Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Matthew 25:32
There are 25 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 178, footnote 5 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Justin Martyr (HTML)
The First Apology (HTML)
Chapter XLVI.—The Word in the world before Christ. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1863 (In-Text, Margin)
... what we teach, maintain that we say that Christ was born one hundred and fifty years ago under Cyrenius, and subsequently, in the time of Pontius Pilate, taught what we say He taught; and should cry out against us as though all men who were born before Him were irresponsible--let let us anticipate and solve the difficulty. We have been taught that Christ is the first-born of God, and we have declared above that He is the Word of whom every race of men were partakers; and those who lived reasonably[Matthew 25:32] are Christians, even though they have been thought atheists; as, among the Greeks, Socrates and Heraclitus, and men like them; and among the barbarians, Abraham, and Ananias, and Azarias, and Mishael, and Elias, and many others whose actions and ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 524, footnote 1 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Irenæus (HTML)
Against Heresies: Book IV (HTML)
Chapter XL.—One and the same God the Father inflicts punishment on the reprobate, and bestows rewards on the elect. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4427 (In-Text, Margin)
2. If, however, it were truly one Father who confers rest, and another God who has prepared the fire, their sons would have been equally different [one from the other]; one, indeed, sending [men] into the Father’s kingdom, but the other into eternal fire. But inasmuch as one and the same Lord has pointed out that the whole human race shall be divided at the judgment, “as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats,”[Matthew 25:32] and that to some He will say, “Come, ye blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom which has been prepared for you,” but to others, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, which My Father has prepared for the devil and his angels,” one and the same Father is manifestly declared ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 517, footnote 4 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)
Book VI (HTML)
Chapter XVII.—Philosophy Conveys Only an Imperfect Knowledge of God. (HTML)
Further, if the practice of philosophy does not belong to the wicked, but was accorded to the best of the Greeks, it is clear also from what source it was bestowed—manifestly from Providence, which assigns to each what is befitting in accordance with his deserts.”[Matthew 25:32]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 86, footnote 6 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On Modesty. (HTML)
Of St. Paul, and the Person Whom He Urges the Corinthians to Forgive. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 828 (In-Text, Margin)
... by his prayers, the repentant adulterer, lead into the midst and prostrate him, all in haircloth and ashes, a compound of disgrace and horror, before the widows, before the elders, suing for the tears of all, licking the footprints of all, clasping the knees of all? And do you, good shepherd and blessed father that you are, to bring about the (desired) end of the man, grace your harangue with all the allurements of mercy in your power, and under the parable of the “ewe” go in quest of your goats?[Matthew 25:32-33] do you, for fear lest your “ewe” again take a leap out from the flock—as if that were no more lawful for the future which was not even once lawful—fill all the rest likewise full of apprehension at the very moment of granting indulgence? And would ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 158, footnote 11 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
Appendix (HTML)
Five Books in Reply to Marcion. (HTML)
Of Marcion's Antitheses. (HTML)
On the left hand[Matthew 25:31-33]): that some indeed there are
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 252, footnote 8 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Hippolytus. (HTML)
Appendix to the Works of Hippolytus. Containing Dubious and Spurious Pieces. (HTML)
A discourse by the most blessed Hippolytus, bishop and martyr, on the end of the world, and on Antichrist, and on the second coming of our lord Jesus Christ. (HTML)
Section XLI. (HTML)
... Gospel? “When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: and before Him shall be gathered all nations; and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”[Matthew 25:31-34] Come, ye prophets, who were cast out for my name’s sake. Come, ye patriarchs, who before my advent were obedient to me, and longed for my kingdom. Come, ye apostles, who were my fellows in my sufferings in my incarnation, and suffered with me ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 483, footnote 1 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
On Works and Alms. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3579 (In-Text, Margin)
... drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and ministered not unto Thee? And He shall answer them, Verily I say unto you, In so far as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not unto me. And these shall go away into everlasting burning: but the righteous into life eternal.”[Matthew 25:31-46] What more could Christ declare unto us? How more could He stimulate the works of our righteousness and mercy, than by saying that whatever is given to the needy and poor is given to Himself, and by saying that He is aggrieved unless the needy and ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 528, footnote 4 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book II. (HTML)
... stranger, and ye received me not: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer and say, Lord, when saw we Thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and have not ministered unto Thee? And He shall answer unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have not done it to one of the least of these, ye have not done it unto me. And these shall go away into everlasting burning, but the righteous into life eternal.”[Matthew 25:31-46]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 532, footnote 5 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
... drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: I was naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer, and say, Lord, when saw we Thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto Thee? And He shall answer them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not unto me. And these shall go away into everlasting burning: but the righteous into life eternal.”[Matthew 25:31-46] Concerning this same matter in the Gospel according to Luke: “Sell your possessions, and give alms.” Also in the same place: “He who made that which is within, made that which is without also. But give alms, and, behold, all things are pure unto ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 110, footnote 31 (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 XLIII. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2999 (In-Text, Margin)
[43] But when the Son of man cometh in his glory, and all his pure angels with him, [44] then shall he sit on the throne of his glory:[Matthew 25:32] and he will gather before him all the nations, and separate them the one from the other, like the shepherd who separateth [45] the sheep from the goats; and will set the sheep on his right, and the goats on his [46] left. Then shall the King say to those that are at his right, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundations of the world: [47] I hungered, and ye gave me to eat; and I ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 33, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)
The unity and equality of the Trinity are demonstrated out of the Scriptures; and the true interpretation is given of those texts which are wrongly alleged against the equality of the Son. (HTML)
Diverse Things are Spoken Concerning the Same Christ, on Account of the Diverse Natures of the One Hypostasis [Theanthropic Person]. Why It is Said that the Father Will Not Judge, But Has Given Judgment to the Son. (HTML)
... the Lord of glory; and yet the Lord of glory was crucified, because even God is rightly said to have been crucified, not after the power of the divinity, but after the weakness of the flesh: just as we say, that He judges as God, that is, by divine power, not by human; and yet the man Himself will judge, just as the Lord of glory was crucified: for so He expressly says, “When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, and before Him shall be gathered all nations;”[Matthew 25:31-32] and the rest that is foretold of the future judgment in that place even to the last sentence. And the Jews, inasmuch as they will be punished in that judgment for persisting in their wickedness, as it is elsewhere written, “shall look upon Him whom ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 260, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
The Enchiridion. (HTML)
It is Not Impossible that Some Believers May Pass Through a Purgatorial Fire in the Future Life. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1227 (In-Text, Margin)
... their sins be forgiven them. When I say “suitable,” I mean that they are not to be unfruitful in almsgiving; for Holy Scripture lays so much stress on this virtue, that our Lord tells us beforehand, that He will ascribe no merit to those on His right hand but that they abound in it, and no defect to those on His left hand but their want of it, when He shall say to the former, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom,” and to the latter, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.”[Matthew 25:31-46]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 597, footnote 13 (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)
... Lord on account of the chaff which either is now being dispersed beneath the blast of the wind of pride, or will be separated by the final winnowing; nor will you fly from the great house on account of the vessels made to dishonor; nor will you quit the net through the breaches made in it because of the bad fish which are to be separated on the 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;[Matthew 25:32-33] 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 ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 140, 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 V. 20–23. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 425 (In-Text, Margin)
... suffers in us. Whence may we prove that He suffers in us? From that voice out of heaven, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” Is it not Himself that will sit as Judge in the end of the world, and, setting the just on the right, and the wicked on the left, will say, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom; for I was hungry, and ye gave me to eat”? And when they shall answer, “Lord, when saw we Thee hungry?” He will say to them, “Since ye gave to one of the least of mine, ye gave to me.”[Matthew 25:31-40] Let us at this time question Him, and let us say to Him, Lord, when wilt Thou be a learner, seeing Thou teachest all things? Immediately, indeed, He makes answer to us in our faith, When one of the least of mine doth learn, I learn.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 169, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XLIX (HTML)
Part 1 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1612 (In-Text, Margin)
... let him be admonished to fear him who doth require his account. Let these words then be heard by sinners and righteous, nations, and those who inhabit the world, “earthborn and sons of men, the rich and the poor together:” not divided, not separated. That is for the time of the harvest to do, the hand of the winnower will effect that. Now together let rich and poor hear, let goats and sheep feed in the same pasture, until He come who shall separate the one on His right hand, the other on His left.[Matthew 25:32] Let them all hear together the teacher, lest separated from one another they hear the voice of the Judge.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 183, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm L (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1733 (In-Text, Margin)
12. “Gather to Him His righteous” (ver. 5). The voice divine and prophetic, seeing future things as if present doth exhort the Angels gathering. For He shall send His Angels, and before Him shall be gathered all nations.[Matthew 25:32] Gather to Him His righteous. What righteous men save those that live of faith and do works of mercy? For those works are works of righteousness. Thou hast the Gospel: “Beware of doing your righteousness before men to be seen of them.” And as if it were inquired, What righteousness? “When therefore thou doest alms,” He saith. Therefore alms He hath signified to be works of righteousness. ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 328, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3186 (In-Text, Margin)
... God, and sever my cause from the nation unholy.” We must observe also that he saith not, He shall judge the poor people, but, “the poor of the people.” For above when he had said, “to judge Thy people in justice and Thy poor in judgment,” the same he called the people of God as His poor, that is, only the good and those that belong to the right hand side. But because in this world those for the right and those for the left feed together, who, like lambs and goats at the last are to be put asunder;[Matthew 25:32] the whole, as it is mingled together, he hath called by the name of the People. And because even here he putteth judgment in a good sense, that is, for the purpose of saving: therefore he saith, “He shall judge the poor of the people,” that is, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 367, footnote 13 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXVIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3539 (In-Text, Margin)
... He foresaw when He was saying, “I have other sheep which are not of this fold, them too I must lead in, that there may be one flock and one Shepherd:” that is to say, by joining the faithful people of the Gentiles with the faithful people of the Israelites, concerning whom He had before said, “I have not been sent but to the sheep which have strayed of the house of Israel.” For also there shall be congregated before Him all nations, and He shall sever them as a shepherd the sheep from the goats.[Matthew 25:32] Thus then let us hear that which hath been spoken. “Hearken ye, My people, to My law, incline ye your ear unto the words of My mouth:” not as if addressed to Jews, but rather as if addressed to ourselves, or at least as if these words were said as ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 485, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XCIX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4518 (In-Text, Margin)
... come living, that He may come to judge in power. He spareth at present the people who blaspheme Him, because “the long-suffering of God leadeth to repentance.” For He who now spareth, will not always spare: nor will He, who is now being preached that He may be feared, fail to come to judge. He will come, my brethren, He will come: let us fear Him, and let us live so that we may be found on His right hand. For He will come, and will judge, so as to place some on the left hand, some on the right.[Matthew 25:31-33] And He doth not act in an uncertain manner, so as to err perchance betwixt men, so that he who should be set on the right hand, be set on the left; or that he who ought to stand on the left, by a mistake of God should stand on the right: He cannot ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 603, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXXV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5487 (In-Text, Margin)
8. But will it be thus always, that the ungodly have power over the righteous? It will not be so. The rod of the ungodly is felt for a season upon the lot of the righteous; but it is not left there, it will not be there for ever. A time will come, when Christ, appearing in his glory, shall gather all nations before Him.[Matthew 25:32-33] And thou wilt see there many slaves among the sheep, and many masters among the goats; and again many masters among the sheep, many slaves among the goats. For all slaves are not good—do not infer this from the consolation we have given to servants—nor are all masters evil, because we have thus repressed the pride of masters. There are ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 199, footnote 8 (Image)
Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome
The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret. (HTML)
Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus. (HTML)
The Unconfounded. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1291 (In-Text, Margin)
... men in that He hath raised Him from the dead,” and I have learnt from the holy Angels that He will come in like manner as the disciples saw Him going into heaven. Now they saw His nature not unlimited. For I have heard the words of the Lord, “Ye shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven,” and I acknowledge that what is seen of men is limited, for the unlimited nature is invisible. Furthermore to sit upon a throne of glory and to set the lambs upon the right and the kids upon the left[Matthew 25:31-33] indicates limitation.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 226, footnote 10 (Image)
Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome
The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret. (HTML)
Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus. (HTML)
The Impassible. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1469 (In-Text, Margin)
Orth. —But the blessed Paul calls Him “sin” and “curse.” As curse therefore He satisfies the type of the accursed serpent; as sin He explains the figure of the sacrifice of the goats, for on behalf of sin, in the Law, a goat, and not a lamb, was offered. So the Lord in the Gospels likened the just to lambs, but sinners to kids;[Matthew 25:32] and since He was ordained to undergo the passion not only on behalf of just men, but also of sinners, He appropriately foreshadows His own offering through lambs and goats.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 557, footnote 4 (Image)
Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome
Life and Works of Rufinus with Jerome's Apology Against Rufinus. (HTML)
A Commentary on the Apostles' Creed. (HTML)
Section 34 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3400 (In-Text, Margin)
... shall say unto you, lo, here is Christ, or lo, He is there, believe it not. For many false Christs and false prophets shall come and shall seduce many.” But let us see how He hath pointed out the judgment of the true Christ: “As the lightning shineth from the east unto the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.” When, therefore, the true Lord Jesus Christ shall come, He will sit and set up his throne of judgment. As also He says in the Gospel, “He shall separate the sheep from the goats,”[Matthew 25:32] that is, the righteous from the unrighteous; as the Apostle writes, “We must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every man may receive the awards due to the body, according as he hath done, whether they be good or evil.” Moreover, the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 112, footnote 6 (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 1942 (In-Text, Margin)
... righteous deeds. And this has the Judge Himself declared—for it is Christ who judges— for neither doth the Father judge any man, but he hath given all judgment unto the Son, not divesting Himself of His power, but judging through the Son; the Son therefore judgeth by the will of the Father; for the wills of the Father and of the Son are not different, but one and the same. What then says the Judge, as to whether thou shalt bear thy works, or no? And before Him shall they gather all nations[Matthew 25:32]: (for in the presence of Christ every knee must bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth:) and He shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. How does the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 382, footnote 1 (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 the Resurrection of the Dead. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1008 (In-Text, Margin)
21. But hear, my beloved, this proof that retribution shall take place at the end. For when the Shepherd divides His flock and sets some on His right hand and some on His left,[Matthew 25:32] until He shall have acknowledged the service of the good, then He will cause them to inherit the kingdom; and until He shall have rebuked the evil and they are condemned, then He will send them to the torment. And as to them that sent messengers after the King, saying, This man shall not be king over us, when He shall receive the kingdom and return, then His adversaries shall be slain before Him. And ...