Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Matthew 12:28
There are 20 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 65, 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 XIV. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1038 (In-Text, Margin)
... Every kingdom that withstandeth itself shall become desolate; and every house or city that disagreeth with itself shall not [20] stand: and if a devil cast out a devil, he withstandeth himself; neither shall he be [21] able to stand, but his end shall be. Then how now shall his kingdom stand? for ye [22] said that I cast out devils by Beelzebul. And if I by Beelzebul cast out the devils, then your children, by what do they cast them out? And for this cause they shall [23] be judges against you.[Matthew 12:28] But if I by the Spirit of God cast out devils, then the kingdom [24] of God is come near unto you. Or how can a man enter into the house of a valiant man, and seize his garments, if he do not beforehand secure himself from [25] that valiant ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 313, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
Letters of St. Augustin (HTML)
Letters of St. Augustin (HTML)
To Januarius (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1829 (In-Text, Margin)
... we learn, that after the Jews observed the first passover with the slaying of the lamb as appointed, 50 days intervened between that day and the day on which upon Mount Sinai there was given to Moses the Law written with the finger of God; and this “finger of God” is in the Gospels most plainly declared to signify the Holy Spirit: for where one evangelist quotes our Lord’s words thus, “I with the finger of God cast out devils,” another quotes them thus, “I cast out devils by the Spirit of God.”[Matthew 12:28] Who would not prefer the joy which these divine mysteries impart, when the light of healing truth beams from them on the soul to all the kingdoms of this world, even though these were held in perfect prosperity and peace? May we not say, that as the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 30, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)
The unity and equality of the Trinity are demonstrated out of the Scriptures; and the true interpretation is given of those texts which are wrongly alleged against the equality of the Son. (HTML)
By What Rule in the Scriptures It is Understood that the Son is Now Equal and Now Less. (HTML)
... because He Himself has said, “My Father is greater than I;” and He is less than Himself, because it is said of Him, He emptied Himself;” and He is less than the Holy Spirit, because He Himself says, “Whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven Him.” And in the Spirit too He wrought miracles, saying: “But if I with the Spirit of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.”[Matthew 12:28] And in Isaiah He says,—in the lesson which He Himself read in the synagogue, and showed without a scruple of doubt to be fulfilled concerning Himself,—“The Spirit of the Lord God,” He says, “is upon me: because He hath anointed me to preach good ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 31, footnote 7 (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 XXII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 226 (In-Text, Margin)
... on Him, and receive the Holy Ghost; but if, after receiving Him, they should choose to envy the brotherhood, and to assail the grace they have received, it cannot be forgiven them, neither in this world nor in the world to come. For if He reckoned them so condemned, that there was no hope left for them, He would not judge that they ought still to be admonished, as He did by adding the statement, “Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt.”[Matthew 12:24-33]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 142, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
The Harmony of the Gospels. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
Of the Occasion on Which It Was Said to Him that He Cast Out Devils in the Power of Beelzebub, and of the Declarations Drawn Forth from Him by that Circumstance in Regard to the Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit, and with Respect to the Two Trees; And of the Question Whether There is Not Some Discrepancy in These Sections Between Matthew and the Other Two Evangelists, and Particularly Between Matthew and Luke. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1013 (In-Text, Margin)
85. Matthew proceeds with his narrative in the following terms: “And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David? But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils but in Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself shall be brought to desolation;” and so on, down to the words, “By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”[Matthew 12:23-37] Mark does not bring in this allegation against Jesus, that He cast out devils in [the power of] Beelzebub, in immediate sequence on the story of the dumb man; but after certain other matters, recorded by himself alone, he introduces this incident also, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 318, footnote 10 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)
On the words of the Gospel, Matt. xii. 32, ‘Whosoever shall speak a word against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in that which is to come.’ Or, ‘on the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost.’ (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2339 (In-Text, Margin)
... conscious that they had learnt no evil arts from their Good Master, that through the prince of the devils they should cast out devils. “Therefore,” He saith, “shall they be your judges.” They, He saith, the base and contemptible things of this world, in whom none of this artificial malice, but the holy simplicity of My power is seen; they shall be My witnesses, they shall be your judges. Then He subjoins, “But if I by the Spirit of God cast out devils, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.”[Matthew 12:28] What is this? “If I by the Spirit of God cast out devils,” He saith, and your children, to whom I have given no hurtful and deceitful doctrine but a simple faith, can in no other way cast them out; no doubt the kingdom of God is come unto you; ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 327, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)
On the words of the Gospel, Matt. xii. 32, ‘Whosoever shall speak a word against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in that which is to come.’ Or, ‘on the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost.’ (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2431 (In-Text, Margin)
... done amongst them the works which none other man did,” He speaks as if He did them alone. Now if these things are so expressed, as that nevertheless the works of the Father and the Son are inseparable, what must we believe of the Holy Spirit, but that He also worketh equally with them? For in that very place, from which this question arose which we are discussing, when the Son was casting out devils, He yet said, “If I in the Holy Spirit cast out devils, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.”[Matthew 12:28]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 528, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies
Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John. (HTML)
1 John V. 16; De Sermone Domini in Monte, lib. i. 22, § 73. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2560 (In-Text, Margin)
And this, perhaps, it is “to sin against the Holy Ghost:” i.e. through malice and envy to fight against brotherly charity after receiving the grace of the Holy Spirit: that sin which the Lord saith hath no forgiveness, either here or in the world to come. . . . For the Lord in saying to the Pharisees, “Whosoever shall speak an evil word against the Son of Man,”[Matthew 12:24-33] &c., may have meant to warn them to come to the grace of God, and having received it, not to sin as they have now sinned. For now they have spoken an evil word against the Son of Man, and it may be forgiven them, if they be converted and believe and receive the Holy Spirit: which when they have received, if they ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 451, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XCI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4314 (In-Text, Margin)
... Him, and God sits thereon, is therefore heaven the better? Thus also in this Psalm we may understand it of the service of the Angels: it does not pertain to any infirmity in our Lord, but to the honour they pay, and to their service.…What the finger of God is, the Gospel explaineth to us; for the finger of God is the Holy Ghost. How do we prove this? Our Lord, when answering those who accused Him of casting out devils in the name of Beelzebub, saith, “If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God;”[Matthew 12:28] and another Evangelist, in relating the same saying, saith, “If I with the finger of God cast out devils.” What therefore is in one stated clearly, is darkly expressed in another. Thou didst not know what was the finger of God, but another ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 11, page 4, footnote 3 (Image)
Chrysostom: Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistle to the Romans
A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles (HTML)
Homily I on Acts i. 1, 2. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 12 (In-Text, Margin)
“Until the day in which He was taken up, after that He, through the Holy Spirit, had given commandments unto the Apostles whom He had chosen. After He had given commandments through the Spirit” (v. 2); i.e. they were spiritual words that He spake unto them, nothing human; either this is the meaning, or, that it was by the Spirit that He gave them commandments.[Matthew 12:28] Do you observe in what low terms he still speaks of Christ, as in fact Christ had spoken of Himself? “But if I by the Spirit of God cast out devils” (Matt. xii. 28); for indeed the Holy Ghost wrought in that Temple. Well, what did He command? “Go ye therefore,” He says, “make disciples of all the nations, baptizing ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 11, page 72, footnote 1 (Image)
Chrysostom: Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistle to the Romans
A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles (HTML)
Homily XI on Acts iv. 23. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 277 (In-Text, Margin)
... true philosophy, prayers offered up for such objects, by such persons, on such occasions, in such a manner; whereas all others are abominable and profane. “Lord, Thou the God that madest heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is.” Observe how they say nothing idle, no old wives’ talk and fables, but speak of His power. Just as Christ Himself said to the Jews, “If I by the Spirit of God do cast out devils:” behold the Father also speaks by the Spirit. For what saith it? “Lord, the God Who,[Matthew 12:28] by the Holy Ghost, through the mouth of our father Thy servant David didst say, Why did the nations rage?” (v. 25.) Scripture is wont thus to speak of one as of many. “For of a truth, Lord, against Thy Holy Child Jesus, Whom Thou didst anoint, both ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 30, footnote 5 (Image)
Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome
The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret. (HTML)
Counter-statements of Theodoret. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 213 (In-Text, Margin)
... spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord;” and again, “Behold my servant whom I uphold, my beloved in whom my soul delighteth. I will put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.” This testimony the Evangelist too has inserted in his own writings. And the Lord Himself in the Gospels says to the Jews, “If I with the spirit of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.”[Matthew 12:28] And John says, “He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.” So this exact examiner of the divine decrees has ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 335, footnote 11 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)
Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)
Discourse I (HTML)
Texts Explained; Secondly, Psalm xlv. 7, 8. Whether the words 'therefore,' 'anointed,' &c., imply that the Word has been rewarded. Argued against first from the word 'fellows' or 'partakers.' He is anointed with the Spirit in His manhood to sanctify human nature. Therefore the Spirit descended on Him in Jordan, when in the flesh. And He is said to sanctify Himself for us, and give us the glory He has received. The word 'wherefore' implies His divinity. 'Thou hast loved righteousness,' &c., do not imply trial or choice. (HTML)
50. What is there to wonder at, what to disbelieve, if the Lord who gives the Spirit, is here said Himself to be anointed with the Spirit, at a time when, necessity requiring it, He did not refuse in respect of His manhood to call Himself inferior to the Spirit? For the Jews saying that He cast out devils in Beelzebub, He answered and said to them, for the exposure of their blasphemy, ‘But if I through the Spirit of God cast out demons[Matthew 12:28].’ Behold, the Giver of the Spirit here says that He cast out demons in the Spirit; but this is not said, except because of His flesh. For since man’s nature is not equal of itself to casting out demons, but only in power of the Spirit, therefore as man He said, ‘But if I through ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 5, page 133, footnote 14 (Image)
Gregory of Nyssa: Dogmatic Treatises; Select Writings and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises. (HTML)
Against Eunomius. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
Lastly he displays at length the folly of Eunomius, who at times speaks of the Holy Spirit as created, and as the fairest work of the Son, and at other times confesses, by the operations attributed to Him, that He is God, and thus ends the book. (HTML)
... shines in them who are enlightened. In like manner also the cleansing of our thoughts of which the statement speaks is proper to the power of the Lord. For it was “the brightness of the Father’s glory, and the express image of His person,” Who “purged our sins.” Again, to banish devils, which Eunomius says is a property of the Spirit, this also the only-begotten God, Who said to the devil, “I charge thee,” ascribes to the power of the Spirit, when He says, “If I by the Spirit of God cast out devils[Matthew 12:28],” so that the expulsion of devils is not destructive of the glory of the Spirit, but rather a demonstration of His divine and transcendent power. “Healing the sick,” he says, “curing the infirm, comforting the afflicted, raising up those who ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 127, footnote 1 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)
Continuation of the Discourse on the Holy Ghost. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2151 (In-Text, Margin)
... the Father, He thus states, How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him. And that we ought to worship God in the Spirit, He shews thus, But the hour cometh and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in truth; for the Father also seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. And again, But if I by the Spirit of God cast out devils[Matthew 12:28]; and immediately afterwards, Therefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven. And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 15, footnote 1 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
De Spiritu Sancto. (HTML)
Definitive conceptions about the Spirit which conform to the teaching of the Scriptures. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 911 (In-Text, Margin)
22. us now investigate what are our common conceptions concerning the Spirit, as well those which have been gathered by us from Holy Scripture concerning It as those which we have received from the unwritten tradition of the Fathers. First of all we ask, who on hearing the titles of the Spirit is not lifted up in soul, who does not raise his conception to the supreme nature? It is called “Spirit of God,”[Matthew 12:28] “Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father,” “right Spirit,” “a leading Spirit.” Its proper and peculiar title is “Holy Spirit;” which is a name specially appropriate to everything that is incorporeal, purely immaterial, and indivisible. So our Lord, when teaching the woman who thought ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 25, footnote 8 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
De Spiritu Sancto. (HTML)
That the Holy Spirit is in every conception inseparable from the Father and the Son, alike in the creation of perceptible objects, in the dispensation of human affairs, and in the judgment to come. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1061 (In-Text, Margin)
... thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him, the same is” “my beloved Son;” and “Jesus of Nazareth” whom “God anointed with the Holy Ghost.” After this every operation was wrought with the co-operation of the Spirit. He was present when the Lord was being tempted by the devil; for, it is said, “Jesus was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted.” He was inseparably with Him while working His wonderful works; for, it is said, “If I by the Spirit of God cast out devils.”[Matthew 12:28] And He did not leave Him when He had risen from the dead; for when renewing man, and, by breathing on the face of the disciples, restoring the grace, that came of the inbreathing of God, which man had lost, what did the Lord say? “Receive ye the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 121, footnote 18 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
The Letters. (HTML)
To the Cæsareans. A defence of his withdrawal, and concerning the faith. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1864 (In-Text, Margin)
... the sword of the spirit is the word of God, then the Holy Ghost is God, inasmuch as the sword belongs to Him of whom it is also called the word. Is He named the right hand of the Father? For “the right hand of the Lord bringeth mighty things to pass;” and “thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.” But the Holy Ghost is the finger of God, as it is said “if I by the finger of God cast out devils,” of which the version in another Gospel is “if I by the Spirit of God cast out devils.”[Matthew 12:28] So the Holy Ghost is of the same nature as the Father and the Son.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 137, footnote 7 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
On the Holy Spirit. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
Chapter III. The same Unity may also be recognized from the fact that the Spirit is called Finger, and the Son Right Hand; for the understanding of divine things is assisted by the usage of human language. The tables of the law were written by this Finger, and they were afterwards broken, and the reason. Lastly, Christ wrote with the same Finger; yet we must not admit any inferiority in the Spirit from this bodily comparison. (HTML)
... between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. For as the Scripture called the Son of God the Right Hand of God, as it is said: “Thy Right Hand, O Lord, is made glorious in power. Thy Right Hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy;” so the Holy Spirit is called the Finger of God, as the Lord Himself says: “But if I by the Finger of God cast out devils.” For in the same place in another book of the Gospel He named the Spirit of God, as you find: “But if I by the Spirit of God cast out devils.”[Matthew 12:28]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 194, footnote 4 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus. (HTML)
Book II. On the Belief in the Resurrection. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1640 (In-Text, Margin)
... His progress to the height thereof, nor is there any who can hide himself from His heat.” For with His Goodness He enlightens all, and wills not to reject but to amend the foolish, and desires not to exclude the hard-hearted from the Church, but to soften them. And so the Church in the Song of Songs and Christ in the Gospel invites them, saying: “Come unto Me, all ye who labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you; take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.”[Matthew 12:28-29]