Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Matthew 4:6
There are 20 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 118, footnote 11 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Ignatius (HTML)
Epistle to the Philippians (HTML)
Chapter X.—Continuation: audacity of Satan. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1342 (In-Text, Margin)
Darest thou, then, who didst fall “as lightning” from the very highest glory, to say to the Lord, “Cast thyself down from hence[Matthew 4:6] [to Him] to whom the things that are not are reckoned as if they were, and to provoke to a display of vainglory Him that was free from all ostentation? And didst thou pretend to read in Scripture concerning Him: “For He hath given His angels charge concerning Thee, and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest thou shouldest dash Thy foot against a stone?” At the same time thou didst pretend to be ignorant of the rest, furtively ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 118, footnote 13 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Ignatius (HTML)
Epistle to the Philippians (HTML)
Chapter X.—Continuation: audacity of Satan. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1344 (In-Text, Margin)
Darest thou, then, who didst fall “as lightning” from the very highest glory, to say to the Lord, “Cast thyself down from hence [to Him] to whom the things that are not are reckoned as if they were, and to provoke to a display of vainglory Him that was free from all ostentation? And didst thou pretend to read in Scripture concerning Him: “For He hath given His angels charge concerning Thee, and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest thou shouldest dash Thy foot against a stone?”[Matthew 4:6] At the same time thou didst pretend to be ignorant of the rest, furtively concealing what [the Scripture] predicted concerning thee and thy servants: “Thou shalt tread upon the adder and the basilisk; the lion and the dragon shall thou trample under ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 441, footnote 8 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Anti-Marcion. (HTML)
The Five Books Against Marcion. (HTML)
Book V. Wherein Tertullian proves, with respect to St. Paul's epistles, what he had proved in the preceding book with respect to St. Luke's gospel. Far from being at variance, they were in perfect unison with the writings of the Old Testament, and therefore testified that the Creator was the only God, and that the Lord Jesus was his Christ. As in the preceding books, Tertullian supports his argument with profound reasoning, and many happy illustrations of Holy Scripture. (HTML)
The Divine Way of Wisdom, and Greatness, and Might. God's Hiding of Himself, and Subsequent Revelation. To Marcion's God Such a Concealment and Manifestation Impossible. God's Predestination. No Such Prior System of Intention Possible to a God Previously Unknown as Was Marcion's. The Powers of the World Which Crucified Christ. St. Paul, as a Wise Master-Builder, Associated with Prophecy. Sundry Injunctions of the Apostle Parallel with the Teaching of the Old Testament. (HTML)
... permitted to know their masters’ plans, much less the fallen angels and the leader of transgression himself, the devil; for I should contend that these, on account of their fall, were greater strangers still to any knowledge of the Creator’s dispensations. But it is no longer open to me even to interpret the princes and powers of this world as the Creator’s, since the apostle imputes ignorance to them, whereas even the devil according to our Gospel recognised Jesus in the temptation,[Matthew 4:1-11] and, according to the record which is common to both (Marcionites and ourselves) the evil spirit knew that Jesus was the Holy One of God, and that Jesus was His name, and that He was come to destroy them. The parable also of the strong man armed, ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 622, footnote 11 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Anti-Marcion. (HTML)
Against Praxeas. (HTML)
A Brief Reference to the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke. Their Agreement with St. John, in Respect to the Distinct Personality of the Father and the Son. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8135 (In-Text, Margin)
... to the Spirit, but cannot itself be the Spirit. These things, therefore, whatsoever they are—(I mean) the Spirit of God, and the Word and the Power—having been conferred on the Virgin, that which is born of her is the Son of God. This He Himself, in those other Gospels also, testifies Himself to have been from His very boyhood: “Wist ye not,” says He, “that I must be about my Father’s business?” Satan likewise knew Him to be this in his temptations: “Since Thou art the Son of God.”[Matthew 4:6] This, accordingly, the devils also acknowledge Him to be: “we know Thee, who Thou art, the Holy Son of God.” His “ Father ” He Himself adores. When acknowledged by Peter as the “Christ (the Son) of God,” He does not deny the ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 50, footnote 23 (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 368 (In-Text, Margin)
... devil; and he [44] was with the beasts. And he fasted forty days and forty nights. And he ate nothing [45] in those days, and at the end of them he hungered. And the tempter came and said unto him, If thou art the Son of God, speak, and these stones shall become [46] bread. He answered and said, It is written, Not by bread alone shall man live, but [47] by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil brought [48] him to the holy city, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple,[Matthew 4:6] and said unto him, If thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written,
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 177, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
City of God (HTML)
Of those who allege a distinction among demons, some being good and others evil. (HTML)
To What Extent the Lord Was Pleased to Make Himself Known to the Demons. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 361 (In-Text, Margin)
... easily discerned by the angelic senses even of wicked spirits than by human infirmity. But when He judged it advisable gradually to suppress these signs, and to retire into deeper obscurity, the prince of the demons doubted whether He were the Christ, and endeavored to ascertain this by tempting Him, in so far as He permitted Himself to be tempted, that He might adapt the manhood He wore to be an example for our imitation. But after that temptation, when, as Scripture says, He was ministered to[Matthew 4:3-11] by the angels who are good and holy, and therefore objects of terror to the impure spirits, He revealed more and more distinctly to the demons how great He was, so that, even though the infirmity of His flesh might seem contemptible, none dared to ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 78, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)
Augustin explains for what the Son of God was sent; but, however, that the Son of God, although made less by being sent, is not therefore less because the Father sent Him; nor yet the Holy Spirit less because both the Father sent Him and the Son. (HTML)
The Death of Christ Voluntary. How the Mediator of Life Subdued the Mediator of Death. How the Devil Leads His Own to Despise the Death of Christ. (HTML)
... spirits of those who believe in Himself, so that he should not reign within, but should assault from without, and yet not prevail. And to him, too, He offered Himself to be tempted, in order that He might be also a mediator to overcome his temptations, not only by succor, but also by example. But when the devil, from the first, although striving through every entrance to creep into His inward parts, was thrust out, having finished all his alluring temptation in the wilderness after the baptism;[Matthew 4:1-11] because, being dead in the spirit, he forced no entrance into Him who was alive in the spirit, he betook himself, through eagerness for the death of man in any way whatsoever, to effecting that death which he could, and was permitted to effect it ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 560, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings
Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)
Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist. (HTML)
In which Augustin replies to all the several statements in the letter of Petilianus, as though disputing with an adversary face to face. (HTML)
Chapter 49 (HTML)
... And a second time he endeavored thus to tempt the Lord Christ with his discourse, as it is written, ‘The devil taketh Jesus into the holy city, and setteth Him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto Him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning thee; and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God.’[Matthew 4:5-7] You know the law, I say, as did the devil, who is conquered in his endeavors, and blushes in his deeds."
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 575, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings
Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)
Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist. (HTML)
In which Augustin replies to all the several statements in the letter of Petilianus, as though disputing with an adversary face to face. (HTML)
Chapter 88 (HTML)
193. answered: Would that your martyrs would follow the form that He prescribed! they would not throw themselves over precipices, which He refused to do at the bidding of the devil.[Matthew 4:6-7] But when you persecute our ancestors with false witness even now that they are dead, whence have you received this form? In that you endeavor to stain us with the crimes of men we never knew, while you are unwilling that the most notorious misdeeds of your own party should be reckoned against you, whence have you received this form? But we are too much yielding to our own conceit if we find fault about ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 120, footnote 10 (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 Temptation of Jesus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 816 (In-Text, Margin)
... wilderness, to be tempted of the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered. And when the tempter came to Him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But He answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. And so the account continues, until we come to the words, Then the devil left him: and, behold, angels came and ministered unto Him.”[Matthew 4:1-11] This whole narrative is given also in a similar manner by Luke, although not in the same order. And this makes it uncertain which of the two latter temptations took place first: whether it was that the kingdoms of the world were shown Him first, and ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 354, footnote 8 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)
On the words of the Gospel, Matt. xviii. 7, where we are admonished to beware of the offences of the world. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2710 (In-Text, Margin)
... you the service of a false witness. You refuse: refuse the false oath, lest thou shouldest deny Him that is true. That I may not dwell long on this, he is angry, he is powerful, he oppresses thee: a friend comes who would not have thee in this press of trouble, in this evil case; “I pray thee, do what is told thee; what great matter is it?” And then perhaps as Satan with the Lord, “It is written of Thee, He shall give His Angels charge concerning Thee, that Thou dash not Thy foot against a stone.”[Matthew 4:6] Perhaps too this friend of thine, because he sees thou art a Christian, wishes to persuade thee out of the Law to do what he thinks you ought to do. “Do what the other tells.” “What? Do what the other wishes.” “But it is a lie, it is false.” “Well, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 288, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies
Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John. (HTML)
Chapter XII. 27–36. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1052 (In-Text, Margin)
... whom to hope, and whose will, as sure and divine, to prefer to thine own, which is human and weak. Imagine Him not, therefore, as losing aught of His own exalted position in wishing thee to rise up out of the depths of thy ruin. For He thought it meet also to be tempted by the devil, by whom otherwise He would never have been tempted, just as, had He not been willing, He would never have suffered; and the answers He gave to the devil are such as thou also oughtest to use in times of temptation.[Matthew 4:1-10] And He, indeed, was tempted, but not endangered, that He might show thee, when in danger through temptation, how to answer the tempter, so as not to be carried away by the temptation, but to escape its danger. But when He here said, “Now is my soul ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 475, footnote 5 (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 II. 12–17. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2129 (In-Text, Margin)
14. These three there are, and thou canst find nothing whereby human cupidity can be tempted, but either by the lust of the flesh, or the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life. By these three was the Lord tempted of the devil.[Matthew 4:1-10] By the lust of the flesh He was tempted when it was said to Him, “If thou be the Son of God, speak to these stones that they become bread,” when He hungered after His fast. But in what way repelled He the tempter, and taught his soldier how to fight? Mark what He said to him: “Not by bread alone doth man live, but by every word of God.” He was tempted also by the lust of the eyes ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 32, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm VIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 324 (In-Text, Margin)
... curiosity. To what the rest indeed belong is clear. And that temptation of the Lord Man was threefold: by food, that is, by the lust of the flesh, where it is suggested, “command these stones that they be made bread:” by vain boasting, where, when stationed on a mountain, all the kingdoms of this earth are shown Him, and promised if He would worship: by curiosity, where, from the pinnacle of the temple, He is advised to cast Himself down, for the sake of trying whether He would be borne up by Angels.[Matthew 4:6] And accordingly after that the enemy could prevail with Him by none of these temptations, this is said of him, “When the devil had ended all his temptation.” With a reference then to the meaning of the wine-presses, not only the wine, but the husks ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 470, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XCV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4409 (In-Text, Margin)
12. “Forty years long was I very near unto this generation, and said, It is a people that do always err in their hearts; for they have not known My ways” (ver. 10). The forty years have the same meaning as the word “always.” For that number forty indicates the fulness of ages, as if the ages were perfected in this number. Hence our Lord fasted forty days, forty days He was tempted in the desert,[Matthew 4:1-11] and forty days He was with His disciples after His resurrection. On the first forty days He showed us temptation, on the latter forty days consolation: since beyond doubt when we are tempted we are consoled. For His body, that is, the Church, must needs suffer temptations in this world: but that ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 251, footnote 9 (Image)
Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome
The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret. (HTML)
Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus. (HTML)
To Bishop Irenæus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1622 (In-Text, Margin)
... known, ran away, travelled a long journey, and arrived at the land of Midian. In like manner the great Elias when he had learnt Jezebel’s threats did not give himself up to them which wished to kill him, but left the world and hurried to the desert. And if it is right and agreeable to God to escape the violence of our enemies, surely it is much more right to refuse to obey them when they order a man to become his own murderer. Our Lord did not give in to the devil when he bade Him throw Himself down,[Matthew 4:6] and when he had armed against Him the hands of the Jews by means of the scourge and the thorns and the nails, and the creature was urging Him to bring wholesale destruction on His wicked foes, the Lord Himself forbade, because He knew that His ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 362, footnote 8 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)
The Oration on Holy Baptism. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4041 (In-Text, Margin)
... which rent the Mountains. It is Water, but that which quenches fire. If he assail you by your want (as he dared to assail Christ), and asks that stones should be made bread, do not be ignorant of his devices. Teach him what he has not learnt. Defend yourself with the Word of life, Who is the Bread sent down from heaven, and giving life to the world. If he plot against you with vain glory (as he did against Christ when he led Him up to the pinnacle of the temple and said to Him, Cast Thyself down[Matthew 4:6] as a proof of Thy Godhead), be not overborne by elation. If you be taken by this he will not stop here. For he is insatiable, he grasps at every thing. He fawns upon you with fair pretences, but he ends in evil; this is the manner of his fighting. ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 305, footnote 3 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)
The Conferences of John Cassian. Part I. Containing Conferences I-X. (HTML)
Conference I. First Conference of Abbot Moses. (HTML)
Chapter XX. About discerning the thoughts, with an illustration from a good money-changer. (HTML)
... of the metal: by which means the devil in his craft tried to impose upon our Lord and Saviour as if He was a mere man, when by his malevolent interpretation he perverted what ought to be understood generally of all good men, and tried to fasten it specially on to Him, who had no need of the care of the angels: saying, “For He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee, to keep Thee in all Thy ways: and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest at any time Thou dash Thy foot against a stone,”[Matthew 4:6] by a skilful assumption on his part giving a turn to the precious sayings of Scripture and twisting them into a dangerous sense, the very opposite of their true meaning, so as to offer to us the image and face of an usurper under cover of the gold ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 539, footnote 4 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)
The Conferences of John Cassian. Part III. Containing Conferences XVIII.-XXIV. (HTML)
Conference XXIV. Conference of Abbot Abraham. On Mortification. (HTML)
Chapter XVII. How the weaker part of the soul is the first to yield to the devil's temptations. (HTML)
... when he tempted Him in these three affections of the soul, wherein he knew that all mankind had been taken captive, but gained nothing by his crafty wiles. For he approached that portion of his mind which was subject to desire, when he said: “Command that these stones be made bread;” the part subject to wrath, when he tried to incite Him to seek the power of the present life and the kingdoms of this world; the reasonable part when he said: “If Thou art the Son of God cast Thyself down from hence.”[Matthew 4:6] And in these his deception availed nothing for this reason because he found that there was nothing damaged in Him, in accordance with the supposition which he had formed from a false idea. Wherefore no part of His soul yielded when tempted by the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 153, footnote 1 (Image)
Leo the Great, Gregory the Great
The Letters and Sermons of Leo the Great. (HTML)
Sermons. (HTML)
On Lent, I. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 907 (In-Text, Margin)
... fighting with temptations, and understand that the more zealous we are for our salvation, the more determined must be the assaults of our opponents. But “stronger is He that is in us than He that is against us,” and through Him are we powerful in whose strength we rely: because it was for this that the Lord allowed Himself to be tempted by the tempter, that we might be taught by His example as well as fortified by His aid. For He conquered the adversary, as ye have heard[Matthew 4:1-11], by quotations from the law, not by actual strength, that by this very thing He might do greater honour to man, and inflict a greater punishment on the adversary by conquering the enemy of the human race not now as God but as ...