.
Section 13Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · Mary keeps Simeon's words, and Simeon foretells the fall and rising of many and the sword in her soul; the prophecy is fulfilled in Paul, Thomas, and the Lord's brothers James and Jude, who came from unbelief to faith.
Theodotus, ACO I.1.2, homily 71.2Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · Theodotus answers one who denies that God suffered: the nature is impassible, but denying the suffering denies the economy of salvation.
Theodotus, ACO I.1.2, homily 71.3Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · Humanity ran away from its good Master into sin; God, not willing to lose his possession, came to the runaway not in terrifying majesty but humbly.
Theodotus, ACO I.1.2, homily 71.4Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · Paul's 'Christ Jesus' names the one born of the virgin; one who divides Christ into slave and master makes the single name empty. The Son, equal with God by nature, could humble himself without loss.
Theodotus, ACO I.1.2, homily 71.5Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · God suffered not in his nature but by uniting himself to what can suffer; John, whose relic Ephesus holds, sums up all piety in 'The Word became flesh'.
Theodotus, ACO I.1.2, homily 72.1Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · The feast celebrates God's manifestation: the invisible and unknowable God took a visible, tangible nature so that he could be known.
Theodotus, ACO I.1.2, homily 72.2Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · The burning bush that was not consumed prefigured the virgin who gave birth without losing her virginity; God is not outraged by the lowly things he took on to save us.
Theodotus, ACO I.1.2, homily 72.3Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · The virgin's remaining a virgin shows that the one born is God; God appeared as man so that we might approach our judge as a kinsman.
Theodotus, ACO I.1.2, homily 72.4Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · The manner of the incarnation, like the healing of the man born blind with clay, is a wonder beyond reason; we should believe that it happened and leave the how to God.
Theodotus, ACO I.1.2, homily 72.5Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · Theodotus prepares an example from human speech, explaining that Scripture calls the Son 'Word', 'Son', and 'radiance' to guard against blasphemous understanding.
Theodotus, ACO I.1.2, homily 72.6Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · 'Son' shows sameness of essence, 'Word' the impassibility of the generation, and 'radiance' the Son's eternal coexistence with the Father.
Theodotus, ACO I.1.2, homily 72.7Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · As a spoken word becomes visible when written on paper without beginning to exist then, so the eternal Word, begotten of the Father, became visible when born of the virgin.
Theodotus, ACO I.1.2, homily 72.8Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · Applying the image: the Father is like the mind, the Son like its word, and the virgin like the hand that makes the word visible; God loathes nothing he made.
Theodotus, ACO I.1.2, homily 72.11Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · God restored man's lost honour by uniting his image to himself; he made human passions and death his own in order to destroy passion and death.
Theodotus, ACO I.1.2, homily 72.12Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · One who tears up an imperial letter is punished for tearing the emperor's word, though the word itself cannot be torn: so the impassible Word received the passion of the flesh he united to himself.
Theodotus, ACO I.1.2, homily 72.14Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · Applying the example: those who crucified the flesh outraged God the Word himself, who made its sufferings his own; the homily closes with a doxology.
Theodotus, ACO I.1.2, homily 73.1Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · The Nativity overcomes nature: Mary gave birth and remained a virgin, surpassing the virgin earth of paradise, because the one born is the Word of God.
Theodotus, ACO I.1.2, homily 73.2Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · The Word did not begin to exist at his birth but began to be man; remaining unchanged God, he emptied himself into the form of a servant, as Paul says.
Theodotus, ACO I.1.2, homily 73.3Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · The cross is foolishness to the Greeks because they judge God's wonders by nature; if a mere man had been crucified, no one would have found it foolish.
Theodotus, ACO I.1.2, homily 73.4Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · To deny that God made human passions his own is to deny that the cross saved us, destroyed death, and nailed our sin to the wood.
Theodotus, ACO I.1.2, homily 73.5Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · The magi's gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh confess Christ as king, God, and one who would die; the union makes him one, so that dividing him even in thought dissolves the union.
Theodotus, ACO I.1.2, homily 73.6Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · Separating Christ's natures even in thought dissolves the union; Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever; the manner of the union, like the Nile turned to blood, is known only to God.
Theodotus, ACO I.1.2, homily 73.9Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · The furnace was flame and dew at once; God, who changed nothing there, became man without change; and since prophets and angels could not save humanity, God saved it himself, respecting free will.
Theodotus, ACO I.1.2, homily 73.10Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · When prophets, law, and angels failed, God came himself, not in terror as at Sinai but in poverty, born in a manger, so that all might approach him; Isaiah's ox and donkey point to that manger.
Theodotus, ACO I.1.2, homily 73.11Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · 2 Cor 8:9 shows that the one who was rich and became poor is God the Word himself, not a separate man; so he also suffered the rest of human things.
Theodotus, ACO I.1.2, homily 73.12Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · Christ's poverty in the manger reveals the wealth of his Godhead; the magi and the angels worshipped one and the same God; the star was an angelic power, not a real star.
Theodotus, ACO I.1.2, homily 73.13Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · The manger has become the eucharistic table, and Christ's lowliness, sufferings, and death have brought the world salvation; the virgin's body, made good by God, was no unworthy dwelling.
Theodotus, ACO I.1.2, homily 73.14Theodotus of Ancyra · 431 · Theodotus confesses one Christ, the same God and man, and warns that dividing him even in thought denies the economy of salvation.
Letter to Valerian, paragraph 23Eucherius of Lyon · ca. 432 · Future things are seen more clearly than present ones, as distant objects are seen better than those pressed against the eye; our confidence rests on Christ, God and man, who reconciled man to God and was exalted in glory.
Homily 1, on the Nativity (Alexandria, 432)Paul of Emesa · Dec 432-433 · On Christmas at Alexandria, Paul proclaims Mary Theotokos and one Christ in two perfect natures, rejects “two sons”, and is acclaimed by the people as orthodox; he ends by inviting Cyril to preach.
Homily 2, on the Incarnation (Alexandria, 432)Paul of Emesa · Dec 432-433 · In a second sermon at Alexandria, Paul teaches that Emmanuel is consubstantial with the Father and with us, two natures in one person, and that God the Word, remaining impassible, made his own the sufferings of his body; the people acclaim Cyril.
Letter 1, chapter 3Sixtus III, bishop of Rome · 432–440 · Sixtus reaffirms Celestine’s judgment against Nestorius and turns to the requests of Cyril.
Letter 1, chapter 4Sixtus III, bishop of Rome · 432–440 · Sixtus agrees with Cyril that, Nestorius being deposed, his followers who return to the right faith are to be received.
Letter 1, chapter 5Sixtus III, bishop of Rome · 432–440 · John of Antioch will be received as catholic if he accepts the condemnations of the Council of Ephesus; Cyril, who forgives his injuries, will receive his crown.
Letter 2, chapter 3Sixtus III, bishop of Rome · 432–440 · John of Antioch and the other supporters of Nestorius are to be received if they reject what Ephesus rejected; if not, they condemn themselves with Nestorius.
Letter 3, chapter 1Sixtus III, bishop of Rome · 432–440 · Sixtus rejoices that the church’s body is whole again after the reunion of Antioch with Alexandria, Nestorius alone being cut off.
Letter 3, chapter 2Sixtus III, bishop of Rome · 432–440 · Sixtus says that Christ has turned grief to joy and that the report of the reunion was fittingly heard by an assembly of bishops.
Letter 3, chapter 3Sixtus III, bishop of Rome · 432–440 · Sixtus reports that the news was heard at Saint Peter’s by a synod gathered for his anniversary, over which Peter himself presided in spirit.
Letter 3, chapter 4Sixtus III, bishop of Rome · 432–440 · Sixtus says that John of Antioch never really followed Nestorius but only suspended judgment, and has now returned.
Letter 3, chapter 5Sixtus III, bishop of Rome · 432–440 · Sixtus rejoices that the bishops of the East have returned like the lost sheep, while Nestorius, the barren branch, is condemned, and welcomes John of Antioch as a catholic.
Letter 3, chapter 6Sixtus III, bishop of Rome · 432–440 · Sixtus says that the deposition decreed against Cyril by his opponents was no surprise, since those persecuted for righteousness have a great reward.
Letter 4, chapter 1Sixtus III, bishop of Rome · 432–440 · Sixtus tells John of Antioch that Cyril’s news of the reunion has turned his grief to joy.
Letter 4, chapter 2Sixtus III, bishop of Rome · 432–440 · Sixtus says that Nestorius, now an exile, reaps thorns; he was warned and condemned late, and now all should rejoice.
Letter 4, chapter 3Sixtus III, bishop of Rome · 432–440 · Sixtus accepts John’s praise, read at the synod on his anniversary, and turns John’s phrase “light-bearing” into a call for all priests to shine.
Letter 4, chapter 4Sixtus III, bishop of Rome · 432–440 · Sixtus compares Nestorius to the fallen Lucifer of Isaiah 14, since he made Christ a mere man and denied the incarnation, and calls for an end to controversy.
Letter 4, chapter 5Sixtus III, bishop of Rome · 432–440 · Sixtus urges John to proclaim the restored unity and to hold the simple faith that Peter received from Christ and hands on through his successors.
Letter 4, chapter 7Sixtus III, bishop of Rome · 432–440 · Sixtus urges John to hold the one ancient faith without novelty and commends Maximian of Constantinople, who learned that faith at Rome.
Psalm 101, from v. 1Prosper of Aquitaine · after 432, before 455 · The poor man praying in Psalm 102 (101) is Christ, who speaks for his weak members, and the birds of the psalm are types of the preacher and of Christ himself.
Psalm 108, from v. 1Prosper of Aquitaine · after 432, before 455 · Psalm 109:1–15 (108) is read as Christ's prayer against his betrayer Judas and, by extension, against the unbelieving Jewish people.
Psalm 108, from v. 16Prosper of Aquitaine · after 432, before 455 · Psalm 109:16–31 (108) is read of Judas and the unbelieving people, and of Christ, poor and suffering in himself and his members, helped by the Father and vindicated.
Psalm 109Prosper of Aquitaine · after 432, before 455 · Psalm 110 (109) is read of Christ as David's Lord and son, seated at the Father's right hand, one beginning with the Father, born before all ages and of the Virgin, and priest for ever after Melchizedek.
Psalm 118, HethProsper of Aquitaine · after 432, before 455 · Psalm 119:57–64 (118) is read of the grace that turns the believer's feet to God's law, the martyrs bound in body but free in mind, and Christ's sharing in our mortality.
Psalm 118, IodProsper of Aquitaine · after 432, before 455 · Psalm 119:73–80 (118) is read of God's creation and re-creation of man, Christ praying in his body the church, and the heart made spotless by baptism, the Spirit, and the Lord's Prayer.
Psalm 118, MemProsper of Aquitaine · after 432, before 455 · Psalm 119:97–104 (118) is read of the law of love, Christ taught by the Father and wiser than his teachers, and the sweetness of God's word that makes the believer do good from delight.
Psalm 118, TauProsper of Aquitaine · after 432, before 455 · The end of Psalm 119 (118) is read of prayer heard, preaching of God's word, the church's longing for Christ's first and second comings, and the lost sheep sought by the shepherd among all nations.
Psalm 131Prosper of Aquitaine · after 432, before 455 · Psalm 132 (131) is read of the church as God's chosen dwelling, the vow to make oneself his temple, the incarnation of David's son, and the widow-like, poor, and priestly people of God.
Psalm 132Prosper of Aquitaine · after 432, before 455 · Psalm 133 (132) is read of brotherly unity in the church, with the ointment flowing from Christ the high priest to the apostles and martyrs and down to the least members.
Psalm 137Prosper of Aquitaine · after 432, before 455 · Psalm 138 (137) is read as Christ's and the church's song of praise before the angels, the spread of the gospel to the kings of the earth, and Christ paying the debt of sinners.
Psalm 138Prosper of Aquitaine · after 432, before 455 · Psalm 139 (138) is read of Christ's humiliation and exaltation, the prodigal sinner hemmed in by God, the apostles strengthened after their fear, schismatics who leave the church, and perfect hatred of sin but not of sinners.
Psalm 142Prosper of Aquitaine · after 432, before 455 · Psalm 143 (142) is read of Christ in his passion and in his church, the confession that no one living is righteous before God, and the prayer for grace to do God's will.
Commonitory 12Vincent of Lérins · 434 · Vincent summarizes the errors of Photinus on the Trinity, of Apollinaris on Christ's soul and flesh, and of Nestorius on two persons in Christ.
Commonitory 13Vincent of Lérins · 434 · Against these errors Vincent sets out the catholic faith: in God one substance and three persons, in Christ two substances and one person.
Commonitory 14Vincent of Lérins · 434 · Christ's 'person' is not a role played like an actor's mask, as the Manichees held, but the Word truly became man.
Commonitory 15Vincent of Lérins · 434 · The union of God and man in Christ took place at the conception in the Virgin's womb, which is why Mary is truly called Theotokos.
Commonitory 16Vincent of Lérins · 434 · Vincent recapitulates, anathematizing Photinus, Apollinaris and Nestorius and blessing the church's faith in the Trinity and the one person of Christ.
Tome to the Armenians 8Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 435-437 · Love moved God the Word to become flesh; he became incarnate without change of nature and without adding a fourth to the Trinity.
Tome to the Armenians 12Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 435-437 · When law and prophets could not rescue humanity, God the Word himself became flesh of a virgin, beginning from the very start of human existence.
Tome to the Armenians 13Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 435-437 · As a man begins as flesh and grows, so the Word began from the root of human generation, becoming flesh without being changed into it.
Tome to the Armenians 14Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 435-437 · 'Became flesh' shows the indivisible union in one person; 'took the form of a servant' shows the Godhead's immutability.
Tome to the Armenians 15Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 435-437 · The Word became perfect man unchanged; as man he paid sin's debt by dying, as God he destroyed the devil, and he fulfilled all righteousness.
Tome to the Armenians 16Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 435-437 · There is one Son, eternally begotten, who without leaving the Father became man through a virgin birth beyond nature.
Tome to the Armenians 17Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 435-437 · Christ and God the Word are one Son, not two; otherwise Christ would be a mere man, and the worship of heaven and the prophets would make no sense.
Tome to the Armenians 18Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 435-437 · Those who mock Christ's human weaknesses deny his real human nature and so lose salvation; they must either deny the nature with the Manichees or accept the passions with it.
Tome to the Armenians 19Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 435-437 · Proclus confesses one hypostasis of God the Word made flesh: the same Son works miracles and suffers.
Tome to the Armenians 20Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 435-437 · Proclus states the opponents' syllogism that, since the Trinity is impassible, the one crucified must be someone other than God the Word, and calls it a spider's web.
Tome to the Armenians 21Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 435-437 · The Trinity is impassible in its Godhead; the one of the Trinity became flesh so that in his flesh he might abolish the passions and death while his Godhead remained impassible.
Tome to the Armenians 22Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 435-437 · Gabriel's words show that the one born is God, whose people he saves; being one, God and man, born of a virgin, Jesus Christ saved the world.
Tome to the Armenians 23Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 435-437 · Since all things were made through Christ, as Paul and John say, Christ is God the Word, not a mere man.
Tome to the Armenians 24Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 435-437 · Texts calling Christ a man show that he truly became man, not that he is only a man; he is of the same essence with the Father as God and of one race with the virgin as man.
Tome to the Armenians 25Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 435-437 · The prophets foretold a virgin bearing Emmanuel, 'God with us'.
Tome to the Armenians 26Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 435-437 · Proclus answers the argument that a human mother bears only a human: in a birth beyond nature the one born is God.
Tome to the Armenians 27Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 435-437 · The one Son made the world, gave the law, and became flesh; Proclus condemns Arius, Eunomius, Macedonius, and the new teaching, which he says outdoes Judaism in blasphemy.
Tome to the Armenians 28Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 435-437 · Christ, who united Jew and Greek in one new man, cannot himself be divided into two.
Tome to the Armenians 29Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 435-437 · Paul's list of Israel's privileges in Rom 9:4–5 shows that Christ came from the Jews only according to the flesh and is God before the ages.
Tome to the Armenians 30Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 435-437 · The Christ born of the virgin is the same one who came down from heaven; Paul, taught by revelation, shows who he is.
Tome to the Armenians 31Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 435-437 · Rom 9:5 calls Christ God over all, blessed forever, and Proclus explains each phrase against those who make him a mere man.
Tome to the Armenians 32Proclus of Constantinople · ca. 435-437 · Proclus calls for the worship of Christ as God and points to the coming judgment.
Epigram 61: tAlia, LXI]. De superbia diaboli, et Christi humilitateProsper of Aquitaine · ca. 435-450 · The devil's pride brought man to death; Christ's humility, as God born of the Virgin, brings the believer back to life, reborn in baptism.
Epigram 65: De Incarnatione Verbi Dei (Migne also numbers it LXIV)Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 435-450 · The Word, equal to the Father, shared our mortality so that we might share his divinity; the triune God redeemed humanity through Christ's innocent death, the Word united to flesh without confusion or division.
Epigram 66: De eodemProsper of Aquitaine · ca. 435-450 · The catholic faith confesses Christ as both true God and true man; Prosper's verse argues against those who deny the incarnation that without it there is no salvation, birth from the Virgin, or fulfillment of the promises to Abraham and David.
Epigram 105: De eodem (Migne also numbers it CII)Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 435-450 · The Son has life in himself by birth from the Father, sharing one Godhead with the Father and the Spirit; and (Epigram 106) no believer should ever say "it is enough," but keep seeking God to the end.
To the Church 2.4Salvian of Marseilles · ca. 435-440 · Christ, Lord of all, humbled himself to birth, a manger, and life among sinners for man’s sake.
To the Church 2.5Salvian of Marseilles · ca. 435-440 · Christ also endured the insults, trial, scourging, and death of the cross.
To the Church 2.6Salvian of Marseilles · ca. 435-440 · No one can repay what God suffered for man, even if that debt is common to all.
To the Church 2.8Salvian of Marseilles · ca. 435-440 · Christ died wholly for each person, so each owes the whole debt.
To the Church 2.23Salvian of Marseilles · ca. 435-440 · Christians owe more than the Jews did because they have received the truth, sonship, the Spirit, and Christ himself.
To the Church 2.24Salvian of Marseilles · ca. 435-440 · Since Christ gave himself, Christians owe not only their wealth but themselves.
To the Church 4.20Salvian of Marseilles · ca. 435-440 · Christ declares that he hungers and thirsts, and so is in need.
To the Church 4.21Salvian of Marseilles · ca. 435-440 · Christ shares the need of every poor person and so is the neediest of all.
To the Church 4.22Salvian of Marseilles · ca. 435-440 · Christ begs in all the poor.
On Eph 5.31Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Theodoret explains “the two shall become one flesh” as the first law of marriage, applied by Paul also to Christ and the church, while still binding husbands and wives.
Psalm 1:1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 1:1 blesses the one who avoids the ungodly, sinners and the pestilent; Theodoret explains the missing title, the word "blessed," that women are included, and the three steps of walking, standing, and sitting.
Psalm 2:1–2Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 2:1–2 foretells the plot of Herod, Pilate, the Jewish leaders and the Gentile soldiers against Christ, as Peter interprets it in Acts.
Psalm 2:4Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 2:4: the crucified one, who is in heaven, shows the plot to be vain, and the Father punishes it.
Psalm 2:5Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 2:5 is fulfilled in the Roman destruction of Jerusalem; the psalm names two persons, the Lord and his Christ.
Psalm 2:6Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 2:6: Christ reigns over all creation as God by nature and is appointed king as man; his teaching went from Zion to the whole world.
Psalm 2:7Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 2:7: "today I have begotten you" refers to Christ as man, since his divine generation is before the morning star.
Psalm 2:8Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 2:8: as God Christ is Lord of all, as man he receives the nations; the prophecy is fulfilled in the Jewish believers through whom the nations were won.
Psalm 8:5Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 8:4–6: God remembers and visits frail humanity; made lower than angels by mortality, human nature was crowned with glory through the incarnation.
Psalm 8:8–9Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 8:6–8: humans rule the animals by God's gift, and in Christ's assumed humanity all creation, visible and invisible, is subjected to him.
Psalm 9:1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · The title of Psalm 9, "the hidden things of the son," refers to Christ's death and victory over death, a mystery hidden even from the apostles.
Psalm 9:4Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 9:3: humanity sings to its benefactor for the defeat of the devil; the psalm is spoken to Christ, not by him.
Psalm 9:10Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 9:9: God helped poor humanity at the right time, the fullness of time when he sent his Son.
Psalm 9:12Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 9:11: the heavenly Zion; God's "deeds" are the great exchange by which enemies became friends and life came through death and the cross.
Psalm 9:20–21Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 9:19–20: the lawgiver asked for is Christ, lawgiver of the nations, whose law teaches them to live as human beings.
Psalm 9:39Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 10:18: punishing the arrogant deters others; the psalm shows humanity's plight, Christ's healing, and judgment at his second coming.
Psalm 13:7Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 14:7: a double prophecy of Jerusalem's deliverance and of Christ's saving appearance from Zion, with the return of the captives.
Psalm 15:1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 16:1–3 (Greek 15) is spoken by Christ as man: he asks as man and grants as God; what was made perfect was his human nature; the saints are the apostles.
Psalm 15:5Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 16:5: Christ as man calls the nations his inheritance and his death his cup; he asks that human nature recover the life and lordship lost by the fall.
Psalm 15:6Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 16:6: for the sake of his inheritance, human salvation, Christ endures the plots against him.
Psalm 15:7Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 16:7: Christ was made wise and strengthened as man, while as God he is the source of wisdom.
Psalm 15:8–11Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 16:8–11, interpreted by Peter in Acts, foretells Christ's resurrection: as man he received immortality; the mention of his soul refutes Arius, Eunomius and Apollinaris.
Psalm 17:29Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 18:28: God's light ends affliction; the "lamp" is Christ's human nature, descended from David.
Psalm 17:44Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 18:43–44: David never ruled the nations, so the verse is fulfilled in Christ, son of David, whom the Gentiles obeyed at once.
Psalm 17:47Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 18:46: against those who call the crucified one dead, the psalm proclaims that he lives, has ascended, and saves.
Psalm 17:51Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 18:50: since David's royal line ended after Zerubbabel, the eternal king from David's seed must be Christ.
Psalm 21:1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · The title of Psalm 22 (Greek 21), "help at dawn," refers to Christ's appearing; the psalm foretells his passion, resurrection, and the calling of the nations.
Psalm 21:2Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 22:1: Christ's cry from the cross means not that the divinity left him but that it permitted the passion; the "transgressions" are ours, which he took up for us.
Psalm 21:3Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 22:2: Christ's prayer was not granted, but he understood the saving purpose of the passion.
Psalm 21:4Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 22:3: the wonder is that the passion happens while God dwells in this holy body.
Psalm 21:7Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 22:6: the "worm" signifies Christ's lowliness in the passion; some also saw in it the virgin birth.
Psalm 21:8–9Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 22:7–8 was fulfilled in the mockery at the cross recorded in the Gospels.
Psalm 21:10–11Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 22:9–10: Christ, formed and born under God's care, hoped in God from infancy, as Isaiah's Emmanuel prophecy shows.
Psalm 21:12Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 22:11: at the passion the disciples had fled.
Psalm 21:13–14Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 22:12–13: the bulls and calves are the priests, scribes and their followers who surrounded Christ.
Psalm 21:15Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 22:14–15: the scattered bones are the apostles who fled; the silent tongue is Christ's silence before his judges; the dust of death is his burial.
Psalm 21:17Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 22:16–17: the dogs are the Gentile soldiers; the pierced hands and feet were shown by the risen Christ to his disciples and Thomas.
Psalm 21:19Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 22:18–21: the dividing of the garments is in the Gospels; the dog, lion and unicorn are the devil, who unjustly brought death on the sinless Christ.
Psalm 21:23Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 22:22–25: Christ's "brothers" are believers, Jewish and Gentile; as God he is only-begotten, as man firstborn; the great assembly is the worldwide church.
Psalm 21:31Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 22:30: Christ's seed are the baptized who serve God; his own assumed nature, united with the divinity, shares its glory rather than serving.
Psalm 21:32Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 22:30–31: the coming generation is the people born to God through Christ, and the psalm cannot be fulfilled in David, as the Jews hold.
Psalm 22:1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 23:1: the nations fed with the saving food call Christ their shepherd, who lets them lack nothing.
Psalm 23:6Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 24:6: the generation that seeks God is the nations converted after the incarnation, and the psalm goes on to foretell the ascension.
Psalm 23:7–8Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 24:7–10: the angels' question and answer at the gates proclaim Christ's ascension, when human nature first entered heaven.
Psalm 29:1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 30, title: the dedication of the house is the renewal of human nature by Christ's death and resurrection, foreshadowed in Hezekiah's recovery.
Psalm 29:2Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 30:1: by taking up human nature, Christ saved it from the demons' triumph.
Psalm 39:1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 40, title: the psalm fits David as a type, but refers truly to human nature raised by Christ, as Hebrews shows.
Psalm 39:4Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 40:3: the new song fits David as a type, but truly human nature, raised from the pit of death and the mire of sin by the incarnation.
Psalm 39:7–8Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 40:6–7: in place of the law's sacrifices God seeks our bodies; Hebrews rightly applies the words to Christ, who as firstfruits of our nature speaks for us.
Psalm 40:1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 41, title: since Christ applied this psalm to himself, it must not be referred to David or Hezekiah.
Psalm 40:2Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 41:1: the poor one is Christ, who became poor for us; whoever understands his poverty will be rescued on the day of judgment.
Psalm 40:5Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 41:4: the sinless Christ speaks for sinful human nature as its firstfruits; Symmachus reads "even if I have sinned."
Psalm 40:6Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 41:5: the enemies who wished his death are the Jewish leaders who plotted against Christ.
Psalm 40:7Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 41:6: the visitor with a false heart is Judas, who went out to bargain with the priests.
Psalm 40:8–9Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 41:7–8: the enemies conspired and falsely accused Christ before Pilate, but the one who sleeps in death will rise.
Psalm 40:10Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 41:9: the friend who ate Christ's bread and lifted his heel is Judas; the heel means a tripping deceit, as with Jacob and Esau.
Psalm 40:11–12Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 41:10–11: Christ prays to be raised as man, in the assumed nature that suffered, as in his Gospel prayers.
Psalm 40:13Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 41:12: the sinless human nature assumed by the Son was upheld and established forever in an indivisible union.
Psalm 40:14Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 41:13: the closing doxology after the passion shows that the one foretold is also eternal God.
Psalm 44:1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 45, title: the psalm is about the beloved Son and the nations changed through baptism, called flowers and lilies by the other translators.
Psalm 44:3Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 45:2: the King's beauty, which surpasses all, is that of his sinless humanity and virtue, not bodily beauty, so it does not contradict Isaiah 53.
Psalm 44:5Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 45:3–5: Christ's beauty is his truth, meekness, and righteousness, which are also his weapons; with them he wounded the demons and won the peoples.
Psalm 44:7Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 45:6: here the psalm calls the King God, eternal and without beginning or end.
Psalm 44:8Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 45:7: Christ was anointed with the Spirit as man, not as God, with whom the Spirit is consubstantial; his partners are the believers.
Psalm 44:9–50Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 45:8–17: the King's fragrant garment is his body and passion; the queen is the church from the nations, told to forget her idolatrous ancestry, adorned within by the Spirit's gifts; her sons are the apostles and martyrs who rule the world.
Psalm 46:4–5Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 47:3–5: the nations subjected to the apostles honor their tombs; the shout and trumpet are the angels' cries at Christ's ascension.
Psalm 48:4–5Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 49:3–4: the speakers utter not their own words but God's wisdom; an added passage applies the verse to the apostles, who understood Christ's parables and explain them to others.
Psalm 49:2Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 50:2–3: Christ, whose beauty was shown in Zion, will come again openly as judge, surrounded by fire as Daniel saw.
Psalm 50:8Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 51:6: David, given prophetic knowledge of Christ and of baptism's forgiveness, asks to share the grace he foretells.
Psalm 54:1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 55, title: written when David fled Saul, the psalm foreshadows Christ betrayed by those he had helped; its lowly words fit the incarnate Lord who bore every insult.
Psalm 54:5–6Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 55:4–5: David's fear of death is not surprising, since Christ too was troubled and sweated blood in his human nature before the passion.
Psalm 56:9Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 57:8–9: David, the Spirit's instrument, will lead the nations' praise when Christ, the true light, dawns.
Psalm 58:1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 59, title: written when Michal helped David escape Saul's guards at night, the psalm foretells the guarding of Christ's tomb, his resurrection, the calling of the nations, and the dispersion of the Jews.
Psalm 58:5Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 59:3b–4a: the claim of innocence fits Christ, who alone was sinless, and David only as a type, since he had not wronged Saul.
Psalm 58:6Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 59:4b–5: David foresaw the Jews' rejection of Christ and asks that God's care pass to the nations, abhorring their impiety even as Christ prayed for them.
Psalm 58:8Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 59:7: the sword on their lips is the cry "crucify him," by which the Jews killed Christ as if no one were watching.
Psalm 60:7–8Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 61:6–7: the prayer for the king fits Zerubbabel only in part and truly Christ, his descendant, whose years are eternal; Zerubbabel's return from exile is a type of Christ's restoration of captive human nature.
Psalm 64:5Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 65:4-5: blessed is the people that dwells in God's courts; God is the hope of the ends of the earth, as Jacob foretold of the expectation of nations.
Psalm 64:12Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 65:11-12: the year of goodness is the age after the incarnation, foretold by Isaiah; the hills once given to idols now hold monks who hymn God.
Psalm 65:2Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 66:1-2: the returning captives call all people to praise, since their release prefigures all humanity's release from the devil.
Psalm 65:4Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 66:4: the whole earth's worship foretells the present age, when Christ is called Most High by all nations.
Psalm 66:1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 67, title: the psalm plainly foretells the incarnation of God the Word and the salvation of the nations.
Psalm 66:2Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 67:1: the prophet prays for the saving appearance of God, which an addition identifies with God the Word born of the Virgin without change.
Psalm 66:7Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 67:6-7: the earth's fruit is the nations' piety toward God, who appeared on earth; Theodoret rebukes heretics who deny the Son is God from God.
Psalm 67:1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 68, title: David prays for the Savior's appearance and is shown the salvation of mankind and the defeat of its enemies.
Psalm 67:2Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 68:1: "Let God arise" means both the end of God's patience and Christ's resurrection, which scatters the enemies.
Psalm 67:5Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 68:4-5: the apostles prepare the way for Christ among the nations, the "west" darkened by error; God's coming does not mean he changes place, for the divine nature is uncircumscribed.
Psalm 67:8–9Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 68:7-8: the earth shook at the crucifixion and heaven dripped grace at Pentecost; the God of Sinai is the one who did these things.
Psalm 67:19Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 68:18: Christ's ascent presupposes his descent; he freed the captives and, receiving faith, gives grace, making even the disobedient his dwelling.
Psalm 67:21Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 68:20: God, the spring of salvation, has opened the way out of death's prison.
Psalm 67:22Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 68:21: the devil, who handed sinners over to death, unjustly put the sinless Christ to death and so lost his power.
Psalm 67:25Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 68:24: God's goings are his saving dispensations, and the holy place is the human nature from David's seed that he assumed.
Psalm 67:29–30Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 68:28-29: believers ask God to confirm his grace because of the temple he assumed from them, the humanity of Christ seated above every power; kings will bring him gifts.
Psalm 67:34Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 68:33: Christ ascended above the heavens, and the voice of power is the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost.
Psalm 68:1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 69, title: spoken for the exiles in Babylon, the psalm also prophesies the passion of Christ and the ruin that came on the Jews because of it.
Psalm 68:26Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 69:25: the curse was fulfilled on Babylon and, Theodoret says, on the Jews, who gave gall and vinegar to Christ and suffered what they had once prayed against their oppressors.
Psalm 70:15Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 71:15-19: unable to count God's works, the psalmist will praise him as far as human nature allows; Israel's old age is the end of the law, and the generation to come is the church of the nations after the incarnation.
Psalm 70:20Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 71:20: the return from exile is like a return to life, as Ezekiel's opened graves show; an addition applies it to Christ raising human nature.
Psalm 71:1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 72, title and verses 1-2: the psalm cannot fit Solomon but fits Christ, the true Peaceable One, who is king as God and receives judgment as man.
Psalm 71:4Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 72:4: the false accuser is the devil, who slandered God and Job, and whom Christ humbled.
Psalm 71:5Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 72:5: the king, begotten of the Father before the moon, has neither beginning nor end; the sun is an image of his lasting being.
Psalm 71:6Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 72:6: rain falling silently on a fleece pictures the quiet, mysterious conception of Christ, which even Joseph did not perceive.
Psalm 71:8Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 72:8: Christ rules to the ends of the earth, beginning from the Jordan where he was baptized and began to preach.
Psalm 71:17Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 72:17: Christ is older than sun and moon; in him, Abraham's seed, all tribes are blessed, and the nations call him blessed as God.
Psalm 71:18Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 72:18-20: the prophesied king is the God of Israel and Master of all; the prophet prays that the whole earth be filled with his glory.
Psalm 73:15Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 74:15: the springs from the rock and the dried-up rivers recall the wilderness and Sodom; the exodus is a type of baptism, and the rock is Christ, who waters the nations.
Psalm 73:19Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 74:19: the prayer is for those who confess God (an addition: the Crucified as consubstantial God) against the beasts, and for the poor in spirit.
Psalm 77:68Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 78:68: God chose Judah for the shoot of Jesse, Christ, and named Zion to forestall the other tribes' envy.
Psalm 79:1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 80, title: the psalm foretells the exile and teaches the exiles to pray, and also foretells salvation for all through Christ.
Psalm 79:8Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 80:7: the refrain asks God to restore his people; additions apply the shining face to Christ's coming in the flesh.
Psalm 79:9–50Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 80:8-19: Israel, the vine brought from Egypt, flourished under David and Solomon and was ravaged by the Assyrians and Babylon; the exiles ask God to spare it for the sake of the Son of Man, Christ, the true vine who would spring from it.
Psalm 80:11Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 81:10: echoing the first commandment, God forbids a new or foreign god, which Theodoret turns against Arius and Eunomius, who make the Son not consubstantial and not eternal.
Psalm 81:8Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 82:8: the prophet calls on Christ, heir of the nations, to judge the earth and take the nations as his inheritance.
Psalm 82:2Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 83:1-3: the nations plotted against God's "hidden one," Christ, who was to come from Judah; like the blessed grape in Isaiah, he preserved the vine until he was taken, after which the vineyard was left to the beasts.
Psalm 83:8Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 84:7: the godly, like ascetics, go from strength to strength; God the Word appeared first in Zion.
Psalm 83:9–10Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 84:8-9: the "face of your Christ" is the saved people, the body of Christ.
Psalm 84:2Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 85:1-2: God's favor ended the exile and forgave Israel's sins, and also freed all mankind, as Christ announced from Isaiah in the synagogue.
Psalm 84:11Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 85:10: God's mercy met human truth and his peace answered righteousness; an addition sees the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth, carrying Christ and John.
Psalm 84:12Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 85:11: truth from the earth and righteousness from heaven; additions apply it to Christ born of the Virgin and to the Father's witness at his baptism.
Psalm 84:14Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 85:13: Christ leads the way of righteousness by his own example (an addition makes the righteousness that goes before him John the Baptist).
Psalm 85:9Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 86:9-10: the prophecy that all nations will worship God was fulfilled after the passion, when the apostles made disciples of all nations.
Psalm 85:12–13Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 86:12-13: the psalmist thanks God for rescue from the depths, which also points to the Word's descent to raise the dead to immortality.
Psalm 85:17Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 86:17: the psalmist asks for a sign of salvation that will shame his enemies; an addition names the cross as the good sign.
Psalm 86:5Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 87:5-6: all will call Zion mother; the man born in her is the Most High who founded her, the Lord who enrolls her citizens in heaven.
Psalm 88:1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 89, title: the psalm recalls God's promises to David of an eternal kingdom through his seed, Christ, as Nathan, Peter, and Paul show; the exiles appeal to these promises.
Psalm 88:27Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 89:26: the one who calls God "my Father" and "my God" is Christ, as his words in Gethsemane and after the resurrection show.
Psalm 88:28Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 89:27: the firstborn higher than all kings cannot be David or Solomon but is Christ, only-begotten as God and firstborn as man.
Psalm 88:29Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 89:28-29: the everlasting seed and throne of David cannot be found among the Jews but only in Christ, seated at God's right hand, as Hebrews, Psalm 110, and Isaiah 9 show.
Psalm 88:35Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 89:34: God will not break his covenant but will fulfill his promises (an addition: in the incarnation of the eternal Son from David).
Psalm 88:37–38Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 89:36-37: David's throne will last like the sun and moon, fulfilled in Christ, whose seed are believers.
Psalm 88:52Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 89:51: the reproached kings of David's line are the "footsteps" of Christ, his forefathers, and the people ask relief for Christ's sake.
Psalm 89:17Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 90:17: the brightness of God is the incarnation of the Word; God prospers the work of the virtuous, though the fruit is theirs.
Psalm 92:1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 93, title and verse 1: God is always king by nature, but after Christ's incarnation and ascension his majesty became manifest and the world was established in the knowledge of God.
Psalm 92:2Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 93:2: Christ's kingdom is eternal, not newly given, as Psalms 45 and 102 show, applied to him in Hebrews.
Psalm 93:15Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 94:15: God's care for the Jews lasts until they deny Christ, the righteousness of God; the upright in heart follow him, as the apostles did.
Psalm 95:2Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 96, title and verses 1-2: the added title about the rebuilt temple fits only the surface; the psalm calls the whole world to a new song for Christ's two comings and the salvation of the nations.
Psalm 95:5Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 96:5: the gods of the nations are demons, but the Lord made the heavens; additions recall the crucified Lord of glory and the cosmic signs at his passion.
Psalm 95:6Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 96:6: the sanctuary is the human nature Christ assumed, through which his majesty shines and draws all to worship.
Psalm 95:12Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 96:12: the rejoicing fields and trees are a personification for the people in them; the trees recall the saving wood of the cross.
Psalm 95:13Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 96:13: the Lord's two comings: the first brought knowledge of God, the second will bring just judgment.
Psalm 96:1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 97, title and verse 1: the added title is not prophetic; the psalm foretells Christ's two comings, and "the Lord has reigned" means his eternal kingship made known.
Psalm 96:6Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 97:6: the heavens, meaning the angels, proclaimed God's righteousness at Christ's birth and will do so again at his second coming.
Psalm 96:7Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 97:7: idol-worshipers are shamed while the angels worship God, a verse Hebrews applies to Christ.
Psalm 97:1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 98, title and verse 1: the new song celebrates Christ's coming; God saved "for himself," counting human salvation his own gain.
Psalm 97:3Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 98:3: God kept his promises to Israel by sending Christ from their seed, but made him a light to the nations, who received salvation by faith.
Psalm 98:1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 99:1: the psalm foretells the return from Babylon, Christ's appearing, and Jewish unbelief; God's 'sitting' on the cherubim is a figure, since his nature is bodiless.
Psalm 98:2Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 99:2: God's greatness was shown in the rebuilt temple, and above all when the crucified one was proclaimed Master of the world by the apostles.
Psalm 98:9Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 99:9: the holy mountain, once Zion, is now the height of the knowledge of God, as Isaiah, Micah, and Hebrews show.
Psalm 99:3Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 100:3: Christ the Master is the God of all and our maker, as Paul taught at Athens; we are his people and the sheep he cares for.
Psalm 101:16Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 102:15: the nations' fear of God was truly fulfilled not after the return, when the neighbors made war, but after the incarnation, and will be completed when every knee bows to Christ.
Psalm 101:28Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 102:27: Hebrews applies these words to the Son; since Father and Son act alike, they share one nature and the Trinity has one operation.
Psalm 101:29Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 102:28: the enduring seed is Christ, whose flesh, united to God the Word, is indestructible and gives life to believers.
Psalm 104:8Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 105:8: the covenant with Abraham lasts for ever because his seed is Christ, whose kingdom is eternal; 'a thousand generations' means for ever.
Psalm 106:20Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 107:20: the 'word' sent is God the Word made man, sent as man though present everywhere as God, who heals sinners and renews the baptized.
Psalm 107:3–4Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 108:2–3: the prophet is the Spirit's instrument; the 'dawn' is the incarnation, after which David's psalms are sung by all nations.
Psalm 107:8Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 108:7–8: God promises to resettle the land after the return, with Judah leading the united tribes under Zerubbabel; properly, Christ from Judah reigns over all.
Psalm 108:1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 109 title: the psalm foretells Christ's passion and Judas' betrayal, as Peter shows in Acts; its curses are predictions in the form of wishes, not contrary to Christ's command to bless persecutors.
Psalm 108:2Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 109:1–2: Christ speaks as man and calls his passion his 'praise,' as in John; the deceitful mouth is Judas.
Psalm 108:3Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 109:2–4: the council hated Christ without cause, repaying his kindness with slander, while he prayed for them on the cross.
Psalm 108:16–17Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 109:16: Christ is the poor and meek one persecuted to death, as Paul's and Christ's own words show.
Psalm 108:21Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 109:21: Christ prays humanly, having taken on all human things except sin, including a birth both natural and virginal.
Psalm 108:22Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 109:22: Christ's troubled heart corresponds to his words before the passion in John 12.
Psalm 108:23Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 109:23: the fading shadow is Christ's death, and the wind-blown locusts his homeless wandering.
Psalm 108:25Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 109:25: fulfilled when the onlookers wagged their heads at Christ on the cross.
Psalm 108:26–27Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 109:26–27: Christ went to the cross willingly, by God's plan, to free humanity from passion.
Psalm 108:28Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 109:28: the Jews' curses have only spread the gospel; 'your servant' is Christ in his assumed human nature, a term of nature, not of rank.
Psalm 108:30Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 109:30: as head of the Church, Christ calls its praise his own.
Psalm 108:31Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 109:31: the divine nature, inseparably united to the human, stood by it yet let it suffer for the world's salvation, then made it immortal and glorified it.
Psalm 109:1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 110:1: as Christ and Peter show, David calls his descendant 'Lord,' proving Christ's divinity and shared substance with the Father; he sits at the right hand as man, having eternal power as God; 'until' does not set a limit to his reign.
Psalm 109:2Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 110:2: the rod of power is the cross, planted in Zion; the apostles, though besieged, conquered and brought their opponents to Christ.
Psalm 109:3Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 110:3: Christ's power will be shown at his second coming when the saints shine; 'from the womb before the morning star' teaches his eternal begetting and consubstantiality with the Father.
Psalm 109:4Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 110:4: Christ's priesthood, confirmed by oath, is eternal; like Melchizedek's, it is for all nations and uses bread and wine; it began at the Last Supper, replaces the Levitical priesthood, and is exercised through the Church, which offers the symbols of his body and blood.
Psalm 109:5Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 110:5: Christ will judge resisting rulers; the psalm alternates sayings fitting his humanity and his divinity, and 'the Lord at your right hand' signifies the divinity inseparably united to his humanity.
Psalm 109:7Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 110:7: literally Christ's simple life; more deeply, drinking from the winter brook is his suffering at the hands of the Jews, whose grace was temporary; his exaltation, as in Philippians, belongs to him as man.
Psalm 112:7–8Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 113:7–8: as Hannah sang, God raises the lowly, as with David, Joseph, Moses, the nations, and human nature exalted in Christ above every power.
Psalm 117:22Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 118:22: the rejected stone is Christ, who joined Jewish and Gentile believers into one Church as a cornerstone joins two walls; Isaiah, Paul, and Daniel's stone cut without hands point to him.
Psalm 117:24Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 118:24: the day the Lord made is the day of the resurrection, the first day of the week, on which God also created light.
Psalm 117:26Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 118:26: the children's acclamation and 'Hosanna' fulfill this verse; Christ came in the Father's name; the 'house of the Lord' is his humanity, the temple of God the Word.
Psalm 117:27Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 118:27: Christ is called God and Lord; the crowded festival celebrates salvation.
Psalm 118:105Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 119:105: the law is a lamp that lit one nation, while Christ, the sun of righteousness, enlightens the world; John was a lamp, the apostles light from Christ's light.
Psalm 129:8Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 130:8: the redemption from sin foretells Christ, the Lamb of God, named Jesus because he saves his people from their sins.
Psalm 131:1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 132:1: like Psalm 89, this psalm is the exiles' plea based on God's promises to David, and it foretells Christ, David's descendant; they ask God to remember David's meekness.
Psalm 131:6Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 132:6: two temples are meant: Christ's body, the living temple woven by the Spirit in Bethlehem (Ephrathah), which was heard of in prophecy, and Solomon's temple on the site where David stopped the plague, which they 'found.'
Psalm 131:11Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 132:11: God's oath that David's descendant would sit on his throne was fulfilled in Solomon's line and completed in Christ, as Isaiah foretold.
Psalm 131:17Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 132:17: the 'horn' cannot be Zerubbabel, whose rule was brief, but Christ born of David, as Peter taught; the 'lamp' is Christ's humanity, the temple that received the light of the divinity.
Psalm 135:3Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 136:3: kings, rulers, and the angelic Dominions are lords by God's gift, but Christ is the one Lord of all, as Paul teaches.
Psalm 137:8Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 138:8: humans cannot repay God's gifts, but the Lord, by becoming man, would pay their debt, as Paul says of the canceled bond.
Psalm 144:1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 145:1: this alphabetic hymn foretells the nations' knowledge of God; 'exalting' God means making his height known, as Christ 'glorified' the Father and was glorified with the glory he already had.
Psalm 145:8Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 146:8–9: freeing prisoners and giving sight to the blind foretell Christ's works, as Isaiah prophesied; the 'proselytes' God guards are the Gentiles brought near, as Paul says; God cares for orphans and widows.
Psalm 148:1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Psalm 148:1: all creation is summoned to praise, inanimate things by giving rational beings cause; the two heavens of Genesis hold angelic choirs; since the Son and Spirit are never among those who praise but are praised, they are not creatures.
Consolatory Letter to Arcadius 1Antoninus Honoratus · ca. 437-440 · Antoninus encourages the exiled confessor Arcadius to persevere to martyrdom rather than yield to Arianism, and explains by analogies how the one triune God works together while the Son alone took flesh.
Chapter 6Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 437-450 · The Son is light from light with the Father, one light, against the Manichaeans and the Arians; if David and Sirach could not comprehend even the soul or the creation, no one can search out God’s Wisdom.
Chapter 8Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 437-450 · Christ’s words “The Father is greater than I” refer to his human nature, in which he was less even than the angels, while in the form of God he is equal to the Father.
Chapter 9Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 437-450 · The Son, equal to the Father in divinity, was born of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit, a unique miracle in which God and flesh were joined in one Christ.
Chapter 10Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 437-450 · At Christ’s birth angels and a star rejoiced and the Magi adored him, while Herod and the Jewish leaders plotted his death and Herod killed the infants, whom Christ received into eternal life.
Chapter 11Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 437-450 · The preacher summons witnesses from the Jews’ own Law and prophets to Christ, beginning with Isaiah’s virgin and the passage he attributes to Jeremiah on God seen on earth.
Chapter 12Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 437-450 · Daniel testifies that anointing would cease when the Holy of holies came, and that the stone cut without hands would become a mountain, the Christ whom Peter confessed.
Chapter 13Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 437-450 · Moses, David, and Habakkuk are called as witnesses: the prophet like Moses, the Lord at God’s right hand, and Christ known “in the midst of two living creatures” at the manger, on the cross, and at the Transfiguration.
Chapter 14Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 437-450 · Simeon, Zechariah and Elizabeth, and John the Baptist bear witness to Christ, John even in the womb and at the Jordan.
Chapter 15Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 437-450 · Witnesses from the Gentiles are called: Virgil’s “new offspring sent from heaven” and Nebuchadnezzar, who saw one like the Son of God in the furnace.
Chapter 16Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 437-450 · The Sibyl is called as a third Gentile witness: her acrostic verses on the judgment spell “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior,” and other verses foretell his passion and resurrection.
Chapter 17Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 437-450 · Heaven, sea, earth, and the underworld all bore witness to Christ, and creation itself trembled at his death, yet the Jews who killed him refused to believe.
Chapter 18Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 437-450 · The Jews’ malice served salvation, and their dispersion with the prophetic books witnesses to Christ against the pagans; then (chapter 19) the Holy Spirit is confessed equal to Father and Son against the Arians, who rebaptize.
Chapter 22Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 437-450 · The way to eternal life is the whole Christ, head and body, Christ and the Catholic Church; the Arian church is a harlot posing as the bride, called to return, while the true mother patiently bears her persecution.
Against Five Heresies 1Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 437-450 · The preacher, paying a promised debt, sets out the five enemies of the faith: pagans, Jews, Manichaeans, Sabellians, and Arians, each with its objection.
Against Five Heresies 3Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 437-450 · Against the pagan objection that a divine Son requires a divine marriage, the preacher cites Hermes Trismegistus and the Sibyl on the Son of God, the Word of wisdom born of God alone.
Against Five Heresies 4Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 437-450 · Against the Jews (and the Sabellians and Arians) the preacher reads the angel-theophanies of Exodus 23, Genesis 19, Exodus 3, and Joshua 5 as appearances of the Son, and Isaiah’s words on God’s begetting and the word that goes out from his mouth.
Against Five Heresies 5Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 437-450 · Against the Manichaeans, who deny that the Son of God was born of a woman, the preacher cites the prophets and Paul and argues that the Creator of his mother could not be defiled by being born of her as a virgin.
Against Five Heresies 6Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 437-450 · The Arian who confesses the Creed but denies the Son’s eternity is asked how he can divide the inheritance of peace, like the false mother before Solomon; Scripture and the likeness of fire and its brightness show Father and Son distinct yet one, eternal God.
Against Five Heresies 7Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 437-450 · Against Sabellians and Arians the preacher argues from Isaiah 45, Christ’s prayer, and the Transfiguration that the Father and Son are two and equal, and protests against Arian rebaptism and bribery of Catholics.
On the Governance of God 1.43Salvian of Marseilles · ca. 439-451 · God’s wonders in the desert and the giving of the law at Sinai show his care.
On the Governance of God 4.45Salvian of Marseilles · ca. 439-451 · God loves us more than a father loves his children, giving his only Son.
On the Governance of God 4.46Salvian of Marseilles · ca. 439-451 · God gave his righteous, only-begotten, divine Son for the wicked.
On the Governance of God 4.47Salvian of Marseilles · ca. 439-451 · God’s love in giving his Son for sinners seems to human eyes almost unjust, so great is it.
On the Governance of God 4.48Salvian of Marseilles · ca. 439-451 · Christ’s death for sinners commends God’s love.
On the Governance of God 4.49Salvian of Marseilles · ca. 439-451 · God’s grace is undeserved; we owe him the psalmist’s response.
On the Governance of God 4.51Salvian of Marseilles · ca. 439-451 · The second return is love, drawn out by Christ as a magnet draws iron.
On the Governance of God 6.26Salvian of Marseilles · ca. 439-451 · Christ did not become incarnate and die so that Christians would honor him with obscene shows.
On the Governance of God 6.27Salvian of Marseilles · ca. 439-451 · Christ became poor and died to make a pure people, yet Christians repay him with shameful lives.
On the Governance of God 8.18Salvian of Marseilles · ca. 439-451 · The Africans’ hatred is shown in the same ways as the hatred of Christ’s persecutors.
Church History 1.5Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · Arius, a presbyter of Alexandria, suspecting his bishop Alexander of Sabellianism, argues that the begotten Son had a beginning and came from nothing.
Church History 1.6Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · Arianism spreads, supported by Eusebius of Nicomedia; Alexander deposes Arius and sends out a circular letter refuting his teaching; the Melitians join the Arians.
Church History 1.8Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · Constantine convenes the synod of Nicaea; Socrates quotes Eusebius on the assembly, the Nicene Creed, the five who objected to homoousios, and Eusebius of Caesarea’s letter to his church explaining his assent.
Church History 1.9Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · Socrates gives the synodal letter of Nicaea to the Alexandrians (on Arius, the Melitians, and Easter) and Constantine’s letters on Nicaea, against Arius, on Easter, on church building, on fifty copies of Scripture, and to Macarius on the church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Church History 1.14Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · Eusebius of Nicomedia and Theognis of Nicaea submit a statement accepting the Nicene faith, though not Arius’s condemnation, and are restored to their sees.
Church History 1.26Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · Arius and Euzoius submit to Constantine a brief creed, without homoousios, and ask to be reunited with the church.
Church History 1.36Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · Marcellus of Ancyra, writing against the Arian sophist Asterius, is accused of holding with Paul of Samosata that Christ was a mere man, and is deposed at Constantinople.
Church History 2.10Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · The Eusebians appoint Gregory to Alexandria and issue the creeds of the dedication synod of Antioch (341), professing not to follow Arius; Franks invade Gaul and earthquakes strike Antioch.
Church History 2.18Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · Eastern envoys present Constans with a new creed instead of explaining the depositions of Athanasius and Paul; Photinus of Sirmium teaches that the Son was a mere man.
Church History 2.19Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · Three years later the eastern bishops send to Italy the long creed (Ekthesis makrostichos, 344), with explanations condemning both Arian phrases and the teaching of Marcellus, Photinus, and the Sabellians.
Church History 2.21Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · Socrates defends Eusebius of Caesarea against the charge of Arianism, quoting his assent at Nicaea and his works against Marcellus on Prov 8:22 (“created” as “appointed”).
Church History 2.29Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · A synod at Sirmium (351) deposes Photinus for teaching like Sabellius and Paul of Samosata.
Church History 2.30Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · Socrates gives the first creed of Sirmium (351) with its anathemas, and a Latin formula that forbids the terms ousia, homoousios, and homoiousios and calls the Father greater; Photinus is defeated in debate by Basil of Ancyra.
Church History 2.37Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · The synod of Ariminum (359) rejects the dated creed of Sirmium (“like in all things”, banning “essence”), confirms Nicaea, and deposes Valens, Ursacius, and others; Socrates quotes Athanasius’s ridicule of the dated creed, the synod’s letter, and Constantius’s replies; Liberius is exiled and Felix installed; the Arians publish the creed at Nice in Thrace.
Church History 2.40Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · At Seleucia Acacius’s party presents a creed rejecting homoousios and homoiousios and confessing the Son “like” the Father; the majority depose Acacius, Eudoxius, and others, appoint Anianus to Antioch, and go to Constantinople to report to the emperor.
Church History 2.41Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · Acacius’s party at Constantinople (360) reissues the creed of Ariminum, adding that neither “essence” nor “hypostasis” be used of God; Socrates counts the creeds since Nicaea; Ulfilas of the Goths accepts it.
Church History 2.46Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · The two Apollinarii of Laodicea, excommunicated by bishop George, found the Apollinarian heresy, teaching that the Word took the place of the human mind in Christ.
Church History 3.7Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · The synod of Alexandria (362) affirms the Spirit’s divinity and Christ’s human soul, and rules on the terms essence and hypostasis; Socrates adds his own remarks on the word hypostasis and quotes Evagrius.
Church History 4.12Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · The Macedonians send envoys to Liberius of Rome, who receives them into communion after they sign the Nicene creed; their confession and Liberius's reply are quoted, and a planned synod at Tarsus is blocked by Eudoxius.
Church History 7.32Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · Nestorius's presbyter Anastasius denies that Mary is Theotokos, and Nestorius defends him; Socrates, from Nestorius's writings, judges him ignorant of the older authorities rather than a follower of Paul of Samosata, and cites 1 John, Eusebius and Origen for the title Theotokos.
Church History 7.34Socrates Scholasticus · ca. 439-443 · At the council of Ephesus (431) Cyril's party deposes Nestorius and Nestorius's party deposes Cyril; John of Antioch joins the quarrel; Nestorius's late acceptance of Theotokos is rejected, he is exiled, and the clergy of Constantinople anathematize him.
Church History 1.15Sozomen · ca. 439-450 · The Arian controversy begins: Arius's earlier career, his teaching that the Son was made from nothing, his excommunication by Alexander, and the support he wins from Eusebius of Nicomedia and bishops in Bithynia and Palestine.
Church History 1.18Sozomen · ca. 439-450 · At Nicaea a simple confessor converts a pagan philosopher by a plain statement of the faith, and Alexander of Constantinople silences a philosopher in the name of Christ.
Church History 1.20Sozomen · ca. 439-450 · The council votes that the Son is of the same essence as the Father; Constantine threatens exile for opponents; Sozomen withholds the text of the creed out of reverence for the discipline of secrecy.
Church History 1.21Sozomen · ca. 439-450 · The council declares the Son of the same essence as the Father, anathematizes Arius's formulas and his Thalia; Constantine exiles Arius, orders his writings burned, and deposes Eusebius of Nicomedia and Theognis.
Church History 2.27Sozomen · ca. 439-450 · Through a presbyter favoured by Constantia, Constantine recalls Arius, who submits a creed in scriptural terms; the bishops gathered at Jerusalem receive Arius and Euzoius into communion.
Church History 2.33Sozomen · ca. 439-450 · The Eusebian party deposes Marcellus of Ancyra for teaching that the Son began from Mary and that his kingdom will end, views he reached, Sozomen says, in opposing the Arian sophist Asterius.
Church History 3.5Sozomen · ca. 439-450 · At the dedication synod of Antioch (341) ninety-seven bishops appoint Gregory to Alexandria in place of Athanasius and issue creeds avoiding “of the same essence,” one said to be Lucian the martyr's.
Church History 3.23Sozomen · ca. 439-450 · Ursacius and Valens, who had investigated Athanasius in the Mareotis, retract their charges in a letter to Julius of Rome and anathematize Arius.
Church History 4.6Sozomen · ca. 439-450 · A synod at Sirmium (351) deposes Photinus, who taught that Christ began from Mary, and issues three creeds avoiding the language of essence; Hosius is forced to sign; Basil of Ancyra defeats Photinus in debate.
Church History 4.22Sozomen · ca. 439-450 · At the council of Seleucia (359) the majority, led by George of Laodicea, Eleusius and Sophronius, uphold the Dedication Creed of Antioch against Acacius's party, which proposes a creed saying only that the Son is like the Father; the majority depose Acacius, Eudoxius, George of Alexandria and others.
Church History 4.29Sozomen · ca. 439-450 · The Acacian bishops at Antioch drop even “like” and teach that the Son is unlike the Father and from nothing, defending “God from God” by Paul's “all things are from God.”
Church History 5.12Sozomen · ca. 439-450 · Lucifer and Eusebius return from exile; Lucifer ordains Paulinus at Antioch, while the synod of Alexandria (362) under Athanasius confirms Nicaea, confesses the Spirit consubstantial, and rules on ousia and hypostasis.
Church History 6.25Sozomen · ca. 439-450 · Apolinarius and the Antiochene presbyter Vitalius form their own church with Apolinarius’s popular hymns, condemned by Damasus and Peter; Sozomen traces Apolinarius’s break to George of Laodicea’s refusal to restore him after an old excommunication.
Church History 6.27Sozomen · ca. 439-450 · Sozomen quotes Gregory of Nazianzus’s letter to Nectarius against Apolinarius’s teaching that Christ’s flesh came from heaven, that he lacked a human mind, and that his Godhead suffered; the monks of Syria and Cappadocia checked both Apolinarianism and Eunomianism.
Church History 7.17Sozomen · ca. 439-450 · Theodosius exiles Eunomius; the Eunomians split over whether the Son knows the last hour (Eutychius), and the Arians of Constantinople over whether God was Father before the Son existed (Dorotheus against Marinus and the “Psathyrians”).
Church History 1.1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · After the fall of the persecuting emperors and Constantine's favour to the church, the devil stirs up Arius, an Alexandrian presbyter jealous of Bishop Alexander, who teaches that the Son is a creature, and Alexander removes him from the clergy.
Church History 1.3Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · Alexander of Alexandria's letter to his namesake denounces Arius and Achillas, refutes their claim that the Son came from nothing and is changeable, sets out his own creed, and asks that the excommunicated men not be received; Theodoret then notes Alexander's other letters and introduces Arius's reply.
Church History 1.4Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · Arius writes to Eusebius of Nicomedia complaining that Bishop Alexander persecutes him for teaching that the Son has a beginning and is out of nothing; Theodoret identifies the bishops Arius names and introduces Eusebius's letter to Paulinus.
Church History 1.5Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · Eusebius of Nicomedia urges Paulinus of Tyre to write in support of the view that the Son is not from the Father's essence but was created by his will; Theodoret describes the strife the controversy caused in every city.
Church History 1.7Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · Theodoret shows that the Arian sympathizers signed at Nicaea insincerely, quoting Eustathius of Antioch on the tearing up of Eusebius's document and Athanasius's account of why the council chose the phrases “from the essence” and “of the same essence”; Theonas and Secundus are excommunicated and twenty canons are written.
Church History 1.8Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · Theodoret explains the Melitian schism and quotes the synodal letter of Nicaea to the church of Alexandria, which reports the condemnation of Arius, the terms for receiving Melitius and his clergy, and the agreement on the date of Pascha.
Church History 1.11Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · To refute the Arians who claimed Eusebius of Caesarea as their own, Theodoret quotes Eusebius's letter to his church explaining how he presented his own creed at Nicaea, why he accepted the council's creed with “from the essence” and “of the same essence” as explained there, and why he accepted its anathemas.
Church History 1.12Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · Theodoret adds Eusebius's testimony from the Life of Constantine that the bishops at Nicaea reached unanimous agreement under the emperor's guidance, and urges the Arians to heed their own authority and the death of Arius.
Church History 2.2Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · An Arian presbyter, commended to Constantine by his dying sister Constantia, is entrusted with Constantine's will, gains the confidence of Constantius, and turns him against the term “of the same essence” and against Athanasius, whose return Eusebius's party blames for disorder in the East.
Church History 2.5Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · Macedonius succeeds Paul at Constantinople but is later expelled by the Arians for refusing to call the Son a creature; he founds his own party, holding the Son like the Father in all things and the Spirit a creature.
Church History 2.6Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · Theodoret quotes the encyclical letter of the Western bishops at Sardica, which recounts the flight of the Eastern bishops, clears Athanasius, Marcellus, and Asclepas, deposes their opponents, and ends with a statement of faith confessing one hypostasis of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Constans then presses Constantius by letter to restore Athanasius.
Church History 2.15Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · At the council of Ariminum the Western bishops reject the Arian proposal to drop “essence” and “of the same essence,” excommunicate Ursacius, Valens, and their allies, and write to Constantius asking that the Nicene faith stand and that they be sent home; when their envoys are kept waiting, they write a second letter asking leave to return before winter.
Church History 2.16Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · The bishops of Ariminum are taken to Nike in Thrace and pressured into signing a creed that drops “essence” and “of the same essence” and calls the Son simply “like” the Father; Theodoret quotes it to show that even this rejects the later “unlike” teaching.
Church History 2.18Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · Theodoret quotes Athanasius's Letter to the Africans, which rejects appeals to the council of Ariminum, recalls that the Arian leaders were deposed there and that the majority held to Nicaea until they were coerced in Thrace.
Church History 2.23Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · At Constantinople Acacius turns Constantius against the bishops from Seleucia, slandering Cyril of Jerusalem; when Eustathius produces an Anomoean statement, Aetius admits authorship and is banished, Eudoxius is forced to disown it, Silvanus argues that rejecting “out of nothing” implies “of the same essence,” and the protesting bishops are expelled while Eudoxius takes Constantinople and Eunomius Cyzicus.
Church History 2.25Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · Eunomius, made bishop of Cyzicus, at first hides his views on Eudoxius's advice, but reveals them when orthodox members of his flock feign agreement; they denounce him to Constantius, Eudoxius warns him to flee, and Eunomius breaks with Eudoxius and founds his own sect.
Church History 3.1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · Julian, raised as a Christian and even a reader, turns to paganism while seeking omens of power; at a pagan initiation the demons flee at his sign of the cross, but he is still initiated; as emperor he hides his apostasy for fear of the Christian soldiers, whose faith Constantine and Constantius had strengthened, Constantius even urging all his soldiers to be baptized before battle.
Church History 4.3Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · Theodoret quotes Athanasius's letter to Jovian, which presents the creed of Nicaea as the faith of nearly all the churches, rejects both the Arians and those who reinterpret “of the same essence” or call the Holy Spirit a creature, and affirms one divinity of the Trinity.
Church History 4.7Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · Valentinian has a synod held in Illyricum, which upholds the Nicene faith, and sends its decrees with an imperial letter (in the names of Valentinian, Valens, and Gratian) to the bishops of Asia and Phrygia, urging them to stop persecuting the orthodox; the synod's summary confesses one essence of Father, Son, and Spirit in three hypostases.
Church History 4.19Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · Theodoret quotes the middle of Peter of Alexandria's letter describing the pagan governor Palladius's assault on the church of Theonas, the stripping and killing of virgins, obscene performances on the altar, the installation of Lucius with Euzoius and the count Magnus, the torture and deportation of nineteen clergy to Heliopolis, the punishment of mourners, the deacon of Damasus sent to the mines, and the exile of eleven Egyptian bishops to Diocaesarea.
Church History 4.33Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · Theodoret explains that the Goths, formerly orthodox, were brought into communion with the Arians when Eudoxius won over their bishop Ulfilas with flattery and money, persuading him that the dispute was about ambition, not doctrine.
Church History 5.3Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · At Antioch, when Sapor arrives, Paulinus and Apolinarius both claim communion with Damasus; Theodoret describes Apolinarius's teaching that Christ had no human mind, Flavian exposes both claimants, Meletius proposes that he and Paulinus share the flock with the Gospel on the throne between them, and Sapor gives the churches to Meletius.
Church History 5.9Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · Theodoret quotes the letter of the bishops at Constantinople (382) to Damasus and the western bishops, declining to come to Rome, recounting their sufferings, professing one essence in three perfect hypostases and Christ's complete humanity, and defending the elections of Nectarius, Flavian, and Cyril.
Church History 5.10Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · Theodoret quotes Damasus's letter to the eastern bishops confirming the deposition of Apolinarius and his disciple Timothy and urging them to hold to the Nicene faith and to Christ's complete humanity and divinity.
Church History 5.11Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · Theodoret gives the anathemas of the Roman synod under Damasus (the “Tome of Damasus”) against Sabellians, Arians, Macedonians, Photinians, Apolinarians, and others, affirming the full divinity and equality of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Christ's complete human soul, and baptism into the one God, Father, Son, and Spirit.
Church History 5.16Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 449-450 · Amphilochius of Iconium persuades Theodosius to forbid Arian assemblies by pointedly refusing to greet his son Arcadius; Theodoret then introduces the emperor's own fault through anger.
Part 1, section 15Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 445-455 · The Chronicle covers the emperors from Maximinus to Gallienus, with the sixth to eighth persecutions, the martyrdoms of Fabian, Cornelius, and Cyprian, the rise of the Novatians, the barbarian invasions, and the heresy of Paul of Samosata.
Part 1, section 20Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 445-455 · The Chronicle covers Apollinaris's heresy, Damasus's election, Valens's persecution of the Nicenes, the deaths of Hilary, Eusebius of Vercelli, and Lucifer, Didymus, Eunomius, Ambrose's election at Milan, and the disaster of Adrianople, where Valens died.
Part 2, entry 40 (Felice et Tauro coss.)Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 445-455 · Nestorius teaches that Christ was born of Mary a mere man, and Cyril and Pope Celestine oppose him; Aetius recovers land on the Rhine from the Franks.
Part 2, entry 43 (Basso et Antiocho coss.)Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 445-455 · The Council of Ephesus condemns Nestorius and the Pelagians, and Celestine sends Palladius as first bishop to the Irish Christians.
Part 2, entry 58 (Callepio et Ardabure)Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 445-455 · An added entry reports Eutyches's teaching, Flavian's condemnation at Dioscorus's instigation, Leo's legates, and Flavian's death.
Part 2, entry 60 (Asturio et Protogene)Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 445-455 · Eutyches denies that Christ had his mother's substance; condemned by Flavian, he is acquitted at the Second Council of Ephesus under Dioscorus, which condemns Flavian over the protest of Leo's legate Hilary, and Flavian dies on the way to exile.
Part 2, entry 62 (Herculano et Sporatio)Prosper of Aquitaine · ca. 445-455 · Attila invades Italy, Pope Leo's embassy persuades him to withdraw, the Council of Chalcedon condemns Eutyches and Dioscorus, Attila dies, and the Gothic king Thorismod is killed by his brothers.
Part 1, chapter 8Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · The pride of Babel scattered the nations through the confusion of tongues, but Christ’s grace gathers them into one confession; Noah’s nakedness mocked by Ham prefigures Christ’s passion.
Part 1, chapter 15Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Isaac, whose name means laughter, born to aged Sarah as God promised at Mamre, figures Christ, mocked by the Jews but confessed by the nations, whose passion is their freedom.
Part 1, chapter 17Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · The sacrifice of Isaac figures Christ’s passion: the only son, the three days’ journey, the wood he carried, the silent victim, and the ram crowned with thorns.
Part 1, chapter 19Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · The oath sworn under Abraham’s thigh points to Christ, the God of heaven, born of Abraham’s line through Judah, David, and the Virgin Mary.
Part 1, chapter 23Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Jacob’s ladder and the stone he anointed at Bethel figure Christ, the anointed cornerstone, on whom the angels ascend and descend.
Part 1, chapter 25Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Jacob’s twelve sons and especially Joseph, beloved, clothed in a coat of many colors, and honored by his brothers’ sheaves and by sun, moon, and stars in his dreams, figure Christ and the Church.
Part 1, chapter 26Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Joseph sent to his brothers, hated, stripped of his coat, thrown into a pit, and sold figures Christ sent to Israel, rejected, stripped of the seamless tunic, and sold for thirty pieces.
Part 1, chapter 28Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Joseph imprisoned with the two eunuchs, one condemned and one freed, figures Christ counted among the wicked and crucified between two thieves.
Part 1, chapter 29Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Joseph’s release on the third year, his rule over Egypt, and his granaries that fed the famine figure Christ’s resurrection, his universal authority, the churches, and the food of his body.
Part 1, chapter 33Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Moses, hidden three months, set in the river, raised by Pharaoh’s daughter, and slayer of the Egyptian, figures Christ: worldly learning humbled in baptism serves the Church, and Christ frees souls from demons.
Part 1, chapter 34Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Moses the peacemaker rejected by his people, his flight, his foreign bride, his call at the burning bush, and his mission with Aaron figure Christ rejected by the Jews, his Church from the nations, and Paul his chosen spokesman.
Part 1, chapter 40Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Moses’ outstretched hands that defeated Amalek figure the cross, by which believers overcome every hostile power; this closes the first part, the time before the law.
Part 2, chapter 3Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Aaron’s anointing and vestments, ephod, stones, breastpiece, girdle, bells, pomegranates, and inscribed plate, figure Christ the anointed priest, his love, the apostles, the gifts of the Spirit, and the Church of every tongue.
Part 2, chapter 5Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · The calf, lamb, sheep, ram, and kid of the sacrifices figure Christ; the turtledove and dove the Church and the baptized infants; the offerings for sins of ignorance figure penitence, as in Peter; and the true votive offering is praise and almsgiving.
Part 2, chapter 6Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · The inspection of leprosy figures the judgment of heresies: leprosy of the head (Manichaeans, Priscillianists), of the beard (Arians, Photinians, Nestorians), of the body (Donatists and other schismatics), and of the whole (Pelagians); the ten lepers figure heretics returning to Christ.
Part 2, chapter 8Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Israel’s craving for the foods of Egypt and rejection of the manna figure the Jews’ rejection of Christ, the living bread, in favor of Barabbas; the soul must not ask God for what harms it.
Part 2, chapter 11Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Moses’ failure at the rock, his succession by Joshua (Jesus), and the bronze serpent lifted on a pole figure Christ the giver of the inheritance and Christ crucified, who heals the baptized bitten by sin.
Part 2, chapter 21Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Jephthah’s rash vow and sacrifice of his virgin daughter, explained as a punishment for testing God, figure Christ’s offering of his own virgin flesh; Christian heroes surpass the Roman exemplars Torquatus, Mucius, and Curtius.
Part 2, chapter 22Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Samson the Nazirite, his foreign bride, the lion with honey in its mouth, his riddle, the foxes with torches, and the burning of his faithless wife figure Christ, the Church from the nations, the Law given to the Gentiles, and the heretics and their end.
Part 2, chapter 23Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Samson’s victory with the jawbone, Delilah’s three tests and betrayal for silver, his blinding, and his death bringing down the temple figure Christ’s answers to the testing questions (the adulteress, tribute to Caesar, the levirate wife), his betrayal, passion, and victory over idolatry in death.
Part 2, chapter 25Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · David, anointed shepherd, harpist who calmed Saul, slayer of Goliath with a stone, persecuted fugitive who spared Saul, and feigned madman carried in his own hands, figures Christ the good shepherd, the cross, the victory over the devil, the persecuted martyrs, and the Eucharist.
Part 2, chapter 35Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Daniel’s ninth to twelfth visions (the lions’ den, the seventy weeks, the end time, Bel and the Dragon) figure Christ delivered from his enemies, mark the time of his coming against the Jews, and show the overthrow of idols.
Part 2, chapter 36Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones shows the resurrection, and his shut eastern gate Mary’s perpetual virginity; Ezra’s return and the sending away of foreign wives figure Christians who leave all, even wife and children, for Christ.
Part 2, chapter 37Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · The interrupted rebuilding of the temple, which the Jews said took forty-six years, figures Christ’s body raised in three days and the restoration of souls to the heavenly Jerusalem.
Part 2, chapter 39Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Tobit’s healing and Sarah’s deliverance from Asmodeus by the fish’s liver figure Christ, the ICHTHYS, who by his passion drives out demons and gives light, as with Mary Magdalene, Peter, and Paul.
Part 2, chapter 40Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · The Maccabean martyr mother and her seven sons, and Judas’s offering for the dead, figure the Church’s martyrs and hope of resurrection; the end of Judah’s rulers under Herod fulfils Jacob’s prophecy of the coming of Christ, born in the census under Augustus; the second part of the book ends.
Part 3, chapter 2Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · The prophecies of Christ as king from heaven in the Psalms and Isaiah are fulfilled in the Magi’s question and attested by Paul and the Sibyl.
Part 3, chapter 3Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · The prophecies of the Word sent to heal, seen on earth, and going out into the fields are fulfilled in the Word made flesh, as John, Paul, and the Sibyl attest.
Part 3, chapter 4Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Isaiah’s prophecy of the virgin is fulfilled in the annunciation to Mary, as Paul attests; the Sibyl and Virgil’s fourth Eclogue are added as witnesses.
Part 3, chapter 5Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · The ox and ass of Isaiah and Habakkuk’s two living creatures are fulfilled in Christ laid in the manger, as Luke and Paul attest, with a line of the Sibyl.
Part 3, chapter 6Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Balaam’s star, the light of the nations, and the gifts of kings in the Psalms and Isaiah are fulfilled in the star of the Magi and their gifts, with Paul, the Sibyl, and Virgil as further witnesses.
Part 3, chapter 7Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Isaiah’s promise of the son whose peace has no end is fulfilled in the angels’ song at Christ’s birth and his gift of peace, with Paul and Virgil’s fourth Eclogue as witnesses.
Part 3, chapter 8Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Hosea’s “Out of Egypt I called my Son” is fulfilled in the flight into Egypt, where Christ brought grace to a land of sin.
Part 3, chapter 13Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Isaiah’s prophecy of the blind seeing and the lame leaping is fulfilled in Christ’s answer to John’s disciples, attested by Peter, with a line of Virgil.
Part 3, chapter 14Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · The Psalm’s way in the sea and Wisdom’s path among the waves are fulfilled in Christ walking on the water, his rescue of Peter, and Paul’s safety in shipwreck.
Part 3, chapter 16Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Zechariah’s king riding on a donkey is fulfilled in Christ’s entry into Jerusalem, which also figures the Gentile Cornelius brought to faith.
Part 3, chapter 19Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Isaiah’s servant giving his back to scourges and Lamentations on offering the cheek are fulfilled in the scourging and mocking of Jesus, attested by Peter and the Sibyl.
Part 3, chapter 20Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · The Psalm’s thorn fixed in the sufferer and the ram caught in the thicket are fulfilled in Christ’s crown of thorns, with the Sibyl as witness.
Part 3, chapter 21Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Isaiah’s lamb led to slaughter, the Psalm’s pierced hands and feet, and Jeremiah’s anointed one taken are fulfilled in the crucifixion at Golgotha.
Part 3, chapter 22Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Isaiah’s “counted among the wicked” is fulfilled in Christ crucified between two robbers.
Part 3, chapter 24Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · The Psalm’s gall and vinegar are fulfilled in the drink given to Christ on the cross, with the hyssop of Ps 51, the Sibyl, and Virgil as witnesses.
Part 3, chapter 25Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Zechariah’s “they will look on him whom they pierced” and the law that no bone of the lamb be broken are fulfilled in the piercing of Christ’s side, from which blood and water flowed.
Part 3, chapter 26Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Joel’s darkened sun and moon are fulfilled in the darkness at the crucifixion and the tearing of the temple veil.
Part 3, chapter 27Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · The Psalms on the one free among the dead whose holy one will not see corruption are fulfilled in Christ’s burial by Joseph of Arimathea.
Part 3, chapter 29Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Hosea’s third day and the Psalms’ rising before the dawn are fulfilled in the resurrection, the sign of Jonah, and the empty tomb; Christ is the first fruits because, unlike others raised, he dies no more.
Part 3, chapter 30Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · Hosea’s roaring lion and Jacob’s sleeping lion are fulfilled in the risen Christ rebuking the disciples’ unbelief and showing Thomas his wounds, attested by John and Paul, with Virgil as witness.
Part 3, chapter 31Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · The Psalms on ascending on high and sending the Spirit are fulfilled in Christ’s ascension and the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost.
Part 4, chapter 12Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · The Antichrist will be known not to be Christ because he will come in pride and will not fulfil the prophecies of humility, passion, death, resurrection, ascension, and the gift of the Spirit that Christ fulfilled; his end is the lake of fire.
Confession to Theodosius IIFlavian of Constantinople · 448-449 · Flavian assures Theodosius II of his orthodoxy: Christ is one person and hypostasis in two natures after the incarnation, consubstantial with the Father and with his mother, and Nestorius is anathematized.
Letter 1 (= Leo, Ep. 22), chapter 3Flavian of Constantinople · 448-449 · Flavian reports that Eutyches, archimandrite at Constantinople, denied before the synod that Christ is of two natures after the incarnation and that his flesh is consubstantial with ours.
Letter 2 (= Leo, Ep. 26), chapter 1Flavian of Constantinople · 448-449 · Flavian tells Leo that Eutyches taught one nature in Christ after the union and denied that Christ's body is consubstantial with ours, against Cyril's letter approved at Ephesus.
Epiphanius of Cyprus 5Anonymous · compiled ca. 450-500 (sayings 4th-5th century) · If Melchizedek, Christ’s image, blessed Abraham, Christ himself blesses all believers much more.
Isidore 5Anonymous · compiled ca. 450-500 (sayings 4th-5th century) · Isidore says that even burned to ashes he could not repay Christ’s coming for us.
Milesius 2Anonymous · compiled ca. 450-500 (sayings 4th-5th century) · Milesius and his disciples are martyred by Persian princes, who die by each other’s arrows as he foretold.
Phocas 1Anonymous · compiled ca. 450-500 (sayings 4th-5th century) · A monk torn between Chalcedonians and their opponents fasts forty days until the Lord tells him he is right where he is, with the orthodox.
Life of Syncletica 57Anonymous · 5th–6th century · Christ himself put on humility and told us to learn it from him; even after keeping every commandment we must call ourselves unprofitable servants.
Life of Syncletica 58Anonymous · 5th–6th century · Humility grows through insults and blows, which Christ himself endured.
Genesis Question 19Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Theodoret rejects the views that “Let us make” was addressed to angels or demons or was a royal plural, and reads it as a hint of the Trinity, connected with baptism and the incarnation.
Genesis Question 64Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Melchizedek's ancestry is unknown; he was probably a Canaanite king who was priest of the true God and a type of Christ's priesthood.
Genesis Question 73Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · God tested Abraham to show others his faith, not to learn it; he stopped the sacrifice, which he condemns elsewhere, and the event foreshadowed the Father's offering of the Son.
Genesis Question 82Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Theodoret reads Isaac's blessing of Jacob as a prophecy of Christ: the field is the world, the dew his divinity, the fatness of the earth his humanity, and the nations' service the worship of Christ.
Genesis Question 89Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Jacob trusted God, not the peeled rods, for his flocks; the one who appeared to him is called both angel and God, which shows that it was the Son, not the Father.
Genesis Question 92Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · God let Jacob win the wrestling match to give him courage against Esau, while the touch on his thigh showed the defeat was voluntary; the one who wrestled was the Son of God. A short added question explains “Iamin” in Gen 36:24 as “spring.”
Genesis Question 110Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Theodoret reads Jacob's last words as prophecies: Judah's blessing foretells Christ, his passion, and the church of Jews and Gentiles; Dan's foretells the Antichrist; and Jacob's being “added to his people” implies the resurrection.
Exodus Question 4Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Moses' marriage to a foreigner prefigured Christ's union with the church of the nations.
Exodus Question 5Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · The one who appeared in the burning bush is called both angel and God; Theodoret identifies him as the Son, the “angel of great counsel.”
Exodus Question 16Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Aaron's marriage to Nahshon's sister joined the royal and priestly tribes, from both of which Christ, king and priest, descended.
Exodus Question 34Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Moses' outstretched hands prefigured the cross, and Joshua, Jesus' namesake, prefigured Christ with his apostles.
Leviticus Question 19Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Theodoret reads the leper's cleansing rite as a type of Christ's passion and of baptism and chrismation, with the unrepentant sinner excluded like the leper.
Leviticus Question 22Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Theodoret explains the Day of Atonement: he rejects the idea that the scapegoat was sent to a demon, reads the two goats as Christ's passible humanity and impassible divinity, and sees the high priest's yearly entry as a type of Christ's once-for-all sacrifice and ascension.
Numbers Question 3Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Judah, the royal tribe of Christ, was largest and camped on the east; Dan, from which the Antichrist is expected, on the north.
Numbers Question 9Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · “Human sins” are the lesser sins no one escapes; only Christ is sinless; the law prescribes confession and restitution with a fifth added.
Numbers Question 11Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Theodoret explains the Nazirite vow, its purifications and sacrifices, and reads the priestly blessing as foretelling Christ's appearing and the peace he brings.
Numbers Question 25Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Hoshea was renamed Joshua (Jesus) as a type of Christ, who like a spy took on our nature to save us.
Numbers Question 35Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · The red heifer prefigures Christ's sinless passion outside the gate, and its water of purification prefigures baptism.
Numbers Question 36Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · The uncleanness “until evening” lasts until the end of the law; Christ's coming is the dawn.
Numbers Question 38Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · The bronze serpent prefigures Christ, who took real flesh without sin, so that those who look to his passion in faith are saved.
Numbers Question 44Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Balaam's prophecies, given by the Spirit, foretold Christ and later history; failing to curse Israel, he advised the Midianites to seduce them into idolatry.
Numbers Question 50Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · The manslayer's return after the high priest's death prefigures Christ's death as release from sin, and also cooled the avengers' anger.
Numbers Question 51Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Tribal inheritance was kept separate to preserve Judah's line, though the royal and priestly tribes intermarried, pointing to Christ as priest and king.
Deuteronomy Question 43Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Moses was kept from the land because God demands more of the perfect and to prevent his deification; Moses stands for the law, Joshua for the Saviour who brings into the kingdom.
Deuteronomy Question 44Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Theodoret explains the blessings of Moses on Reuben, Judah and Levi, reading Judah's as pointing to David and Christ and Levi's as teaching priestly detachment.
Joshua Question 1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Joshua, “minister of Moses,” prefigures Christ, a minister of the circumcision born under the law.
Joshua Question 2Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · God's promise of land was conditional and was fulfilled more fully in the apostles' mission; Rahab prefigures the church, and the crossing of the Jordan prefigures Christ's baptism and Christian baptism before the Eucharist.
Joshua Question 4Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Stone knives were practical in the wilderness and prefigure Christ, the rock and the sword of the Word, who gives the spiritual circumcision of baptism.
Joshua Question 14Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · The citation of an older book for the sun's standing still shows that Joshua was written later from sources; the event prefigures the darkness at the crucifixion.
Ruth Question 1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Ruth's story was written because Christ descended from her, and Matthew names Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba to show Christ came for all; it also teaches the virtues of Naomi, Ruth and Boaz.
Ruth Question 2Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Naomi's advice and Ruth's night at Boaz's feet were chaste; Boaz kept the law of the kinsman and married Ruth, ancestress of David and Christ. The section ends with the preface to Theodoret's questions on Kingdoms.
1 Kingdoms Question 7Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Eli was punished for honoring his sons above God; the prophecy against his house points to the end of the Jewish priesthood and to Christ, the faithful priest, and historically to Zadok.
1 Kingdoms Question 32Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · God's “regret” over Saul means a change of plan: he would give the kingdom to David, from whom Christ would be born.
1 Kingdoms Question 35Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Samuel's fear was natural to a human being, as Christ himself showed human fear before his passion.
1 Kingdoms Question 41Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · David, trusting God, defeated Goliath; his victory with a stone and with Goliath's own sword prefigures Christ's victory over the devil through the cross.
2 Kingdoms Question 21Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Nathan, not knowing God's will, approved David's plan; God's promise of a house points beyond Solomon's temple to Christ's body and the church, and to Christ's eternal kingdom.
2 Kingdoms Question 43Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Old David, saved by Abishai, was kept from further battles; his song of victory (Psalm 18) foretells Christ, his last words show him a prophet, and his refusal of the Bethlehem water shows the self-mastery discipline had taught him.
4 Kingdoms Question 19Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · The prophets' poverty was powerful: Elisha cured the poisoned pot, fed a hundred, healed Naaman and refused his gifts, punished Gehazi's greed, and made the axe-head float, a figure of the incarnation.
4 Kingdoms Question 49Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Israel and Judah alike filled the land with idolatry, leading to exile and the mixed worship of the Samaritans; Hezekiah alone removed the high places and destroyed the bronze serpent, a type of Christ's passion misused as an idol.
1 Chronicles, exposition (before question 1)Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · Theodoret surveys 1 Chronicles: its purpose as a supplement to Kingdoms written after the exile, the genealogies (Nathan, Judah's leadership pointing to Christ, the priests and singers), the Nethinim, the temple service, Saul's death and the medium, the Spirit called Lord Almighty, and the moving of the ark.
1 Chronicles, question 1Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 453 · On 1 Chronicles 15–29: David's ephod was not priestly; the psalms are David's; his altar on Ornan's floor was accepted by fire from heaven; he was not to build the temple because Christ, his son, would build the churches and Solomon prefigured his peace; the singers prophesied; the Spirit who gave the temple plan is Lord.
Canon 30Anonymous · 451 · The Egyptian bishops are allowed to delay signing Leo's letter until a new archbishop of Alexandria is ordained, on surety that they stay in Constantinople.
Definition of faithAnonymous · 451 (25 Oct) · The Chalcedonian definition: one and the same Christ, perfect in divinity and in humanity, made known in two natures without confusion, change, division, or separation, in one person.