Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts

Matthew 13:39

There are 19 footnotes for this reference.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 152, footnote 5 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Apologetic. (HTML)

An Answer to the Jews. (HTML)

The Law Anterior to Moses. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1140 (In-Text, Margin)

For why should God, the founder of the universe, the Governor of the whole world, the Fashioner of humanity, the Sower[Matthew 13:31-43] of universal nations be believed to have given a law through Moses to one people, and not be said to have assigned it to all nations? For unless He had given it to all by no means would He have habitually permitted even proselytes out of the nations to have access to it. But—as is congruous with the goodness of God, and with His equity, as the Fashioner of mankind—He gave to all nations the selfsame law, which at definite and stated ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 248, footnote 15 (Image)

Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents

Pseudo-Clementine Literature. (HTML)

The Clementine Homilies. (HTML)

Homily III. (HTML)
Teaching of Christ. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1010 (In-Text, Margin)

“But to those who think, as the Scriptures teach, that God swears, He said, ‘Let your yea be yea, and nay, nay; for what is more than these is of the evil one.’ And to those who say that Abraham and Isaac and Jacob are dead, He said, ‘God is not of the dead, but of the living.’ And to those who suppose that God tempts, as the Scriptures say, He said, ‘The tempter is the wicked one,’[Matthew 13:39] who also tempted Himself. To those who suppose that God does not foreknow, He said, ‘For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye need all these things before ye ask Him.’ And to those who believe, as the Scriptures say, that He does not see all things, He said, ‘Pray in secret, and your Father, who seeth ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 331, footnote 5 (Image)

Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents

Pseudo-Clementine Literature. (HTML)

The Clementine Homilies. (HTML)

Homily XIX. (HTML)
The Existence of the Devil Affirmed. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1407 (In-Text, Margin)

... that the evil one exists, because my Teacher, who spoke the truth in all things, has frequently asserted that he exists. For instance, then, he acknowledges that he conversed with Him, and tempted Him for forty days. And I know that He has said somewhere else, ‘If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself: how then is his kingdom to stand?’ And He pointed out that He saw the evil one like lightning falling down from heaven. And elsewhere He said, ‘He who sowed the bad seed is the devil.’[Matthew 13:39] And again, ‘Give no pretext to the evil one.’ Moreover, in giving advice, He said, ‘Let your yea be yea, and your nay nay; for what is more than these is of the evil one.’ Also, in the prayer which He delivered to us, we have it said, ‘Deliver us ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 70, footnote 21 (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 XVII. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1228 (In-Text, Margin)

[19] Then Jesus left the multitudes, and came to the house. And his disciples came unto him, and said unto him, Explain unto us that parable about the tares [20] [Arabic, p. 67] and the field. He answered and said unto them, He that sowed good seed is [21] the Son of man; and the field is the world; and the good seed are the children of the [22] kingdom;[Matthew 13:39] and the tares are the children of the evil one; and the enemy that sowed them is Satan; and the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. [23] And as the tares are separated and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of [24] this world. The Son of man shall send his angels, and separate ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 414, footnote 8 (Image)

Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Apocalypses, Visio Pauli, Testament of Abraham, Acts of X/P, Zosimus, Aristides, Clement, Origen

Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew. (HTML)

Origen's Commentary on Matthew. (HTML)

Book X. (HTML)
Exposition of the Parable. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5167 (In-Text, Margin)

... the watch sows what are called tares—that is, evil opinions—over and among what are called by some natural conceptions, even the good seeds which are from the Word. And according to this the whole world might be called a field, and not the Church of God only, for in the whole world the Son of man sowed the good seed, but the wicked one tares,—that is, evil words,—which, springing from wickedness, are children of the evil one. And at the end of things, which is called “the consummation of the age,”[Matthew 13:39] there will of necessity be a harvest, in order that the angels of God who have been appointed for this work may gather up the bad opinions that have grown upon the soul, and overturning them may give them over to fire which is said to burn, that ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 197, footnote 12 (Image)

Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters

The Confessions (HTML)

Of the goodness of God explained in the creation of things, and of the Trinity as found in the first words of Genesis. The story concerning the origin of the world (Gen. I.) is allegorically explained, and he applies it to those things which God works for sanctified and blessed man. Finally, he makes an end of this work, having implored eternal rest from God. (HTML)

Of the Lights and Stars of Heaven—Of Day and Night, Ver. 14. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1304 (In-Text, Margin)

... upon the earth, and divide between the day and night, and be for signs of times; because “old things have passed away,” and “behold all things are become new;” and “because our salvation is nearer than when we believed;” and because “the night is far spent, the day is at hand;” and because Thou wilt crown Thy year with blessing, sending the labourers of Thy goodness into Thy harvest, in the sowing of which others have laboured, sending also into another field, whose harvest shall be in the end.[Matthew 13:39] Thus Thou grantest the prayers of him that asketh, and blessest the years of the just; but Thou art the same, and in Thy years which fail not Thou preparest a garner for our passing years. For by an eternal counsel Thou dost in their proper seasons ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 424, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine

City of God (HTML)

Of the last judgment, and the declarations regarding it in the Old and New Testaments. (HTML)

The Passages in Which the Saviour Declares that There Shall Be a Divine Judgment in the End of the World. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1326 (In-Text, Margin)

Again, in another passage, in which He was speaking of the present intermingling and future separation of the good and bad,—the separation which shall be made in the day of judgment,—He adduced a comparison drawn from the sown wheat and the tares sown among them, and gave this explanation of it to His disciples: “He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man,”[Matthew 13:37-43] etc. Here, indeed, He did not name the judgment or the day of judgment, but indicated it much more clearly by describing the circumstances, and foretold that it should take place in the end of the world.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 430, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine

City of God (HTML)

Of the last judgment, and the declarations regarding it in the Old and New Testaments. (HTML)

What the Reign of the Saints with Christ for a Thousand Years Is, and How It Differs from the Eternal Kingdom. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1357 (In-Text, Margin)

... of whom we have already spoken, brings forth from his treasure things new and old. And from the Church those reapers shall gather out the tares which He suffered to grow with the wheat till the harvest, as He explains in the words “The harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered together and burned with fire, so shall it be in the end of the world. The Son of man shall send His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all offenses.”[Matthew 13:39-41] Can He mean out of that kingdom in which are no offenses? Then it must be out of His present kingdom, the Church, that they are gathered. So He says, “He that breaketh one of the least of these commandments, and teacheth men so, shall be called ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 62, 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)

The Church is Not to Be Blamed for the Conduct of Bad Christians, Worshippers of Tombs and Pictures. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 154 (In-Text, Margin)

... with wicked will persist in their old vices, or even add to them others still worse, are indeed allowed to remain in the field of the Lord, and to grow along with the good seed; but the time for separating the tares will come. Or if, from their having at least the Christian name, they are to be placed among the chaff rather than among thistles, there will also come One to purge the floor and to separate the chaff from the wheat, and to assign to each part (according to its desert) the due reward.[Matthew 13:24-43]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 545, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings

Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)

Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist. (HTML)

In which Augustin replies to all the several statements in the letter of Petilianus, as though disputing with an adversary face to face. (HTML)
Chapter 26 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2056 (In-Text, Margin)

61. answered: Are you then really not ashamed to call the baptism of Christ a lie, even when it is found in the most false of men? Far be it from any one to suppose that the wheat of the Lord, which has been commanded to grow among the tares throughout the whole field, that is, throughout the whole of this world, until the harvest, that is, until the end of the world,[Matthew 13:36-43] can have perished in consequence of your evil words. Nay, even among the very tares themselves, which are commanded not to be gathered, but to be tolerated even to the end, and among the very chaff, which shall only be separated from the wheat by the winnowing at the last day, does any one dare to say that any ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 570, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings

Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)

Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist. (HTML)

In which Augustin replies to all the several statements in the letter of Petilianus, as though disputing with an adversary face to face. (HTML)
Chapter 79 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2187 (In-Text, Margin)

... you should at the present time sever the bond of peace by breaking off from the society of good men, you, resisting her influence, and being cast out by the wind of levity, charge the wheat with being chaff, and declare that what you invent of the wicked holds good through the force of contagion even in the righteous. And when the Lord has said, "The field is the world, the harvest is the end of the world," though He said of the wheat and of the tares, "Let both grow together until the harvest,"[Matthew 13:38-39] you endeavor by your words to bring about a belief that the wheat has perished throughout the main portion of the field, and only continued to exist in your little corner,—being desirous that Christ should be proved a liar, but you the man of truth. ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 598, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings

Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)

Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist. (HTML)

In this book Augustin refutes the second letter which Petilianus wrote to him after having seen the first of Augustin’s earlier books.  This letter had been full of violent language; and Augustin rather shows that the arguments of Petilianus had been deficient and irrelevant, than brings forward arguments in support of his own statements. (HTML)
Chapter 2 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2334 (In-Text, Margin)

... shore; nor will you leave the good pastures of unity, because of the goats which are to be placed on the left when the Good Shepherd shall divide the flock; nor will you separate yourselves by an impious secession, because of the mixture of the tares, from the society of that good wheat, whose source is that grain that dies and is multiplied thereby, and that grows together throughout the world until the harvest. For the field is the world,—not only Africa; and the harvest is the end of the world,[Matthew 13:24-40] —not the era of Donatus.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 143, footnote 6 (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 Words Which Were Spoken Out of the Ship on the Subject of the Sower, Whose Seed, as He Sowed It, Fell Partly on the Wayside, Etc.; And Concerning the Man Who Had Tares Sowed Over and Above His Wheat; And Concerning the Grain of Mustard Seed and the Leaven; As Also of What He Said in the House Regarding the Treasure Hid in the Field, and the Pearl, and the Net Cast into the Sea, and the Man that Brings Out of His Treasure Things New and Old; And of the Method in Which Matthew’s Harmony with Mark and Luke is Proved Both with Respect to the Things Which They Have Reported in Common with Him, and in the Matter of the Order of Narration. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1025 (In-Text, Margin)

88. Matthew continues thus: “In that day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the seaside: and great multitudes were gathered together unto Him, so that He went into a ship and sat, and the whole multitude stood on the shore. And He spake many things unto them in parables, saying;” and so on, down to the words, “Therefore every scribe which is instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.”[Matthew 13:1-52] That the things narrated in this passage took place immediately after the incident touching the mother and the brethren of the Lord, and that Matthew has also retained that historical order in his version of these events, is indicated by the circumstance ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 335, 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. xiii. 19, etc., where the Lord Jesus explaineth the parables of the sower. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2519 (In-Text, Margin)

... Thou that we go and gather them up?” for we were wishing, if it might be so, that no evil ones should remain among the good. But it has been told us, “Let both grow together until the harvest.” Why? For ye are such as may be deceived. Hear finally; “Lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.” What good are ye doing? Will ye by your eagerness make a waste of My harvest? The reapers will come, and who the reapers are He hath explained, “And the reapers are the angels.”[Matthew 13:39] We are but men, the reapers are the angels. We too indeed, if we finish our course, shall be equal to the angels of God; but now when we chafe against the wicked, we are as yet but men. And we ought now to give ear to the words, “Wherefore let him ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 107, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies

Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John. (HTML)

Chapter IV. 1–42. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 350 (In-Text, Margin)

... laying them at the apostles’ feet, having eased their shoulders of this worldly baggage, began to follow the Lord Christ. Verily the harvest was ripe. What was made of it? Of that harvest a few grains were thrown out, and sowed the whole world; and another harvest is rising which is to be reaped in the end of the world. Of that harvest it is said, “They that sow in tears shall reap with joy.” But to that harvest not apostles, but angels, shall be sent forth. “The reapers,” saith He, “are the angels.”[Matthew 13:39] That harvest, then, is growing among tares, and is awaiting to be purged in the end of the world. But that harvest to which the disciples were sent first, where the prophets labored, was already ripe. But yet, brethren, observe what was said: “may ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 323, footnote 6 (Image)

Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies

Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John. (HTML)

On the Same Passage. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1268 (In-Text, Margin)

... blood, He shall then have delivered up to stand before His Father’s face. This is that kingdom of heaven whereof it is said, “The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man who sowed good seed in his field. But the good seed are the children of the kingdom;” and although now they are mingled with tares, at the end the King Himself shall send forth His angels, “and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”[Matthew 13:38-43] The kingdom will shine forth in the kingdom when [those that are] the kingdom shall have reached the kingdom; just as we now pray when we say, “Thy kingdom come.” Even now, therefore, already is the kingdom called, but only as yet being called ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 424, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies

Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John. (HTML)

Chapter XVIII. 33–40. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1842 (In-Text, Margin)

... not of this world.” And when He proved this by saying, “If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews,” He saith not, “But now is my kingdom not” here, but, “is not from hence.” For His kingdom is here until the end of the world, having tares intermingled therewith until the harvest; for the harvest is the end of the world, when the reapers, that is to say, the angels, shall come and gather out of His kingdom everything that offendeth;[Matthew 13:38-41] which certainly would not be done, were it not that His kingdom is here. But still it is not from hence; for it only sojourns as a stranger in the world: because He says to His kingdom, “Ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 612, footnote 8 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm CXXIX (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 5563 (In-Text, Margin)

... these. For the reapers will come, and will gather the wheat into the barn, and will bind the tares together, and cast them into the fire. Thus also is the grass of the house tops cleared off, and whatever is plucked from it, is thrown into the fire; because it had withered even before it was plucked up. The reaper filleth not his hands thence. His next words are, “Whereof the reaper filleth not his hand; neither he that bindeth up the sheaves his bosom” (ver. 7). And, “the reapers are the angels,”[Matthew 13:39] the Lord saith.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 11, page 14, 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 II on Acts i. 6. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 43 (In-Text, Margin)

... as thinking that they themselves would be in high honor, if this should come to pass. But He (for as touching this restoration, that it was not to be, He did not openly declare; for what needed they to learn this? hence they do not again ask, “What is the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?” for they are afraid to say that: but, “Wilt Thou restore the kingdom to Israel?” for they thought there was such a kingdom), but He, I say, both in parables had shown that the time was not near,[Matthew 13:1-43] and here where they asked, and He answered thereto, “Ye shall receive power,” says He, “when the Holy Ghost is come upon you. Is come upon you,” not, “is sent,” [to shew the Spirit’s coequal Majesty. How then darest thou, O opponent of the Spirit, ...

Online Dictionary & Commentary of Early Church Beliefs