Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Matthew 12:37
There are 13 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 251, footnote 1 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Instructor (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
Chapter VI.—On Filthy Speaking. (HTML)
... not filthiness be named among you, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which things are not seemly, but rather giving of thanks.” And if “he that calls his brother a fool be in danger of the judgment,” what shall we pronounce regarding him who speaks what is foolish? Is it not written respecting such: “Whosoever shall speak an idle word, shall give an account to the Lord in the day of judgment?” And again, “By thy speech thou shalt be justified,” He says, “and by thy speech thou shalt be condemned.”[Matthew 12:37] What, then, are the salutary ear-guards, and what the regulations for slippery eyes? Conversations with the righteous, preoccupying and forearming the ears against those that would lead away from the truth.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 310, footnote 6 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
Chapter X.—To Act Well of Greater Consequence Than to Speak Well. (HTML)
... the use of both his hands. Neither, therefore, is he who can act well to be vilified by him who is able to speak well; nor is he who is able to speak well to be disparaged by him who is capable of acting well. But let each do that for which he is naturally fitted. What the one exhibits as actually done, the other speaks, preparing, as it were, the way for well-doing, and leading the hearers to the practice of good. For there is a saving word, as there is a saving work. Righteousness, accordingly,[Matthew 12:37] is not constituted without discourse. And as the receiving of good is abolished if we abolish the doing of good; so obedience and faith are abolished when neither the command, nor one to expound the command, is taken along with us. But now we are ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 73, footnote 18 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Apologetic. (HTML)
On Idolatry. (HTML)
Concerning Idolatry in Words. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 323 (In-Text, Margin)
But, however, since the conduct according to the divine rule is imperilled, not merely by deeds, but likewise by words, (for, just as it is written, “Behold the man and his deeds;” so, “Out of thy own mouth shalt thou be justified”[Matthew 12:37]), we ought to remember that, even in words, also the inroad of idolatry must be foreguarded against, either from the defect of custom or of timidity. The law prohibits the gods of the nations from being named, not of course that we are not to pronounce their names, the speaking of which common intercourse extorts from us: for this must very frequently be said, “You find him ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 317, footnote 9 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Anti-Marcion. (HTML)
The Five Books Against Marcion. (HTML)
Book II. Wherein Tertullian shows that the creator, or demiurge, whom Marcion calumniated, is the true and good God. (HTML)
God's Dealings with Adam at the Fall, and with Cain After His Crime, Admirably Explained and Defended. (HTML)
... inquires of Cain where his brother was, just as if He had not yet heard the blood of Abel crying from the ground, in order that he too might have the opportunity from the same power of the will of spontaneously denying, and to this degree aggravating, his crime; and that thus there might be supplied to us examples of confessing sins rather than of denying them: so that even then was initiated the evangelic doctrine, “By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”[Matthew 12:37] Now, although Adam was by reason of his condition under law subject to death, yet was hope preserved to him by the Lord’s saying, “Behold, Adam is become as one of us;” that is, in consequence of the future taking of the man into the divine nature. ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 537, footnote 9 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
... that it may give grace to the hearers.” Of this same thing to the Romans: “Blessing, and not cursing.” Of this same thing in the Gospel according to Matthew: “He who shall say to his brother, Thou fool! shall be liable to the Gehenna of fire.” Of this same matter, according to the same Matthew: “But I say unto you, That every idle word which men shall speak, they shall give account for it in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”[Matthew 12:36-37]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 396, footnote 2 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)
Book II. Of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons (HTML)
Sec. I.—On Examining Candidates for the Episcopal Office. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2583 (In-Text, Margin)
... from all kinds of wickedness common among men, not under fifty years of age; for such a one is in good part past youthful disorders, and the slanders of the heathen, as well as the reproaches which are sometimes cast upon many persons by some false brethren, who do not consider the word of God in the Gospel: “Whosoever speaketh an idle word shall give an account thereof to the Lord in the day of judgment.” And again: “By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”[Matthew 12:37] Let him therefore, if it is possible, be well educated; but if he be unlettered, let him at any rate be skilful in the word, and of competent age. But if in a small parish one advanced in years is not to be found, let some younger ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 66, footnote 8 (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 1056 (In-Text, Margin)
... an evil [33] tree and its fruit evil: for the tree is known by its fruit. Ye children of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? from the overflowings of the heart the mouth [34] speaketh. The good man from the good treasures which are in his heart bringeth forth good things; and the wicked man from the evil treasures which are in his [35] heart bringeth forth evils. I say unto you, that every idle word which men shall [36] speak, they shall give an answer for in the day of judgement:[Matthew 12:37] for by thy sayings thou shalt be justified, and by thy sayings thou shalt be judged.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 131, footnote 9 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)
He instructs us that there is a kind of trinity discernible in man, who is the image of God, viz. the mind, and the knowledge by which the mind knows itself, and the love wherewith it loves both itself and its own knowledge; these three being mutually equal and of one essence. (HTML)
In the Love of Spiritual Things the Word Born is the Same as the Word Conceived. It is Otherwise in the Love of Carnal Things. (HTML)
... “comperta,” which words sound as if derived from bringing forth. Since “lust, when it hath conceived, bringeth forth sin.” Wherefore the Lord proclaims, “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden;” and in another place “Woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days!” And when therefore He referred all either right actions or sins to the bringing forth of the word, “By thy mouth,” He says, “thou shalt be justified, and by thy mouth thou shalt be condemned,”[Matthew 12:37] intending thereby not the visible mouth, but that which is within and invisible, of the thought and of the heart.
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 8, page 340, footnote 9 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3292 (In-Text, Margin)
... the devil said to God concerning Job, “Lay to Thine hand, and take away the things which he hath.” What is, lay to Thine hand? Put forth power. The hand of God he hath called the power of God: as hath been written in another place, “death and life are in the hands of the tongue.” Hath the tongue hands? But what is, in the hands of the tongue? In the power of the tongue. What is, in the power of the tongue? “Out of thy mouth thou shalt be justified, and out of thy mouth thou shalt be condemned.”[Matthew 12:37] “Thou hast held,” therefore, “the hand of my right hand,” the power of my right hand. What was my right hand? That I was alway with Thee. Unto the left I was holding, because I became a beast, that is, because there was an earthly concupiscence in ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 420, footnote 5 (Image)
Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome
Life and Works of Rufinus with Jerome's Apology Against Rufinus. (HTML)
Translation of Pamphilus' Defence of Origen. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2784 (In-Text, Margin)
... their weaker brethren by false accusations is to sin against Christ; and therefore let them not lend their ears to the accusers, nor seek an account of another man’s faith from a third party, especially when an opportunity is given them for gaining personal and direct knowledge, and the substance and quality of each man’s faith is to be known by his own confession. For so the Scripture says: “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation”: and:[Matthew 12:37] “By his words shall each man be justified, and by his word shall he be condemned.” The opinions of Origen in the various parts of Scripture are clearly set forth in the present work: as to the cause of our finding certain places in which he ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 269, footnote 7 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
The Letters. (HTML)
To the ascetics under him. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2926 (In-Text, Margin)
4. If any one in Syria is writing, this is nothing to me. For it is said “By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”[Matthew 12:37] Let my own words judge me. Let no one condemn me for other men’s errors nor adduce letters written twenty years ago in proof that I would allow communion to the writers of such things. Before these things were written, and before any suspicion of this kind had been stirred against them, I did write as layman to layman. I wrote nothing about the faith in any way like that which they are now carrying about to calumniate ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 2, footnote 1 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
On the Duties of the Clergy. (HTML)
Book I. (HTML)
Chapter II. Manifold dangers are incurred by speaking; the remedy for which Scripture shows to consist in silence. (HTML)
5. Now what ought we to learn before everything else, but to be silent, that we may be able to speak? lest my voice should condemn me, before that of another acquit me; for it is written: “By thy words thou shalt be condemned.”[Matthew 12:37] What need is there, then, that thou shouldest hasten to undergo the danger of condemnation by speaking, when thou canst be more safe by keeping silent? How many have I seen to fall into sin by speaking, but scarcely one by keeping silent; and so it is more difficult to know how to keep silent than how to speak. I know that most persons speak because they do not know how ...