Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Matthew 27:40
There are 22 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 430, footnote 7 (Image)
Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents
Apocrypha of the New Testament. (HTML)
The Gospel of Nicodemus; Part I.--The Acts of Pilate: Second Greek Form. (HTML)
Chapter 10. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1909 (In-Text, Margin)
... and filled it with gall and vinegar mixed, and put it on a reed, and gave Jesus to drink. And having tasted it, He would not drink it. And the Jews standing and looking on laughed at Him, and said: If thou truly sayst that thou art the Son of God, come down from the cross, and immediately, that we may believe in thee. Others said mocking: Others he saved, others he cured, and he healed the sick, the paralytic, the lepers, the demoniacs, the blind, the lame, the dead; and himself he cannot cure.[Matthew 27:40-42]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 123, footnote 4 (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 LI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3588 (In-Text, Margin)
... for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city: and it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin. [33] And the chief priests said unto Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but, He it is [34] that said, I am the King of the Jews. Pilate said unto them, What hath been [35] written hath been written. And the people were standing beholding; and they [36] that passed by were reviling him, and shaking their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days,[Matthew 27:40] save thyself if thou art the Son [37] of God, and come down from the cross. And in like manner the chief priests and the [Arabic, p. 195] scribes and the elders and the Pharisees derided him, and laughed one with [38, 39] another, and said, The ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 74, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)
Augustin explains for what the Son of God was sent; but, however, that the Son of God, although made less by being sent, is not therefore less because the Father sent Him; nor yet the Holy Spirit less because both the Father sent Him and the Son. (HTML)
The Three Days of the Resurrection, in Which Also the Ratio of Single to Double is Apparent. (HTML)
... and entire, but the first day is counted as a whole from its last part, and the third day is itself also counted as a whole from its first part; but the intervening day, i.e. the second day, was absolutely a whole with its twenty-four hours, twelve of the day and twelve of the night. For He was crucified first by the voices of the Jews in the third hour, when it was the sixth day of the week. Then He hung on the cross itself at the sixth hour, and yielded up His spirit at the ninth hour.[Matthew 27:23-50] But He was buried, “now when the even was come,” as the words of the evangelist express it; which means, at the end of the day. Wheresoever then you begin,—even if some other explanation can be given, so as not to contradict the Gospel of John, but ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 203, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
The Harmony of the Gospels. (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
Of the Consistency of the Accounts Given by Matthew, Mark, and Luke on the Subject of the Parties Who Insulted the Lord. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1425 (In-Text, Margin)
52. Matthew goes on in the following strain: “And they that passed by reviled Him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself: if thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.”[Matthew 27:39-40] Mark’s statement agrees with this almost to the letter. Then Matthew continues thus: “Likewise also the chief priests, mocking Him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save: if he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver him now, if He will: for he said, I am ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 376, 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)
Delivered on the Lord’s Day, on that which is written in the Gospel, Matt. xx. 1, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that was a householder, who went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.’ (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2853 (In-Text, Margin)
... was despised, and that which was hidden was not known. “For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” But is He still to be despised now that He sitteth in heaven, if He were despised when He was hanging on the tree? They who crucified Him wagged their head, and standing before His Cross, as though they had attained the fruit of their cruel rage, they said in mockery, “If He be the Son of God, let Him come down from the Cross. He saved others, Himself He cannot save.”[Matthew 27:40] He came not down, because He lay hid. For with far greater ease could He have come down from the Cross, who had power to rise again from the grave. He showed forth an example of patience for our instruction. He delayed His power, and was not ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 445, 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, Luke xiii. 6, where we are told of the fig-tree, which bare no fruit for three years; and of the woman which was in an infirmity eighteen years; and on the words of the ninth Psalm, v. 19, ‘Arise, O Lord; let not man prevail: let the nations be judged in thy sight.’ (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3452 (In-Text, Margin)
... leave a Virgin. But Thou wast not acknowledged; Thou wast Seen, and yet wast hidden. Infirmity was seen, Power was hidden. All this was done, that Thou mightest shed that Blood, which is our Price. Thou didst so great miracles, didst give health to the weaknesses of the sick, didst show forth many acts of mercy, and receivedst evil for good. They mocked Thee, Thou didst hang upon the tree; the ungodly wagged their heads before Thee, and said, “If Thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.”[Matthew 27:40] Hadst Thou then lost Thy power, or rather wast Thou showing forth Thy Patience? and yet they mocked Thee, and yet they derided Thee, yet, when Thou wast slain, they went away as if victorious. Lo, Thou art laid in the sepulchre: “Arise, Lord, let ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 471, 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, John i. 48,’When thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee,’ etc. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3647 (In-Text, Margin)
... which Himself said, “Whosoever shall stumble against This Stone shall be shaken; but on whomsoever That Stone shall fall, It will crush him.” It is stumbled against as It lies on the earth; but It will fall on him, when He shall come from on high to judge the quick and dead. Woe to the Jews, for that when Christ lay low in His humility, they stumbled against Him. “This Man,” say they, “is not of God, because He breaketh the sabbath day.” “If He be the Son of God, let Him come down from the cross.”[Matthew 27:40] Madman, the Stone lies on the ground, and so thou deridest It. But since thou dost deride It, thou art blind; since thou art blind, thou stumblest; since thou stumblest, thou art shaken; since thou hast been shaken by It as It now lies on the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 19, footnote 5 (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. 15–18. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 47 (In-Text, Margin)
... even by those by whom He was crucified. He who was seized, buffeted, scourged, spit upon, crowned with thorns, suspended upon the cross, died, pierced by the spear, taken down from the cross, laid in the sepulchre. That same Jesus Christ our Lord, that same Jesus exactly, He is the complete Physician of our wounds. That crucified One at whom insults were cast, and while He hung on the cross His persecutors wagging the head, and saying, “If he be the Son of God, let him come down from the cross,”[Matthew 27:39-40] —He, and no other, is our complete Physician. Wherefore, then, did He not show to his deriders that He was the Son of God; so that if He allowed Himself to be lifted up upon the cross, at least when they said, “If he be the Son of God, let him come ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 131, footnote 13 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XLI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1217 (In-Text, Margin)
12. “By this I know that Thou favourest Me, that Mine enemies shall not triumph over Me” (ver. 11.) Because the Jews did triumph, when they saw Christ crucified; they thought that they had fulfilled their will to do Him hurt: the fruits of their cruelty they saw in effect, Christ hanging on the Cross: they shook their heads, saying, “If Thou be the Son of God, come down from the Cross.”[Matthew 27:39-40] He came not down, who could; His Potency He showed not, but patience taught. For if, on their saying these things, He had come down from the Cross, He would have seemed as it were to yield to them insulting, and not being able to endure reproach, would have been believed conquered: more firm remained He ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 172, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XLIX (HTML)
Part 1 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1637 (In-Text, Margin)
... is this? He shall not comprehend what death is, whenever he shall have seen wise men dying. For he saith to himself, “this fellow, for all he was wise and dwelled with wisdom and worshipped God with piety, is he not dead? Therefore I will enjoy myself while I live; for if they that are wise in other respects, could do anything, they would not have died.” Just as the Jews saw Christ hanging on the Cross and despised Him, saying, “If this Man were the Son of God, He would come down from the Cross:”[Matthew 27:40] not seeing what death is. If they had seen what death is; if they had seen, I say. He died for a time, that He might live again for ever: they lived for a time, that they might die for ever. But because they saw Him dying, they saw not death, that ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 179, footnote 10 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm L (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1697 (In-Text, Margin)
... perceived; be despised, in order that He might be slain. There was semblance of glory in divinity, but it lay concealed in flesh. “For if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.” So then He walked hidden among the Jews, among His enemies, doing marvels, suffering ills, until He was hanged on the tree, and the Jews seeing Him hanging both despised Him the more, and before the Cross wagging their heads they said, “If He be the Son of God, let Him come down from the Cross.”[Matthew 27:39-40] Hidden then was the God of gods, and He gave forth words more out of compassion for us than out of His own majesty. For whence, unless assumed from us, were those words, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” But when hath the Father forsaken ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 203, footnote 9 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1939 (In-Text, Margin)
... Soft words they seemed but now to say: “Let us crown us with roses, before they be withered.” What more delicate, what more soft? Wouldest thou expect, out of this softness, Crosses, swords? Wonder not, soft are even the roots of brambles; if any one handle them, he is not pricked: but that wherewith thou shalt be pricked from thence hath birth. “Corrupted,” therefore, are those men, “and abominable have become in their iniquities.” They say, “If Son of God He is, let Him come down from the Cross.”[Matthew 27:40] Behold them openly saying, “He is not God.”…
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 213, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2020 (In-Text, Margin)
... again.”—“And whence is it possible for this to be done?” thou contradictest.—Give heed at least to the glory of the Cross itself. Now on the brow of kings that Cross hath been fixed, over which enemies insulted. The effect hath proved the virtue. It hath subdued the world, not with steel, but with wood. The wood of the Cross deserving of insults hath seemed to enemies, and before the wood itself standing they were wagging the head, and saying, “If Son of God He is, let Him come down from the Cross.”[Matthew 27:40] He was stretching forth His hands to a people unbelieving and contradicting. For if just he is that of faith liveth, unjust he is that hath not faith. By that which here he saith “iniquity,” I understand unbelief. The Lord therefore was seeing in ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 247, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2318 (In-Text, Margin)
... hanging and was being despised: the grain was within, it had powers to draw after it all things. How in a grain do numbers of seeds lie hid, something abject it appeareth to the eyes, but a power turning into itself matter and bringing forth fruit is hidden; so in Christ’s Cross virtue was hidden, there appeared weakness. O mighty grain! Doubtless weak is He that hangeth, Doubtless before Him that people did wag the head, Doubtless they said, “If Son of God He is, let Him come down from the Cross.”[Matthew 27:40] Hear the strength of Him: that which is a weak thing of God, is stronger than men. With reason so great fruitfulness hath followed: it is mine, saith the Church.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 266, footnote 13 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXIV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2526 (In-Text, Margin)
... perceived”? Was it, O Lord Jesus Christ, that Thou wast silent, and like a sheep for a victim wast being led, and didst not open before the shearer Thy mouth, and we thought Thee to be set in smiting and in grief, and knowing how to bear weakness? Was it that Thou wast hiding Thy beauty, O Thou beautiful in form before the sons of men? Was it that Thou didst not seem to have beauty nor grace? Thou didst bear on the Cross men reviling and saying, “If Son of God He is, let Him come down from the Cross.”[Matthew 27:40] …This thing they, that would have had Him come down from the Cross, perceived not: but when He rose again, and being glorified ascended into Heaven, they perceived the works of God.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 294, footnote 13 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXVIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2817 (In-Text, Margin)
... humble, saying, “O Lord, be Thou merciful to me a sinner.” But He shall break in pieces their heads: for he that exalteth himself shall be humbled. And thus though even of the Lord be the outgoing of death: nevertheless the same Lord, because He was God, and died after the flesh of His own will, not of necessity, “shall break in pieces the heads of His enemies:” not only of those who mocked and crucified Him, and wagged their heads, and said, “If Son of God He is, let Him come down from the Cross;”[Matthew 27:40] but also of all men lifting up themselves against His doctrine, and deriding His death as though it were of a man. For that very same One of whom hath been said, “Others He saved, Himself He can not save,” is the “God of our healths,” and is the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 318, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3105 (In-Text, Margin)
... God maketh this answer to thee, yea indeed let thy strength fail, in order that in thee mine may abide: in order that thou mayest say with the Apostle, “When I am made weak, then I am mighty.” Fear not, that thou be cast away in that weakness, in that old age. But why? Was not thy Lord made weak on the Cross? Did not most mighty men and fat bulls before Him, as though a man of no strength, made captive and oppressed, shake the head and say, “If Son of God He is, let Him come down from the Cross”?[Matthew 27:39-40] Has he deserted because He was made weak, who preferred not to come down from the Cross, lest He should seem not to have displayed power, but to have yielded to them reviling? What did He hanging teach thee, that would not come down, but patience ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 348, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXIV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3374 (In-Text, Margin)
... hast conducted me, and with glory Thou hast taken me up.” In Thy will, not in my righteousness: by Thy gift, not by my work. Therefore here also, “the enemy hath reviled the Lord: and the unwise people hath provoked Thy name.” Have they all then perished? Far be it.…For even the Apostle Paul through unbelief had been broken, and through faith unto the root he was restored. So evidently “the unwise people provoked Thy name,” when it was said, “If Son of God He is let Him come down from the Cross.”[Matthew 27:40]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 387, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3749 (In-Text, Margin)
... people of Israel. For there is Ephraim, there Manasses, there Benjamin. But to the interpretation let us look: Ephraim is fruit-bearing, Benjamin son of right hand, Manasses one forgetful. Appear Thou then before one made fruitful, before a son of the right hand: appear Thou before one forgetful, in order that he may be no longer forgetful, but Thou mayest come into his mind that hast delivered him.…For weak Thou wast when it was being said, “If Son of God He is, let Him come down from the Cross.”[Matthew 27:40] Thou wast seeming to have no power: the persecutor had power over Thee: and Thou didst show this aforetime, for Jacob too himself prevailed in wrestling, a man with an angel. Would he at any time, except the angel had been willing? And man ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 292, footnote 1 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
Letters of St. Chrysostom to Olympias. (HTML)
To My Lady. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 923 (In-Text, Margin)
... and when the servant of the High-Priest dealt Him a blow; and when the soldiers parted His garments amongst them and when He was led up to the cross, having the marks of the scourge upon His back, and was fastened to the wood, how many think you were offended? For not even then were those savage beasts softened, but became more furious than before, and the tragedy became more intense, and the ribaldry increased. For some said “Ah! thou that destroyest the temple, and in three days buildest it up;”[Matthew 27:40] and some, “He saved others, Himself He cannot save.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 292, footnote 3 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
Letters of St. Chrysostom to Olympias. (HTML)
To My Lady. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 925 (In-Text, Margin)
And others said “If thou art the Son of God come down from the cross and we will believe thee.”[Matthew 27:40]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 578, footnote 7 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Letters of Athanasius with Two Ancient Chronicles of His Life. (HTML)
The Festal Letters, and their Index. (HTML)
Personal Letters. (HTML)
Letter to Maximus. (Written about 371 A.D.) (HTML)
... have reluctantly yielded to your zeal for the truth, in view of the argumentativeness of men without shame. And I have dictated nothing beyond what your letter contains, in order that the adversary may from henceforth be convinced on the points to which he has objected, and may ‘keep his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no guile.’ And would that they would no longer join the Jews who passed by of old in reproaching Him that hung upon the Tree: ‘If thou be the Son of God save Thyself[Matthew 27:40].’ But if even after this they will not give in, yet do you remember the apostolic injunction, and ‘a man that is heretical after a first and second admonition refuse, knowing that such an one is perverted and sinneth being self-condemned.’ For if ...