Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Ezekiel 18:32
There are 15 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 85, footnote 6 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Ignatius (HTML)
Epistle to the Philadelphians: Shorter and Longer Versions (HTML)
Chapter XI.—Thanks and salutation. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 970 (In-Text, Margin)
... Philo the deacon, a man of Cilicia, of high reputation, who still ministers to me in the word of God, along with Gaius and Agathopus, an elect man, who has followed me from Syria, not regarding his life,—these also bear testimony in your behalf. And I myself give thanks to God for you, because ye have received them: and the Lord will also receive you. But may those that dishonoured them be forgiven through the grace of Jesus Christ, “who wisheth not the death of the sinner, but his repentance.”[Ezekiel 18:32] The love of the brethren at Troas salutes you; whence also I write to you by Burrhus, who was sent along with me by the Ephesians and Smyrnæans, to show their respect: whom the Lord Jesus Christ will requite, in whom they hope, in flesh, and soul, ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 224, footnote 4 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Instructor (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
Chapter VII.—Who the Instructor Is, and Respecting His Instruction. (HTML)
... commanding power of the Word, but guarding the Lord’s prerogative. “In the day on which I will visit them,” He says, “I will bring their sins on them; that is, on the day on which I will sit as judge I will render the recompense of their sins.” For the same who is Instructor is judge, and judges those who disobey Him; and the loving Word will not pass over their transgression in silence. He reproves, that they may repent. For “the Lord willeth the repentance of the sinner rather than his death.”[Ezekiel 18:32] And let us as babes, hearing of the sins of others, keep from similar transgressions, through dread of the threatening, that we may not have to undergo like sufferings. What, then, was the sin which they committed? “For in their wrath they slew men, ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 491, footnote 1 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)
Book VI (HTML)
Chapter VI.—The Gospel Was Preached to Jews and Gentiles in Hades. (HTML)
... preaching [of the Gospel], to believe on Him, wherever they were. If, then, the Lord descended to Hades for no other end but to preach the Gospel, as He did descend; it was either to preach the Gospel to all or to the Hebrews only. If, accordingly, to all, then all who believe shall be saved, although they may be of the Gentiles, on making their profession there; since God’s punishments are saving and disciplinary, leading to conversion, and choosing rather the repentance them the death of a sinner;[Ezekiel 18:32] and especially since souls, although darkened by passions, when released from their bodies, are able to perceive more clearly, because of their being no longer obstructed by the paltry flesh.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 659, footnote 5 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Ethical. (HTML)
On Repentance. (HTML)
Repentance Applicable to All the Kinds of Sin. To Be Practised Not Only, Nor Chiefly, for the Good It Brings, But Because God Commands It. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8440 (In-Text, Margin)
To all sins, then, committed whether by flesh or spirit, whether by deed or will, the same God who has destined penalty by means of judgment, has withal engaged to grant pardon by means of repentance, saying to the people, “Repent thee, and I will save thee;”[Ezekiel 18:32] and again, “I live, saith the Lord, and I will (have) repentance rather than death.” Repentance, then, is “life,” since it is preferred to “death.” That repentance, O sinner, like myself (nay, rather, less than myself, for pre-eminence in sins I acknowledge to be mine), do you so hasten to, so embrace, as a shipwrecked man the protection of some plank. This will ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 75, footnote 10 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On Modesty. (HTML)
God Just as Well as Merciful; Accordingly, Mercy Must Not Be Indiscriminate. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 718 (In-Text, Margin)
“But,” say they, “God is ‘good,’ and ‘most good,’ and ‘pitiful-hearted,’ and ‘a pitier,’ and ‘abundant in pitiful-heartedness,’ which He holds ‘dearer than all sacrifice,’ ‘not thinking the sinner’s death of so much worth as his repentance’,[Ezekiel 18:32] ‘a Saviour of all men, most of all of believers.’ And so it will be becoming for ‘the sons of God’ too to be ‘pitiful-hearted’ and ‘peacemakers;’ ‘giving in their turn just as Christ withal hath given to us;’ ‘not judging, that we be not judged.’ For ‘to his own lord a man standeth or falleth; who art thou, to judge another’s servant?’ ‘Remit, and remission shall be made to ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 485, footnote 3 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
On the Advantage of Patience. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3592 (In-Text, Margin)
... for the day of retribution, once for all determined; and although He has revenge in His power, He prefers to keep patience for a long while, bearing, that is to say, mercifully, and putting off, so that, if it might be possible, the long protracted mischief may at some time be changed, and man, involved in the contagion of errors and crimes, may even though late be converted to God, as He Himself warns and says, “I do not will the death of him that dieth, so much as that he may return and live.”[Ezekiel 18:32] And again, “Return unto me, saith the Lord.” And again: “Return to the Lord your God; for He is merciful, and gracious, and patient, and of great pity, and who inclines His judgment towards the evils inflicted.” Which, moreover, the blessed apostle ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 663, footnote 5 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Appendix. (HTML)
Anonymous Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian. (HTML)
A Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian by an Anonymous Bishop. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5419 (In-Text, Margin)
... and Christ also rejoices, who once again with full and merciful moderation exhorts us, laden with sins, overwhelmed with crimes, to cease from wickedness, saying, “Turn ye, and return from your impieties, and your iniquities shall not be to you for a punishment. Cast away from you all your impieties which ye have committed against me; and make to yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. And why do ye deliver yourselves over to death, O house of Israel? For I do not desire the death of the sinner.”[Ezekiel 18:30-32] “I am He, I am He who blot out thy crimes, and I will not remember them. But do thou have in mind, and let us judge; tell thou thy wickednesses first, that thou mayest be justified.” While the way of mercy, brethren, is open, let us entreat God with ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 617, footnote 7 (Image)
Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents
The Decretals. (HTML)
The Epistles of Pope Callistus. (HTML)
To All the Bishops of Gaul. (HTML)
As to whether a priest may minister after a lapse. (HTML)
... heaven.” And in short, this opinion either is not the Lord’s, or it is true. But be that as it may, we believe without hesitation, that both the priests of the Lord and other believers may return to their honours after a proper satisfaction for their error, as the Lord Himself testifies by His prophet: “Shall he who falls not also rise again? and shall he who turns away not return?” And in another passage the Lord says: “I desire not the death of the sinner, but that he may turn, and live.”[Ezekiel 18:32] And the prophet David, on his repentance, said: “Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and uphold me with Thy free Spirit.” And he indeed, after his repentance, taught others also, and offered sacrifice to God, giving thereby an example to the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 456, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on Grace and Free Will. (HTML)
Abstract. (HTML)
Free Will Has Its Function in the Heart’s Conversion; But Grace Too Has Its. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3112 (In-Text, Margin)
Lest, however, it should be thought that men themselves in this matter do nothing by free will, it is said in the Psalm, “Harden not your hearts;” and in Ezekiel himself, “Cast away from you all your transgressions, which ye have impiously committed against me; and make you a new heart and a new spirit; and keep all my commandments. For why will ye die, O house of Israel, saith the Lord? for I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: and turn ye, and live.”[Ezekiel 18:31-32] We should remember that it is He who says, “Turn ye and live,” to whom it is said in prayer, “Turn us again, O God.” We should remember that He says, “Cast away from you all your transgressions,” when it is even He who justifies the ungodly. We should ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 462, footnote 5 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch. (HTML)
Homily XVIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1748 (In-Text, Margin)
... partake of their sadness. And hear what He says, reproaching them: “They suffered nothing in the affliction of Joseph:” meaning by Joseph the whole people. And again: “The inhabitants of Ænan went not forth to bewail the house next unto them.” For although they are justly punished, God willeth that we should condole with them, and not rejoice or insult. “For if I that punish,” saith He, “do not this rejoicingly; nor take pleasure in their punishment; for “I do not at all will the death of the sinner;”[Ezekiel 18:32] it is right that thou shouldest imitate thy Lord; and shouldest mourn for this very thing, that the sinner hath provided matter and occasion for a just punishment.” So that if any one entertains a godly sorrow, he will thence reap a great advantage.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 514, footnote 13 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Letters of Athanasius with Two Ancient Chronicles of His Life. (HTML)
The Festal Letters, and their Index. (HTML)
Festal Letters. (HTML)
For 331. Easter-day xvi Pharmuthi; iii Id. April; Æra Dioclet. 47; Coss. Annius Bassus, Ablabius; Præfect, Florentius; Indict. iv. (HTML)
... deceitful, and lovers of sin, walk still as in darkness, not having that ‘Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.’ Now a fire such as this laid hold of Jeremiah the prophet, when the word was in him as a fire, and he said, ‘I pass away from every place, and am not able to endure it.’ And our Lord Jesus Christ, being good and a lover of men, came that He might cast this upon earth, and said, ‘And what? would that it were already kindled!’ For He desired, as He testified in Ezekiel[Ezekiel 18:32], the repentance of a man rather than his death; so that evil should be entirely consumed in all men, that the soul, being purified, might be able to bring forth fruit; for the word which is sown by Him will be productive, some thirty, some sixty, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 225, footnote 19 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Rusticus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3132 (In-Text, Margin)
... and light shines more brightly when it is relieved against darkness. Ezekiel uses language like that of the other prophets because he is animated by a similar spirit. “Repent,” he cries, “and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord.”[Ezekiel 18:30-32] Wherefore in a subsequent passage he says: “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked: but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” These words shew us that the mind must not through disbelief in the promised ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 147, footnote 4 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
The Letters. (HTML)
To a lapsed Monk. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2097 (In-Text, Margin)
... and rescue you. Though it be but two legs or a lobe of an ear, spring back from the beast that has wounded you. Remember the mercies of God and how He cures with oil and wine. Do not despair of salvation. Recall your recollection of how it is written in the Scriptures that he who is falling rises and he who turns away returns; the wounded is healed, the prey of beasts escapes; he who owns his sin is not rejected. The Lord willeth not the death of a sinner but rather that he should turn and live.[Ezekiel 18:32] Do not despise, like the wicked in the pit of evil. There is a time of endurance, a time of long suffering, a time of healing, a time of correction. Have you stumbled? Arise. Have you sinned? Cease. Do not stand in the way of sinners, but spring ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 331, footnote 4 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Concerning Repentance. (HTML)
Book I. (HTML)
Chapter III. To the argument of the Novatians, that they only deny forgiveness in the case of greater sins, St. Ambrose replies, that this is also an offence against God, Who gave the power to forgive all sins, but that of course a more severe penance must follow in case of graver sins. He points out likewise that this distinction as to the gravity of sins assigns, as it were, severity to God, Whose mercy in the Incarnation is overlooked by the Novatians. (HTML)
... to God those for severity. And what as to that saying: “Let God be true but every man a liar, as it is written, That Thou mightest be justified in Thy words, and overcome when Thou art judged”? In order, then, that we may recognize that the God of mercy is rather prone to indulgence than to severity, it is said: “I desire mercy rather than sacrifice.” How, then, can your sacrifice, who refuse mercy, be acceptable to God, since He says that He wills not the death of a sinner, but his correction?[Ezekiel 18:32]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 380, footnote 9 (Image)
Gregory the Great II, Ephriam Syrus, Aphrahat
Selections from the Hymns and Homilies of Ephraim the Syrian and from the Demonstrations of Aphrahat the Persian Sage. (HTML)
Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations. (HTML)
Of the Resurrection of the Dead. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 999 (In-Text, Margin)
... and said to him, In the day that thou shalt eat of the tree, thou shalt surely die. And after he had transgressed the commandment, and had eaten, he lived nine hundred and thirty years; but he was accounted dead unto God because of his sins. But that it may be made certain for thee that a sinner is called dead even when he lives, I will make it clear to thee. For thus it is written in Ezekiel the Prophet, As I live, saith the Lord of lords, I desire not the death of the dead sinner.[Ezekiel 18:32]