Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts

Matthew 24:35

There are 23 footnotes for this reference.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 12, footnote 10 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Clement of Rome (HTML)

First Epistle to the Corinthians (HTML)

Chapter XXVII.—In the hope of the resurrection, let us cleave to the omnipotent and omniscient God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 112 (In-Text, Margin)

... commanded us not to lie, shall much more Himself not lie; for nothing is impossible with God, except to lie. Let His faith therefore be stirred up again within us, and let us consider that all things are nigh unto Him. By the word of His might He established all things, and by His word He can overthrow them. “Who shall say unto Him, What hast thou done? or, Who shall resist the power of His strength?” When and as He pleases He will do all things, and none of the things determined by Him shall pass away.[Matthew 24:35] All things are open before Him, and nothing can be hidden from His counsel. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handy-work. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. And there are no words ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 496, footnote 24 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

Against Hermogenes. (HTML)

A Presumption that All Things Were Created by God Out of Nothing Afforded by the Ultimate Reduction of All Things to Nothing. Scriptures Proving This Reduction Vindicated from Hermogenes' Charge of Being Merely Figurative. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 6491 (In-Text, Margin)

Besides, the belief that everything was made from nothing will be impressed upon us by that ultimate dispensation of God which will bring back all things to nothing. For “the very heaven shall be rolled together as a scroll;” nay, it shall come to nothing along with the earth itself, with which it was made in the beginning. “Heaven and earth shall pass away,”[Matthew 24:35] says He. “The first heaven and the first earth passed away,” “and there was found no place for them,” because, of course, that which comes to an end loses locality. In like manner David says, “The heavens, the works of Thine hands, shall themselves perish. For even as a vesture shall He change them, and they shall be ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 341, footnote 4 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Origen. (HTML)

Origen De Principiis. (HTML)

Book III (HTML)
That the World Took Its Beginning in Time. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2649 (In-Text, Margin)

... end. David, too, declares: “The heavens shall perish, but Thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old as doth a garment: as a vesture shalt Thou change them, and they shall be changed: but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall have no end.” Our Lord and Saviour, indeed, in the words, “He who made them at the beginning, made them male and female,” Himself bears witness that the world was created; and again, when He says, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My word shall not pass away,”[Matthew 24:35] He points out that they are perishable, and must come to an end. The apostle, moreover, in declaring that “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 553, footnote 1 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Origen. (HTML)

Origen Against Celsus. (HTML)

Book V (HTML)
Chapter XXII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4162 (In-Text, Margin)

... promise, proving also the possibility of its accomplishment not by mere assertion, but by arguments; knowing that although heaven and earth, and the things that are in them, may pass away, yet His words regarding each individual thing, being, as parts of a whole, or species of a genus, the utterances of Him who was God the Word, who was in the beginning with God, shall by no means pass away. For we desire to listen to Him who said: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.”[Matthew 24:35]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 366, footnote 6 (Image)

Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius

Methodius. (HTML)

From the Discourse on the Resurrection. (HTML)

Part I. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2865 (In-Text, Margin)

IX. But if our opponents say, How then is it, if the universe be not destroyed, that the Lord says that “heaven and earth shall pass away;”[Matthew 24:35] and the prophet, that “the heaven shall perish as smoke, and the earth shall grow old as a garment;” we answer, because it is usual for the Scriptures to call the change of the world from its present condition to a better and more glorious one, destruction; as its earlier form is lost in the change of all things to a state of greater splendour; for there is no contradiction nor absurdity in the Holy Scriptures. For not “the ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 108, footnote 40 (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 XLII. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2917 (In-Text, Margin)

[25] Learn the example of the fig tree: when it letteth down its branches, and putteth [26] forth its leaves, ye know that the summer is come; so ye also, when ye see these things begun to be, know ye that the kingdom of God hath arrived at the [27] door. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, until all these [28] things shall be.[Matthew 24:35] Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my sayings shall not pass away.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 237, footnote 11 (Image)

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

The Epistles of Clement. (HTML)

The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians. (HTML)

In the Hope of the Resurrection, Let Us Cleave to the Omnipotent and Omniscient God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4130 (In-Text, Margin)

... us not to lie, shall much more Himself not lie; for nothing is impossible with God, except to lie. Let His faith therefore be stirred up again within us, and let us consider that all things are nigh unto Him. By the word of His might He established all things, and by His word He can overthrow them. “Who shall say unto Him, What hast thou done? or, Who shall resist the power of His strength?” When, and as He pleases, He will do all things, and none of the things determined by Him shall pass away.[Matthew 24:35] All things are open before Him, and nothing can be hidden from His counsel. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handy-work. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. And there are no words ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 474, footnote 6 (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)
CCEL Footnote 5828 (In-Text, Margin)

... investigation also into the things that are stored up in it. In this place it does not appear to me that by Elijah the soul is spoken of, lest I should fall into the dogma of transmigration, which is foreign to the church of God, and not handed down by the Apostles, nor anywhere set forth in the Scriptures; for it is also in opposition to the saying that “things seen are temporal,” and that “this age shall have a consummation,” and also to the fulfilment of the saying, “Heaven and earth shall pass away,”[Matthew 24:35] and “the fashion of this world passeth away,” and “the heavens shall perish,” and what follows. For if, by hypothesis, in the constitution of things which has existed from the beginning unto the end of the world, the same soul can be twice in the ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 474, footnote 9 (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)
CCEL Footnote 5831 (In-Text, Margin)

... the body, why should it not be thrice, and repeatedly in it, since punishments, in respect of this life, and of the sins committed in it, shall be rendered to it only by the method of transmigration? But if this be granted as a consequence, perhaps there will never be a time when a soul shall not undergo transmigration: for always because of its former sins will it dwell in the body; and so there will be no place for the corruption of the world, at which “the heaven and the earth shall pass away.”[Matthew 24:35] And if it be granted, on this hypothesis, that one who is absolutely sinless shall not come into the body by birth, after what length of time do you suppose that a soul shall be found absolutely pure and needing no transmigration? But nevertheless, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 196, footnote 5 (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)

Allegorical Explanation of the Firmament and Upper Works, Ver. 6. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1277 (In-Text, Margin)

... firm over the weakness of the lower people, where they might look up and learn Thy mercy, announcing in time Thee who hast made times. “For Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens, and Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.” The clouds pass away, but the heaven remaineth. The preachers of Thy Word pass away from this life into another; but Thy Scripture is spread abroad over the people, even to the end of the world. Yea, both heaven and earth shall pass away, but Thy Words shall not pass away.[Matthew 24:35] Because the scroll shall be rolled together, and the grass over which it was spread shall with its goodliness pass away; but Thy Word remaineth for ever, which now appeareth unto us in the dark image of the clouds, and through the glass of the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 444, footnote 4 (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)

Passages from the Psalms of David Which Predict the End of the World and the Last Judgment. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1443 (In-Text, Margin)

... infatuated as to detest the faith of the Christians partly, if not chiefly, on this account, that they believe the world is to perish?—though how the heavens are to perish if the world does not is not easy to see. And, indeed, in the sacred writings which are peculiar to ourselves, and not common to the Hebrews and us,—I mean the evangelic and apostolic books,—the following expressions are used: “The figure of this world passeth away;” “The world passeth away;” “Heaven and earth shall pass away,”[Matthew 24:35] —expressions which are, I fancy, somewhat milder than “They shall perish.” In the Epistle of the Apostle Peter, too, where the world which then was is said to have perished, being overflowed with water, it is sufficiently obvious what part of ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 48, footnote 11 (Image)

Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels

Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount. (HTML)

On the Latter Part of Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Contained in the Sixth and Seventh Chapters of Matthew. (HTML)

Chapter XIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 366 (In-Text, Margin)

... not understand heaven in this passage as anything corporeal, because everything corporeal is to be reckoned as earth. For he who lays up treasure for himself in heaven ought to despise the whole world. Hence it is in that heaven of which it is said, “The heaven of heavens is the Lord’s, i.e. in the spiritual firmament: for it is not in that which is to pass away that we ought to fix and place our treasure and our heart, but in that which ever abideth; but heaven and earth shall pass away.[Matthew 24:35]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 292, footnote 4 (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. vi. 19, ‘Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,’ etc. An exhortation to alms-deeds. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2113 (In-Text, Margin)

... together with one voice are crying, “Woe to us, the world is falling.” If it be falling, why dost thou not remove? If an architect were to tell thee, that thy house would soon fall, wouldest thou not remove before thou didst indulge in thy vain lamentations? The Builder of the world telleth thee the world will soon fall, and wilt thou not believe it? Hear the voice of Him who foretelleth it, hear the counsel of Him who giveth thee warning. The voice of prediction is, “Heaven and earth shall pass away.”[Matthew 24:35] The voice of warning is, “Lay not up for yourselves treasure on earth.” If then thou dost believe God in His prediction; if thou despise not His warning, let what He says be done. He who has given thee such counsel doth not deceive thee. Thou shalt ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 357, footnote 1 (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. xviii. 7, where we are admonished to beware of the offences of the world. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2727 (In-Text, Margin)

... when He wills. For if the work of man fall not without God’s will, how can God’s work fall by the will of man? Yet God both made the world that was one day to fall for thee; and therefore made He thee as one who was one day to die. Man himself, the city’s ornament, man himself, the city’s inhabitant, ruler, governor, comes on this condition that he may go, is born on this condition that he may die, entered into the world on this condition that he may pass away; “Heaven and earth shall pass away:”[Matthew 24:35] what wonder then if some time or other there should be an end of a single city? And yet peradventure the city’s end is not come now; yet some time or other come it will. But why does Rome perish amid the sacrifices of Christians? Why was her mother ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 330, footnote 9 (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 1303 (In-Text, Margin)

3. “And greater works than these shall he do.” Than what, pray? Shall we say that one is doing greater works than all that Christ did who is working out his own salvation with fear and trembling? A work which Christ is certainly working in him, but not without him; and one which I might, without hesitation, call greater than the heavens and the earth, and all in both within the compass of our vision. For both heaven and earth shall pass away,[Matthew 24:35] but the salvation and justi fication of those predestinated thereto, that is, of those whom He foreknoweth, shall continue forever. In the former there is only the working of God, but in the latter there is also His image. But there are also in the heavens, thrones, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 101, footnote 4 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm XXXVII (HTML)

Part 3 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 923 (In-Text, Margin)

“And they shall dwell therein” (it says) “for ever.” It must therefore be another land, where “they are to dwell therein for ever.” For of this land (of this earth) it is said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away.”[Matthew 24:35]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 597, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm CXXIII (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 5450 (In-Text, Margin)

... God dwelleth. Thither hath the Psalmist lifted up his faith, thither he riseth in affection, with longing hopes: and this very longing causeth the soul to purge off the filth of sins, and to be cleansed from every stain, that itself also may become heaven; because it hath lifted up its eyes unto Him who dwelleth in heaven. For if we have determined that that heaven which we see with our bodily eyes is the dwelling of God, the dwelling of God will pass away; for “heaven and earth will pass away.”[Matthew 24:35] Then, before God created heaven and earth, where did He dwell? But some one saith: and before God made the Saints, where did He dwell? God dwelt in Himself, he dwelt with Himself, and God is with Himself. And when He deigneth to dwell in the Saints, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 142, footnote 1 (Image)

Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes

Homilies on S. Ignatius and S. Babylas. (HTML)

On the Holy Martyr, S. Babylas. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 383 (In-Text, Margin)

... Christ, is a great ornament not only to men, but to angels, and to the powers above. On this account he set everything in motion, so as to strip us of this ornament, and put a stop to the preaching of it. But this was impossible, O wretched and miserable man! as it was impossible to destroy the heaven and to quench the sun, and to shake and cast down the foundations of the earth, and those things Christ foretold, thus saying: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”[Matthew 24:35]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 105, footnote 7 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)

On the Clause, And Shall Come in Glory to Judge the Quick and the Dead; Of Whose Kingdom There Shall Be No End. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1832 (In-Text, Margin)

... perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart, and this, though the resurrection is looked for; so we look for a resurrection, as it were, of the heavens also. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood. Here let converts from the Manichees gain instruction, and no longer make those lights their gods; nor impiously think, that this sun which shall be darkened is Christ. And again hear the Lord saying, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away[Matthew 24:35]; for the creatures are not as precious as the Master’s words.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 53, footnote 7 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

The Hexæmeron. (HTML)

In the Beginning God made the Heaven and the Earth. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1375 (In-Text, Margin)

... believe it to be without a beginning. Although we are not sensible of it, it really begins at some point where the draughtsman has begun to draw it at a certain radius from the centre. Thus seeing that figures which move in a circle always return upon themselves, without for a single instant interrupting the regularity of their course, do not vainly imagine to yourselves that the world has neither beginning nor end. “For the fashion of this world passeth away” and “Heaven and earth shall pass away.”[Matthew 24:35] The dogmas of the end, and of the renewing of the world, are announced beforehand in these short words put at the head of the inspired history. “In the beginning God made.” That which was begun in time is condemned to come to an end in time. If ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 240, footnote 7 (Image)

Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus

Title Page (HTML)

Homilies on Psalms I., LIII., CXXX. (HTML)

Homilies on the Psalms. (HTML)
Homily on Psalm I. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1380 (In-Text, Margin)

... cluster, for the express purpose of protecting them, and of forming a kind of fence to the young and tender shoots. What the leaves signify, then, is the teaching of God’s words in which the promised fruits are clothed. For it is these words that kindly shade our hopes, that shield and protect them from the rough winds of this world. These leaves, then, that is the words of God, shall not fall: for the Lord Himself has said: Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away[Matthew 24:35], for of the words that have been spoken by God not one shall fail or fall.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 571, 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 III. (HTML)
Chapter XV. St. Thomas also confessed the same faith as Peter after the Lord's resurrection. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2444 (In-Text, Margin)

... what you like; you cannot possibly get out of this without confessing that what the Apostle touched was God. And indeed, if the thing can possibly be done, perhaps you will want to alter the statement of the gospel story, so that we may not read that the Apostle Thomas touched the body of the Lord, or that he called Christ Lord and God. But it is absolutely impossible to alter what is written in the gospel of God. For “heaven and earth shall pass away, but the words” of God “shall not pass away.”[Matthew 24:35] For lo, even now he who then bore his witness, the Apostle Thomas, proclaims to you: “Jesus whom I touched is God. It is God whose limbs I handled. I did not feel what was incorporeal, not handle what was intangible: I touched not a Spirit with my ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 410, footnote 4 (Image)

Gregory the Great II, Ephriam Syrus, Aphrahat

Selections from the Hymns and Homilies of Ephraim the Syrian and from the Demonstrations of Aphrahat the Persian Sage. (HTML)

Aphrahat:  Select Demonstrations. (HTML)

Of Death and the Latter Times. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1204 (In-Text, Margin)

... heaven, and if it please Him, in the earth. Jesus our Lord said, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And to one of those who were crucified with Him, who believed on him He swore:— Thou shalt be with Me to-day in the garden Eden. And the Apostle said, When the righteous shall rise again, they shall fly upwards to meet our Redeemer. But, however, we say thus: That which our Redeemer said to us is true:— Heaven and earth shall pass away.[Matthew 24:35] And the Apostle said, Hope which is seen is not hope. And the Prophet said, The heavens shall pass away as smoke, and the earth as a garment shall wear away; and its inhabitants shall become like it. And Job said concerning those that ...

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