Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Matthew 6:24
There are 40 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 421, footnote 2 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Irenæus (HTML)
Against Heresies: Book III (HTML)
Chapter VIII.—Answer to an objection, arising from the words of Christ (Matt. vi. 24). God alone is to be really called God and Lord, for He is without beginning and end. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3365 (In-Text, Margin)
... calumny, then, of these men, having been quashed, it is clearly proved that neither the prophets nor the apostles did ever name another God, or call [him] Lord, except the true and only God. Much more [would this be the case with regard to] the Lord Himself, who did also direct us to “render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s, and to God the things that are God’s;” naming indeed Cæsar as Cæsar, but confessing God as God. In like manner also, that [text] which says, “Ye cannot serve two masters,”[Matthew 6:24] He does Himself interpret, saying, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon;” acknowledging God indeed as God, but mentioning mammon, a thing having also an existence. He does not call mammon Lord when He says, “Ye cannot serve two masters;” but He teaches ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 385, footnote 2 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2457 (In-Text, Margin)
... unquam alia, quam ea, quæ ei nupserat, uxore usum esse; et ex illius liberis, filias quidem consenuisse virgines, filium autem permansisse incorruptum. Quæ cum ita se habeant, vitii erat depulsio atque expurgatio, in medium apostolorum circumactio uxoris, cujus dicebatur laborare zelotypia: et continentia a voluptatibus, quæ magno studio parari solent, docebat illud, “abuti carne,” hoc est, exercere carnem. Neque enim, ut existimo, volebant, convenienter Domini præcepto, “duobus dominis servire,”[Matthew 6:24] voluptati et Deo. Dicunt itaque Matthiam quoque sic docuisse: “Cum carne quidem pugnare, et ea uti, nihil ei impudicum largiendo ad voluptatem; augere autem animam per fidem et cognitionem.” Sunt autem, qui etiam publicam venerem pronuntiant ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 396, footnote 7 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2579 (In-Text, Margin)
... reprehendit, unde in periculum venit legislator ne incessatur maledictis. Tatianum arbitror Syrum talia audere dogmata tradere. His verbis quidem certe scribit in libro De perfectione secundum Servatorem: Consensum quidem conjungit orationi: communio autem corruptelæ, interitus solvit interpellationem. Admodum certe circumspecte arcet per concessionem. Nam cum rursus permisit “simul convernire propter Satanam et intemperantiam,” pronuntiavit eum, qui est obtemperaturus, “serviturum duobus dominis:”[Matthew 6:24] per consensure quidem, Deo; per dissensionem autem, intemperantiæ et fornicationi et diabolo. Hæc autem dicit, Apostolum exponens. Sophistice autem eludit veritatem, per verum, falsum confirmans: intemperantiam enim et fornicationem, diabolica vitia ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 543, footnote 7 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)
Book VII (HTML)
Chapter XII.—The True Gnostic is Beneficent, Continent, and Despises Worldly Things. (HTML)
... live as Thou wishest.” For he who makes it his purpose to please men cannot please God, since the multitude choose not what is profitable, but what is pleasant. But in pleasing God, one as a consequence gets the favour of the good among men. How, then, can what relates to meat, and drink, and amorous pleasure, be agreeable to such an one? since he views with suspicion even a word that produces pleasure, and a pleasant movement and act of the mind. “For no one can serve two masters, God and Mammon,”[Matthew 6:24] it is said; meaning not simply money, but the resources arising from money bestowed on various pleasures. In reality, it is not possible for him who magnanimously and truly knows God, to serve antagonistic pleasures.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 68, footnote 12 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Apologetic. (HTML)
On Idolatry. (HTML)
Further Answers to the Plea, How Am I to Live? (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 246 (In-Text, Margin)
... from you all excuse. For what is it you say? “I shall be in need.” But the Lord calls the needy “happy.” “I shall have no food.” But “think not,” says He, “about food;” and as an example of clothing we have the lilies. “My work was my subsistence.” Nay, but “all things are to be sold, and divided to the needy.” “But provision must be made for children and posterity.” “None, putting his hand on the plough, and looking back, is fit” for work. “But I was under contract.” “None can serve two lords.”[Matthew 6:24] If you wish to be the Lord’s disciple, it is necessary you “take your cross, and follow the Lord:” your cross; that is, your own straits and tortures, or your body only, which is after the manner of a cross. ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 90, footnote 4 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Apologetic. (HTML)
The Shows, or De Spectaculis. (HTML)
Chapter XXVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 371 (In-Text, Margin)
... truth I did it most righteously, for I found her in my domain.” Another case, too, is well known, in which a woman had been hearing a tragedian, and on the very night she saw in her sleep a linen cloth—the actor’s name being mentioned at the same time with strong disapproval—and five days after that woman was no more. How many other undoubted proofs we have had in the case of persons who, by keeping company with the devil in the shows, have fallen from the Lord! For no one can serve two masters.[Matthew 6:24] What fellowship has light with darkness, life with death?
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 101, footnote 1 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Apologetic. (HTML)
The Chaplet, or De Corona. (HTML)
Chapter XII. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 424 (In-Text, Margin)
... Jupiter, will then have an ox with gold-decorated horns.” What does the utterance mean? Without a doubt the denial (of Christ). Albeit the Christian says nothing in these places with the mouth, he makes his response by having the crown on his head. The laurel is likewise commanded (to be used) at the distribution of the largess. So you see idolatry is not without its gain, selling, as it does, Christ for pieces of gold, as Judas did for pieces of silver. Will it be “Ye cannot serve God and mammon”[Matthew 6:24] to devote your energies to mammon, and to depart from God? Will it be “Render unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar’s, and unto God the things which are God’s,” not only not to render the human being to God, but even to take the denarius from Cæsar? ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 195, footnote 5 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Apologetic. (HTML)
A Treatise on the Soul. (HTML)
The Soul's Parts. Elements of the Rational Soul. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1603 (In-Text, Margin)
... would,” says he, “that they were even cut off which trouble you.” In perfect agreement with reason was that indignation which resulted from his desire to maintain discipline and order. When, however, he says, “We were formerly the children of wrath,” he censures an irrational irascibility, such as proceeds not from that nature which is the production of God, but from that which the devil brought in, who is himself styled the lord or “master” of his own class, “Ye cannot serve two masters,”[Matthew 6:24] and has the actual designation of “father:” “Ye are of your father the devil.” So that you need not be afraid to ascribe to him the mastery and dominion over that second, later, and deteriorated nature (of which we have been speaking), when ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 46, footnote 7 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
To His Wife. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
Remarks on Some of the “Dangers and Wounds” Referred to in the Preceding Chapter. (HTML)
Let us now recount the other dangers or wounds (as I have said) to faith, foreseen by the apostle; most grievous not to the flesh merely, but likewise to the spirit too. For who would doubt that faith undergoes a daily process of obliteration by unbelieving intercourse? “Evil confabulations corrupt good morals;” how much more fellowship of life, and indivisible intimacy! Any and every believing woman must of necessity obey God. And how can she serve two lords[Matthew 6:24] —the Lord, and her husband—a Gentile to boot? For in obeying a Gentile she will carry out Gentile practices,—personal attractiveness, dressing of the head, worldly elegancies, baser blandishments, the very secrets even of matrimony tainted: not, as among the saints, ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 641, footnote 3 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Origen. (HTML)
Origen Against Celsus. (HTML)
Book VIII (HTML)
Chapter III (HTML)
Before proceeding to the next point, it may be well for us to see whether we do not accept with approval the saying, “No man can serve two masters,” with the addition, “for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other,” and further, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”[Matthew 6:24] The defence of this passage will lead us to a deeper and more searching inquiry into the meaning and application of the words “gods” and “lords.” Divine Scripture teaches us that there is “a great Lord above all gods.” And by this name “gods” we are not to understand the objects of heathen worship (for we know that “all the gods of ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 444, footnote 11 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
On the Lapsed. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3279 (In-Text, Margin)
27. Nor let those persons flatter themselves that they need repent the less, who, although they have not polluted their hands with abominable sacrifices, yet have defiled their conscience with certificates. That profession of one who denies, is the testimony of a Christian disowning what he had been. He says that he has done what another has actually committed; and although it is written, “Ye cannot serve two masters,”[Matthew 6:24] he has served an earthly master in that he has obeyed his edict; he has been more obedient to human authority than to God. It matters not whether he has published what he has done with less either of disgrace or of guilt among men. Be that as it may, he will not be able to escape and ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 277, 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 XII. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2325 (In-Text, Margin)
Against those who have given money that they might be entirely undisturbed by evil, an accusation cannot be brought. For they have sustained the loss and sacrifice of their goods that they might not hurt or destroy their soul, which others for the sake of filthy lucre have not done; and yet the Lord says, “What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” and again, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”[Matthew 6:24] In these things, then, they have shown themselves the servants of God, inasmuch as they have hated, trodden under foot, and despised money, and have thus fulfilled what is written: “The ransom of a man’s life are his riches.” For we read also in the Acts of the Apostles that those ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 465, footnote 4 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)
Book VII. Concerning the Christian Life, and the Eucharist, and the Initiation into Christ (HTML)
Sec. I.—On the Two Ways,—The Way of Life and the Way of Death (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3347 (In-Text, Margin)
... class="sc">I. The lawgiver Moses said to the Israelites, “Behold, I have set before your face the way of life and the way of death;” and added, “Choose life, that thou mayest live.” Elijah the prophet also said to the people: “How long will you halt with both your legs? If the Lord be God, follow Him.” The Lord Jesus also said justly: “No one can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.”[Matthew 6:24] We also, following our teacher Christ, “who is the Saviour of all men, especially of those that believe,” are obliged to say that there are two ways—the one of life, the other of death; which have no comparison one with another, for they are very ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 467, footnote 6 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)
Book VII. Concerning the Christian Life, and the Eucharist, and the Initiation into Christ (HTML)
Sec. I.—On the Two Ways,—The Way of Life and the Way of Death (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3406 (In-Text, Margin)
... soothsaying in Israel.” Thou shalt not use enchantments or purgations for thy child. Thou shall not be a soothsayer nor a diviner by great or little birds. Nor shalt thou learn wicked arts; for all these things has the law forbidden. Be not one that wishes for evil, for thou wilt be led into intolerable sins. Thou shalt not speak obscenely, nor use wanton glances, nor be a drunkard; for from such causes arise whoredoms and adulteries. Be not a lover of money, lest thou “serve mammon instead of God.”[Matthew 6:24] Be not vainglorious, nor haughty, nor high-minded. For from all these things arrogance does spring. Remember him who said: “Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: I have not exercised myself in great matters, nor in things too high for ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 505, footnote 3 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)
Book VIII. Concerning Gifts, and Ordinations, and the Ecclesiastical Canons (HTML)
The Ecclesiastical Canons of the Same Holy Apostles (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3821 (In-Text, Margin)
81. We have said that a bishop ought not to let himself into public administrations, but to attend on all opportunities upon the necessary affairs of the Church. Either therefore let him agree not to do so, or let him be deprived. For, “no one can serve two masters,”[Matthew 6:24] according to the Lord’s admonition.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 518, footnote 21 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
The Second Epistle of Clement (HTML)
The Homily (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3891 (In-Text, Margin)
Now the Lord declares, “No servant can serve two masters.”[Matthew 6:24] If we desire, then, to Serve both God and mammon, it will be unprofitable for us. “For what will it profit if a man gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” This world and the next are two enemies. The one urges to adultery and corruption, avarice and deceit; the other bids farewell to these things. We cannot therefore be the friends of both; and it behoves us, by renouncing the one, to make sure of the other. Let us reckon that it is better to hate the things ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 145, footnote 1 (Image)
Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents
Pseudo-Clementine Literature. (HTML)
The Recognitions of Clement. (HTML)
Book V. (HTML)
The Two Kingdoms. (HTML)
... a portion of that kingdom to which he shall yield himself to obey. And since it is decreed by God that no one man can be a servant of both kingdoms, therefore endeavour with all earnestness to betake yourselves to the covenant and laws of the good King. Wherefore also the true Prophet, when He was present with us, and saw some rich men negligent with respect to the worship of God, thus unfolded the truth of this matter: ‘No one,’ said He, ‘can serve two masters; ye cannot serve God and mammon;’[Matthew 6:24] calling riches, in the language of His country, mammon.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 59, footnote 1 (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 X. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 753 (In-Text, Margin)
[1] [Arabic, p. 38][Matthew 6:24] No man can serve two masters; and that because it is necessary that he hate one of them and love the other, and honour one of them and despise the [2] other. Ye cannot serve God and possessions. And because of this I say unto you, Be not anxious for yourselves, what ye shall eat and what ye shall drink; neither for your bodies, what ye shall put on. Is not the life better than the food, and the body [3] than the raiment? Consider the birds of the heaven, which sow not, nor reap, nor ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 252, footnote 16 (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 Second Epistle of Clement. (HTML)
The Present and Future Worlds are Enemies to Each Other. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4360 (In-Text, Margin)
Now the Lord declares, “No servant can serve two masters.”[Matthew 6:24] If we desire, then, to serve both God and mammon, it will be unprofitable for us. “For what will it profit if a man gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” This world and the next are two enemies. The one urges to adultery and corruption, avarice and deceit; the other bids farewell to these things. We cannot, therefore, be the friends of both; and it behoves us, by renouncing the one, to make sure of the other. Let us reckon that it is better to hate the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 370, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Creed. (HTML)
Section 4 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1768 (In-Text, Margin)
4. We do not bring in two Gods as some do, who say, “God the Father and God the Son, but greater God the Father and lesser God the Son.” They both are what? Two Gods? Thou blushest to speak it, blush to believe it. Lord God the Father, thou sayest, and Lord God the Son: and the Son Himself saith, “No man can serve two Lords.”[Matthew 6:24] In His family shall we be in such wise, that, like as in a great house where there is the father of a family and he hath a son, so we should say, the greater Lord, the lesser Lord? Shrink from such a thought. If ye make to yourselves such like in your heart, ye set up idols in the “one soul.” Utterly repel it. First believe, then ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 520, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
Of the Work of Monks. (HTML)
Section 34 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2586 (In-Text, Margin)
... disciple, verily I say unto you, his reward shall not be lost,”) lest haply after he had reproved the eye of them which bestow things needful upon the indigent both prophets and just men and disciples of the Lord, the eye of the persons to whom these things were done should become depraved, so that for the sake of receiving these things they should wish to serve Christ as His soldiers: “No man,” saith He, “can serve two masters.” And a little after: “Ye cannot,” saith He, “serve God and mammon.”[Matthew 6:24-25] And straightway He hath added, “Therefore I say unto you, be not solicitous for your life what ye shall eat, nor for the body what ye shall put on.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 54, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings
Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)
On the Morals of the Catholic Church. (HTML)
Of Justice and Prudence. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 117 (In-Text, Margin)
44. What of justice that pertains to God? As the Lord says, "Ye cannot serve two masters,"[Matthew 6:24] and the apostle denounces those who serve the creature rather than the Creator, was it not said before in the Old Testament, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve?" I need say no more on this, for these books are full of such passages. The lover, then, whom we are describing, will get from justice this rule of life, that he must with perfect readiness serve the God whom he loves, the highest good, the highest wisdom, the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 213, footnote 4 (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 rejects the Old Testament because it leaves no room for Christ. Christ the one Bridegroom suffices for His Bride the Church. Augustin answers as well as he can, and reproves the Manichæans with presumption in claiming to be the Bride of Christ. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 548 (In-Text, Margin)
... the kingdom of God is like an householder bringing out of his treasure things new and old." The reader may remember this as said before, or he may find it on looking back. For if any one tries to serve God with two hopes, one of earthly felicity, and the other of the kingdom of heaven, the two hopes cannot agree; and when the latter is shaken by some affliction, the former will be lost too. Thus it is said, No man can serve two masters; which Christ explains thus: "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon."[Matthew 6:24] But to those who rightly understand it, the Old Testament is a prophecy of the New. Even in that ancient people, the holy patriarchs and prophets, who understood the part they performed, or which they were instrumental in performing, had this hope ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 507, footnote 8 (Image)
Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings
Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)
On Baptism, Against the Donatists. (HTML)
In which the remaining judgments of the Council of Carthage are examined. (HTML)
Chapter 30 (HTML)
58. Another Julianus of Marcelliana said: "If a man can serve two masters, God and mammon,[Matthew 6:24] then baptism also can serve two, the Christian and the heretic."
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 271, 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 that which is written in the Gospel, Matt. v. 16, 'Even so let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven:' and contrariwise, Chap. vi., 'Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men, to be seen of them.' (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1937 (In-Text, Margin)
... after He had first said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven;” said afterwards, “Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men to be seen of them.” For so the mind of him who is weak in understanding is disturbed, is desirous to obey both precepts, and distracted by diverse, and contradictory commandments. For a man can as little obey but one master, if he give contradictory orders, as he can serve two masters,[Matthew 6:24] which the Saviour Himself hath testified in the same Sermon to be impossible. What then must the mind that is in this hesitation do, when it thinks that it cannot, and yet is afraid not to obey? For if he set his good works in the light to be seen ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 36, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm IX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 368 (In-Text, Margin)
... the nature of God nothing will be, as if it were not yet; or hath been, as if it were no longer: but there is only that which is, and this is eternity. Let them cease then to hope in and love things temporal, and let them apply themselves to hope eternal, who know His name who said, “I am That I am;” and of whom it was said, “ hath sent me.” “For Thou hast not forsaken them that seek Thee, O Lord.” Whoso seek Him, seek no more things transient and perishable; “For no man can serve two masters.”[Matthew 6:24]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 149, footnote 2 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
Homily Concerning Lowliness of Mind. (HTML)
Concerning Lowliness of Mind. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 406 (In-Text, Margin)
... gospel besides what ye have received, let him be ana thema, were it even I, were it even an angel from the heavens.” Now he would not have anathematized both himself and an angel, if he had known the act to be without danger. And again— “I am jealous of you with a jealousy of God,” he says; “for I have betrothed you to one husband a chaste virgin: and fear lest at some time, as the serpent beguiled Eve by his wiliness, so your thoughts should be corrupted from the singleness that is towards Christ.”[Matthew 6:22-24] See, he both set down singleness, and granted no allowance. For if there were allowance, there was no danger: and if there was no danger Paul would not have feared: and Christ would not also have commanded that the tares should be burned up, if it ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 1, page 161, footnote 6 (Image)
Eusebius: Church History from A.D. 1-324, Life of Constantine the Great, Oration in Praise of Constantine
The Church History of Eusebius. (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
Nicolaus and the Sect named after him. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 845 (In-Text, Margin)
... daughters continued in a state of virginity until old age, and his son remained uncorrupt. If this is so, when he brought his wife, whom he jealously loved, into the midst of the apostles, he was evidently renouncing his passion; and when he used the expression, ‘to abuse the flesh,’ he was inculcating self-control in the face of those pleasures that are eagerly pursued. For I suppose that, in accordance with the command of the Saviour, he did not wish to serve two masters, pleasure and the Lord.[Matthew 6:24]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 36, footnote 3 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Eustochium. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 581 (In-Text, Margin)
... longer yours. “If have not been faithful,” the Lord says, “in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?” “That which is another man’s” is a quantity of gold or of silver, while “that which is our own” is the spiritual heritage of which it is elsewhere said: “The ransom of a man’s life is his riches.” “No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.”[Matthew 6:24] Riches, that is; for in the heathen tongue of the Syrians riches are called mammon. The “thorns” which choke our faith are the taking thought for our life. Care for the things which the Gentiles seek after is the root of covetousness.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 78, footnote 9 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Pammachius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1184 (In-Text, Margin)
Let no man deceive himself, let no man, giving ear to the voice of flattery, rush upon ruin. The first virginity man derives from his birth, the second from his second birth. The words are not mine; it is an old saying, “No man can serve two masters;”[Matthew 6:24] that is, the flesh and the spirit. For “the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other,” so that we cannot do the things that we would. When, then, anything in my little work seems to you harsh, have regard not to my words, but to the Scripture, whence they are taken.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 126, footnote 15 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Heliodorus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1854 (In-Text, Margin)
10. Still we may approve these things as the swathing bands of an infant faith. He who has been a loyal soldier under a strange banner is sure to deserve the laurel when he comes to serve his own king. When Nepotian laid aside his baldrick and changed his dress, he bestowed upon the poor all the pay that he had received. For he had read the words: “if thou wilt be perfect, sell that thou hast, and give to the poor and follow me,” and again: “ye cannot serve two masters, God and Mammon.”[Matthew 6:24] He kept nothing for himself but a common tunic and cloak to cover him and to keep out the cold. Made in the fashion of his province his attire was not remarkable either for elegance or for squalor. He burned daily to make his way to the monasteries of ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 153, footnote 9 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Lucinius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2239 (In-Text, Margin)
... employed in his work. We read in Ecclesiasticus: “he that toucheth pitch shall be defiled therewith.” As long as we are occupied with the things of the world, as long as our soul is fettered with possessions and revenues, we cannot think freely of God. “For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?” “Ye cannot,” the Lord says, “serve God and Mammon.”[Matthew 6:24] Now the laying aside of money is for those who are beginners in the way, not for those who are made perfect. Heathens like Antisthenes and Crates the Theban have done as much before now. But to offer one’s self to God, this is the mark of Christians ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 322, footnote 4 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
The Dialogue Against the Luciferians. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4065 (In-Text, Margin)
... is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” For when the bishop preaches the true faith the darkness is scattered from the hearts of all. And he gives the reason, “Neither do men light a lamp, and put it under the bushel, but on the stand; and it shineth unto all that are in the house.” That is, God’s motive for lighting the fire of His knowledge in the bishop is that he may not shine for himself only, but for the common benefit. And in the next sentence[Matthew 6:23-24] “If,” says he, “thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is the darkness!” And rightly; for since the bishop is appointed in the Church that he may restrain the people ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 322, footnote 5 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
The Dialogue Against the Luciferians. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4066 (In-Text, Margin)
... therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is the darkness!” And rightly; for since the bishop is appointed in the Church that he may restrain the people from error, how great will the error of the people be when he himself who teaches errs. How can he remit sins, who is himself a sinner? How can an impious man make a man holy? How shall the light enter into me, when my eye is blind? O misery! Antichrist’s disciple governs the Church of Christ. And what are we to think of the words,[Matthew 6:23-24] “No man can serve two masters”? And that too “What communion hath light and darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial?” In the old testament we read, “No man that hath a blemish shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the Lord.” And ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 20, footnote 5 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)
On the Ten Points of Doctrine. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 654 (In-Text, Margin)
... that if ever thou hear a heretic say, that there is one God who is just, and another who is good, thou mayest immediately remember, and discern the poisoned arrow of heresy. For some have impiously dared to divide the One God in their teaching: and some have said that one is the Creator and Lord of the soul, and another of the body; a doctrine at once absurd and impious. For how can a man become the one servant of two masters, when our Lord says in the Gospels, No man can serve two masters[Matthew 6:24]? There is then One Only God, the Maker both of souls and bodies: One the Creator of heaven and earth, the Maker of Angels and Archangels: of many the Creator, but of One only the Father before all ages,—of One only, His Only-begotten Son, our Lord ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 150, footnote 1 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
On the Holy Spirit. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
Chapter XV. Though the Spirit be called Lord, three Lords are not thereby implied; inasmuch as two Lords are not implied by the fact that the Son in the same manner as the Father is called Lord in many passages of Scripture; for Lordship exists in the Godhead, and the Godhead in Lordship, and these coincide without division in the Three Persons. (HTML)
104. But perhaps, again, you may say: If I call the Spirit Lord, I shall set forth three Lords. Do you then when you call the Son Lord either deny the Son or confess two Lords? God forbid, for the Son Himself said: “Do not serve two lords.”[Matthew 6:24] But certainly He denied not either Himself or the Father to be Lord; for He called the Father Lord, as you read: “I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth.” And the Lord spoke of Himself, as we read in the Gospel: “Ye call Me Master and Lord, and ye do well, for so I am.” But He spoke not of two Lords; indeed He shows that He did not speak of two Lords, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 204, footnote 15 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)
Book I. (HTML)
Chapter III. By evidence gathered from Scripture the unity of Father and Son is proved, and firstly, a passage, taken from the Book of Isaiah, is compared with others and expounded in such sort as to show that in the Son there is no diversity from the Father's nature, save only as regards the flesh; whence it follows that the Godhead of both Persons is One. This conclusion is confirmed by the authority of Baruch. (HTML)
23. There is, therefore, God in God, but not two Gods; for it is written that there is one God, and there is Lord in Lord, but not two Lords, forasmuch as it is likewise written: “Serve not two lords.”[Matthew 6:24] And the Law saith: “Hear, O Israel! The Lord thy God is one God;” moreover, in the same Testament it is written: “The Lord rained from the Lord.” The Lord, it is said, sent rain “from the Lord.” So also you may read in Genesis: “And God said,—and God made,” and, lower down, “And God made man in the image of God;” yet it was not two gods, but one God, that made [man]. In the one place, then, as ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 413, footnote 3 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Selections from the Letters of St. Ambrose. (HTML)
Epistle XVII: To Valentinian II. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3415 (In-Text, Margin)
14. What will you answer a priest who says to you, “The church does not seek your gifts, because you have adorned the heathen temples with gifts. The Altar of Christ rejects your gifts, because you have made an altar for idols, for the voice is yours, the hand is yours, the subscription is yours, the deed is yours. The Lord Jesus refuses and rejects your service, because you have served idols, for He said to you: ‘Ye cannot serve two masters.’[Matthew 6:24] The Virgins consecrated to God have no privileges from you, and do the Vestal Virgins claim them? Why do you ask for the priests of God, to whom you have preferred the profane petitions of the heathen? We cannot take up a share of the errors of others.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 253, footnote 3 (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 VII. Of the Spirit of Covetousness. (HTML)
Chapter XV. Of the difference between one who renounces the world badly and one who does not renounce it at all. (HTML)
... he is yet a great way off, ask for peace; that is, it is better for them not even to take the first step towards renunciation, rather than afterwards following it up coldly, to involve themselves in still greater dangers. For “it is better not to vow, than to vow and not pay.” But finely is the one described as coming with ten thousand and the other with twenty. For the number of sins which attack us is far larger than that of the virtues which fight for us. But “no man can serve God and Mammon.”[Matthew 6:24] And “no man putting his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 182, footnote 3 (Image)
Leo the Great, Gregory the Great
The Letters and Sermons of Leo the Great. (HTML)
Sermons. (HTML)
On the Lord's Resurrection, I.; delivered on Holy Saturday in the Vigil of Easter. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1096 (In-Text, Margin)
... death, which is the cause of living, and there is a life, which is the cause of dying. And nowhere else but in this transitory world are both sought after, so that upon the character of our temporal actions depend the differences of the eternal retributions. We must die, therefore, to the devil and live to God: we must perish to iniquity that we may rise to righteousness. Let the old sink, that the new may rise; and since, as says the Truth, “no one can serve two masters[Matthew 6:24],” let not him be Lord who has caused the overthrow of those that stood, but Him Who has raised the fallen to victory.