Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Matthew 6:13
There are 48 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 8, footnote 8 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Clement of Rome (HTML)
First Epistle to the Corinthians (HTML)
Chapter XIII.—An exhortation to humility. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 56 (In-Text, Margin)
... glory in the Lord, in diligently seeking Him, and doing judgment and righteousness”), being especially mindful of the words of the Lord Jesus which He spake, teaching us meekness and long-suffering. For thus He spoke: “Be ye merciful, that ye may obtain mercy; forgive, that it may be forgiven to you; as ye do, so shall it be done unto you; as ye judge, so shall ye be judged; as ye are kind, so shall kindness be shown to you; with what measure ye mete, with the same it shall be measured to you.”[Matthew 6:12-15] By this precept and by these rules let us establish ourselves, that we walk with all humility in obedience to His holy words. For the holy word saith, “On whom shall I look, but on him that is meek and peaceable, and that trembleth at My words?”
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 34, footnote 16 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Polycarp (HTML)
Epistle to the Philippians (HTML)
Chapter VI.—The duties of presbyters and others. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 375 (In-Text, Margin)
... bringing back those that wander, visiting all the sick, and not neglecting the widow, the orphan, or the poor, but always “providing for that which is becoming in the sight of God and man;” abstaining from all wrath, respect of persons, and unjust judgment; keeping far off from all covetousness, not quickly crediting [an evil report] against any one, not severe in judgment, as knowing that we are all under a debt of sin. If then we entreat the Lord to forgive us, we ought also ourselves to forgive;[Matthew 6:12-14] for we are before the eyes of our Lord and God, and “we must all appear at the judgment-seat of Christ, and must every one give an account of himself.” Let us then serve Him in fear, and with all reverence, even as He Himself has commanded us, and ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 34, footnote 23 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Polycarp (HTML)
Epistle to the Philippians (HTML)
Chapter VII.—Avoid the Docetæ, and persevere in fasting and prayer. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 382 (In-Text, Margin)
... does not confess the testimony of the cross, is of the devil; and whosoever perverts the oracles of the Lord to his own lusts, and says that there is neither a resurrection nor a judgment, he is the first-born of Satan. Wherefore, forsaking the vanity of many, and their false doctrines, let us return to the word which has been handed down to us from the beginning; “watching unto prayer,” and persevering in fasting; beseeching in our supplications the all-seeing God “not to lead us into temptation,”[Matthew 6:13] as the Lord has said: “The spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 117, footnote 5 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
De Fuga in Persecutione. (HTML)
De Fuga in Persecutione. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1140 (In-Text, Margin)
... shaking of faith as well as the shielding of it, when both are sought from Him—the shaking by the devil, the shielding by the Son. And certainly, when the Son of God has faith’s protection absolutely committed to Him, beseeching it of the Father, from whom He receives all power in heaven and on earth, how entirely out of the question is it that the devil should have the assailing of it in his own power! But in the prayer prescribed to us, when we say to our Father, “Lead us not into temptation”[Matthew 6:13] (now what greater temptation is there than persecution?), we acknowledge that that comes to pass by His will whom we beseech to exempt us from it. For this is what follows, “But deliver us from the wicked one,” that is, do not lead us into ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 273, footnote 2 (Image)
Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius
Peter of Alexandria. (HTML)
The Canonical Epistle, with the Commentaries of Theodore Balsamon and John Zonaras. (HTML)
Canon IX. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2304 (In-Text, Margin)
... likely to be protracted, and draw upon themselves the temptations as it were of a sea-fight, and the inundations of many waves, or rather are for the brethren kindling the coals of the sinners, with them also we must communicate, inasmuch as they come to this in the name of Christ, even though they take no heed unto His words, when He teaches us “to pray that we enter not into temptation;” and again in His prayer, He says to His Father, “and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”[Matthew 6:13] And perhaps also they know not that the Master of the House and our Great Teacher often retired from those who would lay snares for Him, and that sometimes He walked not openly because of them; and even when the time of His passion drew on, He ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 379, footnote 23 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (HTML)
The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (HTML)
Chapter VIII.—Concerning Fasting and Prayer (the Lord’s Prayer) (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2452 (In-Text, Margin)
... fast on the fourth day and the Preparation (Friday). 2. Neither pray as the hypocrites; but as the Lord commanded in His Gospel, thus pray: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Give us to-day our daily (needful) bread, and forgive us our debt as we also forgive our debtors. And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one (or, evil); for Thine is the power and the glory for ever.[Matthew 6:13] 3. Thrice in the day thus pray.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 331, footnote 8 (Image)
Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents
Pseudo-Clementine Literature. (HTML)
The Clementine Homilies. (HTML)
Homily XIX. (HTML)
The Existence of the Devil Affirmed. (HTML)
... casts out Satan, he is divided against himself: how then is his kingdom to stand?’ And He pointed out that He saw the evil one like lightning falling down from heaven. And elsewhere He said, ‘He who sowed the bad seed is the devil.’ And again, ‘Give no pretext to the evil one.’ Moreover, in giving advice, He said, ‘Let your yea be yea, and your nay nay; for what is more than these is of the evil one.’ Also, in the prayer which He delivered to us, we have it said, ‘Deliver us from the evil one.’[Matthew 6:13] And in another place, He promised that He would say to those who are impious, ‘Go ye into outer darkness, which the Father prepared for the devil and his angels.’ And not to prolong this statement further, I know that my Teacher often said that ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 58, footnote 30 (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 733 (In-Text, Margin)
... Then be not ye now like unto them: [30] for your Father knoweth your request before ye ask him. One of his disciples said [31] unto him, Our Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples. Jesus said unto [32] them, Thus now pray ye now: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy [33, 34] name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Give us the [35] food of to-day. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgave those that trespass ed [36] against us.[Matthew 6:13] And bring us not into temptations, but deliver us from the evil one. For [37] thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. If ye forgive [Arabic, p. 37] men their wrong-doing, your Father which is in heaven will forgive ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 233, footnote 2 (Image)
Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Apocalypses, Visio Pauli, Testament of Abraham, Acts of X/P, Zosimus, Aristides, Clement, Origen
The Epistles of Clement. (HTML)
The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians. (HTML)
An Exhortation to Humility. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4061 (In-Text, Margin)
... glorieth glory in the Lord, in diligently seeking Him, and doing judgment and righteousness”), being especially mindful of the words of the Lord Jesus which He spake teaching us meekness and long-suffering. For thus He spoke: “Be ye merciful, that ye may obtain mercy; forgive, that it may be forgiven to you; as ye do, so shall it be done unto you; as ye judge, so shall ye be judged; as ye are kind, so shall kindness be shown to you; with what measure ye mete, with the same it shall be measured to you.”[Matthew 6:12-15] By this precept and by these rules let us stablish ourselves, that we walk with all humility in obedience to His holy words. For the holy word saith, “On whom shall I look, but on him that is meek and peaceable, and that trembleth at my words?”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 153, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
Having manifested what he was and what he is, he shows the great fruit of his confession; and being about to examine by what method God and the happy life may be found, he enlarges on the nature and power of memory. Then he examines his own acts, thoughts and affections, viewed under the threefold division of temptation; and commemorates the Lord, the one mediator of God and men. (HTML)
On the Misery of Human Life. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 876 (In-Text, Margin)
... prosperity; in prosperity, I fear adversity. What middle place, then, is there between these, where human life is not a temptation? Woe unto the prosperity of this world, once and again, from fear of misfortune and a corruption of joy! Woe unto the adversities of this world, once and again, and for the third time, from the desire of prosperity; and because adversity itself is a hard thing, and makes shipwreck of endurance! Is not the life of man upon earth a temptation, and that without intermission?[Matthew 6:13]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 274, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
The Enchiridion. (HTML)
The Seven Petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, According to Matthew. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1312 (In-Text, Margin)
... earth, as it is in heaven” (which some have interpreted, not unfairly, in body as well as in spirit), we ask for blessings that are to be enjoyed for ever; which are indeed begun in this world, and grow in us as we grow in grace, but in their perfect state, which is to be looked for in another life, shall be a possession for evermore. But when we say, “Give us this day our daily bread: and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors: and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,”[Matthew 6:11-13] who does not see that we ask for blessings that have reference to the wants of this present life? In that eternal life, where we hope to live for ever, the hallowing of God’s name, and His kingdom, and His will in our spirit and body, shall be ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 386, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On Continence. (HTML)
Section 18 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1866 (In-Text, Margin)
... healeth all thy sicknesses.” He becometh propitious to our iniquities, when He pardons sins: He heals sicknesses when He restrains evil desires. He becometh propitious unto iniquities by the grant of forgiveness: He heals sicknesses, by the grant of continence. The one was done in Baptism to persons confessing; the other is done in the strife to persons contending; wherein through His help we are to overcome our disease. Even now the one is done, when we are heard, saying, “Forgive us our debts;”[Matthew 6:12-13] but the other, when we are heard, saying, “Lead us not into temptation. For every one is tempted,” saith the Apostle James, “being drawn away and enticed by his own lust.” And against this fault there is sought the help of medicine from Him, Who can ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 449, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Good of Widowhood. (HTML)
Section 21 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2269 (In-Text, Margin)
... tears) hostile to the grace of Christ, which go to persuade that we count not as necessary for us prayer unto the Lord, that we enter not into temptation. For they so essay to defend the free will of man, as that by it alone, even without help of the grace of God, we are able to fulfill what is commanded us of God. And thus it follows, that the Lord in vain said, “Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation;” and in vain daily in the Lord’s Prayer itself we say, “Lead us not into temptation.”[Matthew 6:13] For if it is of our own power alone that we be not overcome by temptation, why do we pray that we enter not, nor be led into it? Rather let us do what is of our own free will, and most absolute power; and let us mock at the Apostle, saying, “God is ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 44, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
Some Persons Attribute Too Much to the Freedom of Man’s Will; Ignorance and Infirmity. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 446 (In-Text, Margin)
... either when it deceives and surprises us in our ignorance, or when it presses and importunes us in our weakness. Now how hurtful, and how pernicious and contrary to our salvation in Christ, and how violently adverse to the religion itself in which we are instructed, and to the piety whereby we worship God, it cannot but be for us not to beseech the Lord for the attainment of such a benefit, but be rather led to think that petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “Lead us not into temptation,”[Matthew 6:13] a vain and useless insertion,—it is beyond my ability to express in words.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 45, footnote 8 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
Concupiscence, How Far in Us; The Baptized are Not Injured by Concupiscence, But Only by Consent Therewith. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 454 (In-Text, Margin)
... consent to it for the commission of unlawful deeds, it holds as guilty; and unless, through the medicine of repentance, and through works of mercy, by the intercession in our behalf of the heavenly High Priest, they be healed, it conducts us to the second death and utter condemnation. It was on this account that the Lord, when teaching us to pray, advised us, besides other petitions, to say: “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into tempation, but deliver us from evil.”[Matthew 6:12-13] For evil remains in our flesh, not by reason of the nature in which man was created by God and wisdom, but by reason of that offence into which he fell by his own will, and in which, since its powers are lost, he is not healed with the same facility ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 45, footnote 14 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
Concupiscence, How Far in Us; The Baptized are Not Injured by Concupiscence, But Only by Consent Therewith. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 460 (In-Text, Margin)
... not into temptation;”—not that God ever Himself tempts any one with such temptation, “for God is not a tempter to evil, neither tempteth He any man;” but in order that whenever we feel the rising of temptation from our concupiscence, we may not be deserted by His help, in order that thereby we may be able to conquer, and not be carried away by enticement. We then add our request for that which is to be perfected at the last, when mortality shall be swallowed up of life: “But deliver us from evil.”[Matthew 6:13] For then there will exist no longer a concupiscence which we are bidden to struggle against, and not to consent to. The whole substance, accordingly, of these three petitions may be thus briefly expressed: “Pardon us for those things in which we ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 142, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on Nature and Grace. (HTML)
Concerning What Grace of God is Here Under Discussion. The Ungodly Man, When Dying, is Not Delivered from Concupiscence. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1278 (In-Text, Margin)
Now, whereas it is most correctly asked in those words put to him, “Why do you affirm that man without the help of God’s grace is able to avoid sin?” yet the inquiry did not concern that grace by which man was created, but only that whereby he is saved through Jesus Christ our Lord. Faithful men say in their prayer, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”[Matthew 6:13] But if they already have capacity, why do they pray? Or, what is the evil which they pray to be delivered from, but, above all else, “the body of this death?” And from this nothing but God’s grace alone delivers them, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Not of course from the substance of the body, which is good; ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 145, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on Nature and Grace. (HTML)
Despite the Devil, Man May, by God’s Help, Be Perfected. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1300 (In-Text, Margin)
... who do not resist him.” Such language is my own also; for it is impossible to employ truer words. There is, however, this difference between us and them, that we, whenever the devil has to be resisted, not only do not deny, but actually teach, that God’s help must be sought; whereas they attribute so much power to will as to take away prayer from religious duty. Now it is certainly with a view to resisting the devil and his fleeing from us that we say when we pray, “Lead us not into temptation;”[Matthew 6:13] to the same end also are we warned by our Captain, exhorting us as soldiers in the words: “Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 149, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on Nature and Grace. (HTML)
Augustin Himself. Two Methods Whereby Sins, Like Diseases, are Guarded Against. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1337 (In-Text, Margin)
... impossible? Sin, however, is committed; precaution therefore is possible.’” I acknowledge it, these are my words; but he, too, should condescend to acknowledge all that was said previously, seeing that the discussion is about the grace of God, which helps us as a medicine through the Mediator; not about the impossibility of righteousness. Whatever, then, may be the cause, it can be resisted. Most certainly it can. Now it is because of this that we pray for help, saying, “Lead us not into temptation,”[Matthew 6:13] and we should not ask for help if we supposed that the resistance were quite impossible. It is possible to guard against sin, but by the help of Him who cannot be deceived. For this very circumstance has much to do with guarding against sin that we ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 163, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise Concerning Man’s Perfection in Righteousness. (HTML)
The Fourteenth Breviate. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1402 (In-Text, Margin)
XIV. “Again the question must be asked,” he says, “If man’s nature is good, as nobody but Marcion or Manichæus will venture to deny, in what way is it good if it is impossible for it to be free from evil? For that all sin is evil who can gainsay?” We answer, that man’s nature is both good, and is also able to be free from evil. Therefore do we earnestly pray, “Deliver us from evil.”[Matthew 6:13] This deliverance, indeed, is not fully wrought, so long as the soul is oppressed by the body, which is hastening to corruption. This process, however, is being effected by grace through faith, so that it may be said by and by, “O death, where is thy struggle? Where is thy sting, O death? The sting of ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 166, footnote 17 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise Concerning Man’s Perfection in Righteousness. (HTML)
To Whom God’s Commandments are Grievous; And to Whom, Not. Why Scripture Says that God’s Commandments are Not Grievous; A Commandment is a Proof of the Freedom Of Man’s Will; Prayer is a Proof of Grace. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1453 (In-Text, Margin)
... them grievous may understand that it has not yet received those resources which make the Lord’s commandments to be such as they are commended to us as being, even gentle and pleasant; and that it may pray with groaning of the will to obtain the gift of facility. For the man who says, “Let my heart be blameless;” and, “Order Thou my steps according to Thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me;” and, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven;” and, “Lead us not into temptation;”[Matthew 6:13] and other prayers of a like purport, which it would be too long to particularize, does in effect offer up a prayer for ability to keep God’s commandments. Neither, indeed, on the one hand, would any injunctions be laid upon us to keep them, if our ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 170, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise Concerning Man’s Perfection in Righteousness. (HTML)
The Third Passage. It is One Thing to Depart, and Another Thing to Have Departed, from All Sin. ‘There is None that Doeth Good,’—Of Whom This is to Be Understood. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1501 (In-Text, Margin)
... accomplished fact; and such a precept as is never kept by those of whom it is said, “There is none that doeth good, no, not one.” He adds: “Holy Tobit also said, ‘Fear not, my son, that we have to endure poverty; we shall have many blessings if we fear God, and depart from all sin, and do that which is good.’” Most true indeed it is, that man shall have many blessings when he shall have departed from all sin. Then no evil shall betide him; nor shall he have need of the prayer, “Deliver us from evil.”[Matthew 6:13] Although even now every man who progresses, advancing ever with an upright purpose, departs from all sin, and becomes further removed from it as he approaches nearer to the fulness and perfection of the righteous state; because even concupiscence ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 171, footnote 19 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise Concerning Man’s Perfection in Righteousness. (HTML)
The Opposing Passages. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1528 (In-Text, Margin)
... wickedness.’ So in the Epistle of John, ‘If our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God; and whatsoever we ask, we shall receive of Him.’” For all this is accomplished by the will, by the exercise of faith, hope, and love; by keeping under the body; by doing alms; by forgiving injuries; by earnest prayer; by supplicating for strength to advance in our course; by sincerely saying, “Forgive us, as we also forgive others,” and “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”[Matthew 6:12-13] By this process, it is certainly brought about that our heart is cleansed, and all our sin taken away; and what the righteous King, when sitting on His throne, shall find concealed in the heart and uncleansed as yet, shall be remitted by His mercy, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 174, footnote 9 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise Concerning Man’s Perfection in Righteousness. (HTML)
The Ninth Passage. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1570 (In-Text, Margin)
... willing, and hearken unto me, ye shall eat the good of the land; but if ye be not willing, and hearken not to me, the sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken this.’” Now with all their efforts of disguise they here betray their purpose; for they plainly attempt to controvert the grace and mercy of God, which we desire to obtain whenever we offer the prayer, “Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven;” or again this, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”[Matthew 6:13] For indeed why do we present such petitions in earnest supplication, if the result is of him that willeth, and him that runneth, but not of God that showeth mercy? Not that the result is without our will, but that our will does not accomplish the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 175, footnote 15 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise Concerning Man’s Perfection in Righteousness. (HTML)
No Man is Assisted Unless He Does Himself Also Work. Our Course is a Constant Progress. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1588 (In-Text, Margin)
... says he, “which must be given is, ‘Quite possible, if God so will; and God does so will, therefore it is possible.’” See how unwilling he was to say, “If God give His help, then it would be possible;” and yet the Psalmist thus addresses God: “Be Thou my helper, forsake me not;” where of course help is not sought for procuring bodily advantages and avoiding bodily evils, but for practising and fulfilling righteousness. Hence it is that we say: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”[Matthew 6:13] Now no man is assisted unless he also himself does something; assisted, however, he is, if he prays, if he believes, if he is “called according to God’s purpose;” for “whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 176, footnote 12 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise Concerning Man’s Perfection in Righteousness. (HTML)
Conclusion of the Work. In the Regenerate It is Not Concupiscence, But Consent, Which is Sin. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1601 (In-Text, Margin)
... excited against our will,—he certainly is drawing subtle distinctions, and should consider what relation all this bears to the Lord’s Prayer, wherein we say, “Forgive us our debts.” Now, if I judge aright, it would be unnecessary to put up such a prayer as this, if we never in the least degree consented to the lusts of the before-mentioned sin, either in a slip of the tongue, or in a wanton thought; all that it would be needful to say would be, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”[Matthew 6:13] Nor could the Apostle James say: “In many things we all offend.” For in truth only that man offends whom an evil concupiscence persuades, either by deception or by force, to do or say or think something which he ought to avoid, by directing his ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 192, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Work on the Proceedings of Pelagius. (HTML)
The Same Continued. Pelagius Acknowledges the Doctrine of Grace in Deceptive Terms. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1656 (In-Text, Margin)
... incapable of change afterwards.” Now it is quite uncertain what he means in these words by the grace of God; and the judges, catholic as they were, could not possibly understand by the phrase anything else than the grace which is so very strongly recommended to us in the apostle’s teaching. Now this is the grace whereby we hope that we can be delivered from the body of this death through our Lord Jesus Christ, [VII.] and for the obtaining of which we pray that we may not be led into temptation.[Matthew 6:13] This grace is not nature, but that which renders assistance to frail and corrupted nature. This grace is not the knowledge of the law, but is that of which the apostle says: “I will not make void the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 454, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on Grace and Free Will. (HTML)
Abstract. (HTML)
The Pelagians Contend that the Grace, Which is Neither the Law Nor Nature, Avails Only to the Remission of Past Sins, But Not to the Avoidance of Future Ones. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3093 (In-Text, Margin)
They also maintain that God’s grace, which is given through the faith of Jesus Christ, and which is neither the law nor nature, avails only for the remission of sins that have been committed, and not for the shunning of future ones, or the subjugation of those which are now assailing us. Now if all this were true, surely after offering the petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,” we could hardly go on and say, “And lead us not into temptation.”[Matthew 6:12-13] The former petition we present that our sins may be forgiven; the latter, that they may be avoided or subdued,—a favour which we should by no means beg of our Father who is in heaven if we were able to accomplish it by the virtue of our human will. Now I ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 483, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on Rebuke and Grace. (HTML)
Distinction Between the Grace Given Before and After the Fall. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3347 (In-Text, Margin)
What then? Did not Adam have the grace of God? Yes, truly, he had it largely, but of a different kind. He was placed in the midst of benefits which he had received from the goodness of his Creator; for he had not procured those benefits by his own deservings; in which benefits he suffered absolutely no evil. But saints in this life, to whom pertains this grace of deliverance, are in the midst of evils out of which they cry to God, “Deliver us from evil.”[Matthew 6:13] He in those benefits needed not the death of Christ: these, the blood of that Lamb absolves from guilt, as well inherited as their own. He had no need of that assistance which they implore when they say, “I see another law in my members warring against the law of my ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 529, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints. (HTML)
A Treatise on the Gift of Perseverance. (HTML)
When Perseverance is Granted to a Person, He Cannot But Persevere. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3577 (In-Text, Margin)
Now, moreover, when the saints say, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,”[Matthew 6:13] what do they pray for but that they may persevere in holiness? For, assuredly, when that gift of God is granted to them,—which is sufficiently plainly shown to be God’s gift, since it is asked of Him,—that gift of God, then, being granted to them that they may not be led into temptation, none of the saints fails to keep his perseverance in holiness even to the end. For there is not any one who ceases to persevere in the Christian purpose unless he ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 530, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints. (HTML)
A Treatise on the Gift of Perseverance. (HTML)
Of His Own Will a Man Forsakes God, So that He is Deservedly Forsaken of Him. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3582 (In-Text, Margin)
... He is powerful both to turn wills from evil to good, and to convert those that are inclined to fall, or to direct them into a way pleasing to Himself. For to Him it is not said in vain, “O God, Thou shalt turn again and quicken us;” it is not vainly said, “Give not my foot to be moved;” it is not vainly said, “Give me not over, O Lord, from my desire to the sinner;” finally, not to mention many passages, since probably more may occur to you, it is not vainly said, “Lead us not into temptation.”[Matthew 6:13] For whoever is not led into temptation, certainly is not led into the temptation of his own evil will; and he who is not led into the temptation of his own evil will, is absolutely led into no temptation. For “every one is tempted,” as it is ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 544, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints. (HTML)
A Treatise on the Gift of Perseverance. (HTML)
A Man Who Does Not Persevere Fails by His Own Fault. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3674 (In-Text, Margin)
But it is said, “It is by his own fault that any one deserts the faith, when he yields and consents to the temptation which is the cause of his desertion of the faith.” Who denies it? But because of this, perseverance in the faith is not to be said not to be a gift of God. For it is this that a man daily asks for when he says, “Lead us not into temptation;”[Matthew 6:13] and if he is heard, it is this that he receives. And thus as he daily asks for perseverance, he assuredly places the hope of his perseverance not in himself, but in God. I, however, am loth to exaggerate the case with my words, but I rather leave it to them to consider, and see what it is of which they have persuaded ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 550, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints. (HTML)
A Treatise on the Gift of Perseverance. (HTML)
Prayer to Be Inculcated, Nevertheless. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3707 (In-Text, Margin)
... because blessed are all they that put their trust in Him. Holding this hope, serve the Lord in fear, and rejoice unto Him with trembling. Because no one can be certain of the life eternal which God who does not lie has promised to the children of promise before the times of eternity,—no one, unless that life of his, which is a state of trial upon the earth, is completed. But He will make us to persevere in Himself unto the end of that life, since we daily say to Him, ‘Lead us not into temptation.’”[Matthew 6:13] When these things and things of this kind are said, whether to few Christians or to the multitude of the Church, why do we fear to preach the predestination of the saints and the true grace of God,—that is, the grace which is not given according to ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 22, footnote 8 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount. (HTML)
Explanation of the First Part of the Sermon Delivered by Our Lord on the Mount, as Contained in the Fifth Chapter of Matthew. (HTML)
Chapter XVII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 161 (In-Text, Margin)
... except they be assured by an oath. To this, accordingly, reference is made when it is said, “Let your speech be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay;” this is good, and what is to be desired. “For whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil;” i.e., if you are compelled to swear, know that it comes of a necessity arising from the infirmity of those whom you are trying to persuade of something; which infirmity is certainly an evil, from which we daily pray to be delivered, when we say, “Deliver us from evil.”[Matthew 6:13] Hence He has not said, Whatsoever is more than these is evil; for you are not doing what is evil when you make a good use of an oath, which, although not in itself good, is yet necessary in order to persuade another that you are trying to move him ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 280, footnote 2 (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 Lord’s Prayer in St. Matthew’s Gospel, Chap. vi. 9, etc. to the Competentes. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2003 (In-Text, Margin)
18. “And lead us not into temptation. Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors,”[Matthew 6:13] we say because of past sins, which we cannot undo, that they should not have been done. Thou canst labour not to do what thou hast done before, but how canst thou bring about, that that which thou hast done should not be done? As regards those things which have been done already, that sentence of the prayer is thy help, “Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.” As regards those into which thou mayest fall, what wilt thou do? “Lead us ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 282, 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)
Again, on Matt. vi. on the Lord’s Prayer. To the Competentes. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2017 (In-Text, Margin)
9. “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”[Matthew 6:13] Will this again be necessary in the life to come? “Lead us not into temptation,” will not be said, except where there can be temptation. We read in the book of holy Job, “Is not the life of man upon earth a temptation?” What then do we pray for? Hear what. The Apostle James saith, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God.” He spoke of those evil temptations, whereby men are deceived, and brought under the yoke of the devil. This is the kind of ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 287, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)
Again on the Lord’s Prayer, Matt. vi. To the Competentes. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2070 (In-Text, Margin)
9. “Lead us not into temptation:”[Matthew 6:13] forgive what we have done already, and grant that we may not commit any more sins. For whosoever is overcome by temptation, committeth sin. Thus the Apostle James saith, “Let no man say when he is tempted, he is tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then lust, when it hath conceived, bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 289, footnote 9 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)
Again, on the Lord’s Prayer, Matt. vi. To the Competentes. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2095 (In-Text, Margin)
8. Next after this we pray, saying, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”[Matthew 6:13] This also, that we be not led into temptation, it is necessary for us to ask in this life, because in this life there are temptations; and that “we may be delivered from evil,” because there is evil here. And thus of all these seven petitions, three have respect to the life eternal, and four to the present life. “Hallowed be Thy name.” This will be for ever. “Thy kingdom come.” This kingdom will be for ever. “Thy will be done as in heaven, so in ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 290, 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 1065 (In-Text, Margin)
... of faith. And if he sometimes wounds us, we have the remedy at hand. For as the combatants are told, “These things I write unto you, that ye sin not:” so those who are wounded have the sequel to listen to, “And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous; and He is the propitiation for our sins.” And what do we pray for when we say, “Forgive us our debts,” but for the healing of our wounds? And what else do we ask, when we say, “Lead us not into temptation,”[Matthew 6:12-13] but that he who thus lies in wait for us, or assails us from without, may fail on every side to effect an entrance, and be unable to overcome us either by fraud or force? Nevertheless, whatever engines of war he may erect against us, so long as he ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 294, 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. 37–43. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1084 (In-Text, Margin)
... discharge it. For some He hath let be lifted up to pride through an overweening trust in their own wills, while others He hath let fall into carelessness through a contrary excess of distrust. The former say: Why do we ask God not to let us be overcome by temptation, when it is all in our own power? The latter say: Why should we try to live well, when the power to do so is in the hands of God? O Lord, O Father, who art in heaven, lead us not into any of these temptations; but “deliver us from evil!”[Matthew 6:13] Listen to the Lord, when He says, “I have prayed for thee, Peter, that thy faith fail not;” that we may never think of our faith as so lying in our free will that it has no need of the divine assistance. Let us listen also to the evangelist, when he ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 333, footnote 2 (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)
Again on the Same Passage. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1314 (In-Text, Margin)
... it does not imply that He is not doing what we ask, because we do not begin at once to reign with Him in the everlasting kingdom: for what we ask is delayed, but not denied. Nevertheless, let us not fail in pray ing, for in so doing we are as those that sow the seed; and in due season we shall reap. And even when we are asking aright, let us ask Him at the same time not to do what we ask amiss; for there is reference to this also in the Lord’s Prayer, when we say, “Lead us not into temptation.”[Matthew 6:9-13] For surely the temptation is no slight one if thine own request be hostile to thy cause. But we must not listen with indifference to the statement that the Lord (to prevent any from thinking that what He promised to do to those that asked, He would ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 449, footnote 4 (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 XXI. 19–25. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1971 (In-Text, Margin)
... prospect, although we possess it not as yet in reality. But a hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. And it is in the evils that every one suffers, not in the good things that he enjoys, that he has need of patience. The present life, therefore, whereof it is written, “Is not the life of man a term of trial upon earth?” in which we are daily crying to the Lord, “Deliver us from evil,”[Matthew 6:13] a man is compelled to endure, even when his sins are forgiven him, although it was the first sin that caused his falling into such misery. For the penalty is more protracted than the fault; lest the fault should be accounted small, were the penalty ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 210, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1988 (In-Text, Margin)
... Head and Members are one Christ. The Head was in heaven, and was saying, “Why dost thou persecute Me?” We with Him are in heaven through hope, Himself is with us on earth through love. Therefore “understanding to David himself.” Be we admonished when we hear, and let the Church understand: for there belongeth to us great diligence to understand in what evil we now are, and from what evil we desire to be delivered, remembering the Prayer of the Lord, where at the end we say, “Deliver us from evil.”[Matthew 6:13] Therefore amid many tribulations of this world, this Psalm complaineth somewhat of understanding. He lamenteth not with it, who hath not understanding. But furthermore, dearly beloved, we ought to remember, that after the image of God we have been ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 263, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXIV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2491 (In-Text, Margin)
... we are not. For alway ye have heard this fact, how in those times the whole Church together as it were was smitten against, but now through individuals she is tried. Bound indeed is the devil, that he may not do as much as he could, that he may not do as much as he would: nevertheless, he is permitted to tempt as much as is expedient to men advancing. It is not expedient for us to be without temptations: nor should we beseech God that we be not tempted, but that we be not “led into temptation.”[Matthew 6:13]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 442, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XC (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4241 (In-Text, Margin)
4. But as our life here is exposed to numerous and great temptations, and it is to be feared lest we may be turned aside by them from that refuge, let us see what in consequence of this the prayer of the man of God seeks for. “Turn not Thou man to lowness” (ver. 3): that is, let not man, turned aside from Thy eternal and sublime things, lust for things of time, savour of earthly things. This prayer is what God has Himself enjoined us, in the Prayer, “Lead us not into temptation,”[Matthew 6:13] He adds, “Again Thou sayest, Come again, ye children of men.” As if he said, I ask of Thee what Thou hast commanded me to ask: giving glory to His grace, that “he that glorieth, in the Lord he may glory:” without whose help we cannot by an exertion of our ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 568, footnote 10 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXIX (HTML)
Zain. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5204 (In-Text, Margin)
... one, whereby they might find comfort, in these words: “In your patience shall ye possess your souls;” and declared even of their very bodies, which might be put to death by their enemies, and seemingly be utterly annihilated, that not a hair of their heads should perish. This hope was given to Christ’s Body, that is, to the Church, that it might be a comfort to Her in her humiliation.…This hope He gave in the prayer which He taught us, where He enjoined us to say, “Lead us not into temptation:”[Matthew 6:13] for He in a manner implicitly promised that He would give to His disciples in their danger that which He taught them to ask for in their prayers. And indeed this Psalm is rather to be understood to speak of this hope: “For Thy word hath quickened ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 109, footnote 8 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Amandus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1627 (In-Text, Margin)
... meanings, wickedness and tribulation, which latter the Greek call κακωσίν and in this passage “tribulation” would be a better rendering than “wickedness.” But if any one demurs to this and insists that the word κακία must mean “wickedness” and not “tribulation” or “trouble,” the meaning must be the same as in the words “the whole world lieth in wickedness” and as in the Lord’s prayer in the clause, “deliver us from evil:”[Matthew 6:13] the purport of the passage will then be that our present conflict with the wickedness of this world should be enough for us.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 260, footnote 2 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
The Letters. (HTML)
To the clergy of Samosata. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2864 (In-Text, Margin)
Lord ordereth “all things in measure and weight,” and brings on us the temptations which do not exceed our power to endure them,[Matthew 6:13] but tests all that fight in the cause of true religion by affliction, not suffering them to be tempted above that they are able to bear. He gives tears to drink in great measure to all who ought to show whether in their affections they are preserving their gratitude to Him. Especially in His dispensation concerning you has He shown His loving-kindness, not suffering such a persecution to be brought on you by your enemies as might ...