Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Matthew 5:36
There are 11 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 275, footnote 5 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Instructor (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
Chapter III.—Against Men Who Embellish Themselves. (HTML)
The more, then, a man hastes to the end, the more truly venerable is he, having God alone as his senior, since He is the eternal aged One, He who is older than all things. Prophecy has called him the “Ancient of days; and the hair of His head was as pure wool,” says the prophet. “And none other,” says the Lord, “can make the hair white or black.”[Matthew 5:36] How, then, do these godless ones work in rivalry with God, or rather violently oppose Him, when they transmute the hair made white by Him? “The crown of old men is great experience,” says Scripture; and the hoary hair of their countenance is the blossom of large experience. But these dishonour the reverence of age, the head ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 67, footnote 8 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Apologetic. (HTML)
On Idolatry. (HTML)
Connection Between Covetousness and Idolatry. Certain Trades, However Gainful, to Be Avoided. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 233 (In-Text, Margin)
If we think over the rest of faults, tracing them from their generations, let us begin with covetousness, “a root of all evils,” wherewith, indeed, some having been ensnared, “have suffered shipwreck about faith.” Albeit covetousness is by the same apostle called idolatry. In the next place proceeding to mendacity, the minister of covetousness (of false swearing I am silent, since even swearing is not lawful[Matthew 5:34-37])—is trade adapted for a servant of God? But, covetousness apart, what is the motive for acquiring? When the motive for acquiring ceases, there will be no necessity for trading. Grant now that there be some righteousness in business, secure from the duty of watchfulness against ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 21, footnote 10 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On the Apparel of Women. (HTML)
II (HTML)
Of Dyeing the Hair. (HTML)
... to the hair at once growth and dryness, is hurtful. What “grace” is compatible with “injury?” What “beauty” with “impurities?” Shall a Christian woman heap saffron on her head, as upon an altar? For, whatever is wont to be burned to the honour of the unclean spirit, that—unless it is applied for honest, and necessary, and salutary uses, for which God’s creature was provided—may seem to be a sacrifice. But, however, God saith, “Which of you can make a white hair black, or out of a black a white?”[Matthew 5:36] And so they refute the Lord! “Behold!” say they, “instead of white or black, we make it yellow,—more winning in grace.” And yet such as repent of having lived to old age do attempt to change it even from white to black! O temerity! The ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 434, footnote 3 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
On the Dress of Virgins. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3204 (In-Text, Margin)
... the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened; for even Christ our passover is sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” But are sincerity and truth preserved, when what is sincere is polluted by adulterous colours, and what is true is changed into a lie by the deceitful dyes of medicaments? Your Lord says, “Thou canst not make one hair white or black;”[Matthew 5:36] and you, in order to overcome the word of your Lord, will be more mighty than He, and stain your hair with a daring endeavour and with profane contempt. With evil presage of the future, you make a beginning to yourself already of flame-coloured ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 537, footnote 1 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
... ye have heard that it was said to them of old, Thou shalt not swear falsely, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths.) I say unto you, Swear not at all: (neither by heaven, because it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, because it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King; neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.) But let your discourse be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: (for whatever is fuller than these is of evil.”)[Matthew 5:34-37] Of this same thing in Exodus: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.”
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 57, footnote 31 (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 IX. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 690 (In-Text, Margin)
[1] Ye have heard also that it was said unto the ancients, Lie not, but perform unto [2] God in thy oaths: but I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven, for it [3] is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is a footstool under his feet; nor yet by [4] Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.[Matthew 5:36] Neither shalt thou swear by thy [5] head, for thou canst not make in it one lock of hair black or white. But your word shall be either Yea or Nay, and what is in excess of this is of the evil one.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 292, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
Letters of St. Augustin (HTML)
Letters of St. Augustin (HTML)
To Publicola (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1673 (In-Text, Margin)
... false gods. In answering this question, we may accept as decisive those examples which you yourself quoted of Laban and of Abimelech (if Abimelech did swear by his gods, as Laban swore by the god of Nahor). This is, as I have said, another question, and one which would perchance perplex me, were it not for those examples of Isaac and Jacob, to which, for aught I know, others might be added. It may be that some scruple might yet be suggested by the precept in the New Testament, “Swear not at all;”[Matthew 5:36] words which were in my opinion spoken, not because it is a sin to swear a true oath, but because it is a heinous sin to forswear oneself: from which crime our Lord would have us keep at a great distance, when He charged us not to swear at all. I ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 592, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
Examples of the Various Styles, Drawn from the Teachers of the Church, Especially Ambrose and Cyprian. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2004 (In-Text, Margin)
... leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.’ Now can sincerity and truth continue to exist when what is sincere is polluted, and what is true is changed by meretricious coloring and the deceptions of quackery into a lie? Thy Lord says, ‘Thou canst not make one hair white or black;’[Matthew 5:36] and dost thou wish to have greater power so as to bring to nought the words of thy Lord? With rash and sacrilegious hand thou wouldst fain change the color of thy hair: I would that, with a prophetic look to the future, thou shouldst dye it the ...
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 9, page 394, footnote 6 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch. (HTML)
Homily VII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1365 (In-Text, Margin)
10. Ye applaud what is now said, but when ye have amended, ye will applaud in a greater degree not only us, but also yourselves; and ye will hear with more pleasure what is spoken; and ye will call upon God with a pure conscience, who is so sparing of thee, O man! that He saith, “Neither shalt thou swear by thy head.”[Matthew 5:36] But thou so despisest Him as to swear even by His glory. “But what shall I do,” saith one, “with those who impose necessity on me?” What kind of necessity can there be, O man? Let all men understand that thou wilt choose to suffer anything rather than transgress the law of God; and they will abstain from compelling thee. For as a proof ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 260, footnote 15 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Defence of His Flight. (Apologia de Fuga.) (HTML)
Defence of His Flight. (Apologia de Fuga.) (HTML)
The Lord's hour and time. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1462 (In-Text, Margin)
... He whom ye seek.’ And this He did even more than once; and so they straightway led Him away to Pilate. He neither suffered Himself to be taken before the time came, nor did He hide Himself when it was come; but gave Himself up to them that conspired against Him, that He might shew to all men that the life and death of man depend upon the divine sentence; and that without our Father which is in heaven, neither a hair of man’s head can become white or black, nor a sparrow ever fall into the snare[Matthew 5:36].