Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Matthew 12:40
There are 19 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 70, footnote 8 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Ignatius (HTML)
Epistle to the Trallians: Shorter and Longer Versions (HTML)
Chapter IX.—Reference to the history of Christ. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 795 (In-Text, Margin)
... the Father permitting that to happen; at the sixth hour He was crucified; at the ninth hour He gave up the ghost; and before sunset He was buried. During the Sabbath He continued under the earth in the tomb in which Joseph of Arimathæa had laid Him. At the dawning of the Lord’s day He arose from the dead, according to what was spoken by Himself, “As Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, so shall the Son of man also be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”[Matthew 12:40] The day of the preparation, then, comprises the passion; the Sabbath embraces the burial; the Lord’s Day contains the resurrection.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 231, footnote 2 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Apologetic. (HTML)
A Treatise on the Soul. (HTML)
The Christian Idea of the Position of Hades; The Blessedness of Paradise Immediately After Death. The Privilege of the Martyrs. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1799 (In-Text, Margin)
By ourselves the lower regions (of Hades) are not supposed to be a bare cavity, nor some subterranean sewer of the world, but a vast deep space in the interior of the earth, and a concealed recess in its very bowels; inasmuch as we read that Christ in His death spent three days in the heart of the earth,[Matthew 12:40] that is, in the secret inner recess which is hidden in the earth, and enclosed by the earth, and superimposed on the abysmal depths which lie still lower down. Now although Christ is God, yet, being also man, “He died according to the Scriptures,” and “according to the same Scriptures was buried.” With the same law of His being He fully ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 129, footnote 2 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
Appendix (HTML)
A Strain of Jonah the Prophet. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1212 (In-Text, Margin)
150 To be a sign hereafter of the Lord[Matthew 12:38-41] —
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 525, footnote 18 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book II. (HTML)
... people, and sanctify them to-day and to-morrow; and let them wash their garments, and let them be prepared against the day after to-morrow. For on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai.” Also in the Gospel: “A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it but the sign of the prophet Jonas: for as Jonas was in the whale’s belly three days and three nights, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”[Matthew 12:39-40]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 378, footnote 1 (Image)
Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius
Methodius. (HTML)
Fragments. (HTML)
On the History of Jonah, from the Book on the Resurrection. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2964 (In-Text, Margin)
I. The history of Jonah[Matthew 12:40] contains a great mystery. For it seems that the whale signifies Time, which never stands still, but is always going on, and consumes the things which are made by long and shorter intervals. But Jonah, who fled from the presence of God, is himself the first man who, having transgressed the law, fled from being seen naked of immortality, having lost through sin his confidence in the Deity. And the ship in which he embarked, and which was tempest-tossed, is this brief and ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 445, footnote 10 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)
Book V (HTML)
Sec. III.—On Feast Days and Fast Days (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3087 (In-Text, Margin)
... God! why hast Thou forsaken me?” And a little afterward, when He had cried with a loud voice, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” and had added, “Into Thy hands I commit my spirit,” He gave up the ghost, and was buried before sunset in a new sepulchre. But when the first day of the week dawned He arose from the dead, and fulfilled those things which before His passion He foretold to us, saying: “The Son of man must continue in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.”[Matthew 12:40] And when He was risen from the dead, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, then to Cleopas in the way, and after that to us His disciples, who had fled away for fear of the Jews, but privately were very inquisitive about ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 68, footnote 14 (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 XVI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1146 (In-Text, Margin)
[1] Then answered certain of the scribes and Pharisees, that they might tempt him, [2] and said, Teacher, we desire to see a sign from thee. He answered and said, This evil and adulterous generation seeketh a sign; and it shall not be given a sign, [3] except the sign of Jonah the prophet. And as Jonah was a sign to the inhabitants [4] of Nineveh, so shall the Son of man also be to this generation.[Matthew 12:40] And as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights, so shall the Son of man [5] be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. The queen of the south shall rise in the judgement with the people of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the ends of ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 571, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
On Christian Doctrine (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
The Fifth Rule of Tichonius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1920 (In-Text, Margin)
... two. This figure of speech, which puts the part for the whole, explains also the great question about the resurrection of Christ. For unless to the latter part of the day on which He suffered we join the previous night, and count it as a whole day, and to the latter part of the night in which He arose we join the Lord’s day which was just dawning, and count it also a whole day, we cannot make out the three days and three nights during which He foretold that He would be in the heart of the earth.[Matthew 12:40]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 74, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)
Augustin explains for what the Son of God was sent; but, however, that the Son of God, although made less by being sent, is not therefore less because the Father sent Him; nor yet the Holy Spirit less because both the Father sent Him and the Son. (HTML)
The Number Six is Also Commended in the Building Up of the Body of Christ and of the Temple at Jerusalem. (HTML)
... forty-six times six. And in this number of years the temple was built, because in that number of sixes the body of the Lord was perfected; which being destroyed by the suffering of death, He raised again on the third day. For “He spake this of the temple of His body,” as is declared by the most clear and solid testimony of the Gospel; where He said, “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”[Matthew 12:40]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 350, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Profit of Believing. (HTML)
Section 8 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1708 (In-Text, Margin)
... the Old Testament, and ætiology, and analogy are found in the New Testament, has been, as I think, sufficiently proved: it remains to show this of allegory. Our Redeemer Himself in the Gospel uses allegory out of the Old Testament. “This generation,” saith He, “seeketh a sign, and there shall not be given it save the sign of Jonas the prophet. For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, so also shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”[Matthew 12:39-40] For why should I speak of the Apostle Paul, who in his first Epistle to the Corinthians shows that even the very history of the Exodus was an allegory of the future Christian People. “But I would not that ye should be ignorant, brethren, how that ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 166, footnote 5 (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 Pharisees Who Sit in the Seat of Moses, and Enjoin Things Which They Do Not, and of the Other Words Spoken by the Lord Against These Same Pharisees; Of the Question Whether Matthew’s Narrative Agrees Here with Those Which are Given by the Other Two Evangelists, and in Particular with that of Luke, Who Introduces a Passage Resembling This One, Although It is Brought in Not in This Order, But in Another Connection. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1177 (In-Text, Margin)
... opposition to the Pharisees and the scribes and the doctors of the law, but reports it as delivered in the house of a certain Pharisee, who had invited Him to a feast. In order to relate that passage, he has made a digression from the order which is followed by Matthew, about the point at which they have both put on record the Lord’s sayings respecting the sign of the three days and nights in the history of Jonas, and the queen of the south, and the unclean spirit that returns and finds the house swept.[Matthew 12:39-46] And that paragraph is followed up by Matthew with these words: “While He yet talked to the people, behold, His mother and His brethren stood without, desiring to speak with Him.” But in the version which the third Gospel presents of the discourse ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 210, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
The Harmony of the Gospels. (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
Of the Absence of All Discrepancies in the Narratives Constructed by the Four Evangelists on the Subject of the Events Which Took Place About the Time of the Lord’s Resurrection. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1496 (In-Text, Margin)
66. For the space of three days, which elapsed between the Lord’s death and resurrection, cannot be correctly understood except in the light of that form of expression according to which the part is dealt with as the whole. For He said Himself, “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”[Matthew 12:40] Now, in whichever way we reckon the times, whether from the point when He yielded up the ghost, or from the date of his burial, the sum does not come out clearly, unless we take the intermediate day, that is to say, the Sabbath, as a complete day—in other words, a full day along with its night,—and, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 275, footnote 10 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXVI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2597 (In-Text, Margin)
... these words, because those men also did raise to life dead men, and did many miracles: therefore when from Him a sign was demanded, of the peculiar sign making mention which in Himself alone was to be, He saith, “This generation crooked and provoking seeketh a sign, and a sign shall not be given to it, except the sign of Jonas the Prophet: for as Jonas was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so shall be also the Son of Man in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.”[Matthew 12:39-40] In what way was Jonas in the belly of the whale? Was it not so that afterwards alive he was vomited out? Hell was to the Lord what the whale was to Jonas. This sign peculiar to Himself He mentioned, this is the most mighty sign. It is more mighty to ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 302, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXIX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2919 (In-Text, Margin)
6. “I have come into the depth of the sea, and the tempest hath made Me to sink down.” Thanks to the mercy of Him who came into the depth of the sea, and vouchsafed to be swallowed by the sea whale, but was vomited forth the third day.[Matthew 12:40] He came into the depth of the sea, in which depth we were thrust down, in which depth we had suffered shipwreck: He came thither Himself, and the tempest made Him to sink down: for there He suffered waves, those very men; tempests, the voices of men saying, “Crucify, Crucify.” Though Pilate said, I find not any cause in this Man why He should be killed: there prevailed the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 427, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXXVIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4106 (In-Text, Margin)
... knot of the question will be drawn tighter: for how can it mean for the whole space of time, if He did not even for one day stretch forth His hands on the Cross? Further, should we take the whole for a part, as Scripture sometimes uses this expression, I do not remember an instance in which the whole is taken for a part, when the word “whole” is expressly added. For in the passage of the Gospel where the Lord saith, “The Son of Man shall be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth,”[Matthew 12:40] it is no extraordinary licence to take the whole for the part, the expression not being for three “whole” days and three whole nights: since the one intermediate day was a whole one, the other two were parts, the last being part of the first day, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 406, footnote 5 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)
Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)
Discourse III (HTML)
Texts Explained; Ninthly, John x. 30; xvii. 11, &c. Arian explanation, that the Son is one with the Father in will and judgment; but so are all good men, nay things inanimate; contrast of the Son. Oneness between Them is in nature, because oneness in operation. Angels not objects of prayer, because they do not work together with God, but the Son; texts quoted. Seeing an Angel, is not seeing God. Arians in fact hold two Gods, and tend to Gentile polytheism. Arian explanation that the Father and Son are one as we are one with Christ, is put aside by the Regula Fidei, and shewn invalid by the usage of Scripture in illustrations; the true force of the comparison; force of the terms used. Force of 'in us;' force of 'as;' confirmed by S. John. In (HTML)
23. Indeed we may learn also from the Saviour Himself, when He says, ‘For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth[Matthew 12:40].’ For Jonah was not as the Saviour, nor did Jonah go down to hades; nor was the whale hades; nor did Jonah, when swallowed up, bring up those who had before been swallowed by the whale, but he alone came forth, when the whale was bidden. Therefore there is no identity nor equality signified in the term ‘as,’ but one thing and another; and it shews a certain kind of parallel in the case ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 279, footnote 7 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Ctesiphon. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3875 (In-Text, Margin)
... and restore harmony where there has been disagreement. Recall to mind how even the soldiers did not rend the coat of the Saviour. When you see brothers at strife you laugh; and are glad that some are called by your name and others by that of Christ. Better would it be to imitate Jonah and say: “If it is for my sake that this great tempest is upon you, take me up and cast me forth into the sea.” He in his humility was thrown into the deep that he might rise again in glory to be a type of the Lord.[Matthew 12:39-40] But you are lifted up in your pride to the stars, only that of you too Jesus may say: “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 98, footnote 7 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)
On the Words, And Rose Again from the Dead on the Third Day, and Ascended into the Heavens, and Sat on the Right Hand of the Father. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1739 (In-Text, Margin)
17. But again they say, “A corpse then lately dead was raised by the living; but shew us that one three days dead can possibly arise, and that a man should be buried, and rise after three days.” If we seek for Scripture testimony in proof of such facts, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself supplies it in the Gospels, saying, For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth[Matthew 12:40]. And when we examine the story of Jonas, great is the force of the resemblance. Jesus was sent to preach repentance; Jonas also was sent: but whereas the one fled, not knowing what should come to pass; the other came willingly, to give repentance unto salvation. ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 603, footnote 2 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)
The Seven Books of John Cassian on the Incarnation of the Lord, Against Nestorius. (HTML)
Book VI. (HTML)
Chapter XXIII. That the figure Synecdoche, in which the part stands for the whole, is very familiar to the Holy Scripture. (HTML)
... that the part is to be taken for the whole, or the whole for the part. There is also a similar way of representing days and nights, where, when in the case of either division of time one day is meant, either period is shown by a portion of a single period. And indeed in this way the difficulty about the time of our Lord’s Passion is cleared up: for whereas the Lord prophesied that after the model of the prophet Jonah, the Son of man would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth,[Matthew 12:40] and whereas after the sixth day of the week on which He was crucified, He was only in hell for one day and two nights, how can we show the truth of the Divine words? Surely by the trope of Synecdoche, i.e., because to the day on which He was ...