Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts

Matthew 28:19

There are 86 footnotes for this reference.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 84, footnote 23 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Ignatius (HTML)

Epistle to the Philadelphians: Shorter and Longer Versions (HTML)

Chapter IX.—The Old Testament is good: the New Testament is better. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 964 (In-Text, Margin)

... and only true God. But the Gospel possesses something transcendent [above the former dispensation], viz. the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, His passion, and the resurrection itself. For those things which the prophets announced, saying, “Until He come for whom it is reserved, and He shall be the expectation of the Gentiles,” have been fulfilled in the Gospel, [our Lord saying,] “Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”[Matthew 28:19] All then are good together, the law, the prophets, the apostles, the whole company [of others] that have believed through them: only if we love one another.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 116, footnote 20 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Ignatius (HTML)

Epistle to the Philippians (HTML)

Chapter II.—Unity of the three divine persons. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1316 (In-Text, Margin)

... one hope of our calling.” And again, “We have drunk of one Spirit,” with what follows. And it is manifest that all these gifts [possessed by believers] “worketh one and the self-same Spirit.” There are not then either three Fathers, or three Sons, or three Paracletes, but one Father, and one Son, and one Paraclete. Wherefore also the Lord, when He sent forth the apostles to make disciples of all nations, commanded them to “baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,”[Matthew 28:19] not unto one [person] having three names, nor into three [persons] who became incarnate, but into three possessed of equal honour.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 444, footnote 11 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Irenæus (HTML)

Against Heresies: Book III (HTML)

Chapter XVII.—The apostles teach that it was neither Christ nor the Saviour, but the Holy Spirit, who did descend upon Jesus. The reason for this descent. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3618 (In-Text, Margin)

... it was declared by Isaiah, “And the Spirit of God shall rest upon Him,” as I have already said. And again: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me.” That is the Spirit of whom the Lord declares, “For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.” And again, giving to the disciples the power of regeneration into God, He said to them, “Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”[Matthew 28:19] For [God] promised, that in the last times He would pour Him [the Spirit] upon [His] servants and handmaids, that they might prophesy; wherefore He did also descend upon the Son of God, made the Son of man, becoming accustomed in fellowship with Him ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 156, footnote 7 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Apologetic. (HTML)

An Answer to the Jews. (HTML)

Of Sacrifices. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1201 (In-Text, Margin)

... land there should be offered sacrifices to God? as He says through the angel Malachi, one of the twelve prophets: “I will not receive sacrifice from your hands; for from the rising sun unto the setting my Name hath been made famous among all the nations, saith the Lord Almighty: and in every place they offer clean sacrifices to my Name.” Again, in the Psalms, David says: “Bring to God, ye countries of the nations”—undoubtedly because “unto every land” the preaching of the apostles had to “go out”[Matthew 28:19-20] —“bring to God fame and honour; bring to God the sacrifices of His name: take up victims and enter into His courts.” For that it is not by earthly sacrifices, but by spiritual, that offering is to be made to God, we thus read, as it is written, An ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 247, footnote 18 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

The Prescription Against Heretics. (HTML)

Christ's Word, Seek, and Ye Shall Find, No Warrant for Heretical Deviations from the Faith. All Christ's Words to the Jews are for Us, Not Indeed as Specific Commands, But as Principles to Be Applied. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1947 (In-Text, Margin)

... also some promise had been given; that is to say, “the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.” Now, the Gentiles knew nothing either of Him, or of any of His promises. Therefore it was to Israel that he spake when He said, “I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Not yet had He “cast to the dogs the children’s bread;” not yet did He charge them to “go into the way of the Gentiles.” It is only at the last that He instructs them to “go and teach all nations, and baptize them,”[Matthew 28:19] when they were so soon to receive “the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, who should guide them into all the truth.” And this, too, makes towards the same conclusion. If the apostles, who were ordained to be teachers to the Gentiles, were themselves to have ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 252, footnote 2 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

The Prescription Against Heretics. (HTML)

Christ First Delivered the Faith. The Apostles Spread It; They Founded Churches as the Depositories Thereof. That Faith, Therefore, is Apostolic, Which Descended from the Apostles, Through Apostolic Churches. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2052 (In-Text, Margin)

... what the duty of man was which He was prescribing; (and this declaration He made,) either openly to the people, or privately to His disciples, of whom He had chosen the twelve chief ones to be at His side, and whom He destined to be the teachers of the nations. Accordingly, after one of these had been struck off, He commanded the eleven others, on His departure to the Father, to “go and teach all nations, who were to be baptized into the Father, and into the Son, and into the Holy Ghost.”[Matthew 28:19] Immediately, therefore, so did the apostles, whom this designation indicates as “ the sent.” Having, on the authority of a prophecy, which occurs in a psalm of David, chosen Matthias by lot as the twelfth, into the place of Judas, they ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 423, footnote 7 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

The Five Books Against Marcion. (HTML)

Book IV. In Which Tertullian Pursues His Argument. Jesus is the Christ of the Creator. He Derives His Proofs from St. Luke's Gospel; That Being the Only Historical Portion of the New Testament Partially Accepted by Marcion. This Book May Also Be Regarded as a Commentary on St. Luke. It Gives Remarkable Proof of Tertullian's Grasp of Scripture, and Proves that “The Old Testament is Not Contrary to the New.“ It Also Abounds in Striking Expositions of Scriptural Passages, Embracing Profound Views of Revelation, in Connection with the Nature of Man. (HTML)
Conclusions. Jesus as the Christ of the Creator Proved from the Events of the Last Chapter of St. Luke. The Pious Women at the Sepulchre. The Angels at the Resurrection. The Manifold Appearances of Christ After the Resurrection. His Mission of the Apostles Amongst All Nations.  All Shown to Be in Accordance with the Wisdom of the Almighty Father, as Indicated in Prophecy. The Body of Christ After Death No Mere Phantom.  Marcion's Manipulation of the Gospel on This Point. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5188 (In-Text, Margin)

And now, as I would venture to believe, we have accomplished our undertaking. We have set forth Jesus Christ as none other than the Christ of the Creator. Our proofs we have drawn from His doctrines, maxims, affections, feelings, miracles, sufferings, and even resurrection—as foretold by the prophets. Even to the last He taught us (the same truth of His mission), when He sent forth His apostles to preach His gospel “among all nations;”[Matthew 28:19] for He thus fulfilled the psalm: “Their sound is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.” Marcion, I pity you; your labour has been in vain. For the Jesus Christ who appears in your Gospel is mine.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 676, footnote 2 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Ethical. (HTML)

On Baptism. (HTML)

Another Objection:  Abraham Pleased God Without Being Baptized. Answer Thereto. Old Things Must Give Place to New, and Baptism is Now a Law. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8680 (In-Text, Margin)

... and is become a faith which believes in His nativity, passion, and resurrection, there has been an amplification added to the sacrament, viz., the sealing act of baptism; the clothing, in some sense, of the faith which before was bare, and which cannot exist now without its proper law. For the law of baptizing has been imposed, and the formula prescribed: “Go,” He saith, “teach the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”[Matthew 28:19] The comparison with this law of that definition, “Unless a man have been reborn of water and Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of the heavens,” has tied faith to the necessity of baptism. Accordingly, all thereafter who became ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 228, footnote 16 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Hippolytus. (HTML)

The Extant Works and Fragments of Hippolytus. (HTML)

Dogmatical and Historical. (HTML)
Against the Heresy of One Noetus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1679 (In-Text, Margin)

... Father, but gave Him not thanks, for they did not recognise the Son. The disciples recognised the Son, but not in the Holy Ghost; wherefore they also denied Him. The Father’s Word, therefore, knowing the economy (disposition) and the will of the Father, to wit, that the Father seeks to be worshipped in none other way than this, gave this charge to the disciples after He rose from the dead: “Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”[Matthew 28:19] And by this He showed, that whosoever omitted any one of these, failed in glorifying God perfectly. For it is through this Trinity that the Father is glorified. For the Father willed, the Son did, the Spirit manifested. The whole Scriptures, then, ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 302, footnote 1 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)

To Moyses and Maximus and the Rest of the Confessors. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2287 (In-Text, Margin)

... Gospel, and bring impious hands to the work of undermining the Lord’s precepts:—to have before afforded the indications of courage, and now to afford lessons of life. The Lord, when, after His resurrection, He sent forth His apostles, charges them, saying, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”[Matthew 28:18-20] And the Apostle John, remembering this charge, subsequently lays it down in his epistle: “Hereby,” says he, “we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that saith he knoweth Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 363, footnote 10 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)

Cæcilius, on the Sacrament of the Cup of the Lord. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2707 (In-Text, Margin)

... world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” Lest therefore we should walk in darkness, we ought to follow Christ, and to observe his precepts, because He Himself told His apostles in another place, as He sent them forth, “All power is given unto me in heaven and earth. Go, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”[Matthew 28:18-20] Wherefore, if we wish to walk in the light of Christ, let us not depart from His precepts and monitions, giving thanks that, while He instructs for the future what we ought to do, He pardons for the past wherein we in our simplicity have erred. And ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 380, footnote 5 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)

To Jubaianus, Concerning the Baptism of Heretics. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2854 (In-Text, Margin)

... ashamed to know, let us examine in the meantime about Marcion alone, the mention of whom has been made in the letter transmitted by you to us, whether the ground of his baptism can be made good. For the Lord after His resurrection, sending His disciples, instructed and taught them in what manner they ought to baptize, saying, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”[Matthew 28:18-19] He suggests the Trinity, in whose sacrament the nations were to be baptized. Does Marcion then maintain the Trinity? Does he then assert the same Father, the Creator, as we do? Does he know the same Son, Christ born of the Virgin Mary, who as the ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 526, footnote 5 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)

Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book II. (HTML)
That after He had risen again He should receive from His Father all power, and His power should be everlasting. (HTML)CCEL Footnote 4102 (In-Text, Margin)

... His right hand upon me, and said, Fear not; I am the first and the last, and He that liveth and was dead; and, lo, I am living for evermore and I have the keys of death and of hell.” Likewise in the Gospel, the Lord after His resurrection says to His disciples: “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”[Matthew 28:18-20]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 567, footnote 2 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Seventh Council of Carthage under Cyprian. Concerning the Baptism of Heretics. (HTML)

The Seventh Council of Carthage under Cyprian. Concerning the Baptism of Heretics. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4697 (In-Text, Margin)

... Galbæ said: Since the Lord in His Gospel said, “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt should have lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out of doors, and to be trodden under foot of men.” And again, after His resurrection, sending His apostles, He gave them charge, saying, “All power is given unto me, in heaven and in earth. Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”[Matthew 28:18-19] Since, therefore, it is manifest that heretics—that is, the enemies of Christ—have not the sound confession of the sacrament; moreover, that schismatics cannot season others with spiritual wisdom, since they themselves, by departing from the Church, ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 567, footnote 9 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Seventh Council of Carthage under Cyprian. Concerning the Baptism of Heretics. (HTML)

The Seventh Council of Carthage under Cyprian. Concerning the Baptism of Heretics. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4704 (In-Text, Margin)

Munnulus of Girba said: The truth of our Mother the Catholic Church, brethren, hath always remained and still remains with us, and even especially in the Trinity of baptism, as our Lord says, “Go ye and baptize the nations, in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”[Matthew 28:19] Since, then, we manifestly know that heretics have not either Father, or Son, or Holy Spirit, they ought, when they come to the Church our Mother, truly to be born again and to be baptized; that the cancer which they had, and the anger of damnation, and the witchery of error, may be sanctified by the holy and heavenly laver.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 569, footnote 13 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Seventh Council of Carthage under Cyprian. Concerning the Baptism of Heretics. (HTML)

The Seventh Council of Carthage under Cyprian. Concerning the Baptism of Heretics. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4744 (In-Text, Margin)

Vincentius of Thibaris said: We know that heretics are worse than Gentiles. If, therefore, being converted, they should wish to come to the Lord, we have assuredly the rule of truth which the Lord by His divine precept commanded to His apostles, saying, “Go ye, lay on hands in my name, expel demons.” And in another place: “Go ye and teach the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”[Matthew 28:19] Therefore first of all by imposition of hands in exorcism, secondly by the regeneration of baptism, they may then come to the promise of Christ. Otherwise I think it ought not to be done.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 658, footnote 8 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Appendix. (HTML)

Anonymous Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian. (HTML)

A Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian by an Anonymous Bishop. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5360 (In-Text, Margin)

... of baptism which is provided for the salvation of the human race, and that by the heavenly plan it is celebrated in the Church only. Moreover, three times sent forth from the ark, flying about through the air over the water, it already signified the sacraments of our Church. Whence also the Lord Christ charges upon Peter, and moreover also upon the rest of His disciples, “Go ye and preach the Gospel to the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”[Matthew 28:19] That is, that that same Trinity which operated figuratively in Noah’s days through the dove, now operates in the Church spiritually through the disciples.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 667, footnote 1 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Appendix. (HTML)

Anonymous Treatise on Re-baptism. (HTML)

A Treatise on Re-Baptism by an Anonymous Writer. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5427 (In-Text, Margin)

1. I observe that it has been asked among the brethren what course ought specially to be adopted towards the persons of those who, although baptized in heresy, have yet been baptized in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,[Matthew 28:19] and subsequently departing from their heresy, and fleeing as supplicants to the Church of God, should repent with their whole hearts, and only now perceiving the condemnation of their error, implore from the Church the help of salvation. The point is whether, according to the most ancient custom and ecclesiastical tradition, it would suffice, after that baptism which ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 671, footnote 2 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Appendix. (HTML)

Anonymous Treatise on Re-baptism. (HTML)

A Treatise on Re-Baptism by an Anonymous Writer. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5443 (In-Text, Margin)

7. Neither must you esteem what our Lord said as being contrary to this treatment: “Go ye, teach the nations; baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”[Matthew 28:19] Because, although this is true and right, and to be observed by all means in the Church, and moreover has been used to be observed, yet it behoves us to consider that invocation of the name of Jesus ought not to be thought futile by us on account of the veneration and power of that very name, in which name all kinds of power are accustomed to be exercised, and occasionally some even by men outside the ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 44, footnote 1 (Image)

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

Gregory Thaumaturgus. (HTML)

Dubious or Spurious Writings. (HTML)

A Sectional Confession of Faith. (HTML)
Section XIII. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 328 (In-Text, Margin)

Seest thou that all through Scripture the Spirit is preached, and yet nowhere named a creature? And what can the impious have to say if the Lord sends forth His disciples to baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit?[Matthew 28:19] Without contradiction, that implies a communion and unity between them, according to which there are neither three divinities nor (three) lordships; but, while there remain truly and certainly the three persons, the real unity of the three must be acknowledged. And in this way proper credit will be given to the sending and the being sent (in the Godhead), ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 345, footnote 9 (Image)

Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies

Victorinus (HTML)

Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John (HTML)

From the first chapter (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2256 (In-Text, Margin)

... Thessalonians, says: “Whom the Lord Jesus will slay by the breath of His mouth.” And Isaiah says: “By the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.” This, therefore, is the two-edged sword issuing out of His mouth.15. “And His voice as it were the voice of many waters.”] The many waters are understood to be many peoples, or the gift of baptism that He sent forth by the apostles, saying: “Go ye, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”[Matthew 28:19]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 379, footnote 15 (Image)

Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies

The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (HTML)

The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (HTML)

Chapter VII.—Concerning Baptism (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2443 (In-Text, Margin)

1. And concerning baptism, thus baptize ye: Having first said all these things, baptize into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,[Matthew 28:19] in living water. 2. But if thou have not living water, baptize into other water; and if thou canst not in cold, in warm. 3. But if thou have not either, pour out water thrice upon the head into the name of Father and Son and Holy Spirit. 4. But before the baptism let the baptizer fast, and the baptized, and whatever others can; but thou shalt order the baptized to fast one or two days before.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 410, 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. IV.—On the Management of the Resources Collected for the Support of the Clergy, and the Relief of the Poor (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2727 (In-Text, Margin)

... as we cannot believe on Christ without the teaching of the Spirit, so let not any woman address herself to the deacon or bishop without the deaconess. Let the presbyters be esteemed by you to represent us the apostles, and let them be the teachers of divine knowledge; since our Lord, when He sent us, said, “Go ye, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”[Matthew 28:19] Let the widows and orphans be esteemed as representing the altar of burnt-offering; and let the virgins be honoured as representing the altar of incense, and the incense itself.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 442, footnote 10 (Image)

Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies

Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)

Book V (HTML)

Sec. I.—Concerning the Martyrs (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3035 (In-Text, Margin)

... will raise the dead. For we testify all these things concerning Him, and the prophets testify the other. We who have eaten and drunk with Him, and have been spectators of His wonderful works, and of His life, and of His conduct, and of His words, and of His sufferings, and of His death, and of His resurrection from the dead, and who associated with Him forty days after His resurrection, and who received a command from Him to preach the Gospel to all the world, and to make disciples of all nations,[Matthew 28:19] and to baptize them into His death by the authority of the God of the universe, who is His Father, and by the testimony of the Spirit, who is His Comforter,—we teach you all these things which He appointed us by His constitutions, before “He was ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 469, footnote 13 (Image)

Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies

Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)

Book VII. Concerning the Christian Life, and the Eucharist, and the Initiation into Christ (HTML)

Sec. II.—On the Formation of the Character of Believers, and on Giving of Thanks to God (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3448 (In-Text, Margin)

XXII. Now concerning baptism, O bishop, or presbyter, we have already given direction, and we now say, that thou shalt so baptize as the Lord commanded us, saying: “Go ye, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost (teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you):”[Matthew 28:19] of the Father who sent, of Christ who came, of the Comforter who testified. But thou shalt beforehand anoint the person with the holy oil, and afterward baptize him with the water, and in the conclusion shall seal him with the ointment; that the anointing with oil may be the participation of the Holy Spirit, and ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 476, footnote 3 (Image)

Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies

Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)

Book VII. Concerning the Christian Life, and the Eucharist, and the Initiation into Christ (HTML)

Sec. III.—On the Instruction of Catechumens, and Their Initiation into Baptism (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3529 (In-Text, Margin)

... mysteries. He must beforehand purify his heart from all wickedness of disposition, from all spot and wrinkle, and then partake of the holy things; for as the skilfullest husbandman does first purge his ground of the thorns which are grown up therein, and does then sow his wheat, so ought you also to take away all impiety from them, and then to sow the seeds of piety in them, and vouchsafe them baptism. For even our Lord did in this manner exhort us, saying first, “Make disciples of all nations;”[Matthew 28:19] and then He adds this, “and baptize them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” Let, therefore, the candidate for baptism declare thus in his renunciation: —

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 106, footnote 3 (Image)

Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents

Pseudo-Clementine Literature. (HTML)

The Recognitions of Clement. (HTML)

Book II. (HTML)
Authority. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 628 (In-Text, Margin)

Then Peter: “Do not rashly take exception, O Simon, against the things which you do not understand. In the first place, I shall answer your assertion, that I set forth the words of my Master, and from them resolve matters about which there is still doubt. Our Lord, when He sent us apostles to preach, enjoined us to teach all nations[Matthew 28:19-20] the things which were committed to us. We cannot therefore speak those things as they were spoken by Himself. For our commission is not to speak, but to teach those things, and from them to show how every one of them rests upon truth. Nor, again, are we permitted to speak anything of our own. For we are sent; and of ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 319, footnote 9 (Image)

Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents

Pseudo-Clementine Literature. (HTML)

The Clementine Homilies. (HTML)

Homily XVII. (HTML)
Man in the Shape of God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1329 (In-Text, Margin)

“Knowing therefore that we knew all that was spoken by Him, and that we could supply the proofs, He sent us to the ignorant Gentiles to baptize them for remission of sins, and commanded us to teach them first.[Matthew 28:19-20] Of His commandments this is the first and great one, to fear the Lord God, and to serve Him only. But He meant us to fear that God whose angels they are who are the angels of the least of the faithful amongst us, and who stand in heaven continually beholding the face of the Father. For He has shape, and He has every limb primarily and solely for beauty’s sake, and not for use. For He has not ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 128, 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 LV. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3855 (In-Text, Margin)

[4] [Arabic, p. 209] Then said Jesus unto them, I have been given all authority in heaven [5] and earth; and as my Father hath sent me, so I also send you. Go now into [6] all the world, and preach my gospel in all the creation;[Matthew 28:19] and teach all the peoples, and [7] baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; and teach them to keep all whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you all the days, unto [8] the end of the world. For whosoever believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but [9] whosoever believeth not shall be rejected. And the signs which shall attend those that ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 426, 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 X. (HTML)
Prophets in Their Country. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5283 (In-Text, Margin)

... their own country among the Jews who went about “in sheep-skins, in goat-skins, being destitute, afflicted,” and so on; “For all that will to live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” And probably because Paul knew this, “That a prophet has no honour in his own country,” though he preached the Word in many places he did not preach it in Tarsus. And the Apostles on this account left Israel and did that which had been enjoined on them by the Saviour, “Make disciples of all the nations,”[Matthew 28:19] and, “Ye shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judæa and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” For they did that which had been commanded them in Judæa and Jerusalem; but, since a prophet has no honour in his own country, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 194, footnote 1 (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 Genesis, Chap. I., Concerning the Origin of the Church and Its Worship. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1206 (In-Text, Margin)

13. Proceed in thy confession, say to the Lord thy God, O my faith, Holy, Holy, Holy, O Lord my God, in Thy name have we been baptized, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in Thy name do we baptize, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,[Matthew 28:19] because among us also in His Christ did God make heaven and earth, namely, the spiritual and carnal people of His Church. Yea, and our earth, before it received the “form of doctrine,” was invisible and formless, and we were covered with the darkness of ignorance. For Thou correctest man for iniquity, and “Thy judgments are a great deep.” But because Thy Spirit was “borne over the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 260, footnote 4 (Image)

Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine

City of God (HTML)

That death is penal, and had its origin in Adam’s sin. (HTML)

How We Must Understand that Breathing of God by Which ‘The First Man Was Made a Living Soul,’ And that Also by Which the Lord Conveyed His Spirit to His Disciples When He Said, ‘Receive Ye the Holy Ghost.’ (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 631 (In-Text, Margin)

... “Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?” or of that physical spirit which is called wind, for so the Psalmist calls it: “Fire and hail; snow and vapors; stormy wind;” or of the uncreated Creator Spirit, of whom the Lord said in the gospel, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost,” indicating the gift by the breathing of His mouth; and when He says, “Go ye and baptize all nations in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,”[Matthew 28:19] words which very expressly and excellently commend the Trinity; and where it is said, “God is a Spirit;” and in very many other places of the sacred writings. In all these quotations from Scripture we do not find in the Greek the word

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 163, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings

Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)

Reply to Faustus the Manichæan. (HTML)

Faustus claims that the Manichæans and not the Catholics are consistent believers in the Gospel, and seeks to establish this claim by comparing Manichæan and Catholic obedience to the precepts of the Gospel.  Augustin exposes the hypocrisy of the Manichæans and praises the asceticism of Catholics. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 325 (In-Text, Margin)

3. Let us then ask Christ Himself, and learn from His own mouth, what is the chief means of our salvation. Who shall enter, O Christ, into Thy kingdom? He that doeth the will of my Father in heaven, is His reply; not, "He that confesses that I was born." And again, He says to His disciples, "Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things which I have commanded you."[Matthew 28:19-20] It is not, "teaching them that I was born," but, "to observe my commandments." Again, "Ye are my friends if ye do what I command you;" not, "if you believe that I was born." Again, "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love," and in many other places. Also ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 418, footnote 8 (Image)

Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings

Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)

On Baptism, Against the Donatists. (HTML)

He proves that baptism can be conferred outside the Catholic communion by heretics or schismatics, but that it ought not to be received from them; and that it is of no avail to any while in a state of heresy or schism. (HTML)
Chapter 11 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1179 (In-Text, Margin)

15. They ask also, "Whether sins are remitted in baptism in the party of Donatus:" so that, if we say that they are remitted, they may answer, then the Holy Spirit is there; for when by the breathing of our Lord the Holy Spirit was given to the disciples, He then went on to say, "Baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."[Matthew 28:19] Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained." And if it is so, they say, then our communion is the Church of Christ; for the Holy Spirit does not work the remission of sins except in the Church. And if our communion is the Church of Christ, then your ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 442, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings

Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)

On Baptism, Against the Donatists. (HTML)

Augustin undertakes the refutation of the arguments which might be derived from the epistle of Cyprian to Jubaianus, to give color to the view that the baptism of Christ could not be conferred by heretics. (HTML)
Chapter 15 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1294 (In-Text, Margin)

20. Accordingly, if Marcion consecrated the sacrament of baptism with the words of the gospel, "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,"[Matthew 28:19] the sacrament was complete, although his faith expressed under the same words, seeing that he held opinions not taught by the Catholic truth, was not complete, but stained with the falsity of fables. For under these same words, "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," not Marcion only, or Valentinus, or Arius, or Eunomius, but the carnal babes of the Church themselves (to whom the apostle ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 486, footnote 5 (Image)

Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings

Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)

On Baptism, Against the Donatists. (HTML)

In which is considered the Council of Carthage, held under the authority and presidency of Cyprian, to determine the question of the baptism of heretics. (HTML)
Chapter 14 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1629 (In-Text, Margin)

... hath said in His gospel, ‘Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, that which is salted from it shall be thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men;’ and seeing that again, after His resurrection, when sending forth His apostles, He commanded them, saying, ‘All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth: go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,’[Matthew 28:18-19] —since then it is plain that heretics, that is, the enemies of Christ, have not the full confession of the sacrament, also that schismatics cannot reason with spiritual wisdom, since they themselves, by withdrawing when they have lost their savor ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 487, footnote 11 (Image)

Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings

Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)

On Baptism, Against the Donatists. (HTML)

In which is considered the Council of Carthage, held under the authority and presidency of Cyprian, to determine the question of the baptism of heretics. (HTML)
Chapter 17 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1645 (In-Text, Margin)

28. Monnulus of Girba said: "The truth of our mother, the Catholic Church, hath continued, and still continues among us, brethren, especially in the threefold nature of baptism, as our Lord says, ‘Go, baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.’[Matthew 28:19] Since, therefore," he goes on to say, "we know clearly that heretics have neither Father, Son, nor Holy Ghost, they ought, on coming to our mother, the Church, to be truly regenerated and baptized, that the cancer which they had, and the wrath of condemnation, and the destructive energy of error may be sanctified by the holy and heavenly laver."

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 495, footnote 8 (Image)

Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings

Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)

On Baptism, Against the Donatists. (HTML)

In which is considered the Council of Carthage, held under the authority and presidency of Cyprian, to determine the question of the baptism of heretics. (HTML)
Chapter 36 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1726 (In-Text, Margin)

69. Eucratius of Theni said: "Our God and Lord Jesus Christ, teaching the apostles with His own mouth, fully laid down our faith, and the grace of baptism, and the rule of the law of the Church, saying, ‘Go ye, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.’[Matthew 28:19] Therefore the false and unrighteous baptism of heretics is to be repudiated by us, and contradicted with all solemnity of witness, seeing that from their mouth issues not life, but poison, not heavenly grace, but blaspheming of the Trinity. And so it is plain that heretics coming to the Church ought to be baptized with perfect and Catholic ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 497, footnote 10 (Image)

Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings

Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)

On Baptism, Against the Donatists. (HTML)

In which is considered the Council of Carthage, held under the authority and presidency of Cyprian, to determine the question of the baptism of heretics. (HTML)
Chapter 44 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1750 (In-Text, Margin)

85. Vincentius of Thibari said: "We know that heretics are worse than heathens. If they, being converted, wish to come to God, they have assuredly a rule of truth, which the Lord by His divine precept committed to the apostles, saying, ‘Go ye, lay on hands in my name, cast out devils;’ and in another place, ‘Go ye, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.’[Matthew 28:19] Therefore, first by the laying on of hands in exorcism, secondly by regeneration in baptism, they may come to the promises of Christ; but my judgment is that in no other way should this be done."

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 545, footnote 2 (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 which Augustin replies to all the several statements in the letter of Petilianus, as though disputing with an adversary face to face. (HTML)
Chapter 24 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2055 (In-Text, Margin)

57. answered: Baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost[Matthew 28:19] has Christ for its authority, not any man, whoever he may be; and Christ is the truth, not any man.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 550, footnote 2 (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 which Augustin replies to all the several statements in the letter of Petilianus, as though disputing with an adversary face to face. (HTML)
Chapter 33 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2081 (In-Text, Margin)

77. said: "But that I may thoroughly investigate the baptism in the name of the Trinity, the Lord Christ said to His apostles: ‘Go ye, and baptize the nations, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I command you.’[Matthew 28:19-20] Whom do you teach, traditor? Him whom you condemn? Whom do you teach, traditor? Him whom you slay? Once more, whom do you teach? Him whom you have made a murderer? How then do you baptize in the name of the Trinity? You cannot call God your Father. For when the Lord Christ said, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 221, 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 Christ’s Subsequent Manifestations of Himself to the Disciples, and of the Question Whether a Thorough Harmony Can Be Established Between the Different Narratives When the Notices Given by the Four Several Evangelists, as Well as Those Presented by the Apostle Paul and in the Acts of the Apostles, are Compared Together. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1560 (In-Text, Margin)

... the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw Him, they worshipped Him: but some doubted. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”[Matthew 28:16-20] In these terms has Matthew closed his Gospel.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 42, footnote 4 (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. 32, 33. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 129 (In-Text, Margin)

... Son, and of the Holy Ghost? Whither were they sent? “Go,” said He, “baptize the nations.” You have heard, brethren, how that inheritance comes, “Ask of me, and I will give Thee the nations for Thine inheritance, and the utmost bounds of the earth for Thy possessions.” You have heard how that “from Sion went forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” For it was there the disciples were told, “Go, baptize the nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”[Matthew 28:19] We became attentive when we heard, “Go, baptize the nations.” In whose name? “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” This is one God; for it says not in the “names” of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 527, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies

Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John. (HTML)

1 John V. 7, 8; Contra Maximinum, lib. ii. c. 22 §. 3. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2549 (In-Text, Margin)

... signified came forth from the Body of the Lord, herein they figured the Church preaching the Trinity, that it hath one and the same nature: since these Three in threefold manner signified are One, and the Church that preacheth them is the Body of Christ. In this manner then the three things by which they are signified came out from the Body of the Lord: like as from the Body of the Lord sounded forth the command to “baptize the nations in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.”[Matthew 28:19] “In the name:” not, In the names: for “these Three are One,” and One God is these Three. And if in any other way this depth of mystery which we read in John’s epistle can be expounded and understood agreeably with the Catholic faith, which neither ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 367, footnote 4 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm LXXVIII (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3530 (In-Text, Margin)

... same spiritual drink, that is to say, signifying something spiritual: but not in all of them was God well pleased. When, he saith, “not in all:” there were evidently there some in whom was God well pleased; and although all the Sacraments were common, grace, which is the virtue of the Sacraments, was not common to all. Just as in our times, now that the faith hath been revealed, which then was veiled, to all men that have been baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,[Matthew 28:19] the Laver of regeneration is common; but the very grace whereof these same are the Sacraments, whereby the members of the Body of Christ are to reign together with their Head, is not common to all. For even heretics have the same Baptism, and false ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 13, page 303, footnote 1 (Image)

Chrysostom: Homilies on the Epistles to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, and Philemon

The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians. (HTML)

Homilies on Colossians. (HTML)

Colossians 3:16,17 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 868 (In-Text, Margin)

These things let us learn, not as far as words only, but to fulfill them also by works. Nothing is equal to this Name, marvelous is it everywhere. “Thy Name,” he saith, “is ointment poured forth.” (Cant. i. 3.) He that hath uttered it is straightway filled with fragrance. “No man,” it is said, “can call Jesus Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.” (1 Cor. xii. 3.) So great things doth this Name Work. If thou have said, In[Matthew 28:19] the Name of Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost, with faith, thou hast accomplished everything. See, how great things thou hast done! Thou hast created a man, and wrought all the rest (that cometh) of Baptism! So, when used in commanding diseases, terrible is The Name. Therefore the devil ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 1, page 138, footnote 10 (Image)

Eusebius: Church History from A.D. 1-324, Life of Constantine the Great, Oration in Praise of Constantine

The Church History of Eusebius. (HTML)

Book III (HTML)

The Last Siege of the Jews after Christ. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 630 (In-Text, Margin)

... and the brother of John, was beheaded, and finally James, the first that had obtained the episcopal seat in Jerusalem after the ascension of our Saviour, died in the manner already described. But the rest of the apostles, who had been incessantly plotted against with a view to their destruction, and had been driven out of the land of Judea, went unto all nations to preach the Gospel, relying upon the power of Christ, who had said to them, “Go ye and make disciples of all the nations in my name.”[Matthew 28:19]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 1, page 607, footnote 2 (Image)

Eusebius: Church History from A.D. 1-324, Life of Constantine the Great, Oration in Praise of Constantine

The Life of Constantine with Orations of Constantine and Eusebius. (HTML)

The Oration of Eusebius. (HTML)

Chapter XVI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3577 (In-Text, Margin)

... world, what philosopher, legislator, or prophet, in civilized or barbarous lands, has attained so great a height of excellence, I say not after death, but while living still, and full of mighty power, as to fill the ears and tongues of all mankind with the praises of his name? Surely none save our only Saviour has done this, when, after his victory over death, he spoke the word to his followers, and fulfilled it by the event, saying to them, “Go ye, and make disciples of all nations in my name.”[Matthew 28:19] He it was who gave the distinct assurance, that his gospel must be preached in all the world for a testimony to all nations, and immediately verified his word: for within a little time the world itself was filled with his doctrine.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 2, page 11, footnote 1 (Image)

Socrates: Church History from A.D. 305-438; Sozomenus: Church History from A.D. 323-425

The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates Scholasticus. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)

Of the Synod which was held at Nicæa in Bithynia, and the Creed there put forth. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 173 (In-Text, Margin)

... made; who on account of our salvation became incarnate, and lived among men; and who suffered and rose again on the third day, and ascended to the Father, and shall come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. We believe also in one Holy Spirit. We believe in the existence and subsistence of each of these [persons]: that the Father is truly Father, the Son truly Son, and the Holy Spirit truly Holy Spirit; even as our Lord also, when he sent forth his disciples to preach the Gospel, said,[Matthew 28:19] ‘Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.’ Concerning these doctrines we steadfastly maintain their truth, and avow our full confidence in them; such also have been our sentiments ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 2, page 40, footnote 3 (Image)

Socrates: Church History from A.D. 305-438; Sozomenus: Church History from A.D. 323-425

The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates Scholasticus. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)

The Bishops assembled at Antioch, on the Refusal of Eusebius of Emisa to accept the Bishopric of Alexandria, ordain Gregory, and change the Language of the Nicene Creed. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 275 (In-Text, Margin)

... as he says, ‘I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.’ Who suffered on our behalf, and rose again for us on the third day, and ascended into the heavens, and is seated at the right hand of the Father; and will come again with glory and power to judge the living and the dead. [We believe] also in the Holy Spirit, who is given to believers for their consolation, sanctification, and perfection; even as our Lord Jesus Christ commanded his disciples, saying,[Matthew 28:19] ‘Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit’; that is to say of the Father who is truly the Father, of the Son who is truly the Son, and of the Holy Spirit who is truly the Holy Spirit, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 2, page 58, footnote 7 (Image)

Socrates: Church History from A.D. 305-438; Sozomenus: Church History from A.D. 323-425

The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates Scholasticus. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)

Creeds published at Sirmium in Presence of the Emperor Constantius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 378 (In-Text, Margin)

... as the angel brought glad tidings: and as the whole Scriptures teaches, and especially the apostle who was the great teacher of the Gentiles, Christ assumed the human nature through which he suffered, from the Virgin Mary. But the summary and confirmation of the entire faith is, that [the doctrine of] the Trinity should be always maintained, according as we have read in the gospel, ‘Go ye and disciple all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.’[Matthew 28:19] Thus the number of the Trinity is complete and perfect. Now the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, sent by the Son, came according to his promise, in order to sanctify and instruct the apostles and all believers.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 49, footnote 2 (Image)

Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome

The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret. (HTML)

The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)
Letter of Eusebius on the effrontery of the Arians (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 366 (In-Text, Margin)

“‘We believe in the being and continual existence of each of these; that the Father is in truth the Father; the Son in truth the Son; the Holy Ghost in truth the Holy Ghost; as our Lord, when sending out His disciples to preach the Gospel, said, ‘ Go forth and teach all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost[Matthew 28:19].’ We positively affirm that we hold this faith, that we have always held it, and that we adhere to it even unto death, condemning all ungodly heresy. We testify, as before God the Almighty and our Lord Jesus Christ, that we have thought thus from the heart, and from the soul, ever since we have known ourselves; ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 559, footnote 2 (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 39 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3409 (In-Text, Margin)

... beginning, and is inferior to the Father: moreover they affirm that the Holy Ghost is not only inferior to the Son, but is also a ministering Spirit. Theirs also is a Council of vanity who confess indeed that the Son is of the substance of the Father, but distinguish and separate the Holy Spirit, while yet the Saviour shews in the Gospel that the power and Godhead of the Trinity are one and the same, saying, “Baptize all nations in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,”[Matthew 28:19] and it is plainly impious for man to put asunder what God hath joined together. That also is the Council of vanity which a pertinacious and wicked contention formerly gathered together, affirming that Christ assumed human flesh indeed, but not a ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 74, footnote 4 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Letter of Eusebius. (Epistola Eusebii.) (HTML)

Letter of Eusebius. (Epistola Eusebii.) (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 416 (In-Text, Margin)

“believing each of these to be and to exist, the Father truly Father, and the Son truly Son, and the Holy Ghost truly Holy Ghost, as also our Lord, sending forth His disciples for the preaching, said, “Go teach all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost[Matthew 28:19].” Concerning Whom we confidently affirm that so we hold, and so we think, and so we have held aforetime, and we maintain this faith unto the death, anathematizing every godless heresy. That this we have ever thought from our heart and soul, from the time we recollect ourselves, and now think and say in truth, before God Almighty and our Lord ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 93, footnote 3 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Encyclical Letter. (Epistola Encyclica.) (HTML)

Epistola Encyclica. (Encyclical Letter.) (HTML)

Circular Letter. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 449 (In-Text, Margin)

... seeing them now seized upon by others. Further particulars of our condition you will learn from the bearers of our letters; but I was anxious myself to write you a brief account thereof, that you may know for certain, that such things have never before been committed against the Church, from the day that our Saviour when He was taken up, gave command to His disciples, saying, ‘Go ye and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost[Matthew 28:19].’

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 341, footnote 7 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)

Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)

Discourse I (HTML)
Texts Explained; Thirdly, Hebrews i. 4. Additional texts brought as objections; e.g. Heb. i. 4; vii. 22. Whether the word 'better' implies likeness to the Angels; and 'made' or 'become' implies creation. Necessary to consider the circumstances under which Scripture speaks. Difference between 'better' and 'greater;' texts in proof. 'Made' or 'become' a general word. Contrast in Heb. i. 4, between the Son and the Works in point of nature. The difference of the punishments under the two Covenants shews the difference of the natures of the Son and the Angels. 'Become' relates not to the nature of the Word, but to His manhood and office and relation towards us. Parallel passages in which the term is applied to the Eternal Father. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2185 (In-Text, Margin)

... Paul hath said; but that visitation has perfected the work of the Father. And then, from Adam unto Moses death reigned; but the presence of the Word abolished death. And no longer in Adam are we all dying; but in Christ we are all reviving. And then, from Dan to Beersheba was the Law proclaimed, and in Judæa only was God known; but now, unto all the earth has gone forth their voice, and all the earth has been filled with the knowledge of God, and the disciples have made disciples of all the nations[Matthew 28:19], and now is fulfilled what is written, ‘They shall be all taught of God.’ And then what was revealed was but a type; but now the truth has been manifested. And this again the Apostle himself describes afterwards more clearly, saying, ‘By so much was ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 446, footnote 4 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)

Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)

Discourse IV (HTML)
That the Son is the Co-existing Word, argued from the New Testament. Texts from the Old Testament continued; especially Ps. cx. 3. Besides, the Word in Old Testament may be Son in New, as Spirit in Old Testament is Paraclete in New. Objection from Acts x. 36; answered by parallels, such as 1 Cor. i. 5. Lev. ix. 7. &c. Necessity of the Word's taking flesh, viz. to sanctify, yet without destroying, the flesh. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3418 (In-Text, Margin)

... Bearer of God herself, shew the oneness of the Divine Word and Man. For he says, ‘The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God.’ Irrationally then do the followers of the Samosatene separate the Word who is clearly declared to be made one with the Man from Mary. He is not therefore sent through that Man; but He rather in Him sent, saying, ‘Go ye, teach all nations[Matthew 28:19].’

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 5, page 101, footnote 5 (Image)

Gregory of Nyssa: Dogmatic Treatises; Select Writings and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises. (HTML)

Against Eunomius. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)
The second book declares the Incarnation of God the Word, and the faith delivered by the Lord to His disciples, and asserts that the heretics who endeavour to overthrow this faith and devise other additional names are of their father the devil. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 246 (In-Text, Margin)

... meaning of the things which have been spoken, so as to accord in the faith set forth by the Lord of the whole Scriptures, which faith we guard as we received it, word for word, in purity, without falsification, judging even a slight divergence from the words delivered to us an extreme blasphemy and impiety. We believe, then, even as the Lord set forth the Faith to His Disciples, when He said, “Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost[Matthew 28:19].” This is the word of the mystery whereby through the new birth from above our nature is transformed from the corruptible to the incorruptible, being renewed from “the old man,” “according to the image of Him who created ” at the beginning the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 62, footnote 5 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

Paula and Eustochium to Marcella. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 968 (In-Text, Margin)

... has encompassed Jerusalem, it has been stained by the blood of the Lord. Now, therefore, its guardian angels have forsaken it and the grace of Christ has been withdrawn. Josephus, himself a Jewish writer, asserts that at the Lord’s crucifixion there broke from the temple voices of heavenly powers, saying: “Let us depart hence.” These and other considerations show that where grace abounded there did sin much more abound. Again, when the apostles received the command: “Go ye and teach all nations,”[Matthew 28:19] and when they said themselves: “It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you, but seeing ye put it from you…lo we turn to the Gentiles,” then all the spiritual importance of Judæa and its old intimacy with God were ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 146, footnote 5 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Oceanus. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2079 (In-Text, Margin)

... is from a well that the Samaritan woman is bidden to slake her thirst. To Nicodemus He secretly says:—“Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.” As His earthly course began with water, so it ended with it. His side is pierced by the spear, and blood and water flow forth, twin emblems of baptism and of martyrdom. After His resurrection also, when sending His apostles to the Gentiles, He commands them to baptize these in the mystery of the Trinity.[Matthew 28:19] The Jewish people repenting of their misdoing are sent forthwith by Peter to be baptized. Before Sion travails she brings forth children, and a nation is born at once. Paul the persecutor of the church, that ravening wolf out of Benjamin, bows his ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 116, footnote 2 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)

On the Article, And in One Holy Ghost, the Comforter, Which Spake in the Prophets. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1973 (In-Text, Margin)

... separate the Old from the New Testament; let no one say that the Spirit in the former is one, and in the latter another; since thus he offends against the Holy Ghost Himself, who with the Father and the Son together is honoured, and at the time of Holy Baptism is included with them in the Holy Trinity. For the Only-begotten Son of God said plainly to the Apostles, Go ye, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost[Matthew 28:19]. Our hope is in Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost. We preach not three Gods; let the Marcionites be silenced; but with the Holy Ghost through One Son, we preach One God. The Faith is indivisible; the worship inseparable. We neither separate the Holy ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 376, footnote 10 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)

The Oration on Holy Baptism. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4200 (In-Text, Margin)

... will be your Moses, though this be a bold thing to say; I will write on them with the finger of God a new Decalogue. I will write on them a shorter method of salvation. And if there be any heretical or unreasoning beast, let him remain below, or he will run the risk of being stoned by the Word of truth. I will baptize you and make you a disciple in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost; and These Three have One common name, the Godhead. And you shall know, both by appearances[Matthew 28:19] and by words that you reject all ungodliness, and are united to all the Godhead. Believe that all that is in the world, both all that is seen and all that is unseen, was made out of nothing by God, and is governed by the Providence of its Creator, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 16, footnote 5 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

De Spiritu Sancto. (HTML)

Against those who say that it is not right to rank the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 926 (In-Text, Margin)

For if our Lord, when enjoining the baptism of salvation, charged His disciples to baptize all nations in the name “of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,”[Matthew 28:19] not disdaining fellowship with Him, and these men allege that we must not rank Him with the Father and the Son, is it not clear that they openly withstand the commandment of God? If they deny that coordination of this kind is declaratory of any fellowship and conjunction, let them tell us why it behoves us to hold this opinion, and what more intimate mode of conjunction they have.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 27, footnote 3 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

De Spiritu Sancto. (HTML)

Against those who say that the Holy Ghost is not to be numbered with, but numbered under, the Father and the Son.  Wherein moreover there is a summary notice of the faith concerning right sub-numeration. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1082 (In-Text, Margin)

... Only-begotten. To controvert these blasphemies would be a longer task than my present purpose admits of; and I am the less bound to undertake it because the impiety has been refuted elsewhere to the best of my ability. If on the other hand they suppose the sub-numeration to benefit the Spirit alone, they must be taught that the Spirit is spoken of together with the Lord in precisely the same manner in which the Son is spoken of with the Father. “The name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost”[Matthew 28:19] is delivered in like manner, and, according to the co-ordination of words delivered in baptism, the relation of the Spirit to the Son is the same as that of the Son to the Father. And if the Spirit is co-ordinate with the Son, and the Son with the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 28, footnote 1 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

De Spiritu Sancto. (HTML)

In what manner in the confession of the three hypostases we preserve the pious dogma of the Monarchia.  Wherein also is the refutation of them that allege that the Spirit is subnumerated. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1086 (In-Text, Margin)

44. delivering the formula of the Fa ther, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,[Matthew 28:19] our Lord did not connect the gift with number. He did not say “into First, Second, and Third,” nor yet “into one, two, and three, but He gave us the boon of the knowledge of the faith which leads to salvation, by means of holy names. So that what saves us is our faith. Number has been devised as a symbol indicative of the quantity of objects. But these men, who bring ruin on themselves from every possible source, have turned even the capacity for counting ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 35, footnote 19 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

De Spiritu Sancto. (HTML)

Proof of the absurdity of the refusal to glorify the Spirit, from the comparison of things glorified in creation. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1198 (In-Text, Margin)

... but not with the Father and the Son. But what reason is there in giving up the place appointed by the Lord for the Spirit, and inventing some other? What reason is there for robbing of His share of glory Him Who is everywhere associated with the Godhead; in the confession of the Faith, in the baptism of redemption, in the working of miracles, in the indwelling of the saints, in the graces bestowed on obedience? For there is not even one single gift which reaches creation without the Holy Ghost;[Matthew 28:19] when not even a single word can be spoken in defence of Christ except by them that are aided by the Spirit, as we have learnt in the Gospels from our Lord and Saviour. And I know not whether any one who has been partaker of the Holy Spirit will ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 37, footnote 3 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

De Spiritu Sancto. (HTML)

That Scripture uses the words “in” or “by,” ἐν, cf. note on p. 3, in place of “with.”  Wherein also it is proved that the word “and” has the same force as “with.” (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1220 (In-Text, Margin)

... truth may best be stopped by the preposition which, while it has the same meaning as that of the Scriptures, is not so wieldy a weapon for our opponents, (indeed it is now an object of their attack) and is used instead of the conjunction and. For to say “Paul and Silvanus and Timothy” is precisely the same thing as to say Paul with Timothy and Silvanus; for the connexion of the names is preserved by either mode of expression. The Lord says “The Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.”[Matthew 28:19] If I say the Father and the Son with the Holy Ghost shall I make, any difference in the sense? Of the connexion of names by means of the conjunction and the instances are many. We read “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 38, footnote 1 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

De Spiritu Sancto. (HTML)

That Scripture uses the words “in” or “by,” ἐν, cf. note on p. 3, in place of “with.”  Wherein also it is proved that the word “and” has the same force as “with.” (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1228 (In-Text, Margin)

... nature of the syllables. Since then it has been shewn that “ with ” most clearly gives the sense of conjunction, let it be declared, if you will, to be under safe-conduct, and cease to wage your savage and truceless war against it. Nevertheless, though the word is naturally thus auspicious, yet if any one likes, in the ascription of praise, to couple the names by the syllable “and,” and to give glory, as we have taught in the Gospel, in the formula of baptism, Father and Son and Holy Ghost,[Matthew 28:19] be it so: no one will make any objection. On these conditions, if you will, let us come to terms. But our foes would rather surrender their tongues than accept this word. It is this that rouses against us their implacable and truceless war. We must ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 48, footnote 1 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

De Spiritu Sancto. (HTML)

Enumeration of the illustrious men in the Church who in their writings have used the word “with.” (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1336 (In-Text, Margin)

... from the day when the Gospel was first preached up to our own time, it is shewn to have been admitted to all full rights within the churches, and, what is of greatest moment, to have been accepted as bearing a sense in accordance with holiness and true religion. But before the great tribunal what have I prepared to say in my defence? This; that I was in the first place led to the glory of the Spirit by the honour conferred by the Lord in associating Him with Himself and with His Father at baptism;[Matthew 28:19] and secondly by the introduction of each of us to the knowledge of God by such an initiation; and above all by the fear of the threatened punishment shutting out the thought of all indignity and unworthy conception. But our opponents, what will they ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 156, footnote 2 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

The Letters. (HTML)

To the Canonicæ. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2190 (In-Text, Margin)

4. The Holy Spirit, too, is numbered with the Father and the Son, because He is above creation, and is ranked as we are taught by the words of the Lord in the Gospel, “Go and baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.”[Matthew 28:19] He who, on the contrary, places the Spirit before the Son, or alleges Him to be older than the Father, resists the ordinance of God, and is a stranger to the sound faith, since he fails to preserve the form of doxology which he has received, but adopts some new fangled device in order to be pleasing to men. It is written “The Spirit is of God,” and if He is of God, how can ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 250, footnote 2 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

The Letters. (HTML)

To the notables of Neocæsarea. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2779 (In-Text, Margin)

... men go to such an extreme as to say that there is no tradition of the name of the Only-begotten, while of the name of the adversary there is; and at this they are highly delighted and elated, as though it were a discovery of their own. For it is said, “I came in my Father’s name and ye received me not; if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.” And because it is said, “Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,”[Matthew 28:19] it is obvious, they urge, that the name is one, for it is not “in the names,” but “in the name.”

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 7, footnote 1 (Image)

Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus

Title Page (HTML)

De Synodis or On the Councils. (HTML)

De Synodis or On the Councils. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 459 (In-Text, Margin)

... Himself, our Lord and God, as we read, took flesh, that is, a body, that is, man of the womb of the Virgin Mary, of the Angel announced. And as all the Scriptures teach, and especially the doctor of the Gentiles himself, He took of Mary the Virgin, man, through whom He suffered. And the whole faith is summed up and secured in this, that the Trinity must always be preserved, as we read in the Gospel, Go ye and baptize all nations in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost[Matthew 28:19]. Complete and perfect is the number of the Trinity. How the Paraclete, the Spirit, is through the Son: Who was sent and came according to His promise in order to instruct, teach and sanctify the apostles and all believers.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 12, footnote 4 (Image)

Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus

Title Page (HTML)

De Synodis or On the Councils. (HTML)

De Synodis or On the Councils. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 473 (In-Text, Margin)

“And in the Holy Ghost, who was given to them that believe, to comfort, sanctify and perfect, even as our Lord Jesus Christ ordained His disciples, saying, Go ye, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost[Matthew 28:19], manifestly, that is, of a Father who is truly Father, and clearly of a Son who is truly Son, and a Holy Ghost who is truly a Holy Ghost, these words not being set forth idly and without meaning, but carefully signifying the Person, and order, and glory of each of those who are named, to teach us that they are three Persons, but in agreement one.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 77b, footnote 10 (Image)

Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus

John of Damascus: Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. (HTML)

An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. (HTML)

Book IV (HTML)
Concerning Faith and Baptism. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2289 (In-Text, Margin)

We confess one baptism for the remission of sins and for life eternal. For baptism declares the Lord’s death. We are indeed “buried with the Lord through baptism,” as saith the divine Apostle. So then, as our Lord died once for all, we also must be baptized once for all, and baptized according to the Word of the Lord, In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit[Matthew 28:19], being taught the confession in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Those, then, who, after having been baptized into Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and having been taught that there is one divine nature in three subsistences, are rebaptized, these, as the divine Apostle says, crucify the Christ afresh. ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 78b, footnote 9 (Image)

Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus

John of Damascus: Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. (HTML)

An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. (HTML)

Book IV (HTML)
Concerning Faith and Baptism. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2300 (In-Text, Margin)

... Spirit. For Christ is the Son of the Living God, Whom the Father anointed with the Holy Spirit: in the words of the divine David, Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And Isaiah also speaking in the person of the Lord says, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He hath anointed me. Christ, however, taught His own disciples the invocation and said, Baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit[Matthew 28:19]. For since Christ made us for incorruption, and we transgressed His saving command, He condemned us to the corruption of death in order that that which is evil should not be immortal, and when in His compassion He stooped to His servants and became ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 92b, footnote 12 (Image)

Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus

John of Damascus: Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. (HTML)

An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. (HTML)

Book IV (HTML)
Regarding the things said concerning Christ. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2595 (In-Text, Margin)

Again of the affirmations that refer to the period after the resurrection some are suitable to God, as, Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost[Matthew 28:19], for here ‘Son’ is clearly used as God; also this, And lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world, and other similar ones. For He is with us as God. Others are suitable to man, as, They held Him by the feet, and There they will see Me, and so forth.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 100, footnote 11 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)

On the Holy Spirit. (HTML)

Book I. (HTML)
Chapter IV. The Holy Spirit is one and the same Who spake in the prophets and apostles, Who is the Spirit of God and of Christ; Whom, further, Scripture designates the Paraclete, and the Spirit of life and truth. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 856 (In-Text, Margin)

... the Old Testament is one, and the God of the New Testament is another. But as the Father is one Who both spake of old, as we read, to the fathers by the prophets, and to us in the last days by His Son; “and as the Son is one, Who according to the tenour of the Old Testament was offended by Adam, seen by Abraham, worshipped by Jacob; so, too, the Holy Spirit is one, who energized in the prophets, was breathed upon the apostles, and was joined to the Father and the Son in the sacrament of baptism.[Matthew 28:19] For David says of Him: “And take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.” And in another place he said of Him: “Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit?”

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 103, footnote 1 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)

On the Holy Spirit. (HTML)

Book I. (HTML)
Chapter V. The Holy Spirit, since He sanctifies creatures, is neither a creature nor subject to change. He is always good, since He is given by the Father and the Son; neither is He to be numbered amongst such things as are said to fail. He must be acknowledged as the source of goodness. The Spirit of God's mouth, the amender of evils, and Himself good. Lastly, as He is said in Scripture to be good, and is joined to the Father and the Son in baptism, He cannot possibly be denied to be good. He is not, however, said to progress, but to be made perfect in goodness, which distinguishes Him from all creatures. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 885 (In-Text, Margin)

73. And with good cause did the Son of God say: “Go and baptize all nations in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,”[Matthew 28:19] not disdaining association with the Holy Spirit. Why, then, do some take it ill that He Whom the Lord disdained not in the sacrament of baptism, should be joined in our devotion with the Father and the Son?

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 111, footnote 1 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)

On the Holy Spirit. (HTML)

Book I. (HTML)
Chapter XIII. St. Ambrose shows from the Scriptures that the Name of the Three Divine Persons is one, and first the unity of the Name of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, inasmuch as each is called Paraclete and Truth. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 956 (In-Text, Margin)

132. Who, then, would dare to deny the oneness of Name, when he sees the oneness of the working. But why should I maintain the unity of the Name by arguments, when there is the plain testimony of the Divine Voice that the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is one? For it is written: “Go, baptize all nations in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”[Matthew 28:19] He said, “in the Name,” not “in the Names.” So, then, the Name of the Father is not one, that of the Son another, and that of the Holy Spirit another, for God is one; the Names are not more than one, for there are not two Gods, or three Gods.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 124, footnote 1 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)

On the Holy Spirit. (HTML)

Book II. (HTML)
Chapter VIII. St. Ambrose examines and refutes the heretical argument that because God is said to be glorified in the Spirit, and not with the Spirit, the Holy Spirit is therefore inferior to the Father. He shows that the particle in can be also used of the Son and even of the Father, and that on the other hand with may be said of creatures without any infringement on the prerogatives of the Godhead; and that in reality these prepositions simply imply the connection of the Three Divine Persons. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1095 (In-Text, Margin)

71. But who can separate what is in capable of separation? who can divide that association which Christ shows to be inseparable? “Go,” says He, “baptize all nations in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”[Matthew 28:19] Has He changed either a word or a syllable here concerning the Father or the Son or the Holy Spirit? Certainly not. But He says, in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The expression is the same for the Spirit as for the Father and for Himself. From which is inferred not any office of the Holy Spirit, but rather a sharing of honour or of working when we ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 156, footnote 2 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)

On the Holy Spirit. (HTML)

Book III. (HTML)
Chapter XIX. Having proved above that the Spirit abides and speaks in the prophets, St. Ambrose infers that He knows all things which are of God, and therefore is One with the Father and the Son. This same point he establishes again from the fact that He possesses all that God possesses, namely, Godhead, knowledge of the heart, truth, a Name above every name, and power to raise the dead, as is proved from Ezekiel, and in this He is equal to the Son. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1426 (In-Text, Margin)

148. God has a Name which is above every name, and has given a name to the Son, as we read that in the Name of Jesus knees should bow. Let us consider whether the Spirit has this Name. But it is written “Go, baptize the nations in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”[Matthew 28:19] He has, then, a Name above every name. What, therefore, the Father and the Son have, the Holy Spirit also has through the oneness of the Name of His nature.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 203, footnote 1 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)

Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)

Book I. (HTML)
Chapter I. The author distinguishes the faith from the errors of Pagans, Jews, and Heretics, and after explaining the significance of the names “God” and “Lord,” shows clearly the difference of Persons in Unity of Essence. In dividing the Essence, the Arians not only bring in the doctrine of three Gods, but even overthrow the dominion of the Trinity. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1682 (In-Text, Margin)

8. If, then, God is One, one is the name, one is the power, of the Trinity. Christ Himself, indeed, saith: “Go ye, baptize the nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”[Matthew 28:19] In the name, mark you, not in the names.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 8, footnote 1 (Image)

Leo the Great, Gregory the Great

The Letters and Sermons of Leo the Great. (HTML)

Letters. (HTML)

To Dioscorus, Bishop of Alexandria. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 59 (In-Text, Margin)

... often hallowed in the mysterious dispensations of God that all the more notable institutions of the Lord were accomplished on that high day. On it the world took its beginning. On it through the resurrection of Christ death received its destruction, and life its commencement. On it the apostles take from the Lord’s hands the trumpet of the gospel which is to be preached to all nations, and receive the sacrament of regeneration[Matthew 28:19] which they are to bear to the whole world. On it, as blessed John the Evangelist bears witness when all the disciples were gathered together in one place, and when, the doors being shut, the Lord entered to them, He breathed ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 28, footnote 8 (Image)

Leo the Great, Gregory the Great

The Letters and Sermons of Leo the Great. (HTML)

Letters. (HTML)

To the Bishops of Sicily. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 181 (In-Text, Margin)

... reception of the grace, on which the power of the gift and the character of the action originated. And this is strongly corroborated by the consideration that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, after He rose from the dead, handed on both the form and power of baptizing to His disciples, in whose person all the chiefs of the churches received their instructions with these words, “Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost[Matthew 28:19].” On which of course He might have instructed them even before His passion, had He not especially wished it to be understood that the grace of regeneration began with His resurrection. It must be added, indeed, that the solemn season of Pentecost, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 72, footnote 2 (Image)

Leo the Great, Gregory the Great

The Letters and Sermons of Leo the Great. (HTML)

Letters. (HTML)

From the Synod of Chalcedon to Leo. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 434 (In-Text, Margin)

... tongue with exultation.” This prophecy grace has fitly appropriated to us for whom the security of religion is ensured. For what is a greater incentive to cheerfulness than the Faith? what better inducement to exultation than the Divine knowledge which the Saviour Himself gave us from above for salvation, saying, “go ye and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things that I have enjoined you[Matthew 28:19-20].” And this golden chain leading down from the Author of the command to us, you yourself have stedfastly preserved, being set as the mouthpiece unto all of the blessed Peter, and imparting the blessedness of his Faith unto all. Whence we too, wisely ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 347, footnote 18 (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 Faith. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 670 (In-Text, Margin)

... out from the mountain, not by hands, and it smote the image, and the whole earth was filled with it. This he showed beforehand with regard to Christ that the whole earth shall be filled with Him. For lo! by the faith of Christ are all the ends of the earth filled, as David said:— The sound of the Gospel of Christ has gone forth into all the earth. And again when He sent forth His apostles He spake thus to them:— Go forth, make disciples of all nations and they will believe on Me.[Matthew 28:19] And again the Prophet Zechariah also prophesied about that stone which is Christ. For he said:— I saw a chief stone of equality and of love. And why did he say “ chief ”? Surely because from the beginning He was with His Father. And ...

Online Dictionary & Commentary of Early Church Beliefs