Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts

Luke 2:7

There are 13 footnotes for this reference.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 164, footnote 4 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Apologetic. (HTML)

An Answer to the Jews. (HTML)

Of the Prophecies of the Birth and Achievements of Christ. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1307 (In-Text, Margin)

... spirit of counsel and truth; the spirit of God’s fear shall fill Him.” For to none of men was the universal aggregation of spiritual credentials appropriate, except to Christ; paralleled as He is to a “flower” by reason of glory, by reason of grace; but accounted “of the root of Jesse,” whence His origin is to be deduced,—to wit, through Mary. For He was from the native soil of Bethlehem, and from the house of David; as, among the Romans, Mary is described in the census, of whom is born Christ.[Luke 2:1-7]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 522, footnote 6 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

On the Flesh of Christ. (HTML)

Marcion, Who Would Blot Out the Record of Christ's Nativity, is Rebuked for So Startling a Heresy. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 6952 (In-Text, Margin)

Clearly enough is the nativity announced by Gabriel. But what has he to do with the Creator’s angel? The conception in the virgin’s womb is also set plainly before us. But what concern has he with the Creator’s prophet, Isaiah? He will not brook delay, since suddenly (without any prophetic announcement) did he bring down Christ from heaven. “Away,” says he, “with that eternal plaguey taxing of Cæsar, and the scanty inn, and the squalid swaddling-clothes, and the hard stable.[Luke 2:1-7] We do not care a jot for that multitude of the heavenly host which praised their Lord at night. Let the shepherds take better care of their flock, and let the wise men spare their legs so long a journey; let them keep their gold to themselves. Let Herod, ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 60, footnote 7 (Image)

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

Gregory Thaumaturgus. (HTML)

Dubious or Spurious Writings. (HTML)

Four Homilies. (HTML)
On the Annunciation to the Holy Virgin Mary. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 500 (In-Text, Margin)

... of David: “For Joseph went up,” says he, “from Galilee, unto a city of Judea which is called Bethlehem, to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child, because they were of the house and family of David. And so it was, that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered; and she brought forth her son, the first-born of the whole creation, and wrapped him in swaddling-clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”[Luke 2:4-7] She wrapped in swaddling-clothes Him who is covered with light as with a garment. She wrapped in swaddling-clothes Him who made every creature. She laid in a manger Him who sits above the cherubim and is praised by myriads of angels. In the manger ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 65, footnote 5 (Image)

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

Gregory Thaumaturgus. (HTML)

Dubious or Spurious Writings. (HTML)

Four Homilies. (HTML)
On the Annunciation to the Holy Virgin Mary. Discourse Second. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 546 (In-Text, Margin)

... appointments connected with it. And after she had spoken these words the holy Virgin went to Nazareth; and from that a decree of Cæsar led her to come again to Bethlehem; and so, as proceeding herself from the royal house, she was brought to the royal house of David along with Joseph her espoused husband. And there ensued there the mystery which transcends all wonders,—the Virgin brought forth and bore in her hand Him who bears the whole creation by His word. “And there was no room for them in the inn.”[Luke 2:7] He found no room who founded the whole earth by His word. She nourished with her milk Him who imparts sustenance and life to everything that hath breath. She wrapped Him in swaddling-clothes who binds the whole creation fast with His word. She laid ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 327, footnote 2 (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 seeks to justify the docetism of the Manichæans.  Augustin insists that there is nothing disgraceful in being born. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1013 (In-Text, Margin)

... if we are to end the controversy by saying this, why do not our opponents themselves say it? While they assert the death of Christ to have been not real but feigned, why do they make out that He had no birth at all, not even of the same kind as His death? If they had so much regard for the authority of the evangelist as to oblige them to admit that Christ suffered, at least in appearance, it is the same authority which testifies to His birth. Two evangelists, indeed, give the story of the birth;[Luke 2:7] but in all we read of Jesus having a mother. Perhaps Faustus was unwilling to make the birth an illusion, because the difference of the genealogies given in Matthew and Luke causes an apparent discrepancy. But, supposing a man ignorant, there are ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 108, footnote 2 (Image)

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

The Harmony of the Gospels. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)

A Statement of the Manner in Which Luke’s Procedure is Proved to Be in Harmony with Matthew’s in Those Matters Concerning the Conception and the Infancy or Boyhood of Christ, Which are Omitted by the One and Recorded by the Other. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 717 (In-Text, Margin)

... thou shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from their sins. Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son; and His name shall be called Emmanuel, which, being interpreted, is, God with us. Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife; and knew her not till she had brought forth her first-born son;[Luke 2:7] and he called His name Jesus. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa, in the days of Herod the king, and so forth.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 257, footnote 5 (Image)

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

Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)

Of the agreement of the evangelists Matthew and Luke in the generations of the Lord. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1794 (In-Text, Margin)

... took a writing-table and wrote” the name which she had already pronounced. So to Mary too the Angel saith, “Behold, thou shalt conceive a Son, and shalt call His name Jesus.” And to Joseph also he saith, “Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife; for That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.” Again it is said, “And she brought forth a Son to him,”[Luke 2:7] by which he is established to be a father, not in the flesh indeed, but in love. Let us then acknowledge him to be a father, as in truth he is. For most advisedly and most wisely do the Evangelists reckon through him, whether Matthew in descending ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 543, footnote 8 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm CX (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4971 (In-Text, Margin)

... star is put for the stars, as if the Scripture signified the whole from a part, and from one conspicuous star all the stars. But how were those stars created? “That they may be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years.” …This expression also, “before the morning star,” is used both figuratively and literally, and was thus fulfilled. For the Lord was born at night from the womb of the Virgin Mary; the testimony of the shepherds doth assert this, who were “keeping watch over their flock.”[Luke 2:7-8] So David: O Thou, my Lord, who sittest at the right hand of my Lord, whence art Thou my Son, except because, “From the womb before the morning star I have begotten Thee”?

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 18, footnote 4 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Heliodorus, Monk. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 256 (In-Text, Margin)

... tribes of the earth shall smite the breast. Once mighty kings shall tremble in their nakedness. Venus shall be exposed, and her son too. Jupiter with his fiery bolts will be brought to trial; and Plato, with his disciples, will be but a fool. Aristotle’s arguments shall be of no avail. You may seem a poor man and country bred, but then you shall exult and laugh, and say: Behold my crucified Lord, behold my judge. This is He who was once an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and crying in a manger.[Luke 2:7] This is He whose parents were a workingman and a working-woman. This is He, who, carried into Egypt in His mother’s bosom, though He was God, fled before the face of man. This is He who was clothed in a scarlet robe and crowned with thorns. This is ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 64, footnote 7 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

Paula and Eustochium to Marcella. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1002 (In-Text, Margin)

11. But, as every one praises most what is within his reach, let us pass now to the cottage-inn which sheltered Christ and Mary.[Luke 2:7] With what expressions and what language can we set before you the cave of the Saviour? The stall where he cried as a babe can be best honored by silence; for words are inadequate to speak its praise. Where are the spacious porticoes? Where are the gilded ceilings? Where are the mansions furnished by the miserable toil of doomed wretches? Where are the costly halls raised by untitled opulence for man’s vile body to walk in? Where ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 339, footnote 1 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

Treatises. (HTML)

The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4199 (In-Text, Margin)

... mother must go unpurged from her child-bed taint, and the wailing infant be attended to by the midwives, while the husband clasps his exhausted wife. Thus for sooth must their married life begin so that the Evangelist may not be convicted of falsehood. But God forbid that we should think thus of the Saviour’s mother and of a just man. No midwife assisted at His birth; no women’s officiousness intervened. With her own hands she wrapped Him in the swaddling clothes, herself both mother and midwife,[Luke 2:7] “and laid Him,” we are told, “in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn”; a statement which, on the one hand, refutes the ravings of the apocryphal accounts, for Mary herself wrapped Him in the swaddling clothes, and on the other ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 210, footnote 6 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)

In Defence of His Flight to Pontus, and His Return, After His Ordination to the Priesthood, with an Exposition of the Character of the Priestly Office. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2601 (In-Text, Margin)

24. This is why the new was substituted for the old, why He Who suffered was for suffering recalled to life, why each property of His, Who was above us, was interchanged with each of ours, why the new mystery took place of the dispensation, due to loving kindness which deals with him who fell through disobedience. This is the reason for the generation and the virgin, for the manger and Bethlehem; the generation on behalf of the creation, the virgin on behalf of the woman, Bethlehem[Luke 2:7] because of Eden, the manger because of the garden, small and visible things on behalf of great and hidden things. This is why the angels glorified first the heavenly, then the earthly, why the shepherds saw the glory over the Lamb and the Shepherd, why the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 41, footnote 4 (Image)

Leo the Great, Gregory the Great

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

Letters. (HTML)

To Flavian commonly called “the Tome.” (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 283 (In-Text, Margin)

... was with God, and the Word was God279279    S. John i. l.;” man in that “the Word became flesh and dwelt in us.” God in that “all things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made:” man in that “He was made of a woman, made under law.” The nativity of the flesh was the manifestation of human nature: the childbearing of a virgin is the proof of Divine power. The infancy of a babe is shown in the humbleness of its cradle[Luke 2:7]: the greatness of the Most High is proclaimed by the angels’ voices. He whom Herod treacherously endeavours to destroy is like ourselves in our earliest stage: but He whom the Magi delight to worship on their knees is the

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