Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts

Ezekiel 36

There are 32 footnotes for this reference.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 141, footnote 2 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Barnabas (HTML)

The Epistle of Barnabas (HTML)

Chapter VI.—The sufferings of Christ, and the new covenant, were announced by the prophets. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1517 (In-Text, Margin)

... accomplished a second fashioning in these last days. The Lord says, “Behold, I will make the last like the first.” In reference to this, then, the prophet proclaimed, “Enter ye into the land flowing with milk and honey, and have dominion over it.” Behold, therefore, we have been refashioned, as again He says in another prophet, “Behold, saith the Lord, I will take away from these, that is, from those whom the Spirit of the Lord foresaw, their stony hearts, and I will put hearts of flesh within them,”[Ezekiel 36:26] because He was to be manifested in flesh, and to sojourn among us. For, my brethren, the habitation of our heart is a holy temple to the Lord. For again saith the Lord, “And wherewith shall I appear before the Lord my God, and be glorified?” He ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 261, footnote 8 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Justin Martyr (HTML)

Dialogue with Trypho (HTML)

Chapter CXXIII.—Ridiculous interpretations of the Jews. Christians are the true Israel. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2429 (In-Text, Margin)

... inheritance.’ Since then God blesses this people, and calls them Israel, and declares them to be His inheritance, how is it that you repent not of the deception you practise on yourselves, as if you alone were the Israel, and of execrating the people whom God has blessed? For when He speaks to Jerusalem and its environs, He thus added: ‘And I will beget men upon you, even my people Israel; and they shall inherit you, and you shall be a possession for them; and you shall be no longer bereaved of them.’ ”[Ezekiel 36:12]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 510, footnote 27 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Irenæus (HTML)

Against Heresies: Book IV (HTML)

Chapter XXXIII.—Whosoever confesses that one God is the author of both Testaments, and diligently reads the Scriptures in company with the presbyters of the Church, is a true spiritual disciple; and he will rightly understand and interpret all that the prophets have declared respecting Christ and the liberty of the New Testament. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4335 (In-Text, Margin)

14. And those of them who declare that God would make a new covenant with men, not such as that which He made with the fathers at Mount Horeb, and would give to men a new heart and a new spirit;[Ezekiel 36:26] and again, “And remember ye not the things of old: behold, I make new things which shall now arise, and ye shall know it; and I will make a way in the desert, and rivers in a dry land, to give drink to my chosen people, my people whom I have acquired, that they may show forth my praise,” —plainly announced that liberty which distinguishes the new covenant, and the new wine which is put into new ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 69, footnote 9 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Apologetic. (HTML)

On Idolatry. (HTML)

Of Blasphemy. One of St. Paul's Sayings. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 263 (In-Text, Margin)

... pardonable if at any time they do what the heathen do, for fear “the Name be blasphemed.” Now the blasphemy which must quite be shunned by us in every way is, I take it, this: If any of us lead a heathen into blasphemy with good cause, either by fraud, or by injury, or by contumely, or any other matter of worthy complaint, in which “the Name” is deservedly impugned, so that the Lord, too, be deservedly angry. Else, if of all blasphemy it has been said, “By your means My Name is blasphemed,”[Ezekiel 36:20] we all perish at once; since the whole circus, with no desert of ours, assails “the Name” with wicked suffrages. Let us cease (to be Christians) and it will not be blasphemed! On the contrary, while we are, let it be blasphemed: in the observance, ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 69, footnote 9 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Apologetic. (HTML)

On Idolatry. (HTML)

Of Blasphemy. One of St. Paul's Sayings. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 263 (In-Text, Margin)

... pardonable if at any time they do what the heathen do, for fear “the Name be blasphemed.” Now the blasphemy which must quite be shunned by us in every way is, I take it, this: If any of us lead a heathen into blasphemy with good cause, either by fraud, or by injury, or by contumely, or any other matter of worthy complaint, in which “the Name” is deservedly impugned, so that the Lord, too, be deservedly angry. Else, if of all blasphemy it has been said, “By your means My Name is blasphemed,”[Ezekiel 36:23] we all perish at once; since the whole circus, with no desert of ours, assails “the Name” with wicked suffrages. Let us cease (to be Christians) and it will not be blasphemed! On the contrary, while we are, let it be blasphemed: in the observance, ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 171, footnote 13 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Apologetic. (HTML)

An Answer to the Jews. (HTML)

Argument from the Destruction of Jerusalem and Desolation of Judea. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1438 (In-Text, Margin)

... clamour,”—the clamour whereby it had extorted His surrender to the cross. And thus, the former gifts of grace being withdrawn, “the law and the prophets were until John,” and the fishpool of Bethsaida until the advent of Christ: thereafter it ceased curatively to remove from Israel infirmities of health; since, as the result of their perseverance in their frenzy, the name of the Lord was through them blasphemed, as it is written: “On your account the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles:”[Ezekiel 36:20] for it is from them that the infamy (attached to that name) began, and (was propagated during) the interval from Tiberius to Vespasian. And because they had committed these crimes, and had failed to understand that Christ “was to be found” in “the ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 171, footnote 13 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Apologetic. (HTML)

An Answer to the Jews. (HTML)

Argument from the Destruction of Jerusalem and Desolation of Judea. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1438 (In-Text, Margin)

... clamour,”—the clamour whereby it had extorted His surrender to the cross. And thus, the former gifts of grace being withdrawn, “the law and the prophets were until John,” and the fishpool of Bethsaida until the advent of Christ: thereafter it ceased curatively to remove from Israel infirmities of health; since, as the result of their perseverance in their frenzy, the name of the Lord was through them blasphemed, as it is written: “On your account the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles:”[Ezekiel 36:23] for it is from them that the infamy (attached to that name) began, and (was propagated during) the interval from Tiberius to Vespasian. And because they had committed these crimes, and had failed to understand that Christ “was to be found” in “the ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 376, footnote 4 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)

To Januarius and Other Numidian Bishops, on Baptizing Heretics. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2815 (In-Text, Margin)

... thee from the strange water, and drink not from a fountain of strange water.” It is required, then, that the water should first be cleansed and sanctified by the priest, that it may wash away by its baptism the sins of the man who is baptized; because the Lord says by Ezekiel the prophet: “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be cleansed from all your filthiness; and from all your idols will I cleanse you: a new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.”[Ezekiel 36:25-26] But how can he cleanse and sanctify the water who is himself unclean, and in whom the Holy Spirit is not? since the Lord says in the book of Numbers, “And whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean.” Or how can he who baptizes give to ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 401, footnote 1 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)

To Magnus, on Baptizing the Novatians, and Those Who Obtain Grace on a Sick-Bed. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2993 (In-Text, Margin)

... necessity compels, and God bestows His mercy, the divine methods confer the whole benefit on believers; nor ought it to trouble any one that sick people seem to be sprinkled or affused, when they obtain the Lord’s grace, when Holy Scripture speaks by the mouth of the prophet Ezekiel, and says, “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit will I put within you.”[Ezekiel 36:25-26] Also in Numbers: “And the man that shall be unclean until the evening shall be purified on the third day, and on the seventh day shall be clean: but if he shall not be purified on the third day, on the seventh day he shall not be clean. And that ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 593, footnote 21 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

Treatises Attributed to Cyprian on Questionable Authority. (HTML)

Exhortation to Repentance. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4922 (In-Text, Margin)

Also in the same: “I the Lord have built up the ruined places, and have planted the wasted places.”[Ezekiel 36:36]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 660, footnote 3 (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 5376 (In-Text, Margin)

... the house of Israel has dwelt on its own land, and they have defiled it by their crimes: their uncleanness has become like that of a menstruous woman before my face. I have poured out my anger upon them, and I have scattered them among the nations; and I have judged them according to their sins, because they have defiled my holy name; and because it was said of them, “This is the people of the Lord, I have spared them, because of my holy name, which the house of Israel despised among the nations.”[Ezekiel 36:17-23] And in conjunction with this he says, “Therefore say to the people of Israel, Thus saith the Lord, I spare you not, O house of Israel; but I will spare you on account of my holy name, which ye have defiled among they nations: and ye shall know that ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 521, footnote 4 (Image)

Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies

The Second Epistle of Clement (HTML)

The Homily (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3940 (In-Text, Margin)

... blasphemed.[Ezekiel 36:20-23] to him on account of whom My name is blasphemed.” Wherein is it blasphemed? In your not doing what I desire. For the Gentiles, when they hear from our mouth the oracles of God, marvel at them as beautiful and great; afterwards, when they have ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 570, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine

On Christian Doctrine (HTML)

Book III (HTML)

The Fourth Rule of Tichonius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1910 (In-Text, Margin)

... example, what the prophet Ezekiel says: “When the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way, and by their doings: their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman. Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it: and I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way, and according to their doings, I judged them.”[Ezekiel 36:17-19] Now it is easy to understand that this applies to that house of Israel of which the apostle says, “Behold Israel after the flesh;” because the people of Israel after the flesh did both perform and endure all that is here referred to. What ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 570, footnote 4 (Image)

Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine

On Christian Doctrine (HTML)

Book III (HTML)

The Fourth Rule of Tichonius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1912 (In-Text, Margin)

... understand that this applies to that house of Israel of which the apostle says, “Behold Israel after the flesh;” because the people of Israel after the flesh did both perform and endure all that is here referred to. What immediately follows, too, may be understood as applying to the same people. But when the prophet begins to say, “And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord,”[Ezekiel 36:23] the reader ought now carefully to observe the way in which the species is overstepped and the genus taken in. For he goes on to say: “And I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 570, footnote 5 (Image)

Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine

On Christian Doctrine (HTML)

Book III (HTML)

The Fourth Rule of Tichonius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1913 (In-Text, Margin)

... filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my commandments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will also save you from all your uncleannesses.”[Ezekiel 36:23-29] Now that this is a prophecy of the New Testament, to which pertain not only the remnant of that one nation of which it is elsewhere said, “For though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall be ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 491, footnote 5 (Image)

Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises

Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

Against Lying. (HTML)

Section 24 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2418 (In-Text, Margin)

... object not proper, may at this rate be called a lie. For when he speaks of waving corn-fields, of vines putting forth gems, of the bloom of youth, of snowy hairs; without doubt the waves, the gems, the bloom, the snow, for that we find them not in those objects to which we have from other transferred these words, shall by these persons be accounted lies. And Christ a Rock, and the stony heart of the Jews; also, Christ a Lion, and the devil a lion, and innumerable such like, shall be said to be lies.[Ezekiel 36:26] Nay, this tropical expression reaches even to what is called antiphrasis, as when a thing is said to abound which does not exist, a thing said to be sweet which is sour; “ lucus quod non luceat, Parcæ quod non parcant.” Of which kind is that ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 389, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)

The Power of God’s Grace is Proved. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2610 (In-Text, Margin)

... of the divine Scriptures. It is read in the books of the Chronicles: “Also in Judah, the hand of God was made to give them one heart, to do the commandment of the king and of the princes in the word of the Lord.” Also by Ezekiel the prophet the Lord says, “I will give them another heart, and a new spirit will I give them; and I will take away their stony heart out of their flesh, and I will give them an heart of flesh, that they may walk in my commandments and observe my judgments and do them.”[Ezekiel 36:26-27] And what is that which Esther the queen prays when she says, “Give me eloquent speech in my mouth, and enlighten my words in the sight of the lion, and turn his heart to hatred of him that fighteth against us”? How does she say such things as these ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 422, footnote 13 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians. (HTML)

Book IV (HTML)

The Testimonies of Scripture in Favour of Grace. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2822 (In-Text, Margin)

... and gather you together out of all lands, and will bring you into your own land. And I will sprinkle upon you clean water, and ye shall be cleansed from all your filthiness, and I will cleanse you. And I will give unto you a new heart, and a new spirit will I put within you: and the stony heart shall be taken away out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and will cause you to walk in my righteousness, and to observe my judgments, and do them.”[Ezekiel 36:22] And after a few words, by the same prophet He says, “Not for your sakes do I do this, saith the Lord God; it shall be known unto you: be ye confounded and blush for your ways, O house of Israel. These things saith the Lord God: In the day in which I ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 423, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians. (HTML)

Book IV (HTML)

The Testimonies of Scripture in Favour of Grace. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2823 (In-Text, Margin)

... fortified. And whatever nations have been left round about you shall know that I the Lord have built the ruined places, I have planted the desolated places: I the Lord have spoken, and have done it. Thus saith the Lord: I will yet for this inquire of the house of Israel, that I may do it for them; I will multiply them men like sheep, as holy sheep, as the sheep of Jerusalem in the days of her feast; so shall be those desolated cities full of men as sheep: and they shall know that I am the Lord.”[Ezekiel 36:32]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 423, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians. (HTML)

Book IV (HTML)

From Such Scriptures Grace is Proved to Be Gratuitous and Effectual. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2825 (In-Text, Margin)

... remained to the carrion skin whence it might be puffed up, and could disdain when it glories to glory in the Lord? What remained to it, when whatsoever it shall have said that it has done in such a way that after that preceding merit of man had originated from man, God should subsequently do that of which the man is deserving,—it shall be answered, it shall be exclaimed against, it shall be contradicted, “I do it; but for my own holy name’s sake; not for your sakes, do I do it, saith the Lord God”?[Ezekiel 36:22] Nothing so overturns the Pelagians when they say that the grace of God is given in respect of our merits. Which, indeed, Pelagius himself condemned, and if not by correcting it, yet by being afraid of the Eastern judges. Nothing so overturns the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 423, footnote 5 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians. (HTML)

Book IV (HTML)

From Such Scriptures Grace is Proved to Be Gratuitous and Effectual. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2827 (In-Text, Margin)

... I do it, saith the Lord God”? Nothing so overturns the Pelagians when they say that the grace of God is given in respect of our merits. Which, indeed, Pelagius himself condemned, and if not by correcting it, yet by being afraid of the Eastern judges. Nothing so overturns the presumption of men who say, “We do it, that we may deserve those things with which God may do it.” It is not Pelagius that answers you, but the Lord Himself, “I do it and not for your sakes, but for my own holy name’s sake.”[Ezekiel 36:22] For what good can ye do out of a heart which is not good? But that you may have a good heart, He says, “I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new Spirit within you.” Can you say, We will first walk in His righteousness, and will observe His ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 456, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on Grace and Free Will. (HTML)

Abstract. (HTML)

The Grace by Which the Stony Heart is Removed is Not Preceded by Good Deserts, But by Evil Ones. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3109 (In-Text, Margin)

... you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle you with clean water, and ye shall be clean: from all your own filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and the stony heart shall be taken away out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and will cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.”[Ezekiel 36:22-27] Now who is so blind as not to see, and who so stone-like as not to feel, that this grace is not given according to the merits of a good will, when the Lord declares and testifies, “It is I, O house of Israel, who do this, but for my holy name’s ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 456, footnote 7 (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 3114 (In-Text, Margin)

... I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: and turn ye, and live.” 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 remember that He says, “Make you a new heart and a new spirit,” who also promises, “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit will I put within you.”[Ezekiel 36:26] How is it, then, that He who says, “Make you,” also says, “I will give you”? Why does He command, if He is to give? Why does He give if man is to make, except it be that He gives what He commands when He helps him to obey whom He commands? There is, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 457, footnote 11 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on Grace and Free Will. (HTML)

Abstract. (HTML)

In What Sense It is Rightly Said That, If We Like, We May Keep God’s Commandments. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3126 (In-Text, Margin)

... good, of whom it is said (as he has just now expressed it), “The will is prepared by the Lord.” Of the same Lord it is said, “The steps of a man are ordered by the Lord, and his way doth He will.” Of the same Lord again it is said, “It is God who worketh in you, even to will!” It is certain that it is we that act when we act; but it is He who makes us act, by applying efficacious powers to our will, who has said, “I will make you to walk in my statutes, and to observe my judgments, and to do them.”[Ezekiel 36:27] When he says, “I will make you . . . to do them,” what else does He say in fact than, “I will take away from you your heart of stone,” from which used to arise your inability to act, “and I will give you a heart of flesh,” in order that you may act? ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 457, footnote 12 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on Grace and Free Will. (HTML)

Abstract. (HTML)

In What Sense It is Rightly Said That, If We Like, We May Keep God’s Commandments. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3127 (In-Text, Margin)

... a man are ordered by the Lord, and his way doth He will.” Of the same Lord again it is said, “It is God who worketh in you, even to will!” It is certain that it is we that act when we act; but it is He who makes us act, by applying efficacious powers to our will, who has said, “I will make you to walk in my statutes, and to observe my judgments, and to do them.” When he says, “I will make you . . . to do them,” what else does He say in fact than, “I will take away from you your heart of stone,”[Ezekiel 36:26] from which used to arise your inability to act, “and I will give you a heart of flesh,” in order that you may act? And what does this promise amount to but this: I will remove your hard heart, out of which you did not act, and I will give you an ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 457, footnote 13 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on Grace and Free Will. (HTML)

Abstract. (HTML)

In What Sense It is Rightly Said That, If We Like, We May Keep God’s Commandments. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3128 (In-Text, Margin)

... said, “It is God who worketh in you, even to will!” It is certain that it is we that act when we act; but it is He who makes us act, by applying efficacious powers to our will, who has said, “I will make you to walk in my statutes, and to observe my judgments, and to do them.” When he says, “I will make you . . . to do them,” what else does He say in fact than, “I will take away from you your heart of stone,” from which used to arise your inability to act, “and I will give you a heart of flesh,”[Ezekiel 36:26] in order that you may act? And what does this promise amount to but this: I will remove your hard heart, out of which you did not act, and I will give you an obedient heart, out of which you shall act? It is He who causes us to act, to whom the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 509, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)

God’s Promise is Sure. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3499 (In-Text, Margin)

... required of us, and life is set before us as a reward; so also faith is the gift of God, although when it is said, “If thou believest, thou shalt be saved,” faith is required of us, and salvation is proposed to us as a reward. For these things are both commanded us, and are shown to be God’s gifts, in order that we may understand both that we do them, and that God makes us to do them, as He most plainly says by the prophet Ezekiel. For what is plainer than when He says, “I will cause you to do”?[Ezekiel 36:27] Give heed to that passage of Scripture, and you will see that God promises that He will make them to do those things which He commands to be done. He truly is not silent as to the merits but as to the evil deeds, of those to whom He shows that He is ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 518, footnote 16 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)

Old Testament Testimonies. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3556 (In-Text, Margin)

... will is prepared by the Lord;” or, “Let our Lord be with us as with our fathers; let Him not forsake us, nor turn Himself away from us; let Him incline our hearts unto Him, that we may walk in all His ways;” or, “I will give them a heart to know me, and ears that hear;” or, “I will give them another heart, and a new spirit will I give them.” Let them also hear this, “I will give my Spirit within you, and I will cause you to walk in my righteousness; and ye shall observe my judgments, and do them.”[Ezekiel 36:27] Let them hear, “Man’s goings are directed by the Lord, and how can a man understand His ways?” Let them hear, “Every man seemeth right to himself, but the Lord directeth the hearts.” Let them hear, “As many as were ordained to eternal life be ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 503, footnote 7 (Image)

Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies

Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John. (HTML)

1 John IV. 4–12. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2370 (In-Text, Margin)

... king Saul had prophecy: he was persecuting holy David, yet was he filled with the spirit of prophecy, and began to prophesy. To receive the sacrament of the body and blood of the Lord is possible even for a bad man: for of such it is said, “He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself.” To have the name of Christ is possible even for a bad man; i.e. even a bad man can be called a Christian: as they of whom it is said, “They polluted the name of their God.”[Ezekiel 36:20] I say, to have all these sacraments is possible even for a bad man; but to have charity, and to be a bad man, is not possible. This then is the peculiar gift, this the “Fountain” that is singly one’s “own.” To drink of this the Spirit of God ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 146, footnote 21 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Oceanus. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2095 (In-Text, Margin)

... Lord imputeth not iniquity.” It would seem that we must add something to this song and say “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not a wife.” Let us hear also the declaration which Ezekiel the so called “son of man” makes concerning the virtue of him who is to be the true son of man, the Christian: “I will take you,” he says, “from among the heathen…then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness…a new heart also will I give you and a new spirit.”[Ezekiel 36:24-26] “From all your filthiness” he says, “will I cleanse you.” If all is taken away nothing can be left. If filthiness is cleansed, how much more is cleanness kept from defilement. “A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit.” Yes, for “in Christ ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 412, footnote 2 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

Treatises. (HTML)

Against Jovinianus. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4914 (In-Text, Margin)

... shepherd and the father say by the mouth of Ezekiel to the sheep that was carried back, and to the son that was lost, “And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord: that thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth ever more, because of thy shame, when I have forgiven thee all that thou hast done.” That penitents may have their due it is enough for them to feel shame instead of all other punishment. Hence in another place it is said to them,[Ezekiel 36:31-32] “Then shall ye remember your evil ways, and all the crimes wherewith ye were defiled, and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all the wickedness that ye have done; and ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have done you good ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 18, footnote 3 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)

On Baptism. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 634 (In-Text, Margin)

16. Be of good courage, O Jerusalem; the Lord will take away all thine iniquities. The Lord will wash away the filth of His sons and of His daughters by the Spirit of judgment, and by the Spirit of burning.   He will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be cleansed from all your sin[Ezekiel 36:25]. Angels shall dance around you, and say, Who is this that cometh up in white array, leaning upon her beloved? For the soul that was formerly a slave has now adopted her Master Himself as her kinsman: and He accepting the unfeigned purpose will answer: Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair:  thy teeth are like flocks of ...

Online Dictionary & Commentary of Early Church Beliefs