Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Matthew 18:22
There are 17 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 684, footnote 3 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Ethical. (HTML)
On Prayer. (HTML)
The Sixth Clause. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8812 (In-Text, Margin)
... petition for pardon is a full confession; because he who begs for pardon fully admits his guilt. Thus, too, penitence is demonstrated acceptable to God who desires it rather than the death of the sinner. Moreover, debt is, in the Scriptures, a figure of guilt; because it is equally due to the sentence of judgment, and is exacted by it: nor does it evade the justice of exaction, unless the exaction be remitted, just as the lord remitted to that slave in the parable his debt;[Matthew 18:21-35] for hither does the scope of the whole parable tend. For the fact withal, that the same servant, after liberated by his lord, does not equally spare his own debtor; and, being on that account impeached before his lord, is made over to the tormentor ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 684, footnote 5 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Ethical. (HTML)
On Prayer. (HTML)
The Sixth Clause. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8814 (In-Text, Margin)
... equally spare his own debtor; and, being on that account impeached before his lord, is made over to the tormentor to pay the uttermost farthing—that is, every guilt, however small: corresponds with our profession that “we also remit to our debtors;” indeed elsewhere, too, in conformity with this Form of Prayer, He saith, “Remit, and it shall be remitted you.” And when Peter had put the question whether remission were to be granted to a brother seven times, “Nay,” saith He, “seventy-seven times;”[Matthew 18:21-22] in order to remould the Law for the better; because in Genesis vengeance was assigned “seven times” in the case of Cain, but in that of Lamech “seventy-seven times.”
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 714, footnote 13 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Ethical. (HTML)
On Patience. (HTML)
Certain Other Divine Precepts. The Apostolic Description of Charity. Their Connection with Patience. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 9135 (In-Text, Margin)
As regards the rule of peace, which is so pleasing to God, who in the world that is prone to impatience will even once forgive his brother, I will not say “seven times,” or “seventy-seven times?”[Matthew 18:21-22] Who that is contemplating a suit against his adversary will compose the matter by agreement, unless he first begin by lopping off chagrin, hardheartedness, and bitterness, which are in fact the poisonous outgrowths of impatience? How will you “remit, and remission shall be granted” you if the absence of patience makes you tenacious of a wrong? No one who is at variance with his brother in his ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 98, footnote 12 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On Modesty. (HTML)
Of the Difference Between Discipline and Power, and of the Power of the Keys. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 969 (In-Text, Margin)
... That there must be no communicating with the works of darkness. Observe what He bids. Who, moreover, was able to forgive sins? This is His alone prerogative: for “who remitteth sins but God alone?” and, of course, (who but He can remit) mortal sins, such as have been committed against Himself, and against His temple? For, as far as you are concerned, such as are chargeable with offence against you personally, you are commanded, in the person of Peter, to forgive even seventy times sevenfold.[Matthew 18:22] And so, if it were agreed that even the blessed apostles had granted any such indulgence (to any crime) the pardon of which (comes) from God, not from man, it would be competent (for them) to have done so, not in the exercise of discipline, but of ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 178, footnote 5 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Lactantius (HTML)
The Divine Institutes (HTML)
Book VI. Of True Worship (HTML)
Chap. XII.—Of the kinds of beneficence, and works of mercy (HTML)
... to be miserably thrown away to the great sacrifice, that in return for these true gifts you may have an everlasting gift from God. Mercy has a great reward; for God promises it, that He will remit all sins. If you shall hear, He says, the prayers of your suppliant, I also will hear yours; if you shall pity those in distress, I also will pity you in your distress. But if you shall not regard nor assist them, I also will bear a mind like your own against you, and I will judge you by your own laws.[Matthew 18:21-35]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 417, footnote 5 (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. VI.—The Disputes of the Faithful to Be Settled by the Decisions of the Bishop, and the Faithful to Be Reconciled (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2796 (In-Text, Margin)
... the punishment of his hatred to his brother. Afterwards, when he repents, let him be received; and so, when they have learned prudence, they will ease your judicatures. It is also a duty to forgive each other’s trespasses—not the duty of those that judge, but of those that have quarrels; as the Lord determined when I Peter asked Him, “How oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?” He replied, “I say not unto thee, Until seven times, but until seventy times seven.”[Matthew 18:21-22] For so would our Lord have us to be truly His disciples, and never to have anything against anybody; as, for instance, anger without measure, passion without mercy, covetousness without justice, hatred without reconciliation. Draw by your ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 419, footnote 12 (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. VI.—The Disputes of the Faithful to Be Settled by the Decisions of the Bishop, and the Faithful to Be Reconciled (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2819 (In-Text, Margin)
... certainly reprove thy brother, and not incur sin on his account.” “Thou shalt not hate an Egyptian, for thou wast a sojourner with him. Thou shalt not hate an Idumæan, for he is thy brother.” And David says: “If I have repaid those that requited me evil.” Wherefore, if thou wilt be a Christian, follow the law of the Lord: “Loose every band of wickedness;” for the Lord has given thee authority to remit those sins to thy brother which he has committed against thee as far as “seventy times seven,”[Matthew 18:22] that is, four hundred and ninety times. How oft, therefore, hast thou remitted to thy brother, that thou art unwilling to do it now, when thou also hast heard Jeremiah saying, “Do not any of you impute the wickedness of his neighbour in your ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 85, footnote 30 (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 XXVII. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1899 (In-Text, Margin)
... you, All that ye bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: [20] and what ye loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. I say unto you also, If two of you agree on earth to ask, everything shall be granted them from my Father [21] [Arabic, p. 105] which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there [22] am I amongst them. Then Cephas drew near to him, and said unto him, My Lord, how many times, if my brother act wrongly towards me, should I forgive him? [23] until seven times?[Matthew 18:22] Jesus said unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven; but, Until seventy [24] times seven, seven. And the servant that knoweth his lord’s will, and maketh not [25] ready for him according to his will, shall meet with much punishment; but he that ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 497, 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 XIV. (HTML)
The Limit of Forgiveness. (HTML)
... world, and does those things which are material, sins six times, and that the number seven is the end of sin in his case, so that Peter with some such thought in his mind wished to pardon seven sins of those which his brother had committed against him. But since as units the tens and the hundreds have a certain common measure of proportion to the number which is in units, and Jesus knew that the number might be exceeded, on this account, I think, that He added to the number seven also the seventy,[Matthew 18:22] and said that there ought to be forgiveness to brethren here, and to them who have sinned in respect to things here. But if any one going beyond the things about the world and this age were to commit sin, even if it were trifling, he could not ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 107, 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 Reason Why Forty Generations (Not Including Christ Himself) are Found in Matthew, Although He Divides Them into Three Successions of Fourteen Each. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 706 (In-Text, Margin)
... he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit”), in the number used by Luke we find included both Christ Himself, with whom the enumeration begins, and God, with whom it closes; and the sum becomes thus seventy-seven, which denotes the thorough remission and abolition of all sins. This perfect removal of sins the Lord Himself also clearly represented under the mystery of this number, when He said that the person sinning ought to be forgiven not only seven times, but even unto seventy times seven.[Matthew 18:22]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 259, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)
Of the agreement of the evangelists Matthew and Luke in the generations of the Lord. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1823 (In-Text, Margin)
... transgression of righteousness, which has regard only to the sinner himself, make up the number seventy-seven, in which it is signified, that all sins which are re mitted in Baptism are contained. And hence it is that Luke ascends up through seventy-seven generations unto God, as showing that man is reconciled unto God by the abolition of all sin. Hence the Lord Himself saith to Peter, who asked Him how oft he ought to forgive a brother, “I say not unto thee seven times, but until seventy times and seven.”[Matthew 18:22] Now, whatever else can be drawn out of these recesses and treasures of God’s mysteries by those who are more diligent and more worthy than I, receive. Yet have I spoken according to my poor ability, as the Lord hath aided and given me power, and as ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 362, footnote 6 (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. xvii. 21, ‘How oft shall my brother sin against me,’ etc. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2765 (In-Text, Margin)
... too, tell it to the Church. But if he shall neglect to hear the Church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.” To-day also the section which follows, and which we heard when it was read, relates to the same subject. For when the Lord Jesus had said this to Peter, he went on to ask his Master, how often he should forgive a brother who had sinned against him; and he enquired whether seven times would be enough. “The Lord answered him, Not only seven times, but seventy times seven.”[Matthew 18:22] Then he added a parable very full of terror: That the “kingdom of heaven is like unto an householder, which took account with his servants; among whom he found one that owed ten thousand talents. And when he commanded all that he had, and all his ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 363, footnote 9 (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. xvii. 21, ‘How oft shall my brother sin against me,’ etc. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2774 (In-Text, Margin)
3. But now hear what in so plain a precept I may cause a difficulty. In this question of forgiveness when pardon is asked, and it is due from him who should grant it, it may be a difficulty to us as it was to Peter. “How often ought I to forgive? Is up to seven times sufficient?” “It is not sufficient,” saith the Lord, “I say not unto thee, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven.”[Matthew 18:21-22] Now reckon up how often thy brother hath sinned against thee. If thou canst reach the seventy-eighth fault, so as to get beyond the seventy times seven, then set about revenge. Is this then what He really means, and is it really so, that if he shall sin “seventy times seven,” thou shouldest forgive ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 228, footnote 12 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Rusticus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3188 (In-Text, Margin)
... every man according as he finds him. It is not the past that He looks upon but the present. Bygone sins there may be, but renewal and conversion remove them. “A just man,” we read “falleth seven times and riseth up again.” If he falls, how is he just? and if he is just, how does he fall? The answer is that a sinner does not lose the name of just if he always repents of his sins and rises again. If a sinner repents, his sins are forgiven him not only till seven times but till seventy times seven.[Matthew 18:21-22] To whom much is forgiven, the same loveth much. The harlot washed with her tears the Saviour’s feet and wiped them with her hair; and to her, as a type of the Church gathered from the nations, was the declaration made: “Thy sins are forgiven.” The ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 379, footnote 9 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)
On Pentecost. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4214 (In-Text, Margin)
III. As to the honour paid to Seven there are many testimonies, but we will be content with a few out of the many. For instance, seven precious spirits are named; for I think Isaiah loves to call the activities of the Spirit spirits; and the Oracles of the Lord are purified seven times according to David, and the just is delivered from six troubles and in the seventh is not smitten. But the sinner is pardoned not seven times, but seventy times seven.[Matthew 18:22] And we may see it by the contrary also (for the punishment of wickedness is to be praised), Cain being avenged seven times, that is, punishment being exacted from him for his fratricide, and Lamech seventy times seven, because he was a murderer after the law and the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 297, footnote 1 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
The Letters. (HTML)
To Optimus the bishop. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3147 (In-Text, Margin)
... can justice be satisfied seven times? And what are the vengeances? Are they for seven sins committed? Or is the sin committed once and are there seven punishments for the one sin? Scripture continually assigns seven as the number of the remission of sins. “How often,” it is asked, “shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?” (It is Peter who is speaking to the Lord.) “Till seven times?” Then comes the Lord’s answer, “I say not unto thee, until seven times, but, until seventy times seven.”[Matthew 18:21-22] Our Lord did not vary the number, but multiplied the seven, and so fixed the limit of the forgiveness. After seven years the Hebrew used to be freed from slavery. Seven weeks of years used in old times to make the famous jubilee, in which the land ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 472, footnote 2 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Selections from the Letters of St. Ambrose. (HTML)
Epistle LXIII: To the Church at Vercellæ. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3792 (In-Text, Margin)
... his having arranged his wives and children and all his servants, and ordered that they should bow down to the earth? It was certainly not to the element of earth, which is often filled with blood, in which is the workshop of all crimes, which often is rough with huge rocks, or broken cliffs, or barren and hungry soil, but as to that Flesh which is to be for our salvation. And perchance this is that mystery which the Lord taught, when He said: “Not only seven times, but even seventy times seven.”[Matthew 18:22]