Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Matthew 5:22
There are 39 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 477, footnote 4 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Irenæus (HTML)
Against Heresies: Book IV (HTML)
Chapter XIII.—Christ did not abrogate the natural precepts of the law, but rather fulfilled and extended them. He removed the yoke and bondage of the old law, so that mankind, being now set free, might serve God with that trustful piety which becometh sons. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3950 (In-Text, Margin)
... God, did observe previous to the giving of the law, but that He extended and fulfilled them, is shown from His words. “For,” He remarks, “it has been said to them of old time, Do not commit adultery. But I say unto you, That every one who hath looked upon a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” And again: “It has been said, Thou shalt not kill. But I say unto you, Every one who is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment.”[Matthew 5:21-22] And, “It hath been said, Thou shalt not forswear thyself. But I say unto you, Swear not at all; but let your conversation be, Yea, yea, and Nay, nay.” And other statements of a like nature. For all these do not contain or imply an opposition to and ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 482, footnote 6 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Irenæus (HTML)
Against Heresies: Book IV (HTML)
Chapter XVI.—Perfect righteousness was conferred neither by circumcision nor by any other legal ceremonies. The Decalogue, however, was not cancelled by Christ, but is always in force: men were never released from its commandments. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4005 (In-Text, Margin)
... the desire after them. But He has also increased the feeling of reverence; for sons should have more veneration than slaves, and greater love for their father. And therefore the Lord says, “As to every idle word that men have spoken, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment.” And, “he who has looked upon a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart;” and, “he that is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment.”[Matthew 5:22] [All this is declared,] that we may know that we shall give account to God not of deeds only, as slaves, but even of words and thoughts, as those who have truly received the power of liberty, in which [condition] a man is more severely tested, ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 515, footnote 1 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Irenæus (HTML)
Against Heresies: Book IV (HTML)
Chapter XXXVI.—The prophets were sent from one and the same Father from whom the Son was sent. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4357 (In-Text, Margin)
... obstinate, and proud, and worthless, and slayers of the Lord, but others who render Him, with all obedience, the fruits in their seasons; and that it is the same Householder who sends at one time His servants, at another His Son. From that Father, therefore, from whom the Son was sent to those husbandmen who slew Him, from Him also were the servants [sent]. But the Son, as coming from the Father with supreme authority (principali auctoritate), used to express Himself thus: “But I say unto you.”[Matthew 5:22] The servants, again, [who came] as from their Lord, spake after the manner of servants, [delivering a message]; and they therefore used to say, “Thus saith the Lord.”
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 250, footnote 7 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Instructor (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
Chapter VI.—On Filthy Speaking. (HTML)
... corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but what is good.” And again, “As becometh saints, let not filthiness be named among you, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which things are not seemly, but rather giving of thanks.” And if “he that calls his brother a fool be in danger of the judgment,” what shall we pronounce regarding him who speaks what is foolish? Is it not written respecting such: “Whosoever shall speak an idle word, shall give an account to the Lord in the day of judgment?”[Matthew 5:22] And again, “By thy speech thou shalt be justified,” He says, “and by thy speech thou shalt be condemned.” What, then, are the salutary ear-guards, and what the regulations for slippery eyes? Conversations with the righteous, preoccupying and ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 62, footnote 2 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Apologetic. (HTML)
On Idolatry. (HTML)
Idolatry in Its More Limited Sense. Its Copiousness. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 169 (In-Text, Margin)
... functions or priesthoods; just as if one were to regard adultery as to be accounted in kisses, and in embraces, and in actual fleshly contact; or murder as to be reckoned only in the shedding forth of blood, and in the actual taking away of life. But how far wider an extent the Lord assigns to those crimes we are sure: when He defines adultery to consist even in concupiscence, “if one shall have cast an eye lustfully on,” and stirred his soul with immodest commotion; when He judges murder[Matthew 5:22] to consist even in a word of curse or of reproach, and in every impulse of anger, and in the neglect of charity toward a brother just as John teaches, that he who hates his brother is a murderer. Else, both the devil’s ingenuity in malice, ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 685, footnote 3 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Ethical. (HTML)
On Prayer. (HTML)
When Praying the Father, You are Not to Be Angry with a Brother. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8828 (In-Text, Margin)
That we may not be as far from the ears of God as we are from His precepts, the memory of His precepts paves for our prayers a way unto heaven; of which precepts the chief is, that we go not up unto God’s altar before we compose whatever of discord or offence we have contracted with our brethren.[Matthew 5:22-23] For what sort of deed is it to approach the peace of God without peace? the remission of debts while you retain them? How will he appease his Father who is angry with his brother, when from the beginning “all anger” is forbidden us? For even Joseph, when dismissing his brethren for the purpose of fetching their father, said, “And ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 685, footnote 10 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Ethical. (HTML)
On Prayer. (HTML)
When Praying the Father, You are Not to Be Angry with a Brother. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8835 (In-Text, Margin)
... brother, when from the beginning “all anger” is forbidden us? For even Joseph, when dismissing his brethren for the purpose of fetching their father, said, “And be not angry in the way.” He warned us, to be sure, at that time (for elsewhere our Discipline is called “the Way”), that when, set in “the way” of prayer, we go not unto “the Father” with anger. After that, the Lord, “amplifying the Law,” openly adds the prohibition of anger against a brother to that of murder.[Matthew 5:21-22] Not even by an evil word does He permit it to be vented. Ever if we must be angry, our anger must not be maintained beyond sunset, as the apostle admonishes. But how rash is it either to pass a day without prayer, while you refuse to make ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 685, footnote 11 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Ethical. (HTML)
On Prayer. (HTML)
When Praying the Father, You are Not to Be Angry with a Brother. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8836 (In-Text, Margin)
... forbidden us? For even Joseph, when dismissing his brethren for the purpose of fetching their father, said, “And be not angry in the way.” He warned us, to be sure, at that time (for elsewhere our Discipline is called “the Way”), that when, set in “the way” of prayer, we go not unto “the Father” with anger. After that, the Lord, “amplifying the Law,” openly adds the prohibition of anger against a brother to that of murder. Not even by an evil word does He permit it to be vented.[Matthew 5:21-22] Ever if we must be angry, our anger must not be maintained beyond sunset, as the apostle admonishes. But how rash is it either to pass a day without prayer, while you refuse to make satisfaction to your brother; or else, by perseverance in ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 711, footnote 10 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Ethical. (HTML)
On Patience. (HTML)
Patience Both Antecedent and Subsequent to Faith. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 9081 (In-Text, Margin)
... righteousness. For men were of old wont to require “eye for eye, and tooth for tooth” and to repay with usury “evil with evil;” for, as yet, patience was not on earth, because faith was not either. Of course, meantime, impatience used to enjoy the opportunities which the law gave. That was easy, while the Lord and Master of patience was absent. But after He has supervened, and has united the grace of faith with patience, now it is no longer lawful to assail even with word, nor to say “fool”[Matthew 5:22] even, without “danger of the judgment.” Anger has been prohibited, our spirits retained, the petulance of the hand checked, the poison of the tongue extracted. The law has found more than it has lost, while Christ says, “Love your personal enemies, ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 79, footnote 8 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On Modesty. (HTML)
Examples of Such Offences Under the Old Dispensation No Pattern for the Disciples of the New. But Even the Old Has Examples of Vengeance Upon Such Offences. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 763 (In-Text, Margin)
... above: “Are we, then, making void the law through faith? Far be it; but we are establishing the law” —forsooth in those (points) which, being even now interdicted by the New Testament, are prohibited by an even more emphatic precept: instead of, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” “Whoever shall have seen with a view to concupiscence, hath already committed adultery in his own heart;” and instead of, “Thou shalt not kill,” “Whoever shall have said to his brother, Racha, shall be in danger of hell.”[Matthew 5:21-22] Ask (yourself) whether the law of not committing adultery be still in force, to which has been added that of not indulging concupiscence. Besides, if any precedents (taken from the Old Dispensation) shall favour you in (the secrecy of) your bosom, ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 305, footnote 7 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Origen. (HTML)
Origen De Principiis. (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
Chapter I. translated from the Latin of Rufinus: On the Freedom of the Will. (HTML)
... But if you be unwilling, and will not hear me, the sword shall consume you; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken this.” In the Psalm, too, it is written: “If My people had heard Me, if Israel had walked in My ways, I would have humbled her enemies to nothing;” by which he shows that it was in the power of the people to hear, and to walk in the ways of God. The Saviour also saying, “I say unto you, Resist not evil;” and, “Whoever shall be angry with his brother, shall be in danger of the judgment;”[Matthew 5:22] and, “Whosoever shall look upon a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart;” and in issuing certain other commands,—conveys no other meaning than this, that it is in our own power to observe what is commanded. ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 305, footnote 8 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Origen. (HTML)
Origen De Principiis. (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
Chapter I. translated from the Greek: On the Freedom of the Will, With an Explanation and Interpretation of Those Statements of Scripture Which Appear to Nullify It. (HTML)
... the sword will consume you: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” And in the Psalms: “If My people had heard Me, and Israel had walked in My ways, I would have humbled their enemies to nothing, and laid My hand upon those that afflicted them;” showing that it was in the power of His people to hear and to walk in the ways of God. And the Saviour also, when He commands, “But I say unto you, Resist not evil;” and, “Whosoever shall be angry with his brother, shall be in danger of the judgment;”[Matthew 5:22] and, “Whosoever shall look upon a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart;” and by any other commandment which He gives, declares that it lies with ourselves to keep what is enjoined, and that we shall ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 368, footnote 7 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Origen. (HTML)
Origen De Principiis. (HTML)
IV (HTML)
Chapter I., Sections 1-23 translated from the Greek: On the Inspiration of Holy Scripture, and How the Same is to be Read and Understood, and What is the Reason of the Uncertainty in it; and of the Impossibility or Irrationality of Certain Things in it, Taken According to the Letter. (HTML)
... allegorical meaning, and ought to be observed, the Apostle Paul also having employed these very same words? And what need is there to speak of the (prohibitions), “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” “Thou shalt not kill,” “Thou shalt not steal,” “Thou shalt not bear false witness?” And again, there are commandments contained in the Gospel which admit of no doubt whether they are to be observed according to the letter or not; e.g., that which says, “But I say unto you, Whoever is angry with his brother,”[Matthew 5:22] and so on. And again, “But I say unto you, Swear not at all.” “And in the writings of the apostle the literal sense is to be retained: “Warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient towards all men;” although it ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 340, footnote 4 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)
To Cornelius, Concerning Fortunatus and Felicissimus, or Against the Heretics. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2535 (In-Text, Margin)
4. For since it is written, “Neither shall revilers inherit the kingdom of God,” and again the Lord says in His Gospel, “Whosoever shall say to his brother, Thou fool; and whosoever shall say, Raca, shall be in danger of the Gehenna of fire,”[Matthew 5:22] how can they evade the rebuke of the Lord the avenger, who heap up such expressions, not only on their brethren, but also on the priests, to whom is granted such honour of the condescension of God, that whosoever should not obey his priest, and him that judgeth here for the time, was immediately to be slain? In Deuteronomy the Lord God speaks, saying, “And the man that will ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 535, footnote 4 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
... the same place: “The imprudent man declareth his anger on the same day, but the crafty man hideth away his dishonour.” Of this same thing to the Ephesians: “Be ye angry, and sin not. Let not the sun set upon your wrath.” Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “Ye have heard that it was said by the ancients, Thou shalt not kill; and whoever shall kill shall be guilty of the judgment. But I say unto you, That every one who is angry with his brother without cause shall be guilty of the judgment.”[Matthew 5:21-22]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 537, footnote 8 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
... place their hands upon his head, and all the assembly of the children of Israel shall stone him.” Of this same thing in Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians: “Let no evil discourse proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good for the edification of faith, that it may give grace to the hearers.” Of this same thing to the Romans: “Blessing, and not cursing.” Of this same thing in the Gospel according to Matthew: “He who shall say to his brother, Thou fool! shall be liable to the Gehenna of fire.”[Matthew 5:22] Of this same matter, according to the same Matthew: “But I say unto you, That every idle word which men shall speak, they shall give account for it in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 412, footnote 4 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)
Book II. Of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons (HTML)
Sec. IV.—On the Management of the Resources Collected for the Support of the Clergy, and the Relief of the Poor (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2742 (In-Text, Margin)
... nothing in a clandestine way, so as may tend to his reproach, lest thou raise a murmur against him; for the murmur will not be against him, but against the Lord God: and the deacon, with the rest, will hear what Aaron and Miriam heard, when they spake against Moses: “How is it that ye were not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” And again, Moses says to those who rose up against him: “Your murmuring is not against us, but against the Lord our God.” For if he that calls one of the laity Raka,[Matthew 5:22] or fool, shall not be unpunished, as doing injury to the name of Christ, how dare any man speak against his bishop, by whom the Lord gave the Holy Spirit among you upon the laying on of his hands, by whom ye have learned the sacred doctrines, and ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 419, footnote 3 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)
Book II. Of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons (HTML)
Sec. VI.—The Disputes of the Faithful to Be Settled by the Decisions of the Bishop, and the Faithful to Be Reconciled (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2810 (In-Text, Margin)
... if you have judged righteously, you will be deemed worthy of the recompenses of righteousness, both now and hereafter; but if unrighteously, you will partake of the like. We therefore advise you, brethren, rather to deserve commendation from God than rebukes; for the commendation of God is eternal life to men, as is His rebuke everlasting death. Be ye therefore righteous judges, peacemakers, and without anger. For “he that is angry with his brother without a cause is obnoxious to the judgment.”[Matthew 5:22] But if it happens that by any one’s contrivance you are angry at anybody, “let not the sun go down upon your wrath;” for says David, “Be angry and sin not;” that is, be soon reconciled, lest your wrath continue so long that it turn to a settled ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 460, footnote 16 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)
Book VI (HTML)
Sec. IV.—Of the Law (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3295 (In-Text, Margin)
XXIII. For He did not take away the law of nature, but confirmed it. For He that said in the law, “The Lord thy God is one Lord;” the same says in the Gospel, “That they might know Thee, the only true God.” And He that said, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,” says in the Gospel, renewing the same precept, “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another.” He who then forbade murder, does now forbid causeless anger.[Matthew 5:22] He that forbade adultery, does now forbid all unlawful lust. He that forbade stealing, now pronounces him most happy who supplies those that are in want out of his own labours. He that forbade hatred, now pronounces him blessed that loves his enemies. He that forbade ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 635, footnote 4 (Image)
Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents
The Decretals. (HTML)
The Epistles of Pope Fabian. (HTML)
To All the Bishops of the East. (HTML)
Of the right of bishops not to be accused or hurt by detraction. (HTML)
... defrauded?” To this, too, our Lord’s word may refer: “And if any man will take away thy coat, and sue thee at the law, let him have thy cloak also.” And in another place: “Of him that taketh away thy goods, ask them not again.” Moreover, there are certain things which might be thought most trivial were they not shown in the Scriptures to be of more serious import. Who would ever consider the man who says to his brother “Thou fool” worthy of hell-fire, were it not that the Truth Himself told us so?[Matthew 5:22] Those, furthermore, who commit those sins whereof the apostle says, “They who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God,” are by all means to be guarded against, and are to be compelled to seek amendment if they do not choose it ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 57, footnote 11 (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 VIII. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 670 (In-Text, Margin)
[50] Ye have heard that it was said to the ancients, Do not kill; and every one that [51] killeth is worthy of the judgement.[Matthew 5:22] But I say unto you that every one who is angry with his brother without a cause is worthy of the judgement; and every one that saith to his brother, Thou foul one, is condemned by the synagogue; and whosoever [52] saith to him, Thou fool, is worthy of the fire of Gehenna. If thou art now offering thy gift at the altar, and rememberest there that thy brother hath conceived [53] against thee any grudge, leave thy gift at the altar, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 140, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
He speaks of his design of forsaking the profession of rhetoric; of the death of his friends, Nebridius and Verecundus; of having received baptism in the thirty-third year of his age; and of the virtues and death of his mother, Monica. (HTML)
He Entreats God for Her Sins, and Admonishes His Readers to Remember Her Piously. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 794 (In-Text, Margin)
... broken by the thoughts of the dangers of every soul that dieth in Adam. And although she, having been “made alive” in Christ even before she was freed from the flesh had so lived as to praise Thy name both by her faith and conversation, yet dare I not say that from the time Thou didst regenerate her by baptism, no word went forth from her mouth against Thy precepts. And it hath been declared by Thy Son, the Truth, that “Whosoever shall say to his brother, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.”[Matthew 5:22] And woe even unto the praiseworthy life of man, if, putting away mercy, Thou shouldest investigate it. But because Thou dost not narrowly inquire after sins, we hope with confidence to find some place of indulgence with Thee. But whosoever recounts ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 263, footnote 9 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
The Enchiridion. (HTML)
Sins Which Appear Very Trifling, are Sometimes in Reality Very Serious. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1258 (In-Text, Margin)
... serious. For who would suppose that the man who says to his brother, “Thou fool,” is in danger of hell-fire, did not He who is the Truth say so? To the wound, however, He immediately applies the cure, giving a rule for reconciliation with one’s offended brother: “Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way: first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.”[Matthew 5:22-23] Again, who would suppose that it was so great a sin to observe days, and months, and times, and years, as those do who are anxious or unwilling to begin anything on certain days, or in certain months or years, because the vain doctrines of men lead ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 240, footnote 3 (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 is willing to admit that Christ may have said that He came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them; but if He did, it was to pacify the Jews and in a modified sense. Augustin replies, and still further elaborates the Catholic view of prophecy and its fulfillment. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 667 (In-Text, Margin)
... fulfillment, but destruction. Again: "It has been said, Thou shall love thy friend, and hate thine enemy; but I say unto you, Love your enemies, and pray for your persecutors." This too is destruction. Again: "It has been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement; but I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery, and is himself an adulterer if he afterwards marries another woman."[Matthew 5:21-44] These precepts are evidently destroyed because they are the precepts of Moses; while the others are fulfilled because they are the precepts of the righteous men of antiquity. If you agree to this explanation, we may allow that Jesus said that he ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 273, footnote 1 (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. v. 22, ‘Whosoever shall say to his brother, thou fool, shall be in danger of the hell of fire.’ (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1952 (In-Text, Margin)
... have not faith, it alarmed not. And because it does not alarm them, they are minded to continue in their false security, as knowing not how to divide and distinguish the proper times of security and fear. Let him then who is leading now that life which has an end, fear, that in that life which is without end, he may have security. Therefore were we alarmed. For who would not fear Him who speaketh the truth, and saith, “Whosoever shall say to his brother, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.”[Matthew 5:22] Yet “the tongue can no man tame.” Man tames the wild beast, yet he tames not his tongue; he tames the lion, yet he bridles not his own speech; he tames all else, yet he tames not himself; he tames what he was afraid of, and what he ought to be ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 358, footnote 6 (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. 15, ‘If thy brother sin against thee, go, shew him his fault between thee and him alone;’ and of the words of Solomon, he that winketh with the eyes deceitfully, heapeth sorrow upon men; but he that reproveth openly, maketh peace. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2737 (In-Text, Margin)
... against God, but against a brother. I have sinned against a man, it is a trifling sin, or no sin at all.” It may be, thou sayest it is a trifling sin, because it is soon cured. Thou hast sinned against a brother; give him satisfaction, and thou art made whole. Thou didst a deadly thing quickly, but quickly too hast thou found a remedy. Who of us, my Brethren, can hope for the kingdom of heaven, when the Gospel says, “Whosoever shall say to his brother, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire?”[Matthew 5:22] Exceeding terror! but behold in the same place the remedy: “If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar.” God is not angry that thou deferrest to lay thy ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 51, footnote 1 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
Treatise Concerning the Christian Priesthood. (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 109 (In-Text, Margin)
... more furious than the most savage beasts. Now such men especially we should exclude from the precincts of the priesthood. For if a prelate did not loathe food, or go barefoot, no harm would be done to the common interests of the Church; but a furious temper causes great disasters both to him who possesses it, and to his neighbours. And there is no divine threat against those who fail to do the things referred to, but hell and hell-fire are threatened against those who are angry without a cause.[Matthew 5:22] As then the lover of vainglory, when he takes upon him the government of numbers, supplies additional fuel to the fire, so he who by himself, or in the company of a few, is unable to control his anger, but readily carried away by it, should he be ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 185, footnote 3 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
Three Homilies Concerning the Power of Demons. (HTML)
Homily I. Against Those Who Say that Demons Govern Human Affairs. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 570 (In-Text, Margin)
... who shall stand?” And if it seems good to thee to investigate this saying, leaving the accurate enquiry into the life of each, alone: (For it is not possible even to know all that has been accomplished by each man) let us bring forward those sins which all, without contradiction, commit: and from these it will be plain and manifest to us, that if we were chastened for each of our sins, we should long ago have perished. He who has called his brother fool, “is liable to the hell of fire” saith He.[Matthew 5:22] Is there then any one of us who has never sinned this sin? What then? ought he to be straightway carried off? Therefore we should have been all carried off and would have disappeared, long ago, indeed very long ago. Again he who swears, saith he, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 535, footnote 16 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Letters of Athanasius with Two Ancient Chronicles of His Life. (HTML)
The Festal Letters, and their Index. (HTML)
Festal Letters. (HTML)
For 339. Coss. Constantius Augustus II, Constans I; Præfect, Philagrius the Cappadocian, for the second time; Indict. xii; Easter-day xvii Kal. Mai, xx Pharmuthi; Æra Dioclet. 55. (HTML)
... mind, men are moved to deeds of virtue, he afterwards adds, saying, ‘Mine eyes prevent the dawn, that I might meditate on Thy words.’ For it is meet that the spiritual meditations of those who are whole should precede their bodily actions. And does not our Saviour, when intending to teach this very thing begin with the thoughts of the mind? saying, ‘Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery:’ and, ‘Whosoever shall be angry with his brother, is guilty of murder[Matthew 5:22].’ For where there is no wrath, murder is prevented; and where lust is first removed, there can be no accusation of adultery. Hence meditation on the law is necessary, my beloved, and uninterrupted converse with virtue, ‘that the saint may lack ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 17, footnote 15 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Heliodorus, Monk. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 242 (In-Text, Margin)
... the lower room, that when one less honorable comes you may be bidden to go up higher. Upon whom does the Lord rest but upon him that is lowly and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at His word? To whom God has committed much, of him He will ask the more. “Mighty men shall be mightily tormented.” No man need pride himself in the day of judgment on merely physical chastity, for then shall men give account for every idle word, and the reviling of a brother shall be counted as the sin of murder.[Matthew 5:21-22] Paul and Peter now reign with Christ, and it is not easy to take the place of the one or to hold the office of the other. There may come an angel to rend the veil of your temple, and to remove your candlestick out of its place. If you intend to ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 83, footnote 3 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
From Epiphanius, Bishop of Salamis, in Cyprus, to John, Bishop of Jerusalem. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1236 (In-Text, Margin)
... pride in our clerical position will be able to avail us who sin not only in thought and feeling, but in speech? I have heard, of course, that you are incensed against me, that you are angry, and that you threaten to write about me—not merely to particular places and provinces, but to the uttermost ends of the earth. Where is that fear of God which should make us tremble with the trembling spoken of by the Lord—“Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment”?[Matthew 5:22] Not that I greatly care for your writing what you please. For Isaiah tells us of letters written on papyrus and cast upon the waters—missives soon carried away by time and tide. I have done you no harm, I have inflicted no injury upon you, I have ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 363, footnote 11 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
Against Jovinianus. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4401 (In-Text, Margin)
... from the embrace of the Shunammite maiden. And I do not say this because I am bold enough to disparage holy men, but because it is one thing to live under the law, another to live under the Gospel. David slew Uriah the Hittite and committed adultery with Bathsheba. And because he was a man of blood—the reference is not, as some think, to his wars, but to the murder—he was not permitted to build a temple of the Lord. But as for us, if we cause one of the least to stumble, and if we say to a brother[Matthew 5:22] Raca, or use our eyes improperly, it were good that a millstone were hanged about our neck, we shall be in danger of Gehenna, and a mere glance will be reckoned to us for adultery. He passes on to Solomon, through whom wisdom itself sang its ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 14, footnote 19 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
De Spiritu Sancto. (HTML)
In how many ways “Through whom” is used; and in what sense “with whom” is more suitable. Explanation of how the Son receives a commandment, and how He is sent. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 908 (In-Text, Margin)
Give careful heed, too, to the words of the Lord, and note how, whenever He instructs us about His Father, He is in the habit of using terms of personal authority, saying, “I will; be thou clean;” and “Peace, be still;” and “But I say unto you;”[Matthew 5:22] and “Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee;” and all other expressions of the same kind, in order that by these we may recognise our Master and Maker, and by the former may be taught the Father of our Master and Creator. Thus on all sides is demonstrated the true doctrine that the fact that the Father creates through the Son neither constitutes the creation of the Father ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 128, footnote 10 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
The Letters. (HTML)
Without address. On the Perfection of the Life of Solitaries. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1927 (In-Text, Margin)
... ought to be so minded as becomes his heavenly calling, and his life and conversation ought to be worthy of the Gospel of Christ. The Christian ought not to be of doubtful mind, nor by anything drawn away from the recollection of God and of His purposes and judgments. The Christian ought in all things to become superior to the righteousness existing under the law, and neither swear nor lie. He ought not to speak evil; to do violence; to fight; to avenge himself; to return evil for evil; to be angry.[Matthew 5:22] The Christian ought to be patient, whatever he have to suffer, and to convict the wrong-doer in season, not with the desire of his own vindication, but of his brother’s reformation, according to the commandment of the Lord. The Christian ought not ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 240, footnote 3 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
The Letters. (HTML)
To Amphilochius, concerning the Canons. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2721 (In-Text, Margin)
XLVIII. The woman who has been abandoned by her husband, ought, in my judgment, to remain as she is. The Lord said, “If any one leave his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, he causeth her to commit adultery;”[Matthew 5:22] thus, by calling her adulteress, He excludes her from intercourse with another man. For how can the man being guilty, as having caused adultery, and the woman, go without blame, when she is called adulteress by the Lord for having intercourse with another man?
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 248, footnote 4 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
The Letters. (HTML)
To the clergy of Neocæsarea. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2764 (In-Text, Margin)
... at prayer. How could he? He was a true disciple of the Apostle who says, “Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head.” And “a man indeed ought not to cover his head forasmuch as he is the image of God.” Oaths were shunned by Gregory, that pure soul, worthy of the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, content with yea and nay, in accordance with the commandment of the Lord Who said, “I say unto you swear not at all.” Gregory could not bear to call his brother a fool,[Matthew 5:22] for he stood in awe of the threat of the Lord. Passion, wrath, and bitterness never proceeded out of his mouth. Railing he hated, because it leads not to the kingdom of heaven. Envy and arrogance had been shut out of that guiltless soul. He would ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 260, footnote 8 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)
The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults. (HTML)
Book VIII. Of the Spirit of Anger. (HTML)
Chapter X. Of the sun, of which it is said that it should not go down upon your wrath. (HTML)
... a murky night, we know not what we ought to do. In this sense it is that we have brought forward this passage of the Apostle, handed down to us by the teaching of the elders, because it was needful, even at the risk of a somewhat lengthy discourse, to show how they felt with regard to anger, for they do not permit it even for a moment to effect an entrance into our heart: observing with the utmost care that saying of the gospel: “Whosoever is angry with his brother is in danger of the judgment.”[Matthew 5:22] But if it be lawful to be angry up till sunset, the surfeit of our wrath and the vengeance of our anger will be able to give full play to passion and dangerous excitement before that sun inclines towards its setting.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 263, footnote 7 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)
The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults. (HTML)
Book VIII. Of the Spirit of Anger. (HTML)
Chapter XXI. Whether we ought to admit the addition of “without a cause,” in that which is written in the Gospel, “whosoever is angry with his brother,” etc. (HTML)
But you should know that in this, which is found in many copies, “Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, is in danger of the judgment,”[Matthew 5:22] the words “without a cause” are superfluous, and were added by those who did not think that anger for just causes was to be banished: since certainly nobody, however unreasonably he is disturbed, would say that he was angry without a cause. Wherefore it appears to have been added by those who did not understand the drift of Scripture, which intended altogether to banish the incentive to anger, and to reserve ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 455, footnote 1 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)
The Conferences of John Cassian. Part II. Containing Conferences XI-XVII. (HTML)
Conference XVI. The First Conference of Abbot Joseph. On Friendship. (HTML)
Chapter XV. Of those who only increase their own or their brother's grievances by hiding them. (HTML)
... their own feelings and soften their brother’s heart. For by that plan they nourish and cherish the sin of meanness or rather of pride, instead of stamping out all inducement to quarrelling, and they forget the charge of the Lord which says: “Whosoever is angry with his brother, is in danger of the judgment;” and: “if thou remember that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way, first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.”[Matthew 5:22-24]