Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts

Matthew 3:17

There are 54 footnotes for this reference.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 251, footnote 2 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Justin Martyr (HTML)

Dialogue with Trypho (HTML)

Chapter CIII.—The Pharisees are the bulls: the roaring lion is Herod or the devil. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2344 (In-Text, Margin)

... showing that a compounded name was acquired by him from the deeds which he performed. For ‘Sata’ in the Jewish and Syrian tongue means apostate; and ‘Nas’ is the word from which he is called by interpretation the serpent, i.e., according to the interpretation of the Hebrew term, from both of which there arises the single word Satanas. For this devil, when [Jesus] went up from the river Jordan, at the time when the voice spake to Him, ‘Thou art my Son: this day have I begotten Thee,’[Matthew 3:17] is recorded in the memoirs of the apostles to have come to Him and tempted Him, even so far as to say to Him, ‘Worship me;’ and Christ answered him, ‘Get thee behind me, Satan: thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.’ For ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 197, footnote 4 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Apologetic. (HTML)

A Treatise on the Soul. (HTML)

The Fidelity of the Senses, Impugned by Plato, Vindicated by Christ Himself. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1612 (In-Text, Margin)

... after death the posthumous knowledge, as he calls it, of the truth; and yet for all he went on playing the philosopher even before he died. We may not, I say, we may not call into question the truth of the (poor vilified) senses, lest we should even in Christ Himself, bring doubt upon the truth of their sensation; lest perchance it should be said that He did not really “behold Satan as lightning fall from heaven;” that He did not really hear the Father’s voice testifying of Himself;[Matthew 3:17] or that He was deceived in touching Peter’s wife’s mother; or that the fragrance of the ointment which He afterwards smelled was different from that which He accepted for His burial; and that the taste of the wine was different from that which He ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 614, footnote 12 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

Against Praxeas. (HTML)

The Son in Union with the Father in the Creation of All Things. This Union of the Two in Co-Operation is Not Opposed to the True Unity of God. It is Opposed Only to Praxeas' Identification Theory. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 7998 (In-Text, Margin)

... stretched out the heavens by the Son, and so not have stretched them out alone, except in the sense in which He is “alone” (and apart) from all other gods. Accordingly He says, concerning the Son, immediately afterwards: “Who else is it that frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad, turning wise men backward, and making their knowledge foolish, and confirming the words of His Son?” —as, for instance, when He said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him.”[Matthew 3:17] By thus attaching the Son to Himself, He becomes His own interpreter in what sense He stretched out the heavens alone, meaning alone with His Son, even as He is one with His Son. The utterance, therefore, will be in like manner the Son’s, “I ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 653, footnote 3 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

Appendix: Against All Heresies. (HTML)

Marcus and Colarbasus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8395 (In-Text, Margin)

After these there were not wanting a Marcus and a Colarbasus, composing a novel heresy out of the Greek alphabet. For they affirm that without those letters truth cannot be found; nay more, that in those letters the whole plenitude and perfection of truth is comprised; for this was why Christ said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega.” In fact, they say that Jesus Christ descended, that is, that the dove came down on Jesus;[Matthew 3:13-17] and, since the dove is styled by the Greek name περιστερά —(peristera), it has in itself this number DCCCI. These men run through their Ω, Ψ, Χ, Φ, Υ, Τ —through the whole alphabet, indeed, up to

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 673, footnote 20 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Ethical. (HTML)

On Baptism. (HTML)

Types of the Red Sea, and the Water from the Rock. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8624 (In-Text, Margin)

... the veins of sometime envenomed and bitter nature into the all-salutary waters of baptism. This is the water which flowed continuously down for the people from the “accompanying rock;” for if Christ is “the Rock,” without doubt we see baptism blest by the water in Christ. How mighty is the grace of water, in the sight of God and His Christ, for the confirmation of baptism! Never is Christ without water: if, that is, He is Himself baptized in water;[Matthew 3:13-17] inaugurates in water the first rudimentary displays of His power, when invited to the nuptials; invites the thirsty, when He makes a discourse, to His own sempiternal water; approves, when teaching concerning love, among works of ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 461, footnote 1 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Origen. (HTML)

Origen Against Celsus. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)
Chapter LXXII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3404 (In-Text, Margin)

... from heaven proclaiming him to be the Son of God? And if he did not seek to remain concealed, why was he punished? or why did he die?” Now, by such questions he thinks to convict the histories of discrepancy, not observing that Jesus neither desired all things regarding Himself to be known to all whom He happened to meet, nor yet all things to be unknown. Accordingly, the voice from heaven which proclaimed Him to be the Son of God, in the words, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,”[Matthew 3:17] is not stated to have been audible to the multitudes, as this Jew of Celsus supposed. The voice from the cloud on the high mountain, moreover, was heard only by those who had gone up with Him. For the divine voice is of such a nature, as to be heard ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 236, footnote 5 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Hippolytus. (HTML)

The Extant Works and Fragments of Hippolytus. (HTML)

Dogmatical and Historical. (HTML)
The Discourse on the Holy Theophany. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1813 (In-Text, Margin)

... to go down into the Jordan, in order that they may hear my Father’s testimony, and recognise the power of the Son. “Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.” Then at length John suffers Him. “And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and the heavens were opened unto Him; and, lo, the Spirit of God descended like a dove, and rested upon Him. And a voice (came) from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”[Matthew 3:16-17]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 48, footnote 4 (Image)

Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius

Gregory Thaumaturgus. (HTML)

Dubious or Spurious Writings. (HTML)

On the Trinity. (HTML)
Fragment from the Discourse. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 380 (In-Text, Margin)

... together, which two constitute one. Yet the divinity does not consequently receive any increment, but the Trinity remains as it was. Nor does anything new befall the persons even or the names, but these are eternal and without time. No one, however, was sufficient to know these until the Son being made flesh manifested them, saying: “Father, I have manifested Thy name to men; glorify Thou me also, that they may know me as Thy Son.” And on the mount the Father spake, and said, “This is my beloved Son.”[Matthew 3:17] And the same sent His Holy Spirit at the Jordan. And thus it was declared to us that there is an Eternal Trinity in equal honour. Besides, the generation of the Son by the Father is incomprehensible and ineffable; and because it is spiritual, its ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 50, footnote 4 (Image)

Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius

Gregory Thaumaturgus. (HTML)

Dubious or Spurious Writings. (HTML)

Twelve Topics on the Faith. (HTML)
Topic III. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 394 (In-Text, Margin)

If any one affirms that Christ, just like one of the prophets, assumed the perfect man, and refuses to acknowledge that, being begotten in the flesh of the Virgin, He became man and was born in Bethlehem, and was brought up in Nazareth, and advanced in age, and on completing the set number of years (appeared in public and) was baptized in the Jordan, and received this testimony from the Father, “This is my beloved Son,”[Matthew 3:17] even as it is written, let him be anathema.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 71, footnote 1 (Image)

Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius

Gregory Thaumaturgus. (HTML)

Dubious or Spurious Writings. (HTML)

Four Homilies. (HTML)
On the Holy Theophany, or on Christ's Baptism. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 585 (In-Text, Margin)

... Lord, and by nature the Father of the Only-begotten, He who alone knoweth perfectly Him whom He alone in passionless fashion begat, to correct the erroneous imaginations of the Jews, opened the gates of the heavens, and sent down the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, lighting upon the head of Jesus, pointing out thereby the new Noah, yea the maker of Noah, and the good pilot of the nature which is in shipwreck. And He Himself calls with clear voice out of heaven, and says: “This is my beloved Son,”[Matthew 3:17] —the Jesus there, namely, and not the John; the one baptized, and not the one baptizing; He who was begotten of me before all periods of time and not he who was begotten of Zacharias; He who was born of Mary after the flesh, and not he who was ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 226, footnote 14 (Image)

Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius

Archelaus. (HTML)

The Acts of the Disputation with the Heresiarch Manes. (HTML)

Chapter IL. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2063 (In-Text, Margin)

... man, the appearance being effected and produced by the power that is in Him, tell me, I repeat, on whom then was it that the Spirit descended like a dove? Who is this that was baptized by John? If He was perfect, if He was the Son, if He was the Power, the Spirit could not have entered into Him; just as a kingdom cannot enter within a kingdom. And whose, too, was that voice which was sent forth out of heaven, and which gave Him this testimony, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased?”[Matthew 3:17] Come, tell me; make no delay; who is this that acquires all these things, that does all these things? Answer me: Will you thus audaciously adduce blasphemy for reason, and will you attempt to find a place for it?

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 228, footnote 8 (Image)

Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius

Archelaus. (HTML)

The Acts of the Disputation with the Heresiarch Manes. (HTML)

Chapter L. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2088 (In-Text, Margin)

... as you were saying a little ago, save only in that one hour when His countenance shone like the sun? Was it not by reason of that tabernacle which had been made for Him of Mary? For just as no other had the capacity sufficient for sustaining the burden of the Paraclete except only the disciples and the blessed Paul, so also no other was able to bear the Spirit who descended from heaven, and through whom that voice of the Father gave its testimony in these terms, “This is my beloved Son,”[Matthew 3:17] save only He who was born of Mary, and who is above all the saints,—namely, Jesus. But now give us your answer to those matters which I bring forward against you. If you hold that He is man only in mien and form, how could He have been laid hold of ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 294, footnote 3 (Image)

Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius

Alexander of Alexandria. (HTML)

Epistles on the Arian Heresy and the Deposition of Arius. (HTML)

To Alexander, Bishop of the City of Constantinople. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2423 (In-Text, Margin)

8. And His proper and peculiar, natural and excellent Sonship, St. Paul has declared, who thus speaks of God: “Who spared not His own Son, but for us,” who were not His natural sons, “delivered Him up.” For to distinguish Him from those who are not properly sons, He said that He was His own Son. And in the Gospel we read: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”[Matthew 3:17] Moreover, in the Psalms the Saviour says: “The Lord hath said unto Me, Thou art my Son.” Where, showing that He is the true and genuine Son, He signifies that there are no other genuine sons besides Himself. And what, too, is the meaning of this: “From the womb before the morning I begat thee”? Does He not ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 115, footnote 5 (Image)

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

Lactantius (HTML)

The Divine Institutes (HTML)

Book IV. Of True Wisdom and Religion (HTML)
Chap. XV.—Of the life and miracles of Jesus, and testimonies concerning them (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 661 (In-Text, Margin)

... Jews esteemed Him a magician. When He first began to reach maturity He was baptized by the prophet John in the river Jordan, that He might wash away in the spiritual laver not His own sins, for it is evident that He had none, but those of the flesh, which He bare; that as He saved the Jews by undergoing circumcision, so He might save the Gentiles also by baptism—that is, by the pouring forth of the purifying dew. Then a voice from heaven was heard: “Thou art my Son, to-day have I begotten Thee.”[Matthew 3:17] Which voice is found to have been foretold by David. And the Spirit of God descended upon Him, formed after the appearance of a white dove. From that time He began to perform the greatest miracles, not by magical tricks, which display nothing true ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 90, footnote 1 (Image)

Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents

Pseudo-Clementine Literature. (HTML)

The Recognitions of Clement. (HTML)

Book I. (HTML)
The True Prophet, a Priest. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 580 (In-Text, Margin)

“Then, however, a priest or a prophet, being anointed with the compounded ointment, putting fire to the altar of God, was held illustrious in all the world. But after Aaron, who was a priest, another is taken out of the waters. I do not speak of Moses, but of Him who, in the waters of baptism, was called by God His Son.[Matthew 3:17] For it is Jesus who has put out, by the grace of baptism, that fire which the priest kindled for sins; for, from the time when He appeared, the chrism has ceased, by which the priesthood or the prophetic or the kingly office was conferred.”

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 415, footnote 4 (Image)

Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents

Apocrypha of the New Testament. (HTML)

The Arabic Gospel of the Infancy of the Saviour. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1801 (In-Text, Margin)

54. And from this day He began to hide His miracles and mysteries and secrets, and to give attention to the law, until He completed His thirtieth year, when His Father publicly declared Him at the Jordan by this voice sent down from heaven: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; the Holy Spirit being present in the form of a white dove.[Matthew 3:13-17]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 50, footnote 9 (Image)

Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Apocalypses, Visio Pauli, Testament of Abraham, Acts of X/P, Zosimus, Aristides, Clement, Origen

The Diatessaron of Tatian. (HTML)

The Diatessaron. (HTML)

Section IV. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 354 (In-Text, Margin)

... I to baptize with water. And John was hindering him and [34] saying, I have need of being baptized by thee, and comest thou to me? Jesus answered him and said, Suffer this now: thus it is our duty to fulfill all righteousness. [35] Then he suffered him. And when all the people were baptized, Jesus also [36] was baptized. And immediately he went up out of the water, and heaven opened [37] [Arabic, p. 17] to him, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the similitude of the [38] body of a dove;[Matthew 3:17] and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved [39] Son, in whom I am well pleased. And John bare witness and said, I beheld the [40] Spirit descend from heaven like a dove; and it abode upon him. But I knew him not; but he that sent me to ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 418, footnote 7 (Image)

Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Apocalypses, Visio Pauli, Testament of Abraham, Acts of X/P, Zosimus, Aristides, Clement, Origen

Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew. (HTML)

Origen's Commentary on Matthew. (HTML)

Book X. (HTML)
Christ the Pearl of Great Price. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5197 (In-Text, Margin)

... but loss that I may win Christ;” by “all things” meaning the goodly pearls, “that I may win Christ,” the one very precious pearl. Precious, then, is a lamp to men in darkness, and there is need of a lamp until the sun rise; and precious also is the glory in the face of Moses, and of the prophets also, I think, and a beautiful sight, by which we are introduced so as to be able to see the glory of Christ, to which the Father bears witness, saying, “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased.”[Matthew 3:17] But “that which hath been made glorious hath not been made glorious in this respect by reason of the glory that surpasseth;” and there is need to us first of the glory which admits of being done away, for the sake of the glory which surpasseth; as ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 46, footnote 2 (Image)

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

Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)

The equality of the Trinity maintained against objections drawn from those texts which speak of the sending of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (HTML)
Whether God the Trinity Indiscriminately Appeared to the Fathers, or Any One Person of the Trinity. The Appearing of God to Adam. Of the Same Appearance. The Vision to Abraham. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 271 (In-Text, Margin)

... in speaking to the first man, it is both difficult to discover, and we have not undertaken to say in this discourse. But if words alone and sounds were wrought, by which to bring about some sensible presence of God to those first men, I do not know why I should not there understand the person of God the Father, seeing that His person is manifested also in that voice, when Jesus appeared in glory on the mount before the three disciples; and in that when the dove descended upon Him at His baptism;[Matthew 3:17] and in that where He cried to the Father concerning His own glorification and it was answered Him, “I have both glorified, and will glorify again.” Not that the voice could be wrought without the work of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (since the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 46, footnote 4 (Image)

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

Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)

The equality of the Trinity maintained against objections drawn from those texts which speak of the sending of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (HTML)
Whether God the Trinity Indiscriminately Appeared to the Fathers, or Any One Person of the Trinity. The Appearing of God to Adam. Of the Same Appearance. The Vision to Abraham. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 273 (In-Text, Margin)

... wrought as to manifest the person of the Father only; just as the Trinity wrought that human form from the Virgin Mary, yet it is the person of the Son alone; for the invisible Trinity wrought the visible person of the Son alone. Neither does anything forbid us, not only to understand those words spoken to Adam as spoken by the Trinity, but also to take them as manifesting the person of that Trinity. For we are compelled to understand of the Father only, that which is said, “This is my beloved Son.”[Matthew 3:17] For Jesus can neither be believed nor understood to be the Son of the Holy Spirit, or even His own Son. And where the voice uttered, “I have both glorified, and will glorify again,” we confess it was only the person of the Father; since it is the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 183, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings

Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)

Reply to Faustus the Manichæan. (HTML)

Faustus denies that the prophets predicted Christ.  Augustin proves such prediction from the New Testament, and expounds at length the principal types of Christ in the Old Testament. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 404 (In-Text, Margin)

... accustomed to teach that Christian faith is so simple and absolute as not to admit of laborious investigations. Why, then, should you destroy the simplicity of faith by buttressing it with evidences, and Jewish evidences too? Or if you are changing your opinion about evidences, what more trustworthy witness could you have than God Himself testifying to His own Son when He sent Him on earth,—not by a prophet or an interpreter,—by a voice immediately from heaven: "This is my beloved Son, believe Him?"[Matthew 3:17] And again He testifies of Himself: "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world;" and in many similar passages. When the Jews quarrelled with this testimony, saying "Thou bearest witness of thyself, thy witness is not true," He replied: ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 314, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings

Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)

Reply to Faustus the Manichæan. (HTML)

Faustus recurs to the genealogical difficulty and insists that even according to Matthew Jesus was not Son of God until His baptism.  Augustin sets forth the Catholic view of the relation of the divine and the human in the person of Christ. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 977 (In-Text, Margin)

... genealogy. Of this same Son of David he speaks as being conceived and born of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Ghost. He also applies to this the declaration of the prophet, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and shall bear a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which is being interpreted, God with us." Again, He who was called, even from the Virgin’s womb, God-with-us, is said to have heard, when He was baptized by John, a voice from heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."[Matthew 3:17] Will Faustus say that to be called God is less than to be called the Son of God? He seems to think so, for he tries to prove that because this voice came from heaven at the time of the baptism, therefore, according to Matthew, He must then have ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 119, footnote 5 (Image)

Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels

The Harmony of the Gospels. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)

Of the Words or the Voice that Came from Heaven Upon Him When He Had Been Baptized. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 806 (In-Text, Margin)

... Son,” this turn, “This is my beloved Son,” as if it were addressed directly to the people. For it was not meant to intimate to Christ a fact which He knew already; but the object was to let the people who were present hear it, for whose sakes indeed the voice itself was given. But furthermore now, with regard to the circumstance that the first of them puts the saying thus, “In whom I am well pleased,” the second thus, “In Thee I am well pleased;” and the third thus, “In Thee it has pleased me;”[Matthew 3:16-17] —if you ask which of these different modes represents what was actually expressed by the voice, you may fix on whichever you will, provided only that you understand that those of the writers who have not reproduced the self-same form of speech have ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 259, footnote 7 (Image)

Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels

Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)

Of the words of St. Matthew’s Gospel, Chap. iii. 13, 'Then Jesus cometh from Galilee to the Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.' Concerning the Trinity. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1828 (In-Text, Margin)

... His servant (and this He did for an example of humility; for He showeth that in this same humility is righteousness fulfilled, when as John said to Him, “I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me?” He answered, “Suffer it to be so now, that all righteousness may be fulfilled”), when He was baptized then, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit came down upon Him in the form of a Dove: and then a Voice from on high followed, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”[Matthew 3:17] Here then we have the Trinity in a certain sort distinguished. The Father in the Voice,—the Son in the Man,—the Holy Spirit in the Dove. It was only needful just to mention this, for most obvious is it to see. For the notice of the Trinity is here ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 259, footnote 10 (Image)

Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels

Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)

Of the words of St. Matthew’s Gospel, Chap. iii. 13, 'Then Jesus cometh from Galilee to the Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.' Concerning the Trinity. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1831 (In-Text, Margin)

... Christ Himself coming in the form of a servant to John, is doubtlessly the Son: for it cannot be said that it was the Father, or the Holy Spirit. “Jesus,” it is said, “cometh;” that is, the Son of God. And who hath any doubt about the Dove? or who saith, “What is the Dove?” when the Gospel itself most plainly testifieth, “The Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove.” And in like manner as to that voice there can be no doubt that it is the Father’s, when He saith, “Thou art My Son.”[Matthew 3:17] Thus then we have the Trinity distinguished.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 256, footnote 4 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm LXII (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2435 (In-Text, Margin)

... “In many quarters and in many ways formerly God hath spoken to the fathers in the prophets.” What is, “Once hath God spoken”? Is He not the God that in the beginning of mankind spake to Adam? Did not the Selfsame speak to Cain, to Noe, to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to all the Prophets, and to Moses? One man Moses was, and how often to him spake God? Behold even to one man, not once but ofttimes God hath spoken. Secondly, He hath spoken to the Son when standing here, “Thou art My beloved Son.”[Matthew 3:17] God hath spoken to the Apostles, He hath spoken to all the Saints, even though not with voice sounding through the cloud, nevertheless in the heart where He is Himself Teacher. What is therefore, “Once hath God spoken”? Much hath that man leapt over ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 330, footnote 7 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm LXXII (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3210 (In-Text, Margin)

... round world.” Therefore that which He saith in “even unto the ends of the round world,” the same He had said before in “from sea even unto sea.” But in that which now He saith, “from the river,” He hath evidently expressed that He willed Christ to publish at length His power from that place from whence also He began to choose His disciples, to wit from the river Jordan, where upon the Lord, on His baptism, when the Holy Ghost descended, there sounded a voice from Heaven, “This is My beloved Son.”[Matthew 3:17] From this place then His doctrine and the authority of the heavenly ministry setting out, is enlarged even unto the ends of the round world, when there is preached the Gospel of the kingdom in the whole world, for a testimony unto all nations: and ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 38, footnote 6 (Image)

Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome

The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret. (HTML)

The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)
The Epistle of Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria to Alexander, Bishop of Constantinople. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 287 (In-Text, Margin)

“His true, peculiar, natural, and special Sonship was declared by Paul, who, speaking of God, says, that ‘ He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us,’ who are not by nature His sons. It was to distinguish Him from those who are not ‘ His own, ’ that he called Him ‘ His own son. ’ It is also written in the Gospel, ‘ This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased[Matthew 3:17];’ and in the Psalms the Saviour says, ‘ The Lord said unto Me, Thou art My Son.’ By proclaiming natural sonship He shows that there are no other natural sons besides Himself.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 157, footnote 6 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Defence of the Nicene Definition. (De Decretis.) (HTML)

De Decretis. (Defence of the Nicene Definition.) (HTML)

Two senses of the word Son, 1. adoptive; 2. essential; attempts of Arians to find a third meaning between these; e.g. that our Lord only was created immediately by God (Asterius's view), or that our Lord alone partakes the Father. The second and true sense; God begets as He makes, really; though His creation and generation are not like man's; His generation independent of time; generation implies an internal, and therefore an eternal, act in God; explanation of Prov. viii. 22. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 819 (In-Text, Margin)

... accession of food. And on this account men in their time become fathers of many children; but God, being without parts, is Father of the Son without partition or passion; for there is neither effluence of the Immaterial, nor influx from without, as among men; and being uncompounded in nature, He is Father of One Only Son. This is why He is Only-begotten, and alone in the Father’s bosom, and alone is acknowledged by the Father to be from Him, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased[Matthew 3:17].’ And He too is the Father’s Word, from which may be understood the impassible and impartitive nature of the Father, in that not even a human word is begotten with passion or partition, much less the Word of God. Wherefore also He sits, as Word, at ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 312, footnote 4 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)

Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)

Discourse I (HTML)
The Importance of the Subject. The Arians affect Scripture language, but their doctrine new, as well as unscriptural. Statement of the Catholic doctrine, that the Son is proper to the Father's substance, and eternal. Restatement of Arianism in contrast, that He is a creature with a beginning: the controversy comes to this issue, whether one whom we are to believe in as God, can be so in name only, and is merely a creature. What pretence then for being indifferent in the controversy? The Arians rely on state patronage, and dare not avow their tenets. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1879 (In-Text, Margin)

... friends, and fostered as serpents are? for from what sources have they got together these words? or from whom have they received what they venture to say? Not any one man can they specify who has supplied it. For who is there in all mankind, Greek or Barbarian, who ventures to rank among creatures One whom he confesses the while to be God and says, that He was not till He was made? or who is there, who to the God in whom he has put faith, refuses to give credit, when He says, ‘This is My beloved Son[Matthew 3:17],’ on the pretence that He is not a Son, but a creature? rather, such madness would rouse an universal indignation. Nor does Scripture afford them any pretext; for it has been often shewn, and it shall be shewn now, that their doctrine is alien to ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 315, footnote 9 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)

Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)

Discourse I (HTML)
Subject Continued. Objection, that the Son's eternity makes Him coordinate with the Father, introduces the subject of His Divine Sonship, as a second proof of His eternity. The word Son is introduced in a secondary, but is to be understood in real sense. Since all things partake of the Father in partaking of the Son, He is the whole participation of the Father, that is, He is the Son by nature; for to be wholly participated is to beget. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1927 (In-Text, Margin)

... partakes; for this only remains to say. But this, which is participated, what is it or whence? If it be something external provided by the Father, He will not now be partaker of the Father, but of what is external to Him; and no longer will He be even second after the Father, since He has before Him this other; nor can He be called Son of the Father, but of that, as partaking which He has been called Son and God. And if this be unseemly and irreligious, when the Father says, ‘This is My Beloved Son[Matthew 3:17],’ and when the Son says that God is His own Father, it follows that what is partaken is not external, but from the essence of the Father. And as to this again, if it be other than the essence of the Son, an equal extravagance will meet us; there ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 360, footnote 10 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)

Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)

Discourse II (HTML)
Chapter XVI.--Introductory to Proverbs viii. 22, that the Son is not a Creature. Arian formula, a creature but not as one of the creatures; but each creature is unlike all other creatures; and no creature can create. The Word then differs from all creatures in that in which they, though otherwise differing, all agree together, as creatures; viz. in being an efficient cause; in being the one medium or instrumental agent in creation; moreover in being the revealer of the Father; and in being the object of worship. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2348 (In-Text, Margin)

... His excelling them in glory, it were natural that Scripture should describe and display Him by a comparison in His favour with the other works; for instance, that it should say that He is greater than Archangels, and more honourable than the Thrones, and both brighter than sun and moon, and greater than the heavens. But he is not in fact thus referred to; but the Father shews Him to be His own proper and only Son, saying, ‘Thou art My Son,’ and ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.[Matthew 3:17] ’ Accordingly the Angels ministered unto Him, as being one beyond themselves; and they worship Him, not as being greater in glory, but as being some one beyond all the creatures, and beyond themselves, and alone the Father’s proper Son according to ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 382, footnote 9 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)

Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)

Discourse II (HTML)
Texts Explained; Sixthly, Proverbs viii. 22, Continued. Our Lord not said in Scripture to be 'created,' or the works to be 'begotten.' 'In the beginning' means in the case of the works 'from the beginning.' Scripture passages explained. We are made by God first, begotten next; creatures by nature, sons by grace. Christ begotten first, made or created afterwards. Sense of 'First-born of the dead;' of 'First-born among many brethren;' of 'First-born of all creation,' contrasted with 'Only-begotten.' Further interpretation of 'beginning of ways,' and 'for the works.' Why a creature could not redeem; why redemption was necessary at all. Texts which contrast the Word and the works. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2626 (In-Text, Margin)

... first-born of God,’ nor ‘the creature of God;’ but ‘Only-begotten’ and ‘Son’ and ‘Word’ and ‘Wisdom,’ refer to Him as proper to the Father. Thus, ‘We have seen His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father;’ and ‘God sent His Only-begotten Son;’ and ‘O Lord, Thy Word endureth for ever;’ and ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God;’ and ‘Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God;’ and ‘This is My beloved Son;’ and ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God[Matthew 3:17].’ But ‘first-born’ implied the descent to the creation; for of it has He been called first-born; and ‘He created’ implies His grace towards the works, for for them is He created. If then He is Only-begotten, as indeed He is, ‘First-born’ needs some ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 426, footnote 8 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)

Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)

Discourse III (HTML)
Objections continued, as in Chapters vii.--x. Whether the Son is begotten of the Father's will? This virtually the same as whether once He was not? and used by the Arians to introduce the latter question. The Regula Fidei answers it at once in the negative by contrary texts. The Arians follow the Valentinians in maintaining a precedent will; which really is only exercised by God towards creatures. Instances from Scripture. Inconsistency of Asterius. If the Son by will, there must be another Word before Him. If God is good, or exist, by His will, then is the Son by His will. If He willed to have reason or wisdom, then is His Word and Wisdom at His will. The Son is the Living Will, and has all titles which denote connaturality. That will whic (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3218 (In-Text, Margin)

... suspicious in their words and so inventive of irreligion. For the Father who revealed from heaven His own Word, declared, ‘This is My beloved Son;’ and by David He said, ‘My heart uttered a good Word;’ and John He bade say, ‘In the beginning was the Word;’ and David says in the Psalm, ‘With Thee is the well of life, and in Thy light shall we see light;’ and the Apostle writes, ‘Who being the Radiance of Glory,’ and again, ‘Who being in the form of God,’ and, ‘Who is the Image of the invisible God[Matthew 3:17].’

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 443, footnote 1 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)

Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)

Discourse IV (HTML)
Since the Word is from God, He must be Son. Since the Son is from everlasting, He must be the Word; else either He is superior to the Word, or the Word is the Father. Texts of the New Testament which state the unity of the Son with the Father; therefore the Son is the Word. Three hypotheses refuted--1. That the Man is the Son; 2. That the Word and Man together are the Son; 3. That the Word became Son on His incarnation. Texts of the Old Testament which speak of the Son. If they are merely prophetical, then those concerning the Word may be such also. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3379 (In-Text, Margin)

... Well-beloved’ refer to the future, so does what follows upon them, ‘My heart uttered a good Word.’ And if ‘From the womb’ relates to a man, therefore also ‘From the heart.’ For if the womb is human, so is the heart corporeal. But if what is from the heart is eternal, then what is ‘From the womb’ is eternal. And if the ‘Only-begotten’ is ‘in the bosom,’ therefore the ‘Well-beloved’ is ‘in the bosom.’ For ‘Only-begotten’ and ‘Well-beloved’ are the same, as in the words ‘This is My Well-beloved Son[Matthew 3:17].’ For not as wishing to signify His love towards Him did He say ‘Well-beloved,’ as if it might appear that He hated others, but He made plain thereby His being Only-begotten, that He might shew that He alone was from Him. And hence the Word, with a ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 574, footnote 8 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Letters of Athanasius with Two Ancient Chronicles of His Life. (HTML)

The Festal Letters, and their Index. (HTML)

Personal Letters. (HTML)
To Epictetus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4737 (In-Text, Margin)

12. This proves that while to all the others the Word came, in order that they might prophesy, from Mary the Word Himself took flesh, and proceeded forth as man; being by nature and essence the Word of God, but after the flesh man of the seed of David, and made of the flesh of Mary, as Paul said. Him the Father pointed out both in Jordan and on the Mount, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased[Matthew 3:17].’ Him the Arians denied, but we recognising worship, not dividing the Son and the Word, but knowing that the Son is the Word Himself, by Whom all things are made, and by Whom we were redeemed. And for this reason we wonder how any contention at all has arisen among you about things so ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 145, footnote 25 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Oceanus. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2074 (In-Text, Margin)

... a well that Eliezer finds Rebekah. Rachel too is a drawer of water and wins a kiss thereby from the supplanter Jacob. When the daughters of the priests of Midian are in a strait to reach the well, Moses opens a way for them and delivers them from outrage. The Lord’s forerunner at Salem (a name which means peace or perfection) makes ready the people for Christ with spring-water. The Saviour Himself does not preach the kingdom of heaven until by His baptismal immersion He has cleansed the Jordan.[Matthew 3:17] Water is the matter of His first miracle and it is from a well that the Samaritan woman is bidden to slake her thirst. To Nicodemus He secretly says:—“Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.” As His ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 57, footnote 7 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)

On the Clause, and in One Lord Jesus Christ, with a Reading from the First Epistle to the Corinthians. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1120 (In-Text, Margin)

2. If, therefore, any one wishes to shew piety towards God, let him worship the Son, since otherwise the Father accepts not his service. The Father spake with a loud voice from heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased[Matthew 3:17]. The Father was well pleased; unless thou also be well pleased in Him, thou hast not life. Be not thou carried away with the Jews when they craftily say, There is one God alone; but with the knowledge that God is One, know that there is also an Only-begotten Son of God. I am not the first to say this, but the Psalmist in the person of the Son saith, The Lord said unto ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 66, footnote 15 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)

On the Words, the Only-Begotten Son of God, Begotten of the Father Very God Before All Ages, by Whom All Things Were Made. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1274 (In-Text, Margin)

... becoming sons of God: for ye also become sons, but by adoption of grace, as it is written, But as many as received Him, to them gave He the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on His name:  which were begotten not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And we indeed are begotten of water and of the Spirit, but not thus was Christ begotten of the Father. For at the time of His Baptism addressing Him, and saying, This is My Son[Matthew 3:17], He did not say, “This has now become My Son,” but, This is My Son; that He might make manifest, that even before the operation of Baptism He was a Son.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 210, footnote 10 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)

In Defence of His Flight to Pontus, and His Return, After His Ordination to the Priesthood, with an Exposition of the Character of the Priestly Office. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2605 (In-Text, Margin)

... virgin, for the manger and Bethlehem; the generation on behalf of the creation, the virgin on behalf of the woman, Bethlehem because of Eden, the manger because of the garden, small and visible things on behalf of great and hidden things. This is why the angels glorified first the heavenly, then the earthly, why the shepherds saw the glory over the Lamb and the Shepherd, why the star led the Magi to worship and offer gifts, in order that idolatry might be destroyed. This is why Jesus was baptized,[Matthew 3:17] and received testimony from above, and fasted, and was tempted, and overcame him who had overcome. This is why devils were cast out, and diseases healed, and the mighty preaching was entrusted to, and successfully proclaimed by men of low estate.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 351, footnote 1 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)

On the Theophany, or Birthday of Christ. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3884 (In-Text, Margin)

XVI. A little later on you will see Jesus submitting to be purified in the River Jordan for my Purification, or rather, sanctifying the waters by His Purification (for indeed He had no need of purification Who taketh away the sin of the world) and the heavens cleft asunder, and witness borne to him by the Spirit That is of one nature with Him;[Matthew 3:17] you shall see Him tempted and conquering and served by Angels, and healing every sickness and every disease, and giving life to the dead (O that He would give life to you who are dead because of your heresy), and driving out demons, sometimes Himself, sometimes by his disciples; and feeding vast multitudes with a few loaves; ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 357, footnote 7 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)

Oration on the Holy Lights. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3966 (In-Text, Margin)

XV. But John baptizes, Jesus comes to Him …perhaps to sanctify the Baptist himself, but certainly to bury the whole of the old Adam in the water; and before this and for the sake of this, to sanctify Jordan; for as He is Spirit and Flesh, so He consecrates us by Spirit and water. John will not receive Him; Jesus contends. “I have need to be baptized of Thee”[Matthew 3:17] says the Voice to the Word, the Friend to the Bridegroom; he that is above all among them that are born of women, to Him Who is the Firstborn of every creature; he that leaped in the womb, to Him Who was adored in the womb; he who was and is to be the Forerunner to Him Who was and is to be manifested. “I have need to ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 25, footnote 4 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

De Spiritu Sancto. (HTML)

That the Holy Spirit is in every conception inseparable from the Father and the Son, alike in the creation of perceptible objects, in the dispensation of human affairs, and in the judgment to come. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1057 (In-Text, Margin)

... succour given through the legislation, the types, the prophecies, the valorous feats in war, the signs wrought through just men;—or on the other hand the things done in the dispensation of the coming of our Lord in the flesh;—all is through the Spirit. In the first place He was made an unction, and being inseparably present was with the very flesh of the Lord, according to that which is written, “Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him, the same is” “my beloved Son;”[Matthew 3:17] and “Jesus of Nazareth” whom “God anointed with the Holy Ghost.” After this every operation was wrought with the co-operation of the Spirit. He was present when the Lord was being tempted by the devil; for, it is said, “Jesus was led up of the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 105, footnote 3 (Image)

Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus

Title Page (HTML)

De Trinitate or On the Trinity. (HTML)

De Trinitate or On the Trinity. (HTML)
Book VI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 785 (In-Text, Margin)

23. I will not weaken the evidence for this truth by intermixing words of my own. Let us hear the Father, when the baptism of Jesus Christ was accomplished, speaking, as often, concerning His Only-begotten, in order to save us from being misled by His visible body into a failure to recognise Him as the Son. His words are:— This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased[Matthew 3:17]. Is the truth presented here with dim outlines? Is the proclamation made in uncertain tones? The promise of the Virgin birth brought by the angel from the Holy Ghost, the guiding star of the Magi, the reverence paid Him in His cradle, the majesty, attested by the Baptist, of Him Who condescended to be ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 115, footnote 2 (Image)

Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus

Title Page (HTML)

De Trinitate or On the Trinity. (HTML)

De Trinitate or On the Trinity. (HTML)
Book VI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 831 (In-Text, Margin)

46. This is no universal and inevitable error; they who deny the Son cannot lay the fault upon their ignorance, for ignorance of the truth which they deny is impossible. They describe the Son of God as a creature who came into being out of nothing. If the Father has never asserted this, nor the Son confirmed it, nor the Apostles proclaimed it, then the dating which prompts their allegation is bred not of ignorance, but of hatred for Christ. When the Father says of His Son, This is[Matthew 3:17], and the Son of Himself, It is He that talketh with Thee, and when Peter confesses Thou art, and John assures us, This is the true God, and Paul is never weary of proclaiming Him as God’s own Son, I can conceive of no other motive ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 208, footnote 8 (Image)

Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus

Title Page (HTML)

De Trinitate or On the Trinity. (HTML)

De Trinitate or On the Trinity. (HTML)
Book XI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1255 (In-Text, Margin)

... through all Judæa, beginning from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached: even Jesus of Nazareth, how that God anointed Him with the Holy Ghost and with power. Jesus was anointed, therefore, that the mystery of the regeneration of flesh might be accomplished. Nor are we left in doubt how He was thus anointed with the Spirit of God and with power, when we listen to the Father’s voice, as it spoke when He came up out of the Jordan, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee[Matthew 3:17]. Thus is testified the sanctification of His flesh, and in this testimony we must recognise His anointing with the power of the Spirit.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 122, footnote 3 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)

On the Holy Spirit. (HTML)

Book II. (HTML)
Chapter VI. To those who object that according to the words of Amos the Spirit is created, the answer is made that the word is there understood of the wind, which is often created, which cannot be said of the Holy Spirit, since He is eternal, and cannot be dissolved in death, or by an heretical absorption into the Father. But if they pertinaciously contend that this passage was written of the Holy Spirit, St. Ambrose points out that recourse must be had to a spiritual Interpretation, for Christ by His coming established the thunder, that is, the force of the divine utterances, and by Spirit is signified the human soul as also the flesh assumed by Christ. And since this was created by each Person of the Trinity, it is thence argued that the (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1077 (In-Text, Margin)

57. And that you might know that he spoke of the coming down of Jesus, he added that He declared His Christ to men, for in His baptism He declared Him, saying: “Thou art My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.”[Matthew 3:17] He declared Him on the mount, saying: “This is My beloved Son, hear ye Him.” He declared Him in His Passion, when the sun hid itself, and sea and earth trembled. He declared Him in the Centurion, who said: “Truly this was the Son of God.”

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 295, footnote 7 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)

Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)

Book V. (HTML)
Chapter VII. Objection is taken to the following passage: “Thou hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me.” To remove it, he shows first the impiety of the Arian explanation; then compares these words with others; and lastly, takes the whole passage into consideration. Hence he gathers that the mission of Christ, although it is to be received according to the flesh, is not to His detriment. When this is proved he shows how the divine mission takes place. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2616 (In-Text, Margin)

89. Can men indeed be loved by God as the Son is, in Whom the Father is well-pleased?[Matthew 3:17] He is well-pleasing in Himself; we through Him. For those in whom God sees His own Son after His own likeness, He admits through His Son into the favour of sons. So that as we go through likeness unto likeness, so through the Generation of the Son are we called unto adoption. The eternal love of God’s Nature is one thing, that of grace is another.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 320, footnote 8 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)

On the Mysteries. (HTML)

Chapter V. Christ is Himself present in Baptism, so that we need not consider the person of His ministers. A brief explanation of the confession of the Trinity as usually uttered by those about to be baptized. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2858 (In-Text, Margin)

26. Is there, then, here any room left for doubt, when the Father clearly calls from heaven in the Gospel narrative, and says: “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased”?[Matthew 3:17] When the Son also speaks, upon Whom the Holy Spirit showed Himself in the likeness of a dove? When the Holy Spirit also speaks, Who came down in the likeness of a dove? When David, too, speaks: “The voice of the Lord is above the waters, the God of glory thundered, the Lord above many waters”? When Scripture testifies that at the prayer of Jerubbaal, fire came down from heaven, and again, when ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 572, footnote 2 (Image)

Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian

The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)

The Seven Books of John Cassian on the Incarnation of the Lord, Against Nestorius. (HTML)

Book III. (HTML)
Chapter XVI. He brings forward the witness of God the Father to the Divinity of the Son. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2447 (In-Text, Margin)

... devils have never gainsaid it: while, constrained by the demands of truth, though they saw Jesus in bodily form, they yet cried out that He was God, as indeed He was. What then does the Evangelist say of the Lord Jesus Christ? “When He was baptized,” he says, “straightway He went up out of the water. And lo, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit descending like a dove, and coming upon Him. And behold, a voice from heaven, saying: This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”[Matthew 3:16-17] What do you say to this, you heretic? Do you dislike the words spoken, or the Person of the Speaker? The meaning of the utterance at any rate needs no explanation: nor does the worth of the Speaker need the commendation of words. It is God the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 610, footnote 6 (Image)

Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian

The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)

The Seven Books of John Cassian on the Incarnation of the Lord, Against Nestorius. (HTML)

Book VII. (HTML)
Chapter XI. How the devil was forced by many reasons to the view that Christ was God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2622 (In-Text, Margin)

... as he had already once heard from John: “Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who taketh away the sin of the world.” And again from the same person: “I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me?” The dove also which came down from heaven and stopped over the Lord’s head had made itself a clear and open proof of a God who declared Himself. The voice too which was sent from God not in riddles or figures had moved him, when it said: “Thou art My beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased.”[Matthew 3:17] And though he saw a man outwardly in Jesus, yet he was searching for the Son of God, when he said: “If Thou art the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” Did the contemplation of the man drive away the devil’s suspicions of His ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 27, footnote 4 (Image)

Leo the Great, Gregory the Great

The Letters and Sermons of Leo the Great. (HTML)

Letters. (HTML)

To the Bishops of Sicily. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 171 (In-Text, Margin)

... which is My Father’s,” signifying that He was the Son of Him whose temple He was in. Once more when in later years He was to be declared more openly and sought out the baptism of His forerunner John, was there any doubt of His being God remaining when after the baptism of the Lord Jesus the Holy Spirit in form of a dove descended and rested upon Him, and the Father’s voice was heard from the skies, “Thou art My beloved Son: in Thee I am well pleased[Matthew 3:17]?” All these things we have alluded to with as much brevity as possible for this reason, that you may know, beloved, that though all the days of Christ’s life were hallowed by many mighty works of His, and though in all His actions mysterious ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 41, footnote 7 (Image)

Leo the Great, Gregory the Great

The Letters and Sermons of Leo the Great. (HTML)

Letters. (HTML)

To Flavian commonly called “the Tome.” (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 286 (In-Text, Margin)

... the greatness of the Most High is proclaimed by the angels’ voices. He whom Herod treacherously endeavours to destroy is like ourselves in our earliest stage: but He whom the Magi delight to worship on their knees is the Lord of all. So too when He came to the baptism of John, His forerunner, lest He should not be known through the veil of flesh which covered His Divinity, the Father’s voice thundering from the sky, said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased[Matthew 3:17].” And thus Him whom the devil’s craftiness attacks as man, the ministries of angels serve as God. To be hungry and thirsty, to be weary, and to sleep, is clearly human: but to satisfy 5,000 men with five loaves, and to bestow ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 93, footnote 3 (Image)

Leo the Great, Gregory the Great

The Letters and Sermons of Leo the Great. (HTML)

Letters. (HTML)

To the Monks of Palestine. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 535 (In-Text, Margin)

... forth: and without the reality of the flesh His infancy would not have laid wrapt in swaddling clothes. Without the power of the Word the Magi would not have adored the Child that a new star had pointed out to them: and without the reality of the flesh that Child would not have been ordered to be carried away into Egypt and withdrawn from Herod’s persecution. Without the power of the Word the Father’s voice uttered from the sky would not have said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased[Matthew 3:17]:” and without the reality of the flesh John would not have been able to point to Him and say: “Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him that beareth away the sins of the world.” Without the power of the Word there would have been ...

Online Dictionary & Commentary of Early Church Beliefs