Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Matthew 17:12
There are 13 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 220, footnote 1 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Justin Martyr (HTML)
Dialogue with Trypho (HTML)
Chapter XLIX.—To those who object that Elijah has not yet come, he replies that he is the precursor of the first advent. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2103 (In-Text, Margin)
... told her to ask whatever she pleased. Then the mother of the maiden instigated her to ask the head of John, who was in prison; and having asked it, [Herod] sent and ordered the head of John to be brought in on a charger. Wherefore also our Christ said, [when He was] on earth, to those who were affirming that Elijah must come before Christ: ‘Elijah shall come, and restore all things; but I say unto you, that Elijah has already come, and they knew him not, but have done to him whatsoever they chose.’[Matthew 17:12] And it is written, ‘Then the disciples understood that He spake to them about John the Baptist.’ ”
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 216, footnote 11 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Apologetic. (HTML)
A Treatise on the Soul. (HTML)
The Opinions of Carpocrates, Another Offset from the Pythagorean Dogmas, Stated and Confuted. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1737 (In-Text, Margin)
... be found in none a debtor to the claims of a virtuous life. This means, that a good tree is known by its bad fruit—in other words, that the doctrine of truth is understood from the worst possible precepts. I apprehend that heretics of this school seize with especial avidity the example of Elias, whom they assume to have been so reproduced in John (the Baptist) as to make our Lord’s statement sponsor for their theory of transmigration, when He said, “Elias is come already, and they knew him not;”[Matthew 17:12] and again, in another passage, “And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.” Well, then, was it really in a Pythagorean sense that the Jews approached John with the inquiry, “Art thou Elias?” and not rather in the sense of the ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 105, footnote 16 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On Fasting. (HTML)
The Physical Tendencies of Fasting and Feeding Considered. The Cases of Moses and Elijah. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1042 (In-Text, Margin)
... heard with his ears God’s voice, and understood with his heart God’s law: while He taught him even then (by experience) that man liveth not upon bread alone, but upon every word of God; in that the People, though fatter than he, could not constantly contemplate even Moses himself, fed as he had been upon God, nor his leanness, sated as it had been with His glory! Deservedly, therefore, even while in the flesh, did the Lord show Himself to him, the colleague of His own fasts, no less than to Elijah.[Matthew 17:1-13] For Elijah withal had, by this fact primarily, that he had imprecated a famine, already sufficiently devoted himself to fasts: “The Lord liveth,” he said, “before whom I am standing in His sight, if there shall be dew in these years, and ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 81, footnote 5 (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 XXIV. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1705 (In-Text, Margin)
... he spake unto us, I, when I am risen from among the dead? And his disciples asked him, and said, What is that which the scribes say, then, that Elijah [21] must first come? He said unto them, Elijah cometh first to set in order everything, [Arabic, p. 94] and as it was written of the Son of man, that he should suffer many things, [22] and be rejected. But I say unto you, that Elijah is come, and they knew him not, and have done unto him whatsoever they desired, as it was written of him. [23, 24][Matthew 17:12] In like manner the Son of man is to suffer of them. Then understood the disciples that he spake unto them concerning John the Baptist.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 474, footnote 2 (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 XIII. (HTML)
Relation of the Baptist to Elijah. The Theory of Transmigration Considered. (HTML)
... appeared, did not seem to be in harmony with the things which were said, since to them it seemed that Elijah had not come before Jesus but after Him; wherefore, they say these things, thinking that the scribes lied. But to this the Saviour answers, not setting aside the traditions concerning Elijah, but saying that there was another advent of Elijah before that of Christ of which the scribes were ignorant; and, in regard to this, being ignorant of him, they “had done unto him whatsoever they listed,”[Matthew 17:12] as if they had been accomplices in his having been cast into prison by Herod and slain by him; then He says that according as they had done towards Elijah so would He suffer at their hands. And these things indeed as about Elijah the disciples asked ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 474, footnote 3 (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 XIII. (HTML)
Relation of the Baptist to Elijah. The Theory of Transmigration Considered. (HTML)
... that the scribes lied. But to this the Saviour answers, not setting aside the traditions concerning Elijah, but saying that there was another advent of Elijah before that of Christ of which the scribes were ignorant; and, in regard to this, being ignorant of him, they “had done unto him whatsoever they listed,” as if they had been accomplices in his having been cast into prison by Herod and slain by him; then He says that according as they had done towards Elijah so would He suffer at their hands.[Matthew 17:12] And these things indeed as about Elijah the disciples asked and the Saviour answered, but when they heard they understood that the words, “Elijah has already come,” and that following which was spoken by the Saviour, had reference to John the ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 476, 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 XIII. (HTML)
“The Spirit and Power of Elijah”—Not the Soul—Were in the Baptist. (HTML)
... parts. But if, in order that the Saviour may impart to us of “the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and reverence,” he was filled also with the spirit of the fear of the Lord; it is possible also that these several good spirits may be conceived as being in the same person. And this also we have brought forward, because of John having come before Christ “in the spirit and power of Elijah,” in order that the saying, “Elijah has already come,”[Matthew 17:12] may be referred to the spirit of Elijah that was in John; as also the three disciples who had gone up with Him understood that He spake to them about John the Baptist. Upon Elisha, then, only the spirit of Elijah rested, but John came before, not ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 476, footnote 14 (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 XIII. (HTML)
“The Spirit and Power of Elijah”—Not the Soul—Were in the Baptist. (HTML)
... Son of God who shall appear in glory may sojourn with them. But if also Elijah be in some sort a word inferior to “the Word who was in the beginning with God, God the Word,” this word also might come as a preparatory discipline to the people prepared by it, that they might be trained for the reception of the perfect Word. But some one may raise the question whether the spirit and power of Elijah, suffered what was suffered in John, according to the words, “They did in him whatsoever they listed.”[Matthew 17:12] And to this it will be said on the one hand, in simpler fashion that there is nothing strange in the thought, that the things which assist do, because of love, suffer along with those that are assisted; and Jesus indeed says. “Because of the weak I ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 476, footnote 17 (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 XIII. (HTML)
“The Spirit and Power of Elijah”—Not the Soul—Were in the Baptist. (HTML)
... the body, and the spirit, and the power; and in another fashion is the body of the righteous man in these better parts, as leaning upon them, and clinging to them; but “they who are in the flesh cannot please God; but ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if the Spirit of God dwell in you;” for the soul of the sinner is in the flesh, but of the righteous man in spirit. And likewise, further, this might be inquired into, to whom refer the words, “But they did in him whatsoever they listed.”[Matthew 17:12] Was it to the scribes in regard to whom the disciples inquired and said, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must first come?” But it is not at all evident that John suffered anything at the hands of the scribes, except, indeed, that they did ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 477, footnote 1 (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 XIII. (HTML)
“The Spirit and Power of Elijah”—Not the Soul—Were in the Baptist. (HTML)
... But it is not at all evident that John suffered anything at the hands of the scribes, except, indeed, that they did not believe him; or, as we said also before, that they were accomplices in the wrongs which Herod dared to inflict on him. But another might say that the words, “But they did in him whatsoever they listed,” refer not to the scribes but to Herodias and her daughter, and Herod, who did in him whatsoever they listed. And that which follows, “So shall the Son of man suffer from them,”[Matthew 17:12] might be referred to the scribes, if the former were referred to them; but, if the former refers to Herod and Herodias and her daughter, the second passage will also refer to them; for Herod also seems to have joined in the vote that Jesus should ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 154, footnote 14 (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 Harmony Between Matthew and Mark in the Accounts Given of the Occasion on Which He Spoke to the Disciples Concerning the Coming of Elias. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1100 (In-Text, Margin)
115. Matthew goes on thus: “And His disciples asked Him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come and restore all things. But I say unto you, that Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that He spake unto them of John the Baptist.”[Matthew 17:10-13] This same passage is given also by Mark, who keeps also the same order; and although he exhibits some diversity of expression, he makes no departure from a truthful representation of the same sense. He has not, however, added the statement, that the disciples understood ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 27, footnote 1 (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 I. 19–33. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 79 (In-Text, Margin)
... occasioned a question for us. For it is to be feared lest men, insufficiently understanding, think that John contradicted what Christ said. For in a certain place, when the Lord Jesus Christ said certain things in the Gospel regarding Himself, His disciples answered Him: “How then say the scribes,” that is, those skilled in the law, “that Elias must first come?” And the Lord said, “Elias is already come, and they have done unto him what they listed;” and, if you wish to know, John the Baptist is he.[Matthew 17:10-13] The Lord Jesus Christ said, “Elias is already come, and John the Baptist” is he; but John, being interrogated, confessed that he was not Elias, in the same manner that he confessed that he was not Christ. And as his confession that he was not Christ ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 101, footnote 10 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XXXVII (HTML)
Part 3 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 929 (In-Text, Margin)
12. “The wicked therefore watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him. But the Lord will not leave him in his hands” (ver. 33). Wherefore then did He leave the Martyrs in the hands of the ungodly? Wherefore did they do unto them “whatsoever they would”?[Matthew 17:12] Some they slew with the sword; some they crucified; some they delivered to the beasts; some they burnt by fire; others they led about in chains, till wasted out by a long protracted decay. Assuredly “the Lord forsaketh not His Saints.” He will not “leave him in his hands.” Lastly, wherefore did He leave His own Son in “the hands of the ungodly”? Here also, if thou ...