Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts

John 1:3

There are 182 footnotes for this reference.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 108, footnote 6 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Ignatius (HTML)

Epistle to the Tarsians (HTML)

Chapter VI.—Continuation. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1196 (In-Text, Margin)

Nor is He a mere man, by whom and in whom all things were made; for “all things were made by Him.”[John 1:3] “When He made the heaven, I was present with Him; and I was there with Him, forming [the world along with Him], and He rejoiced in me daily.” And how could a mere man be addressed in such words as these: “Sit Thou at My right hand?” And how, again, could such an one declare: “Before Abraham was, I am?” And, “Glorify Me with Thy glory which I had before the world was?” What man could ever say, “I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 108, footnote 14 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Ignatius (HTML)

Epistle to the Tarsians (HTML)

Chapter VI.—Continuation. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1204 (In-Text, Margin)

... will of Him that sent Me?” And of what man could it be said, “He was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world: He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not?” How could such a one be a mere man, receiving the beginning of His existence from Mary, and not rather God the Word, and the only-begotten Son? For “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”[John 1:3] And in another place, “The Lord created Me, the beginning of His ways, for His ways, for His works. Before the world did He found Me, and before all the hills did He beget Me.”

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 328, footnote 7 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Irenæus (HTML)

Against Heresies: Book I (HTML)

Chapter VIII.—How the Valentinians pervert the Scriptures to support their own pious opinions. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2773 (In-Text, Margin)

... the Father. For “the beginning” is in the Father, and of the Father, while “the Word” is in the beginning, and of the beginning. Very properly, then, did he say, “In the beginning was the Word,” for He was in the Son; “and the Word was with God,” for He was the beginning; “and the Word was God,” of course, for that which is begotten of God is God. “The same was in the beginning with God”—this clause discloses the order of production. “All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made;”[John 1:3] for the Word was the author of form and beginning to all the Æons that came into existence after Him. But “what was made in Him,” says John, “is life.” Here again he indicated conjunction; for all things, he said, were made by Him, but ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 328, footnote 8 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Irenæus (HTML)

Against Heresies: Book I (HTML)

Chapter VIII.—How the Valentinians pervert the Scriptures to support their own pious opinions. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2774 (In-Text, Margin)

... he say, “In the beginning was the Word,” for He was in the Son; “and the Word was with God,” for He was the beginning; “and the Word was God,” of course, for that which is begotten of God is God. “The same was in the beginning with God”—this clause discloses the order of production. “All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made;” for the Word was the author of form and beginning to all the Æons that came into existence after Him. But “what was made in Him,” says John, “is life.”[John 1:3-4] Here again he indicated conjunction; for all things, he said, were made by Him, but in Him was life. This, then, which is in Him, is more closely connected with Him than those things which were simply made by Him, for it exists along ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 347, footnote 4 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Irenæus (HTML)

Against Heresies: Book I (HTML)

Chapter XXII.—Deviations of heretics from the truth. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2931 (In-Text, Margin)

1. The rule of truth which we hold, is, that there is one God Almighty, who made all things by His Word, and fashioned and formed, out of that which had no existence, all things which exist. Thus saith the Scripture, to that effect: “By the Word of the Lord were the heavens established, and all the might of them, by the spirit of His mouth.” And again, “All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made.”[John 1:3] There is no exception or deduction stated; but the Father made all things by Him, whether visible or invisible, objects of sense or of intelligence, temporal, on account of a certain character given them, or eternal; and these eternal things He did not make by angels, or by any powers ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 362, footnote 1 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Irenæus (HTML)

Against Heresies: Book II (HTML)

Chapter II.—The world was not formed by angels, or by any other being, contrary to the will of the most high God, but was made by the Father through the Word. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2994 (In-Text, Margin)

5. For this is a peculiarity of the pre-eminence of God, not to stand in need of other instruments for the creation of those things which are summoned into existence. His own Word is both suitable and sufficient for the formation of all things, even as John, the disciple of the Lord, declares regarding Him: “All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made.”[John 1:3] Now, among the “all things” our world must be embraced. It too, therefore, was made by His Word, as Scripture tells us in the book of Genesis that He made all things connected with our world by His Word. David also expresses the same truth [when he says] “For He spake, and they were made; He commanded, and they ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 421, footnote 7 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Irenæus (HTML)

Against Heresies: Book III (HTML)

Chapter VIII.—Answer to an objection, arising from the words of Christ (Matt. vi. 24). God alone is to be really called God and Lord, for He is without beginning and end. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3370 (In-Text, Margin)

3. For that all things, whether Angels, or Archangels, or Thrones, or Dominions, were both established and created by Him who is God over all, through His Word, John has thus pointed out. For when he had spoken of the Word of God as having been in the Father, he added, “All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made.”[John 1:3] David also, when he had enumerated [His] praises, subjoins by name all things whatsoever I have mentioned, both the heavens and all the powers therein: “For He commanded, and they were created; He spake, and they were made.” Whom, therefore, did He command? The Word, no doubt, “by whom,” he says, “the heavens were established, ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 454, footnote 5 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Irenæus (HTML)

Against Heresies: Book III (HTML)

Chapter XXI.—A vindication of the prophecy in Isa. vii. 14 against the misinterpretations of Theodotion, Aquila, the Ebionites, and the Jews. Authority of the Septuagint version. Arguments in proof that Christ was born of a virgin. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3738 (In-Text, Margin)

... preserved.[John 1:3] and the Lord took dust from the earth and formed man; so did He who is the Word, recapitulating Adam in Himself, rightly receive a birth, enabling Him to gather up Adam [into Himself], from Mary, who was as yet a virgin. If, then, the first Adam had ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 506, footnote 3 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Irenæus (HTML)

Against Heresies: Book IV (HTML)

Chapter XXXII.—That one God was the author of both Testaments, is confirmed by the authority of a presbyter who had been taught by the apostles. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4245 (In-Text, Margin)

... from us the opinion which they themselves hold respecting God, because they are aware of the untenable and absurd nature of their doctrine, and are afraid lest, should they be vanquished, they should have some difficulty in making good their escape. But if any one believes in [only] one God, who also made all things by the Word, as Moses likewise says, “God said, Let there be light: and there was light;” and as we read in the Gospel, “All things were made by Him; and without Him was nothing made;”[John 1:3] and the Apostle Paul [says] in like manner, “There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father, who is above all, and through all, and in us all” —this man will first of all “hold the head, from which the whole body is compacted and ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 73, footnote 5 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Tatian (HTML)

Address to the Greeks (HTML)

Chapter XIX. Depravity Lies at the Bottom of Demon-Worship. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 480 (In-Text, Margin)

... is oracular, and birds utter presages! And so you are inferior to animals and plants! It would surely be a fine thing for you to become a divining rod, or to assume the wings of a bird! He who makes you fond of money also foretells your getting rich; he who excites to seditions and wars also predicts victory in war. If you are superior to the passions, you will despise all worldly things. Do not abhor us who have made this attainment, but, repudiating the demons, follow the one God. “All things[John 1:3] were made by Him, and without Him not one thing was made.” If there is poison in natural productions, this has supervened through our sinfulness. I am able to show the perfect truth of these things; only do you hearken, and he who believes will ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 224, footnote 11 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Instructor (HTML)

Book I (HTML)
Chapter VII.—Who the Instructor Is, and Respecting His Instruction. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1163 (In-Text, Margin)

... grace given through Moses by the Word. Wherefore also the Scripture says, “The law was given through Moses,” not by Moses, but by the Word, and through Moses His servant. Wherefore it was only temporary; but eternal grace and truth were by Jesus Christ. Mark the expressions of Scripture: of the law only is it said “was given;” but truth being the grace of the Father, is the eternal work of the Word; and it is not said to be given, but to be by Jesus, without whom nothing was.[John 1:3] Presently, therefore, Moses prophetically, giving place to the perfect Instructor the Word, predicts both the name and the office of Instructor, and committing to the people the commands of obedience, sets before them the Instructor. “A prophet,” ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 234, footnote 5 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Instructor (HTML)

Book I (HTML)
Chapter XI.—That the Word Instructed by the Law and the Prophets. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1294 (In-Text, Margin)

... an affectionate father commits his children to a worthy tutor, expressly charging us, “This is my beloved Son: hear Him.” The divine Instructor is trustworthy, adorned as He is with three of the fairest ornament”—knowledge, benevolence, and authority of utterance;—with knowledge, for He is the paternal wisdom: “All Wisdom is from the Lord, and with Him for evermore;”—with authority of utterance, for He is God and Creator: “For all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made;”[John 1:3] —and with benevolence, for He alone gave Himself a sacrifice for us: “For the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep;” and He has so given it. Now, benevolence is nothing but wishing to do good to one’s neighbour for his sake.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 258, footnote 4 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Instructor (HTML)

Book II (HTML)
Chap. IX.—On Sleep. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1483 (In-Text, Margin)

But he who has the light watches, “and darkness seizes not on him,” nor sleep, since darkness does not. He that is illuminated is therefore awake towards God; and such an one lives. “For what was made in Him was life.”[John 1:3-4] “Blessed is the man,” says Wisdom, “who shall hear me, and the man who shall keep my ways, watching at my doors, daily observing the posts of my entrances.” “Let us not then sleep, as do others, but let us watch,” says the Scripture, “and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that be drunken, are drunken in the night,” that is, in the darkness of ignorance. “But let ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 279, footnote 9 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Instructor (HTML)

Book III (HTML)
Chapter V.—Behaviour in the Baths. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1632 (In-Text, Margin)

... skin. Disease in both is known from the look. Men, therefore, affording to women a noble example of truth, ought to be ashamed at their stripping before them, and guard against these dangerous sights; “for he who has looked curiously,” it is said, “hath sinned already.” At home, therefore, they ought to regard with modesty parents and domestics; in the ways, those they meet; in the baths, women; in solitude, themselves; and everywhere the Word, who is everywhere, “and without Him was not anything.”[John 1:3] For so only shall one remain without falling, if he regard God as ever present with him.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 310, footnote 3 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)

Book I (HTML)
Chapter IX.—Human Knowledge Necessary for the Understanding of the Scriptures. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1896 (In-Text, Margin)

... it thus. “Write,” it is said, “the commandments doubly, in counsel and knowledge, that thou mayest answer the words of truth to them who send unto thee.” What, then, is the knowledge of answering? or what that of asking? It is dialectics. What then? Is not speaking our business, and does not action proceed from the Word? For if we act not for the Word, we shall act against reason. But a rational work is accomplished through God. “And nothing,” it is said, “was made without Him”—the Word of God.[John 1:3]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 493, footnote 3 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)

Book VI (HTML)
Chapter VII.—What True Philosophy Is, and Whence So Called. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3296 (In-Text, Margin)

And we also have already heard that angels learned the truth, and their rulers over them; for they had a beginning. It remains, then, for us, ascending to seek their teacher. And since the unoriginated Being is one, the Omnipotent God; one, too, is the First-begotten, “by whom all things were made, and without whom not one thing ever was made.”[John 1:3] “For one, in truth, is God, who formed the beginning of all things;” pointing out “the first-begotten Son,” Peter writes, accurately comprehending the statement, “In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth.” And He is called Wisdom by all the prophets. This is He who is the Teacher of all created beings, the ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 502, footnote 4 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)

Book VI (HTML)
Chapter XI.—The Mystical Meanings in the Proportions of Numbers, Geometrical Ratios, and Music. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3360 (In-Text, Margin)

“I must decrease,” said the prophet John, and the Word of the Lord alone, in which the law terminates, “increase.” Understand now for me the mystery of the truth, granting pardon if I shrink from advancing further in the treatment of it, by announcing this alone: “All things were made by Him, and without Him was not even one thing.”[John 1:3] Certainly He is called “the chief corner stone; in whom the whole building, fitly joined together, groweth into an holy temple of God,” according to the divine apostle.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 509, footnote 5 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)

Book VI (HTML)
Chapter XV.—Different Degrees of Knowledge. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3433 (In-Text, Margin)

... sublimely, and delivering them in a lofty strain, and according to the canon of the truth explaining the Scriptures; for neither prophecy nor the Saviour Himself announced the divine mysteries simply so as to be easily apprehended by all and sundry, but express them in parables. The apostles accordingly say of the Lord, that “He spake all things in parables, and without a parable spake He nothing unto them;” and if “all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made,”[John 1:3] consequently also prophecy and the law were by Him, and were spoken by Him in parables. “But all things are right,” says the Scripture, “before those who understand,” that is, those who receive and observe, according to the ecclesiastical rule, the ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 513, footnote 7 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)

Book VI (HTML)
Chapter XVI.—Gnostic Exposition of the Decalogue. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3463 (In-Text, Margin)

The sensible types of these, then, are the sounds we pronounce. Thus the Lord Himself is called “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end,” “by whom all things were made, and without whom not even one thing was made.”[John 1:3] God’s resting is not, then, as some conceive, that God ceased from doing. For, being good, if He should ever cease from doing good, then would He cease from being God, which it is sacrilege even to say. The resting is, therefore, the ordering that the order of created things should be preserved inviolate, and that each of the creatures should cease from the ancient disorder. For the ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 516, footnote 5 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)

Book VI (HTML)
Chapter XVII.—Philosophy Conveys Only an Imperfect Knowledge of God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3481 (In-Text, Margin)

But it is said Providence, from above, from what is of prime importance, as from the head, reaches to all, “as the ointment,” it is said, “which descends to Aaron’s beard, and to the skirt of his garment” (that is, of the great High Priest, “by whom all things were made, and without whom not even one thing was made”[John 1:3]); not to the ornament of the body; for Philosophy is outside of the People, like raiment. The philosophers, therefore, who, trained to their own peculiar power of perception by the spirit of perception, when they investigate, not a part of philosophy, but philosophy absolutely, testify to the truth in a truth-loving and humble spirit; if ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 527, footnote 1 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)

Book VII (HTML)
Chapter III.—The Gnostic Aims at the Nearest Likeness Possible to God and His Son. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3531 (In-Text, Margin)

Ruling, then, over himself and what belongs to him, and possessing a sure grasp, of divine science, he makes a genuine approach to the truth. For the knowledge and apprehension of intellectual objects must necessarily be called certain scientific knowledge, whose function in reference to divine things is to consider what is the First Cause, and what that “by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made;”[John 1:3] and what things, on the other hand, are as pervasive, and what is comprehensive; what conjoined, what disjoined; and what is the position which each one of them holds, and what power and what service each contributes. And again, among human things, what man himself is, and what he has ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 574, footnote 13 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)

Fragments of Clemens Alexandrinus (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3785 (In-Text, Margin)

Ver. 2. “The life was manifested.” For in the Gospel he thus speaks: “And what was made, in Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”[John 1:3-4]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 470, footnote 13 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

The Five Books Against Marcion. (HTML)

Book V. Wherein Tertullian proves, with respect to St. Paul's epistles, what he had proved in the preceding book with respect to St. Luke's gospel. Far from being at variance, they were in perfect unison with the writings of the Old Testament, and therefore testified that the Creator was the only God, and that the Lord Jesus was his Christ. As in the preceding books, Tertullian supports his argument with profound reasoning, and many happy illustrations of Holy Scripture. (HTML)
The Epistle to the Colossians. Time the Criterion of Truth and Heresy. Application of the Canon. The Image of the Invisible God Explained. Pre-Existence of Our Christ in the Creator's Ancient Dispensations.  What is Included in the Fulness of Christ. The Epicurean Character of Marcion's God. The Catholic Truth in Opposition Thereto. The Law is to Christ What the Shadow is to the Substance. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 6064 (In-Text, Margin)

... who was seen in ancient times (whenever any appearance was vouchsafed to men in the name of God) as the image of (the Father) Himself. He must not be regarded, however, as making any difference between a visible and an invisible God; because long before he wrote this we find a description of our God to this effect: “No man can see the Lord, and live.” If Christ is not “the first-begotten before every creature,” as that “Word of God by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made;”[John 1:3] if “all things were” not “in Him created, whether in heaven or on earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities, or powers;” if “all things were” not “created by Him and for Him” (for these truths Marcion ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 489, footnote 7 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

Against Hermogenes. (HTML)

Meaning of the Phrase--In the Beginning. Tertullian Connects It with the Wisdom of God, and Elicits from It the Truth that the Creation Was Not Out of Pre-Existent Matter. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 6333 (In-Text, Margin)

... the Gospel as a supplementary testimony to the Old Testament. Now in this there is all the greater reason why there should be shown the material (if there were any) out of which God made all things, inasmuch as it is therein plainly revealed by whom He made all things. “In the beginning was the Word” —that is, the same beginning, of course, in which God made the heaven and the earth —“and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him, and without Him nothing was made.”[John 1:1-3] Now, since we have here clearly told us who the Maker was, that is, God, and what He made, even all things, and through whom He made them, even His Word, would not the order of the narrative have required that the source out of which all things were ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 490, footnote 9 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

Against Hermogenes. (HTML)

This Conclusion Confirmed by the Usage of Holy Scripture in Its History of the Creation.  Hermogenes in Danger of the Woe Pronounced Against Adding to Scripture. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 6346 (In-Text, Margin)

... out of which He drew such things as were derived from a given source, so also with regard to those things of which He does not point out whence He produced them, He confirms (by that silence our assertion) that they were produced out of nothing. “In the beginning,” then, “God made the heaven and the earth.” I revere the fulness of His Scripture, in which He manifests to me both the Creator and the creation. In the gospel, moreover, I discover a Minister and Witness of the Creator, even His Word.[John 1:3] But whether all things were made out of any underlying Matter, I have as yet failed anywhere to find. Where such a statement is written, Hermogenes’ shop must tell us. If it is nowhere written, then let it fear the woe which impends on all ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 502, footnote 3 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

Against Hermogenes. (HTML)

Conclusion.  Contrast Between the Statements of Hermogenes and the Testimony of Holy Scripture Respecting the Creation.  Creation Out of Nothing, Not Out of Matter. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 6594 (In-Text, Margin)

But it is not thus that the prophets and the apostles have told us that the world was made by God merely appearing and approaching Matter. They did not even mention any Matter, but (said) that Wisdom was first set up, the beginning of His ways, for His works. Then that the Word was produced, “through whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made.”[John 1:3] Indeed, “by the Word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all their hosts by the breath of His mouth.” He is the Lord’s right hand, indeed His two hands, by which He worked and constructed the universe. “For,” says He, “the heavens are the works of Thine hands,” wherewith “He hath meted out the heaven, and ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 549, footnote 2 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

On the Resurrection of the Flesh. (HTML)

Some Considerations in Reply Eulogistic of the Flesh. It Was Created by God. The Body of Man Was, in Fact, Previous to His Soul. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 7317 (In-Text, Margin)

... God, and yet “the fashion of this world passeth away,” as the apostle himself testifies; nor must it be predetermined that the world will be restored, simply because it is the work of God. And surely if the universe, after its ruin, is not to be formed again, why should a portion of it be? You are right, if a portion is on an equality with the whole. But we maintain that there is a difference. In the first place, because all things were made by the Word of God, and without Him was nothing made.[John 1:3] Now the flesh, too, had its existence from the Word of God, because of the principle, that here should be nothing without that Word. “Let us make man,” said He, before He created him, and added, “with our hand,” for the sake of his pre-eminence, ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 602, footnote 2 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

Against Praxeas. (HTML)

The Son by Being Designated Word and Wisdom, (According to the Imperfection of Human Thought and Language) Liable to Be Deemed a Mere Attribute. He is Shown to Be a Personal Being. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 7833 (In-Text, Margin)

... morning star did I beget Thee. The Son likewise acknowledges the Father, speaking in His own person, under the name of Wisdom: “The Lord formed Me as the beginning of His ways, with a view to His own works; before all the hills did He beget Me.” For if indeed Wisdom in this passage seems to say that She was created by the Lord with a view to His works, and to accomplish His ways, yet proof is given in another Scripture that “all things were made by the Word, and without Him was there nothing made;”[John 1:3] as, again, in another place (it is said), “By His word were the heavens established, and all the powers thereof by His Spirit” —that is to say, by the Spirit (or Divine Nature) which was in the Word: thus is it evident that it is one and the ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 602, footnote 6 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

Against Praxeas. (HTML)

The Son by Being Designated Word and Wisdom, (According to the Imperfection of Human Thought and Language) Liable to Be Deemed a Mere Attribute. He is Shown to Be a Personal Being. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 7837 (In-Text, Margin)

... there nothing made;” as, again, in another place (it is said), “By His word were the heavens established, and all the powers thereof by His Spirit” —that is to say, by the Spirit (or Divine Nature) which was in the Word: thus is it evident that it is one and the same power which is in one place described under the name of Wisdom, and in another passage under the appellation of the Word, which was initiated for the works of God which “strengthened the heavens;” “by which all things were made,”[John 1:3] “and without which nothing was made.” Nor need we dwell any longer on this point, as if it were not the very Word Himself, who is spoken of under the name both of Wisdom and of Reason, and of the entire Divine Soul and Spirit. He became also the Son ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 602, footnote 7 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

Against Praxeas. (HTML)

The Son by Being Designated Word and Wisdom, (According to the Imperfection of Human Thought and Language) Liable to Be Deemed a Mere Attribute. He is Shown to Be a Personal Being. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 7838 (In-Text, Margin)

... place (it is said), “By His word were the heavens established, and all the powers thereof by His Spirit” —that is to say, by the Spirit (or Divine Nature) which was in the Word: thus is it evident that it is one and the same power which is in one place described under the name of Wisdom, and in another passage under the appellation of the Word, which was initiated for the works of God which “strengthened the heavens;” “by which all things were made,” “and without which nothing was made.”[John 1:3] Nor need we dwell any longer on this point, as if it were not the very Word Himself, who is spoken of under the name both of Wisdom and of Reason, and of the entire Divine Soul and Spirit. He became also the Son of God, and was begotten when He ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 607, footnote 7 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

Against Praxeas. (HTML)

Other Quotations from Holy Scripture Adduced in Proof of the Plurality of Persons in the Godhead. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 7902 (In-Text, Margin)

... From that moment God willed creation to be effected in the Word, Christ being present and ministering unto Him: and so God created. And God said, “Let there be a firmament,…and God made the firmament;” and God also said, “Let there be lights (in the firmament); and so God made a greater and a lesser light.” But all the rest of the created things did He in like manner make, who made the former ones—I mean the Word of God, “through whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made.”[John 1:3] Now if He too is God, according to John, (who says,) “The Word was God,” then you have two Beings—One that commands that the thing be made, and the Other that executes the order and creates. In what sense, however, you ought to understand Him ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 611, footnote 15 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

Against Praxeas. (HTML)

New Testament Passages Quoted. They Attest the Same Truth of the Son's Visibility Contrasted with the Father's Invisibility. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 7960 (In-Text, Margin)

... Invisible. It was the Son, therefore, who was always seen, and the Son who always conversed with men, and the Son who has always worked by the authority and will of the Father; because “the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do” —“do” that is, in His mind and thought. For the Father acts by mind and thought; whilst the Son, who is in the Father’s mind and thought, gives effect and form to what He sees. Thus all things were made by the Son, and without Him was not anything made.[John 1:3]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 614, footnote 8 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

Against Praxeas. (HTML)

The Son in Union with the Father in the Creation of All Things. This Union of the Two in Co-Operation is Not Opposed to the True Unity of God. It is Opposed Only to Praxeas' Identification Theory. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 7994 (In-Text, Margin)

... Christ, “the Wisdom and Power of God,” according to the apostle, who only knows the mind of the Father. “For who knoweth the things that be in God, except the Spirit which is in Him?” Not, observe, without Him. There was therefore One who caused God to be not alone, except “alone” from all other gods. But (if we are to follow the heretics), the Gospel itself will have to be rejected, because it tells us that all things were made by God through the Word, without whom nothing was made.[John 1:3] And if I am not mistaken, there is also another passage in which it is written: “By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the hosts of them by His Spirit.” Now this Word, the Power of God and the Wisdom of God, must be the very Son of ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 615, footnote 5 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

Against Praxeas. (HTML)

In This and the Four Following Chapters It is Shewn, by a Minute Analysis of St. John's Gospel, that the Father and Son are Constantly Spoken of as Distinct Persons. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8009 (In-Text, Margin)

... Father?[John 1:1-3] Now, since these words may not be taken otherwise than as they are written, there is without doubt shown to be One who was from the beginning, and also One with whom He always was: one the Word of God, the other God (although the Word is also God, ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 62, footnote 7 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)

On Monogamy. (HTML)

Connection of These Primeval Testimonies with Christ. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 604 (In-Text, Margin)

... Greece, the first and the last, the Lord assumes to Himself, as figures of the beginning and end! which concur in Himself: so that, just as Alpha rolls on till it reaches Omega, and again Omega rolls back till it reaches Alpha, in the same way He might show that in Himself is both the downward course of the beginning on to the end, and the backward course of the end up to the beginning; so that every economy, ending in Him through whom it began,—through the Word of God, that is, who was made flesh,[John 1:1-14] —may have an end correspondent to its beginning. And so truly in Christ are all things recalled to “the beginning,” that even faith returns from circumcision to the integrity of that (original) flesh, as “it was from the beginning;” and freedom of ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 240, footnote 2 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Origen. (HTML)

Origen De Principiis. (HTML)

Preface. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1922 (In-Text, Margin)

Secondly, That Jesus Christ Himself, who came (into the world), was born of the Father before all creatures; that, after He had been the servant of the Father in the creation of all things—“For by Him were all things made”[John 1:3] —He in the last times, divesting Himself (of His glory), became a man, and was incarnate although God, and while made a man remained the God which He was; that He assumed a body like to our own, differing in this respect only, that it was born of a virgin and of the Holy Spirit: that this Jesus Christ was truly born, and did truly suffer, and did not endure this death common (to ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 250, footnote 2 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Origen. (HTML)

Origen De Principiis. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)
On Christ. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1981 (In-Text, Margin)

... glory of the Almighty, lest any one should think that the title of Omnipotent was anterior in God to the birth of Wisdom, through whom He is called Father, seeing that Wisdom, which is the Son of God, is the purest efflux of the glory of the Almighty. Let him who is inclined to entertain this suspicion hear the undoubted declaration of Scripture pronouncing, “In wisdom hast Thou made them all,” and the teaching of the Gospel, that “by Him were all things made, and without Him nothing was made;”[John 1:3] and let him understand from this that the title of Omnipotent in God cannot be older than that of Father; for it is through the Son that the Father is almighty. But from the expression “glory of the Almighty,” of which glory Wisdom is the efflux, ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 262, footnote 4 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Origen. (HTML)

Origen De Principiis. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)
On Incorporeal and Corporeal Beings. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2047 (In-Text, Margin)

... All souls and all rational natures, whether holy or wicked, were formed or created, and all these, according to their proper nature, are incorporeal; but although incorporeal, they were nevertheless created, because all things were made by God through Christ, as John teaches in a general way in his Gospel, saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made.”[John 1:1-3] The Apostle Paul, moreover, describing created things by species and numbers and orders, speaks as follows, when showing that all things were made through Christ: “And in Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 377, footnote 10 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Origen. (HTML)

Origen De Principiis. (HTML)

IV (HTML)
Sections 24-End translated from the Latin. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2973 (In-Text, Margin)

... the Trinity, it follows that we notice shortly this statement also, that “by the Son” are said to be created “all things that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him; and He is before all, and all things consist by Him, who is the Head.” In conformity with which John also in his Gospel says: “All things were created by Him; and without Him was not anything made.”[John 1:3] And David, intimating that the mystery of the entire Trinity was (concerned) in the creation of all things, says: “By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the Spirit of His mouth.”

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 576, footnote 4 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Origen. (HTML)

Origen Against Celsus. (HTML)

Book VI (HTML)
Chapter V (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4299 (In-Text, Margin)

But that a light is suddenly kindled in the soul, as by a fire leaping forth, is a fact known long ago to our Scriptures; as when the prophet said, “Light ye for yourselves the light of knowledge.” John also, who lived after him, said, “That which was in the Logos was life, and the life was the light of men;”[John 1:3-4] which “true light lighteneth every man that cometh into the world” (i.e., the true world, which is perceived by the understanding), and maketh him a light of the world:” For this light shone in our hearts, to give the light of the glorious Gospel of God in the face of Christ Jesus.” And therefore that very ancient prophet, who prophesied many ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 52, footnote 11 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Hippolytus. (HTML)

The Refutation of All Heresies. (HTML)

Book V. (HTML)
Further Exposition of the Heresy of the Naasseni; Profess to Follow Homer; Acknowledge a Triad of Principles; Their Technical Names of the Triad; Support These on the Authority of Greek Poets; Allegorize Our Saviour's Miracles; The Mystery of the Samothracians; Why the Lord Chose Twelve Disciples; The Name Corybas, Used by Thracians and Phrygians, Explained; Naasseni Profess to Find Their System in Scripture; Their Interpretation of Jacob's Vision; Their Idea of the “Perfect Man;” The “Perfect Man” Called “Papa” By the Phrygians; The Naasseni and Phrygians on the Resurrection; The Ecstasis of St. Paul; The Mysteries of Religion as Alluded to by Christ; Interpretation of the Parable of the Sower; Allegory of the Promised Land (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 386 (In-Text, Margin)

... class="sc">Zeesar, that is, Jordan that flows upwards. This, he says, is the hermaphrodite man (present) in all. But those who are ignorant of him, call him Geryon with the threefold body—Geryon, i.e., as if (in the sense of) flowing from earth—but (whom) the Greeks by common consent (style) “celestial horn of the moon,” because he mixed and blended all things in all. “For all things,” he says, “were made by him, and not even one thing was made without him, and what was made in him is life.”[John 1:3-4] This, says he, is the life, the ineffable generation of perfect men, which was not known by preceding generations. But the passage, “nothing was made without him,” refers to the formal world, for it was created without his instrumentality by the ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 56, footnote 4 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Hippolytus. (HTML)

The Refutation of All Heresies. (HTML)

Book V. (HTML)
Further Use Made of the System of the Phrygians; Mode of Celebrating the Mysteries; The Mystery of the “Great Mother;” These Mysteries Have a Joint Object of Worship with the Naasseni; The Naasseni Allegorize the Scriptural Account of the Garden of Eden; The Allegory Applied to the Life of Jesus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 435 (In-Text, Margin)

... and produced his now invisible, and nameless, and ineffable child, respecting whom we shall speak. For the word “Amyxai” signifies, as it were, to burst and sever through, as he says (happens) in the case of inflamed bodies, and which have in themselves any tumour; and when doctors have cut this, they call it “Amychai.” In this way, he says, the Phrygians call him “Amygdalus,” from which proceeded and was born the Invisible (One), “by whom all things were made, and nothing was made without Him.”[John 1:3] And the Phrygians say that what has been thence produced is “Syrictas” (piper), because the Spirit that is born is harmonious. “For God,” he says, “is Spirit; wherefore,” he affirms, “neither in this mountain do the true worshippers worship, nor in ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 63, footnote 5 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Hippolytus. (HTML)

The Refutation of All Heresies. (HTML)

Book V. (HTML)
Why They Call Themselves Peratæ; Their Theory of Generation Supported by an Appeal to Antiquity; Their Interpretation of the Exodus of Israel; Their System of “The Serpent;” Deduced by Them from Scripture; This the Real Import of the Doctrines of the Astrologers. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 498 (In-Text, Margin)

This, he says, is the great beginning respecting which Scripture has spoken. Concerning this, he says it has been declared: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This was in the beginning with God, all things were made by Him, and without Him was not one thing that was made. And what was formed in Him is life.”[John 1:1-4] And in Him, he says, has been formed Eve; (now) Eve is life. This, however, he says, is Eve, mother of all living, —a common nature, that is, of gods, angels, immortals, mortals, irrational creatures, (and) rational ones. For, he says, the expression “all” he uttered of all (existences). And if the eyes of any, he says, ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 228, footnote 2 (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 1665 (In-Text, Margin)

... that is made manifest but the Word of the Father?—whom the Father sent, and in whom He showed to men the power proceeding from Him. Thus, then, was the Word made manifest, even as the blessed John says. For he sums up the things that were said by the prophets, and shows that this is the Word, by whom all things were made. For he speaks to this effect: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made.”[John 1:1-3] And beneath He says, “The world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not; He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.” If, then, said he, the world was made by Him, according to the word of the prophet, “By the Word of the Lord were the ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 516, footnote 14 (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 the same Christ is the Word of God. (HTML)CCEL Footnote 3944 (In-Text, Margin)

... righteousness, because a shortened word will God make in the whole earth.” Also in the cvith Psalm: “He sent His Word, and healed them.” Moreover, in the Gospel according to John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”[John 1:1-5] Also in the Apocalypse: “And I saw the heaven opened, and lo, a white horse; and he who sate upon him was called Faithful and True, judging rightly and justly; and He made war. And He was covered with a garment sprinkled with blood; and His name is ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 622, footnote 5 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Novatian. (HTML)

A Treatise of Novatian Concerning the Trinity. (HTML)

That the Same Truth is Proved from the Sacred Writings of the New Covenant. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5098 (In-Text, Margin)

And thus also John, describing the nativity of Christ, says: “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” For, moreover, “His name is called the Word of God,” and not without reason. “My heart has emitted a good word;” which word He subsequently calls by the name of the King inferentially, “I will tell my works to the King.” For “by Him were made all the works, and without Him was nothing made.”[John 1:3] “Whether,” says the apostle, “they be thrones or dominations, or powers, or mights, visible things and invisible, all things subsist by Him.” Moreover, this is that word which came unto His own, and His own received Him not. For the world was made by ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 624, footnote 5 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Novatian. (HTML)

A Treatise of Novatian Concerning the Trinity. (HTML)

Again He Proves from the Gospel that Christ is God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5121 (In-Text, Margin)

... does He say, “I proceeded forth and came from God,” when it is evident that man was made by God, and did not proceed forth from Him? But in the way in which as man He proceeded not from God, thus the Word of God proceeded, of whom it is said, “My heart hath uttered forth a good Word;” which, because it is from God, is with reason also with God. And this, too, since it was not uttered without effect, reasonably makes all things: “For all things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made.”[John 1:3] But this Word whereby all things were made (is God). “And God,” says he, “was the Word.” Therefore God proceeded from God, in that the Word which proceeded is God, who proceeded forth from God. If Christ is only man, how does He say, “If any man ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 626, footnote 5 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Novatian. (HTML)

A Treatise of Novatian Concerning the Trinity. (HTML)

It Is, Moreover, Proved by Moses in the Beginning of the Holy Scriptures. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5137 (In-Text, Margin)

What if Moses pursues this same rule of truth, and delivers to us in the beginning of his sacred writings, this principle by which we may learn that all things were created and founded by the Son of God, that is, by the Word of God? For He says the same that John and the rest say; nay, both John and the others are perceived to have received from Him what they say. For if John says, “All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made,”[John 1:3] the prophet David too says, “I tell my works to the King.” Moses, moreover, introduces God commanding that there should be light at the first, that the heaven should be established, that the waters should be gathered into one place, that the dry land should appear, ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 632, footnote 3 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Novatian. (HTML)

A Treatise of Novatian Concerning the Trinity. (HTML)

That the Same Divine Majesty is Again Confirmed in Christ by Other Scriptures. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5182 (In-Text, Margin)

... subject, He declares, “I have power to lay down my life, and again to take it up; for this commandment I have received of my Father.” Now who is it who says that He can lay down His life, or can Himself recover His life again, because He has received it of His Father? Or who says that He can again resuscitate and rebuild the destroyed temple of His body, except because He is the Word who is from the Father, who is with the Father, “by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made;”[John 1:3] the imitator of His Father’s works and powers, “the image of the invisible God;” “who came down from heaven;” who testified what things he had seen and heard; who “came not to do His own will, but rather to do the will of the Father,” by whom He had ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 292, footnote 5 (Image)

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

Alexander of Alexandria. (HTML)

Epistles on the Arian Heresy and the Deposition of Arius. (HTML)

To Alexander, Bishop of the City of Constantinople. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2412 (In-Text, Margin)

... and the Son are two things inseparable the one from the other, he spoke of Him as being in the bosom of the Father. Now that also the Word of God is not comprehended in the number of things that were created “from things which are not,” the same John says, “All things were made by Him.” For he set forth His proper personality, saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.”[John 1:1-3] For if all things were made by Him, how comes it that He who gave to the things which are made their existence, at one time Himself was not. For the Word which makes is not to be defined as being of the same nature with the things which are made; ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 297, footnote 6 (Image)

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

Alexander of Alexandria. (HTML)

Epistles on the Arian Heresy and the Deposition of Arius. (HTML)

Epistle Catholic. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2452 (In-Text, Margin)

... the truth prevails, and there is no communion betwixt light and darkness, no concord between Christ and Belial. For who ever heard such things? or who, now hearing them, is not astonished, and does not stop his ears that the pollution of these words should not touch them? Who that hears John saying, “In the beginning was the Word,” does not condemn those who say there was a time when He was not? Who that hears these words of the Gospel, “the only-begotten Son;” and, “by Him were all things made,”[John 1:3] will not hate those who declare He is one of the things made? For how can He be one of the things made by Him? or how shall He be the only-begotten who, as they say, is reckoned with all the rest, if indeed He is a thing made and created? And how ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 107, footnote 11 (Image)

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

Lactantius (HTML)

The Divine Institutes (HTML)

Book IV. Of True Wisdom and Religion (HTML)
Chap. VIII.—Of the birth of Jesus in the spirit and in the flesh: of spirits and the testimonies of prophets (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 553 (In-Text, Margin)

... works of the world were made. “I,” He says, “came forth out of the mouth of the Most High before all creatures: I caused the light that faileth not to arise in the heavens, and covered the whole earth with a cloud. I have dwelt in the height, and my throne is in the pillar of the cloud.” John also thus taught: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made.”[John 1:1-3]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 342, footnote 18 (Image)

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

Victorinus (HTML)

On the Creation of the World (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2218 (In-Text, Margin)

... the sun and moon approach one another, and cause those more than frightful appearances, radiating with light in the field of their aspect. But the author of the whole creation is Jesus. His name is the Word; for thus His Father says: “My heart hath emitted a good word.” John the evangelist thus says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made that was made.”[John 1:1-3] Therefore, first, was made the creation; secondly, man, the lord of the human race, as says the apostle. Therefore this Word, when it made light, is called Wisdom; when it made the sky, Understanding; when it made land and sea, Counsel; when it made ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 174, footnote 1 (Image)

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

Pseudo-Clementine Literature. (HTML)

The Recognitions of Clement. (HTML)

Book VIII. (HTML)
Time of Making the World. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 817 (In-Text, Margin)

... are laid open to none but those who have learned of Him, with whom these things are sealed and laid up. It is God, therefore, who made all things, and Himself was made by none. But those who speak of nature instead of God, and declare that all things were made by nature, do not perceive the mistake of the name which they use. For if they think that nature is irrational, it is most foolish to suppose that a rational creature can proceed from an irrational creator. But if it is Reason—that is, Logos[John 1:1-3] —by which it appears that all things were made, they change the name without purpose, when they make statements concerning the reason of the Creator. If you have anything to say to these things, my father, say on.”

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 43, footnote 3 (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 I. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 77 (In-Text, Margin)

[1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God is the [2,3] Word. This was in the beginning with God.[John 1:3] Everything was by his hand, and [4] without him not even one existing thing was made. In him was life, and the life [5] is the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness apprehended it not.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 307, footnote 9 (Image)

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

Epistle to Gregory and Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John. (HTML)

Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John. (HTML)

Book I. (HTML)
The Word Was in the Beginning, I.e., in Wisdom, Which Contained All Things in Idea, Before They Existed.  Christ's Character as Wisdom is Prior to His Other Characters. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4546 (In-Text, Margin)

... in wisdom. Considered in relation to the structure of contemplation and thoughts about the whole of things, it is regarded as wisdom; but in relation to that side of the objects of thought, in which reasonable beings apprehend them, it is considered as the Word. And there is no wonder, since, as we have said before, the Saviour is many good things, if He comprises in Himself thoughts of the first order, and of the second, and of the third. This is what John suggested when he said about the Word:[John 1:3-4] “That which was made was life in Him.” Life then came in the Word. And on the one side the Word is no other than the Christ, the Word, He who was with the Father, by whom all things were made; while, on the other side, the Life is no other than the ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 311, footnote 1 (Image)

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

Epistle to Gregory and Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John. (HTML)

Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John. (HTML)

Book I. (HTML)
Christ as Light; How He, and How His Disciples are the Light of the World. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4581 (In-Text, Margin)

He said, then, that He was the light of the world; and we have to examine, along with this title, those which are parallel to it; and, indeed, are thought by some to be not merely parallel, but identical with it. He is the true light, and the light of the Gentiles. In the opening of the Gospel now before us He is the light of men: “That which was made,”[John 1:3-5] it says, “was life in Him, and the life was the light of men; and the light shines in darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.” A little further on, in the same passage, He is called the true light: “The true light, which lightens every man, was coming into the world.” In Isaiah, He is the light of the Gentiles, ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 328, footnote 1 (Image)

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

Epistle to Gregory and Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John. (HTML)

Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John. (HTML)

Book II. (HTML)
How the Word is the Maker of All Things, and Even the Holy Spirit Was Made Through Him. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4678 (In-Text, Margin)

All things were made through Him. ” The “through[John 1:3] whom” is never found in the first place but always in the second, as in the Epistle to the Romans, “Paul a servant of Christ Jesus, a called Apostle, separated to the Gospel of God which He promised before by His prophets in Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, determined the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 80, footnote 8 (Image)

Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters

The Confessions (HTML)

He describes the twenty-ninth year of his age, in which, having discovered the fallacies of the Manichæans, he professed rhetoric at Rome and Milan. Having heard Ambrose, he begins to come to himself. (HTML)

Having Heard Faustus, the Most Learned Bishop of the Manichæans, He Discerns that God, the Author Both of Things Animate and Inanimate, Chiefly Has Care for the Humble. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 369 (In-Text, Margin)

5. But the way—Thy Word,[John 1:3] by whom Thou didst make these things which they number, and themselves who number, and the sense by which they perceive what they number, and the judgment out of which they number—they knew not, and that of Thy wisdom there is no number. But the Only-begotten has been “made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification,” and has been numbered amongst us, and paid tribute to Cæsar. This way, by which they might descend to Him from themselves, they knew not; nor that through ...

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

Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters

The Confessions (HTML)

He recalls the beginning of his youth, i.e. the thirty-first year of his age, in which very grave errors as to the nature of God and the origin of evil being distinguished, and the Sacred Books more accurately known, he at length arrives at a clear knowledge of God, not yet rightly apprehending Jesus Christ. (HTML)

He Compares the Doctrine of the Platonists Concerning the Λόγος With the Much More Excellent Doctrine of Christianity. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 501 (In-Text, Margin)

... translated from Greek into Latin. And therein I read, not indeed in the same words, but to the selfsame effect, enforced by many and divers reasons, that, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made.” That which was made by Him is “life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehendeth it not.”[John 1:1-5] And that the soul of man, though it “bears witness of the light,” yet itself “is not that light; but the Word of God, being God, is that true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” And that “He was in the world, and the world was ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 113, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters

The Confessions (HTML)

He recalls the beginning of his youth, i.e. the thirty-first year of his age, in which very grave errors as to the nature of God and the origin of evil being distinguished, and the Sacred Books more accurately known, he at length arrives at a clear knowledge of God, not yet rightly apprehending Jesus Christ. (HTML)

He Does Not Yet Fully Understand the Saying of John, that ‘The Word Was Made Flesh.’ (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 557 (In-Text, Margin)

25. But I thought differently, thinking only of my Lord Christ as of a man of excellent wisdom, to whom no man could be equalled; especially for that, being wonderfully born of a virgin, He seemed, through the divine care for us, to have attained so great authority of leadership,—for an example of contemning temporal things for the obtaining of immortality. But what mystery there was in, “The Word was made flesh,”[John 1:1-5] I could not even imagine. Only I had learnt out of what is delivered to us in writing of Him, that He did eat, drink, sleep, walk, rejoice in spirit, was sad, and discoursed; that flesh alone did not cleave unto Thy Word, but with the human soul and body. All know thus who know the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 164, footnote 12 (Image)

Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters

The Confessions (HTML)

The design of his confessions being declared, he seeks from God the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, and begins to expound the words of Genesis I. I, concerning the creation of the world. The questions of rash disputers being refuted, ‘What did God before he created the world?’ That he might the better overcome his opponents, he adds a copious disquisition concerning time. (HTML)

He Begs of God that Through the Holy Scriptures He May Be Led to Truth. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1019 (In-Text, Margin)

... Behold, Father, look and see, and approve; and let it be pleasing in the sight of Thy mercy, that I may find grace before Thee, that the secret things of Thy Word may be opened unto me when I knock. I beseech, by our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, “the Man of Thy right hand, the Son of man, whom Thou madest strong for Thyself,” as Thy Mediator and ours, through whom Thou hast sought us, although not seeking Thee, but didst seek us that we might seek Thee, —Thy Word through whom Thou hast made all things,[John 1:3] and amongst them me also, Thy Only-begotten, through whom Thou hast called to adoption the believing people, and therein me also. I beseech Thee through Him, who sitteth at Thy right hand, and “maketh intercession for us,” “in whom are hid all ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 200, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine

City of God (HTML)

Porphyry’s doctrine of redemption. (HTML)

Of the Incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Which the Platonists in Their Impiety Blush to Acknowledge. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 432 (In-Text, Margin)

... proud. It is, forsooth, a degradation for learned men to pass from the school of Plato to the discipleship of Christ, who by His Spirit taught a fisherman to think and to say, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”[John 1:1-5] The old saint Simplicianus, afterwards bishop of Milan, used to tell me that a certain Platonist was in the habit of saying that this opening passage of the holy gospel, entitled, According to John, should be written in letters of gold, and hung up ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 21, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises

Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)

The unity and equality of the Trinity are demonstrated out of the Scriptures; and the true interpretation is given of those texts which are wrongly alleged against the equality of the Son. (HTML)
That the Son is Very God, of the Same Substance with the Father. Not Only the Father, But the Trinity, is Affirmed to Be Immortal. All Things are Not from the Father Alone, But Also from the Son. That the Holy Spirit is Very God, Equal with the Father and the Son. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 34 (In-Text, Margin)

... to take the Word of God to be the only Son of God, of whom it is afterwards said, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,” on account of that birth of His incarnation, which was wrought in time of the Virgin. But herein is declared, not only that He is God, but also that He is of the same substance with the Father; because, after saying, “And the Word was God,” it is said also, “The same was in the beginning with God: all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made.”[John 1:2-3] Not simply “all things;” but only all things that were made, that is; the whole creature. From which it appears clearly, that He Himself was not made, by whom all things were made. And if He was not made, then He is not a creature; but if He ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 24, footnote 8 (Image)

Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises

Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)

The unity and equality of the Trinity are demonstrated out of the Scriptures; and the true interpretation is given of those texts which are wrongly alleged against the equality of the Son. (HTML)
In What Manner the Son is Less Than the Father, and Than Himself. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 63 (In-Text, Margin)

... it not robbery to be equal with God; but emptied Himself, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and was found in fashion as a man.” The Son of God, then, is equal to God the Father in nature, but less in “fashion.” For in the form of a servant which He took He is less than the Father; but in the form of God, in which also He was before He took the form of a servant, He is equal to the Father. In the form of God He is the Word, “by whom all things are made;”[John 1:3] but in the form of a servant He was “made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law.” In like manner, in the form of God He made man; in the form of a servant He was made man. For if the Father alone had made man without ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 30, footnote 7 (Image)

Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises

Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)

The unity and equality of the Trinity are demonstrated out of the Scriptures; and the true interpretation is given of those texts which are wrongly alleged against the equality of the Son. (HTML)
By What Rule in the Scriptures It is Understood that the Son is Now Equal and Now Less. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 125 (In-Text, Margin)

... And in Isaiah He says,—in the lesson which He Himself read in the synagogue, and showed without a scruple of doubt to be fulfilled concerning Himself,—“The Spirit of the Lord God,” He says, “is upon me: because He hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek He hath sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives,” etc.: for the doing of which things He therefore declares Himself to be “sent,” because the Spirit of God is upon Him. According to the form of God, all things were made by Him;[John 1:3] according to the form of a servant, He was Himself made of a woman, made under the law. According to the form of God, He and the Father are one; according to the form of a servant, He came not to do His own will, but the will of Him that sent Him. ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 44, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises

Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)

The equality of the Trinity maintained against objections drawn from those texts which speak of the sending of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (HTML)
The Entire Trinity Invisible. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 262 (In-Text, Margin)

... mind, have thought the nature of the Word of God, and the Wisdom, which, “remaining in herself, maketh all things new,” whom we call the only Son of God, not only to be changeable, but also to be visible. For these, with more audacity than religion, bring a very dull heart to the inquiry into divine things. For whereas the soul is a spiritual substance, and whereas itself also was made, yet could not be made by any other than by Him by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing is made,[John 1:3] it, although changeable, is yet not visible; and this they have believed to be the case with the Word Himself and with the Wisdom of God itself, by which the soul was made; whereas this Wisdom is not only invisible, as the soul also is, but likewise ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 49, footnote 9 (Image)

Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises

Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)

The equality of the Trinity maintained against objections drawn from those texts which speak of the sending of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (HTML)
Of the Appearance on Sinai. Whether the Trinity Spake in that Appearance or Some One Person Specially. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 302 (In-Text, Margin)

... because it is written of the elders of Israel, that “they saw the place where the God of Israel had stood,” and that “there was under His feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness,” therefore we are to believe that the word and wisdom of God in His own substance stood within the space of an earthly place, who indeed “reacheth firmly from end to end, and sweetly ordereth all things;” and that the Word of God, by whom all things were made,[John 1:3] is in such wise changeable, as now to contract, now to expand Himself; (may the Lord cleanse the hearts of His faithful ones from such thoughts!) But indeed all these visible and sensible things are, as we have often said, exhibited through the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 50, footnote 5 (Image)

Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises

Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)

The equality of the Trinity maintained against objections drawn from those texts which speak of the sending of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (HTML)
In What Manner Moses Saw God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 309 (In-Text, Margin)

... yet, behold, the same Moses says, “If I have found grace in Thy sight, show me Thyself plainly?” Assuredly he knew that he saw corporeally, and he sought the true sight of God spiritually. And that mode of speech accordingly which was wrought in words, was so modified, as if it were of a friend speaking to a friend. Yet who sees God the Father with the eyes of the body? And that Word, which was in the beginning, the Word which was with God, the Word which was God, by which all things were made,[John 1:3] —who sees Him with the eyes of the body? And the spirit of wisdom, again, who sees with the eyes of the body? Yet what is, “Show me now Thyself plainly, that I may see Thee,” unless, Show me Thy substance? But if Moses had not said this, we must ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 83, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises

Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)

Augustin explains for what the Son of God was sent; but, however, that the Son of God, although made less by being sent, is not therefore less because the Father sent Him; nor yet the Holy Spirit less because both the Father sent Him and the Son. (HTML)
The Sender and the Sent Equal. Why the Son is Said to Be Sent by the Father. Of the Mission of the Holy Spirit. How and by Whom He Was Sent. The Father the Beginning of the Whole Godhead. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 534 (In-Text, Margin)

... consubstantial, and co-eternal with the Father, and yet to have been sent as Son by the Father. Not because the one is greater, the other less; but because the one is Father, the other Son; the one begetter, the other begotten; the one, He from whom He is who is sent; the other, He who is from Him who sends. For the Son is from the Father, not the Father from the Son. And according to this manner we can now understand that the Son is not only said to have been sent because “the Word was made flesh,”[John 1:3] but therefore sent that the Word might be made flesh, and that He might perform through His bodily presence those things which were written; that is, that not only is He understood to have been sent as man, which the Word was made but the Word, too, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 104, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises

Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)

He resolves the question he had deferred, and teaches us that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is one power and one wisdom, no otherwise than one God and one essence. And he then inquires how it is that, in speaking of God, the Latins say, One essence, three persons; but the Greeks, One essence, three substances or hypostases. (HTML)
Augustin Returns to the Question, Whether Each Person of the Trinity by Itself is Wisdom. With What Difficulty, or in What Way, the Proposed Question is to Be Solved. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 628 (In-Text, Margin)

... is wisdom which is power, as we have already argued; then let us remember, that when I mention any one of these, I am to be taken as if I mentioned all. It is asked, then, whether the Father also by Himself is wise, and is Himself His own wisdom itself; or whether He is wise in the same way as He speaks. For He speaks by the Word which He begat, not by the word which is uttered, and sounds, and passes away, but by the Word which was with God, and the Word was God, and all things were made by Him:[John 1:3] by the Word which is equal to Himself, by whom He always and unchangeably utters Himself. For He is not Himself the Word, as He is not the Son nor the image. But in speaking (putting aside those words of God in time which are produced in the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 166, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises

Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)

He expounds this trinity that he has found in knowledge by commending Christian faith. (HTML)
The Attempt is Made to Distinguish Out of the Scriptures the Offices of Wisdom and of Knowledge. That in the Beginning of John Some Things that are Said Belong to Wisdom, Some to Knowledge. Some Things There are Only Known by the Help of Faith. How We See the Faith that is in Us. In the Same Narrative of John, Some Things are Known by the Sense of the Body, Others Only by the Reason of the Mind. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 792 (In-Text, Margin)

... world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.”[John 1:1-14] This entire passage, which I have here taken from the Gospel, contains in its earlier portions what is immutable and eternal, the contemplation of which makes us blessed; but in those which follow, eternal things are mentioned in conjunction with ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 250, footnote 7 (Image)

Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises

Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

The Enchiridion. (HTML)

Jesus Christ, According to the Flesh, Was Not Born of the Holy Spirit in Such a Sense that the Holy Spirit is His Father. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1157 (In-Text, Margin)

... no believer’s ears can bear to hear it. Hence, as we confess, “Our Lord Jesus Christ, who of God is God, and as man was born of the Holy Ghost and of the Virgin Mary, having both natures, the divine and the human, is the only Son of God the Father Almighty, from whom proceedeth the Holy Spirit.” Now in what sense do we say that Christ was born of the Holy Spirit, if the Holy Spirit did not beget Him? Is it that He made Him, since our Lord Jesus Christ, though as God “all things were made by Him,”[John 1:3] yet as man was Himself made; as the apostle says, “who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh?” But as that created thing which the Virgin conceived and brought forth though it was united only to the person of the Son, was made by the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 322, footnote 7 (Image)

Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises

Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

A Treatise on Faith and the Creed. (HTML)

Of God and His Exclusive Eternity. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1529 (In-Text, Margin)

3. As we believe, therefore, in the, we ought to uphold the opinion that there is no creature which has not been created by the Almighty. And since He created all things by the Word,[John 1:3] which Word is also designated the Truth, and the Power, and the Wisdom of God, —as also under many other appellations the Lord Jesus Christ, who is commended to our faith, is presented likewise to our mental apprehensions, to wit, our Deliverer and Ruler, the Son of God; for that Word, by whose means all things were founded, could not have been begotten by any other than by Him who founded all things by ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 323, footnote 9 (Image)

Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises

Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

A Treatise on Faith and the Creed. (HTML)

Of the Son of God as Neither Made by the Father Nor Less Than the Father, and of His Incarnation. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1541 (In-Text, Margin)

5. Wherefore was neither made by the Father; for, according to the word of an evangelist, “all things were made by Him:”[John 1:3] nor begotten instantaneously; since God, who is eternally wise, has with Himself His eternal Wisdom: nor unequal with the Father, that is to say, in anything less than He; for an apostle also speaks in this wise, “Who, although He was constituted in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” By this catholic faith, therefore, those are excluded, on the one hand, who affirm that the Son is the same [Person] as the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 329, footnote 8 (Image)

Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises

Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

A Treatise on Faith and the Creed. (HTML)

Of the Holy Spirit and the Mystery of the Trinity. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1608 (In-Text, Margin)

... Him;” and, “I go to my Father and your Father, my God and your God,” together with some others of like tenor. Now all these have had a place given them, [certainly] not with the object of signifying an inequality of nature and substance; for to take them so would be to falsify a different class of statements, such as, “I and my Father are one” (unum); and, “He that hath seen me hath seen my Father also;” and, “The Word was God,” for He was not made, inasmuch as “all things were made by Him;”[John 1:3] and, “He thought it not robbery to be equal with God:” together with all the other passages of a similar order. But these statements have had a place given them, partly with a view to that administration of His assumption of human nature ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 49, footnote 2 (Image)

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

Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)

On the Morals of the Catholic Church. (HTML)

Harmony of the Old and New Testaments. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 66 (In-Text, Margin)

27. And as the apostle says that the Son of God is the virtue of God and the wisdom of God,—virtue being understood to refer to action, and wisdom to teaching (as in the gospel these two things are expressed in the words, "All things were made by Him," which belongs to action and virtue; and then, referring to teaching and the knowledge of the truth, he says, "The life was the light of men"[John 1:3-4]),—could anything agree better with these passages than what is said in the Old Testament of wisdom, "She reaches from end to end in strength, and orders all things sweetly?" For reaching in strength expresses virtue, while ordering sweetly expresses skill and method. But if this seems obscure, see ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 99, footnote 2 (Image)

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

Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)

On Two Souls, Against the Manichæans. (HTML)

How Evil Men are of God, and Not of God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 200 (In-Text, Margin)

They might have cited against me those words of the gospel: "Ye therefore do not hear, because ye are not of God;" "Ye are of your father the devil." I also should have cited: "All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made,"[John 1:3] and this of the Apostle: "One God of whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ through whom are all things," and again from the same Apostle: "Of whom are all things, through whom are all things, in whom are all things, to Him be glory." I should have exhorted those men (if indeed I had found them men), that we should presume upon nothing as if we had found it out, but ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 115, footnote 4 (Image)

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

Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)

Acts or Disputation Against Fortunatus the Manichæan. (HTML)

Disputation of the First Day. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 231 (In-Text, Margin)

9. said: It is known to all that the Catholic faith is to the effect that our Lord, that is the Power and Wisdom of God, and the Word through whom all things have been made and without whom was not anything made,[John 1:3] took upon Himself man to liberate us. In the man whom He took upon Himself, He demonstrated those things that you spoke of. But we now ask concerning the substance of God Himself and of Unspeakable Majesty, whether anything can injure it or not. For if anything can injure it, He is not inviolable. If nothing can injure the substance of God, what was the race of darkness about to do to it, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 174, 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)

The genealogical question is again taken up and argued on both sides. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 369 (In-Text, Margin)

... easily routed. He says that the apostles who declared Christ to be the Son of man as well as the Son of God are not to be believed, because they were not present at the birth of Christ, whom they joined when He had reached manhood, nor heard of it from Christ Himself. Why then do they believe John when he says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made,"[John 1:1-5] and such passages, which they agree to, without understanding them? Where did John see this, or did he ever hear it from the Lord Himself? In whatever way John learned this, those who narrate the nativity may have learned also. Again, how do they ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 323, 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 insists that Jesus might have died though not born, by the exercise of divine power, yet he rejects birth and death alike.  Augustin maintains that there are some things that even God cannot do, one of which is to die.  He refutes the docetism of the Manichæans. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1002 (In-Text, Margin)

7. The question which Faustus makes it appear that he is asked by a Catholic, If Jesus was not born, how could He die? could be asked only by one who overlooked the fact that Adam died, though he was not born. Who will venture to say that the Son of God could not, if He had pleased, have made for Himself a true human body in the same way as He did for Adam; for all things were made by Him?[John 1:3] or who will deny that He who is the Almighty Son of the Almighty could, if He had chosen, have taken a body from a heavenly substance, or from air or vapor, and have so changed it into the precise character of a human body, as that He might have lived as a man, and have died in it? Or, once more, if He ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 356, footnote 6 (Image)

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

Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)

Concerning the Nature of Good, Against the Manichæans. (HTML)

It is Proved by the Testimonies of Scripture that God is Unchangeable.  The Son of God Begotten, Not Made. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1101 (In-Text, Margin)

... Father of light, with whom there is no changeableness, neither obscuring of influence." Likewise because what He begat of Himself is what He Himself is, it is said in brief by the Son Himself: "I and the Father are one." But because the Son was not made, since through Him were all things made, thus it is written: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word; this was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was made nothing;"[John 1:1-3] that is, without Him was not anything made.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 307, footnote 5 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

On Marriage and Concupiscence. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)

The Great Sin of the First Man. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2334 (In-Text, Margin)

... what follows, as he goes on to say: “If, before sin, God created a source from which men should be born, but the devil a source from which parents were disturbed, then beyond a doubt holiness must be ascribed to those that are born, and guilt to those that produce. Since, however, this would be a most manifest condemnation of marriage; remove, I pray you, this view from the midst of the churches, and really believe that all things were made by Jesus Christ, and that without Him nothing was made.”[John 1:3] He so speaks here, as if he would make us say, that there is a something in man’s substance which was created by the devil. The devil persuaded evil as a sin; he did not create it as a nature. No doubt he persuaded nature for man is nature; and ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 308, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

On Marriage and Concupiscence. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)

Let Not the Pelagians Indulge Themselves in a Cruel Defence of Infants. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2336 (In-Text, Margin)

... the infants, so as not to praise their condition uselessly, and defend them cruelly. Let him not declare them to be safe; let him suffer them to come, not, indeed, to Pelagius for eulogy, but to Christ for salvation. For, that this book may be now brought to a termination, since the dissertation of this man is ended, which was written on the short paper you sent me, I will close with his last words: “Really believe that all things were made by Jesus Christ, and that without Him nothing was made.”[John 1:3] Let him grant that Jesus is Jesus even to infants; and as he confesses that all things were made by Him, in that He is God the Word, so let him acknowledge that infants, too, are saved by Him in that He is Jesus; let him, I say, do this if he would ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 79, footnote 15 (Image)

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

The Harmony of the Gospels. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)

Of the Fact that John Undertook the Exposition of Christ’s Divinity. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 520 (In-Text, Margin)

... notions. Therefore he is borne to loftier heights, in which he leaves the other three far behind him; so that, while in them you see men who have their conversation in a certain manner with the man Christ on earth, in him you perceive one who has passed beyond the cloud in which the whole earth is wrapped, and who has reached the liquid heaven from which, with clearest and steadiest mental eye, he is able to look upon God the Word, who was in the beginning with God, and by whom all things were made.[John 1:3] And there, too, he can recognise Him who was made flesh in order that He might dwell amongst us; [that Word of whom we say,] that He assumed the flesh, not that He was changed into the flesh. For had not this assumption of the flesh been effected in ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 260, 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 words of St. Matthew’s Gospel, Chap. iii. 13, 'Then Jesus cometh from Galilee to the Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.' Concerning the Trinity. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1838 (In-Text, Margin)

... the Son. And when He to Whom we say, “Be Thou my helper, leave me not,” shall have given good success to this essay of ours, then shall we understand how that the Holy Spirit also is in no way separated from the operation of the Father and the Son. As concerning the Father and the Son, then, brethren, give ear. Doeth the Father anything without the Son? We answer, No. Do you doubt it? For what doeth He without Him “by Whom all things were made? All things,” saith the Scripture, “were made by Him.”[John 1:3] And to inculcate it fully upon the slow, and hard, and disputatious it added, And without Him was not anything made.”

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 305, 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)

On the words of the Gospel, Matt. viii. 23, ‘And when he was entered into a boat,’ etc. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2213 (In-Text, Margin)

3. Now what I have said as to anger, hold fast as a rule in all your temptations. A temptation has sprung up; it is the wind; thou art disturbed; it is a wave. Awake up Christ then, let Him speak with thee. “Who is this, since the winds and the sea obey Him?” Who is this, whom the sea obeyeth? “The sea is His, and He made it.” “All things were made by Him.”[John 1:3] Imitate the winds then, and the sea rather; obey the Creator. At Christ’s command the sea giveth ear; and art thou deaf? The sea heareth, and the wind ceaseth: and dost thou still blow on? What! I say, I do, I devise; what is all this, but to be blowing on, and to be unwilling to stop in obedience to the word of ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 412, footnote 9 (Image)

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

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

On the words of the Gospel, Mark xiii. 32, ‘But of that day or that hour knoweth no one, not even the angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.’ (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3187 (In-Text, Margin)

... fought? For wherein fought He? In that He took man’s nature upon Him. Take away His birth of a virgin, take away that He emptied Himself, “taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and found in fashion as a man;” take away this, and where is the combat, where the contest? where the trial? where the victory, which no battle has preceded? “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made.”[John 1:3] Could the Jews have crucified this Word? Could those impious men have mocked this Word? Could this Word have been buffeted? Could this Word have been crowned with thorns? But that He might suffer all this, “the Word was made flesh;” and after He had ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 458, footnote 6 (Image)

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

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

On the words of the Gospel, John i. 1, ‘In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God,’ etc. Against the Arians. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3575 (In-Text, Margin)

... price is That which surpasseth all things. For any purchasable thing is either equal to the price, or it is below it, or it exceeds it. When any one procures a thing for as much as it is worth, the price is equal to the thing which is procured; when for less, it is below it; when for more, it exceeds it. But to the Word of God nothing can either be equalled, or to exchange can anything be below It, or above It. For all things can be below the Word of God, for that “all things were made by Him;”[John 1:3] yet are they not in such wise below, as if they were the price of the Word, that any one should give something to receive That. Yet if we may say so, and if any principle or custom of speaking admit this expression, the price for procuring the Word, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 465, footnote 6 (Image)

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

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

On the same words of the Gospel, John i., ‘In the beginning was the word,’ etc. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3602 (In-Text, Margin)

... God; but we understand the Son. For the Word is the Son of God. Lo, the Son, and What but God? For “The Word was God.” What the Father? God of course. If the Father is God and the Son God, do we make two Gods? God forbid. The Father is God, the Son God; but the Father and the Son One God. For the Only Son of God was not made, but born. “In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth;” but the Word was of the Father. Was the Word therefore made by the Father? No. “All things were made by Him.”[John 1:3] If by Him all things were made, was He too made by Himself? Do not imagine that He by whom thou hearest all things were made was Himself made among all things. For if He were made Himself, all things were not made by Him, but Himself was made among ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 468, footnote 1 (Image)

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

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

On the same words of John i., ‘In the beginning was the word,’ etc. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3619 (In-Text, Margin)

... And yet, my brethren, I am bold to say that I do in some sort see what I am saying to you, though “through a glass,” or “darkly,” I do in some sort understand even within my heart a word touching this thing. But it seeks to go forth to you, and finds no meet vehicle. The vehicle of the word is the sound of the voice. What I am saying within mine own self I seek to say to you, and words fail. For I wish to speak of the Word of God. How great a Word, what kind of Word? “All things were made by Him.”[John 1:3] See the works, and stand in awe of the Worker. “All things were made by Him.”

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 477, footnote 8 (Image)

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

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

Again in John v. 2, etc., on the five porches, where lay a great multitude of impotent folk, and of the pool of Siloa. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3702 (In-Text, Margin)

... the water was troubled, the Angel had come. For the Lord is called also the “Angel of the Great Counsel,” in that He is the messenger of the Father’s will. For Angel in Greek is in Latin “messenger”. So you have the Lord saying that He announces to us the kingdom of Heaven. He then had come, the “Angel of the Great Counsel,” but the Lord of all the Angels. “Angel” on this account, because He took Flesh; the “Lord of Angels,” in that by “Him all things were made, and without Him was nothing made.”[John 1:3] For if all things, Angels too. And therefore Himself was not made, because by Him all things were made. Now what was made, was not made without the operation of the Word. But the flesh which became the mother of Christ, could not have been born, if ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 484, footnote 2 (Image)

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

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

On the words of the Gospel, John v. 19, ‘The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father doing.’ (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3765 (In-Text, Margin)

... heareth the Father enjoin.” But He saith, “The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do.” See, if thou understand it thus; the Father hath done something, and the Son attendeth that He may see what He Himself too hath to do; and that, some other thing like that which the Father had done. This which the Father hath done, by whom hath He done it? If not by the Son, if not by the Word, thou hast incurred the charge of blasphemy against the Gospel. “For all things were made by Him.”[John 1:3] So then what the Father had done, He had done by the Word; if by the Word He had done it, He had done it by the Son. Who then is that other who attends, that He may do some other thing which he seeth the Father do? Ye have not been wont to say that ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 485, footnote 6 (Image)

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

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

On the words of the Gospel, John v. 19, ‘The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father doing.’ (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3776 (In-Text, Margin)

... God speak to us. Even now as godly men, as believing already, as already imbued with faith, and having gotten some attainment of understanding, turn we to the Word Himself, to the Fountain of light, and let us say together, “O Lord, the Father doeth ever the same things as Thou; for that whatsoever the Father doeth, by Thee He doeth it. We have heard that Thou art the Word in the beginning; we have not seen, but believed. There too have we heard what follows, that ‘all things were made by Thee.’[John 1:3] All things then that the Father doeth, He doeth by Thee. Therefore Thou doest the same things as the Father. Why then didst Thou wish to say, ‘The Son can do nothing of Himself’? For I see a certain equality in Thee with the Father, in that I hear, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 488, footnote 2 (Image)

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

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

On the words of the Gospel, John v. 25,’Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the son of God; and they that hear shall live,’ etc.; and on the words of the apostle, ‘things which eye saw not,’ etc., 1 Cor. ii. 9. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3794 (In-Text, Margin)

... the Father, not the Father of the Son; but the Father is the Father of the Son, and the Son is the Son of the Father. I say the Son is begotten of the Father, not the Father of the Son; and the Son was always, always therefore begotten. Who can comprehend this “always begotten”? For when any man hears of one begotten, it occurs to him; “Therefore there was a time, when he who was begotten was not.” What say we then? Not so; there was no time before the Son, for that “all things were made by Him.”[John 1:3] If all things were made by Him, times also were made by Him; how could times be before the Son, by whom times were made? Take away then all times, the Son was with the Father always. If the Son were with the Father always, and yet the Son, He was ...

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

CCEL Footnote 94 (In-Text, Margin)

... and no one after him so received a baptism that it should be called his baptism. He received it indeed, for of himself he could do nothing: for if any one speaketh of his own, he speaketh of his own a lie. And whence did he receive it except from the Lord Jesus Christ? From Him he received power to baptize whom he afterwards baptized. Do not marvel; for Christ acted in the same manner in respect to John as in respect to His mother. For concerning Christ it was said, “All things were made by Him.”[John 1:3] If all things were made by him, Mary also was made by Him, of whom Christ was afterwards born. Give heed, beloved; in the same manner that He did create Mary, and was created by Mary, so did He give the baptism of John, and was baptized by John.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 138, footnote 1 (Image)

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

Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John. (HTML)

Chapter V. 20–23. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 420 (In-Text, Margin)

... were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made.” Hence we see how the Father showeth the Son what He doeth, since the Father doeth nothing but what He doeth through the Son. What hath the Father made? He made the world. Hath He shown the world, when made, to the Son in such wise, that the Son also should make something like it? Then let us see the world which the Son made. Nevertheless, both “all things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made,” and also “the world was made by Him.”[John 1:3] If the world was made by Him, and all things were made by Him, and the Father doeth nothing save by the Son, where doth the Father show to the Son what He doeth, if it be not in the Son Himself, through whom He doeth? In what place can the work of ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 472, footnote 6 (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 II. 12–17. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2089 (In-Text, Margin)

5. “I write unto you, fathers.” Why first sons? “Because your sins are forgiven you through His name,” and ye are regenerated into a new life, therefore sons. Why fathers? “Because ye have known Him that is from the beginning:” for the beginning hath relation unto fatherhood. Christ new in flesh, but ancient in Godhead. How ancient think we? how many years old? Think we, of greater age than His mother? Assuredly of greater age than His mother, for “all things were made by Him.”[John 1:3] If all things, then did the Ancient make the very mother of whom the New should be born. Was He, think we, before His mother only? Yea, and before His mother’s ancestors is His antiquity. The ancestor of His mother was Abraham; and the Lord saith, “Before ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 472, footnote 12 (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 II. 12–17. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2095 (In-Text, Margin)

... Father begotten, from eternity begotten, in eternity begotten: with no beginning, no bound, no space of breadth; because He is what is, because Himself is “He that Is.” This His name He told to Moses: “Thou shalt say unto them, hath sent me unto you.” Why speak then of “before Abraham”? why, before Noe? why, before Adam? Hear the Scripture: “Before the day-star have I begotten Thee.” In fine, before heaven and earth. Wherefore? Because “all things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made.”[John 1:3] By this know ye the “fathers:” for they become fathers by acknowledging “That which is from the beginning.”

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 146, footnote 13 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm XLV (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1377 (In-Text, Margin)

... of thine heart, thou buildest something or other, and before that building subsists, the design subsists; and that which thou art about to produce, exists already in that by which thou art going to produce it; and thou praisest the fabric that as yet is not existing, not yet in the visible form of a building, but on the projecting of a design: nor does any one else praise thy design, unless either thou showest it to him, or he sees what thou hast done. If then by the Word “all things were made,”[John 1:3] and the Word is of God, consider the fabric reared by the Word, and learn from that building to admire His counsels! What manner of Word is that by which heaven and earth were made; and all the splendour of the heavens; all the fertility of the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 147, footnote 5 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm XLV (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1384 (In-Text, Margin)

... the same thing with, “I speak of the things which I have made unto the King.” Why then, “I speak of the things which I have made”? Because in the Word Itself are all the works of God. For whatever God designed to make in the creation already existed in “the Word;” and would not exist in the reality, had it not existed in the Word, just as with you the thing would not exist in the building, had it not existed in your design: even as it is said in the Gospel: “That which was made in Him was life.”[John 1:3-4] That which was made then was in existence; but it had its existence in the Word: and all the works of God existed there, and yet were not as yet “works.” “The Word” however already was, as this “Word was God, and was with God:” and was the Son of ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 209, footnote 8 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm LV (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1980 (In-Text, Margin)

... himself”? David indeed was, as we know, a holy prophet, king of Israel, son of Jesse: but because out of his seed there came for our salvation after the flesh the Lord Jesus Christ, often under that name He is figured, and David instead of Christ is in a figure set down, because of the origin of the Flesh of the Same. For after some sort He is Son of David, after some sort He is the Lord of David; Son of David after the flesh, Lord of David after the divinity. For if by Him have been made all things,[John 1:3] by Him also David himself hath been made, out of whose seed He came to men. Moreover, when the Lord had questioned the Jews, whose Son they affirmed Christ to be, they made answer, “David’s:” where the Lord chides the Jews, when they said that He ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 256, footnote 6 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm LXII (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2437 (In-Text, Margin)

... cloud, nevertheless in the heart where He is Himself Teacher. What is therefore, “Once hath God spoken”? Much hath that man leapt over in order to arrive at that place, where once God hath spoken. Behold briefly I have spoken to your Love. Here among men, to men ofttimes, in many ways, in many quarters, through creatures of many forms God hath spoken: by Himself once God hath spoken, because One Word God hath begotten.…For it could not be but that God did Himself know that which by the Word He made:[John 1:3] but if that which He made He knew, in Him there was that which was made before it was made. For if in Him was not that which was made before it was made, how knew He that which He made? For thou canst not say that God made things He knew not. God ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 301, footnote 6 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm LXIX (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2916 (In-Text, Margin)

... made him, in him would not have been fixed He whom God begot. But moreover because through iniquity man fell from the substance wherein he was made (for iniquity itself is no substance; for iniquity is not a nature which God formed, but a perverseness which man made); the Son of God came to the clay of the deep, and was fixed; and that was no substance wherein He was fixed, because in the iniquity of them He was fixed. “All things by Him were made, and without Him there was made nothing.”[John 1:3] All natures by Him were made, iniquity by Him was not made, because iniquity was not made. Those substances by Him were made, which praise Him. The whole creation praising God is commemorated by the three children in the furnace, and from things ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 328, footnote 11 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm LXXII (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3191 (In-Text, Margin)

... συμπαραμενεῖ. But if in Latin it could have been expressed in one word, it must have been expressed by compermanebit: however, because in Latin the word cannot be expressed, in order that the sense at least might be translated, it hath been expressed by, “He shall endure with the sun.” For He shall co-endure to the sun is nothing else but, “He shall endure with the sun.” But what great matter is it for Him to endure with the sun, through whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made,[John 1:3] save that this prophecy hath been sent before for the sake of those who think that the religion of the Christian name up to a particular time in this world will live, and afterwards will be no more? “He shall endure” therefore “with the sun,” so ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 341, footnote 8 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm LXXIII (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3301 (In-Text, Margin)

... chaste love. What is chaste love? Now the soul doth love her Bridegroom: what doth she require of Him, from Her Bridegroom whom she loveth? Perchance in like manner as women choose for themselves men either as sons-in-law or as bridegrooms: she perchance chooseth riches, and loveth his gold, and estates, and silver and cattle and horses, and household, and the like. Far be it. He doth love Him alone, for nought he doth love Him: because in Him he hath all things, for “by Him were made all things.”[John 1:3]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 347, footnote 14 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm LXXIV (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3368 (In-Text, Margin)

16. “Thine own is the day and Thine own is the night” (ver. 16). Who is ignorant of this, seeing that He hath Himself made all these things; for by the Word were made all things?[John 1:3] To that very One Himself who hath wrought Salvation in the midst of the earth, to Him is said, “Thine own is the night.” Something here we ought to perceive which belongeth to that very Salvation which He hath wrought in the midst of the earth. “Thine own is the day.” Who are these? The spiritual. “And Thine own is the night.” Who are these? The carnal.…“Thou hast made perfect sun and moon:” the sun, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 355, footnote 11 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm LXXVI (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3443 (In-Text, Margin)

... of Judah there came Our Lord Jesus Christ. For He is, as the Scripture saith, and as ye have but now heard, out of the seed of David born of Mary. But as regardeth the Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, wherein He is equal with the Father, He is not only before the Jews, but also before Abraham himself; nor only before Abraham, but also before Adam; nor only before Adam, but also before Heaven and earth and before ages: for all things by Himself were made, and without Him there was made nothing.[John 1:3] Because therefore in prophecy hath been said, “there shall not fail a prince out of Judah,” etc.: former times are examined, and we find that the Jews always had their kings of the tribe of Judah, and had no foreign king before that Herod who was ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 356, footnote 5 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm LXXVI (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3450 (In-Text, Margin)

... said themselves, “We have no king but Cæsar.” For better were it for them that their king should be Christ, of the seed of David, of the tribe of Judah. Nevertheless because Christ Himself is of the seed of David after the flesh, but God above all things blessed for ever, He is Himself our King and our God; our King, inasmuch as born of the tribe of Judah, after the flesh, was Christ the Lord, the Saviour; but our God, who is before Judah, and before Heaven and earth, by whom were made all things,[John 1:3] both spiritual and corporal. For if all things by Himself were made; even Mary herself, out of whom He was born, by Himself was made.…

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 450, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm XCI (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4306 (In-Text, Margin)

... those letters are the Scriptures, which exhort us to live well. Why do I speak of letters only? The King himself descended, and became a path to us in our wanderings: that walking in Him, we may neither stray, nor faint nor fall among robbers, nor be caught in the snares that are set near our path. This character, then, we recognise in the whole Person of Christ, together with the Church.…He Himself is our Head, He is God, co-equal with the Father, the Word of God, by whom all things were made:[John 1:3] but God to create, Man to renew; God to make, Man to restore. Looking upon Him, then, let us hear the Psalm. Listen, beloved. This is the teaching and doctrine of this school, which may enable you to understand, not this Psalm only, but many, if ye ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 490, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm C (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4551 (In-Text, Margin)

... God? But He speaketh of the Lord, whom men thought not God: “Be ye sure that the Lord He is God.” Let not that Lord become vile in your sight: ye have crucified Him, scourged Him, spit upon Him, crowned Him with thorns, clothed Him in a dress of infamy, hung Him upon the Cross, pierced Him with nails, wounded Him with a spear, placed guards at His tomb; He is God. “It is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves.” It is He that hath made us: “and without Him was not anything made that was made.”[John 1:3] What reason have ye for exultation, what reason have ye for pride? Another made you; the Same who made you, suffereth from you. But ye extol yourselves, and glory in yourselves, as if ye were created by yourselves. It is good for you that He who ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 510, footnote 9 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm CIV (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4700 (In-Text, Margin)

... “Other foundation can no man lay but that is laid, which is Christ Jesus.” And therefore, grounded on such a foundation, what hath she deserved to hear? “It shall not be bowed forever and ever.” “He founded the earth on its firmness.” That is, He hath founded the Church upon Christ the foundation. The Church will totter if the foundation totter; but when shall Christ totter, before whose coming unto us, and taking flesh on Him, “all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made;”[John 1:3] who holdeth all things by His Majesty, and us by His goodness? Since Christ faileth not, “she shall not be bowed for ever and ever.” Where are they who say that the Church hath perished from the world, when she cannot even be bowed.…

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 614, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm CXXX (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 5574 (In-Text, Margin)

... again; but must I hope on that account that I also may rise again? Certainly, on that account: for the Lord rose again in that which He assumed from thee. For He would not rise again, save He had died; and He could not have died, except He bore the flesh. What did the Lord assume from thee? The flesh. What was He that came Himself? The Word of God, who was before all things, through whom all things were made. But that He might receive something from thee, “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.”[John 1:3] He received from thee, what He might offer for thee; as the priest receiveth from thee, what he may offer for thee, when thou wishest to appease God for thy sins. It hath already been done, it hath been done thus. Our Priest received from us what He ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 1, page 82, footnote 9 (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 I (HTML)

Summary View of the Pre-existence and Divinity of Our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 26 (In-Text, Margin)

... things, the second cause of the universe after the Father, the true and only-begotten Son of God, the Lord and God and King of all created things, the one who has received dominion and power, with divinity itself, and with might and honor from the Father; as it is said in regard to him in the mystical passages of Scripture which speak of his divinity: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” “All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made.”[John 1:3]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 1, page 562, footnote 8 (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 Constantine. (HTML)

That God is the Father of the Word, and the Creator of all Things; and that Material Objects could not continue to exist, were their Causes Various. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3377 (In-Text, Margin)

... origin, and therefore no beginning, being himself the originator of all things which receive existence. But he who proceeds from him is again united to him; and this separation from and union with him is not local, but intellectual in its character. For this generation was accompanied by no diminution of the Father’s substance (as in the case of generation by seed); but by the determining act of foreknowledge God manifested a Saviour presiding over this sensible world, and all created things therein.[John 1:3] From hence, then, is the source of existence and life to all things which are within the compass of this world; hence proceed the soul, and every sense; hence those organs through which the sense-perceptions are perfected. What, then, is the object ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 1, page 598, footnote 3 (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 XII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3546 (In-Text, Margin)

... name; surpassing the power, not of language only, but of thought itself. Uncircumscribed by place, or body; neither in heaven, nor in ethereal space, nor in any other part of the universe; but entirely independent of all things else, he pervades the depths of unexplored and secret wisdom. The sacred oracles teach us to acknowledge him as the only true God, apart from all corporeal essence, distinct from all subordinate ministration. Hence it is said that all things are from him, but not through him.[John 1:3]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 1, page 599, footnote 1 (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 XII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3551 (In-Text, Margin)

... exists as an unbroken bond between the two, uniting things most widely different by an inseparable tie. He is the Providence which rules the universe; the guardian and director of the whole: he is the Power and Wisdom of God the only-begotten God, the Word begotten of God himself. For “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that hath been made”; as we learn from the words of the sacred writer.[John 1:1-3] Through his vivifying power all nature grows and flourishes, refreshed by his continual showers, and invested with a vigor and beauty ever new.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 2, page 4, 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 I (HTML)

Division begins in the Church from this Controversy; and Alexander Bishop of Alexandria excommunicates Arius and his Adherents. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 125 (In-Text, Margin)

... them; endeavoring to blend falsehood with truth, and that which is impious with what is sacred. But they shall not prevail, for the truth must triumph; and ‘light has no fellowship with darkness, nor has Christ any concord with Belial.’ Who ever heard such blasphemies? or what man of any piety is there now hearing them that is not horror-struck, and stops his ears, lest the filth of these expressions should pollute his sense of hearing? Who that hears John saying, ‘In the beginning was the Word,’[John 1:1-3] does not condemn those that say, ‘There was a period when the Word was not’? or who, hearing in the Gospel of ‘the only-begotten Son,’ and that ‘all things were made by him,’ will not abhor those that pronounce the Son to be one of the things made? ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 36, footnote 5 (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)
The Epistle of Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria to Alexander, Bishop of Constantinople. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 263 (In-Text, Margin)

... that there never was a time in which He was not, is expressly taught by John the Evangelist, who speaks of Him as ‘ the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father.’ This divine teacher desired to show that the Father and the Son are inseparable; and, therefore, he said, ‘that the Son is in the bosom of the Father.’ Moreover, the same John affirms that the Word of God is not classed among things created out of the non-existent, for, he says that ‘ all things were made by Him[John 1:3],’ and he also declares His individual personality in the following words: ‘ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.…All things were made by Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made.’ ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 36, footnote 7 (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)
The Epistle of Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria to Alexander, Bishop of Constantinople. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 265 (In-Text, Margin)

... are inseparable; and, therefore, he said, ‘that the Son is in the bosom of the Father.’ Moreover, the same John affirms that the Word of God is not classed among things created out of the non-existent, for, he says that ‘ all things were made by Him,’ and he also declares His individual personality in the following words: ‘ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.…All things were made by Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made[John 1:3].’ If, then, all things were made by Him, how is it that He who thus bestowed existence on all, could at any period have had no existence himself? The Word, the creating power, can in no way be defined as of the same nature as the things created, if ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 71, footnote 8 (Image)

Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome

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

The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)
Council held at Sardica. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 488 (In-Text, Margin)

... this could never be so has been testified by the Son Himself, who said, ‘ I am in the Father, and the Father in Me;’ and ‘ I and My Father are one.’ None of us denies that He was begotten; but we say that He was begotten before all things, whether visible or invisible; and that He is the Creator of archangels and angels, and of the world, and of the human race. It is written, ‘ Wisdom which is the worker of all things taught me,’ and again, ‘ All things were made by Him[John 1:3].’

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 179, footnote 13 (Image)

Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome

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

Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus. (HTML)

The Immutable. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1149 (In-Text, Margin)

“If any one says that the flesh came down from heaven, and not from this earth, and from us, let him be Anathema. For the words ‘The second man is from heaven,’ and ‘as is the heavenly such are they also that are heavenly’ and ‘no man hath ascended up to heaven but the son of man that came down from heaven,’ and any other similar passage, must be understood to be spoken on account of the union with man, as also the statement that ‘all things were made by Christ,’[John 1:3] and that ‘Christ dwells in our hearts,’ must be understood not according to the sensible, but according to the intellectual conception of the Godhead, the terms being commingled together just as are the natures.”

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 183, footnote 11 (Image)

Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome

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

Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus. (HTML)

The Unconfounded. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1185 (In-Text, Margin)

... For the Divine Man after being made man was named Jesus Christ. “For,” it is written, “Thou shalt call His name Jesus for he shall save His people from their sins,” and unto you is born this day in the city of David Christ the Lord. Now these are angels’ voices. But before the Incarnation he was named God, son of God, only begotten, Lord, Divine Word, and Creator. For it is written “In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and the word was God,” and “all things were made by Him,”[John 1:3] and “He was life,” and “He was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” There are also other similar passages, declaring the divine nature. But after the Incarnation He was named Jesus and Christ.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 192, footnote 3 (Image)

Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome

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

Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus. (HTML)

The Unconfounded. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1243 (In-Text, Margin)

Orth. —When, then, you hear the divine John exclaiming “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God” and “By Him all things were made”[John 1:3] and the rest of the parallel passages, do you affirm that the flesh, or the divine Word, begotten before the ages of the Father, was in the beginning with God, and was by nature God, and made all things?

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 193, footnote 1 (Image)

Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome

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

Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus. (HTML)

The Unconfounded. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1244 (In-Text, Margin)

Orth. —Hear then John saying “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made”[John 1:1-3] and so on. Hear too Matthew, “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, Son of David,—Son of Abraham,”—and so on. Luke too traced His genealogy to Abraham and David. Now make the former and the latter quotation fit one nature. You will find it impossible, for existence in the beginning, and descent from Abraham,—the making of all things, and derivation from a created forefather, are ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 323, footnote 1 (Image)

Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome

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

Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus. (HTML)

To John the Œconomus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2142 (In-Text, Margin)

These are the lessons we have learnt from the divine Apostles; this is the teaching given us by John and Matthew, those mighty rivers of the gospel message. The latter says “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham;” and the former when he shewed the things which were before the ages wrote, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him.”[John 1:1-3]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 37, footnote 4 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

The Incarnation of the Word. (HTML)

On the Incarnation of the Word. (HTML)

Erroneous views of Creation rejected. (1) Epicurean (fortuitous generation). But diversity of bodies and parts argues a creating intellect. (2.) Platonists (pre-existent matter.) But this subjects God to human limitations, making Him not a creator but a mechanic. (3) Gnostics (an alien Demiurge). Rejected from Scripture. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 197 (In-Text, Margin)

... says to the Jews: “Have ye not read that from the beginning He which created them made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall become one flesh?” and then, referring to the Creator, says, “What, therefore, hath joined together let not man put asunder:” how come these men to assert that the creation is independent of the Father? Or if, in the words of John, who says, making no exception, “All things[John 1:3] were made by Him,” and “without Him was not anything made,” how could the artificer be another, distinct from the Father of Christ?

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 70, footnote 6 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Deposition of Arius. (Depositio Arii.) (HTML)

Deposition of Arius. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 368 (In-Text, Margin)

... there any “communion of light with darkness,” nor any “concord of Christ with Belial.” For who ever heard such assertions before? or who that hears them now is not astonished and does not stop his ears lest they should be defiled with such language? Who that has heard the words of John, “In the beginning was the Word,” will not denounce the saying of these men, that “there was a time when He was not?” Or who that has heard in the Gospel, “the Only-begotten Son,” and “by Him were all things made[John 1:3],” will not detest their declaration that He is “one of the things that were made.” For how can He be one of those things which were made by Himself? or how can He be the Only-begotten, when, according to them, He is counted as one among the rest, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 158, footnote 17 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Defence of the Nicene Definition. (De Decretis.) (HTML)

De Decretis. (Defence of the Nicene Definition.) (HTML)

Two senses of the word Son, 1. adoptive; 2. essential; attempts of Arians to find a third meaning between these; e.g. that our Lord only was created immediately by God (Asterius's view), or that our Lord alone partakes the Father. The second and true sense; God begets as He makes, really; though His creation and generation are not like man's; His generation independent of time; generation implies an internal, and therefore an eternal, act in God; explanation of Prov. viii. 22. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 838 (In-Text, Margin)

... better than any the nature of everything, says through Moses, of the creatures, ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth;’ but of the Son it introduces not another, but the Father Himself saying, ‘I have begotten Thee from the womb before the morning star;’ and again, ‘Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee.’ And the Lord says of Himself in the Proverbs, ‘Before all the hills He begets me;’ and concerning things originated and created John speaks, ‘All things were made by Him[John 1:3];’ but preaching of the Lord, he says, ‘The Only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He declared Him.’ If then son, therefore not creature; if creature, not son; for great is the difference between them, and son and creature cannot be ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 161, footnote 5 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Defence of the Nicene Definition. (De Decretis.) (HTML)

De Decretis. (Defence of the Nicene Definition.) (HTML)

Proof of the Catholic Sense of the Word Son. Power, Word or Reason, and Wisdom, the names of the Son, imply eternity; as well as the Father's title of Fountain. The Arians reply, that these do not formally belong to the essence of the Son, but are names given Him; that God has many words, powers, &c. Why there is but one Son and Word, &c. All the titles of the Son coincide in Him. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 868 (In-Text, Margin)

... knowing that the Lord’s Hand was nothing else than Wisdom, says in the Psalm, ‘In wisdom hast Thou made them all; the earth is full of Thy creation.’ Solomon also received the same from God, and said, ‘The Lord by wisdom founded the earth,’ and John, knowing that the Word was the Hand and the Wisdom, thus preached, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; the same was in the beginning with God: all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made[John 1:1-3].’ And the Apostle, seeing that the Hand and the Wisdom and the Word was nothing else than the Son, says, ‘God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 230, footnote 8 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Circular to Bishops of Egypt and Libya. (Ad Episcopos Ægypti Et Libyæ Epistola Encyclica.) (HTML)

To the Bishops of Egypt. (HTML)

Chapter II (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1223 (In-Text, Margin)

... as changeable, not perceiving, that by speaking thus, they make Him to be, not one with the Father, but one with created things. Who does not see, that the brightness cannot be separated from the light, but that it is by nature proper to it, and co-existent with it, and is not produced after it? Again, when the Father says, ‘This is My beloved Son,’ and when the Scriptures say that ‘He is the Word’ of the Father, by whom ‘the heavens were established,’ and in short, ‘All things were made by Him[John 1:3];’ these inventors of new doctrines and fictions represent that there is another Word, and another Wisdom of the Father, and that He is only called the Word and the Wisdom conceptually on account of things endued with reason, while they perceive not ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 231, footnote 1 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Circular to Bishops of Egypt and Libya. (Ad Episcopos Ægypti Et Libyæ Epistola Encyclica.) (HTML)

To the Bishops of Egypt. (HTML)

Chapter II (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1228 (In-Text, Margin)

How is it that the Lord has said, ‘I am in the Father, and the Father in Me,’ if there be another in the Father, by whom the Lord Himself also was made? And how is it that John, passing over that other, relates of this One, saying, ‘All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made[John 1:3]?’ If all things that were made by the will of God were made by Him, how can He be Himself one of the things that were made? And when the Apostle says, ‘For whom are all things, and by whom are all things,’ how can these men say, that we were not made for Him, but He for us? If it be so, He ought to have said, ‘For whom the Word was made;’ but He ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 231, footnote 3 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Circular to Bishops of Egypt and Libya. (Ad Episcopos Ægypti Et Libyæ Epistola Encyclica.) (HTML)

To the Bishops of Egypt. (HTML)

Chapter II (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1230 (In-Text, Margin)

... works of the true Word are manifest to all, so as for Him to be contemplated by analogy from them. For as, when we see the creation, we conceive of God as the Creator of it; so when we see that nothing is without order therein, but that all things move and continue with order and providence, we infer a Word of God who is over all and governs all. This too the holy Scriptures testify, declaring that He is the Word of God, and that ‘all things were made by Him, and without Him was not any thing made[John 1:3].’ But of that other Word, of whom they speak, there is neither word nor work that they have to shew. Nay, even the Father Himself, when He says, ‘This is My beloved Son,’ signifies that besides Him there is none other

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 314, footnote 8 (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)
That the Son is Eternal and Increate. These attributes, being the points in dispute, are first proved by direct texts of Scripture. Concerning the 'eternal power' of God in Rom. i. 20, which is shewn to mean the Son. Remarks on the Arian formula, 'Once the Son was not,' its supporters not daring to speak of 'a time when the Son was not.' (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1913 (In-Text, Margin)

... did not come out of nothing, nor is in the number of originated things at all, but is the Father’s Image and Word eternal, never having not been, but being ever, as the eternal Radiance of a Light which is eternal. Why imagine then times before the Son? or wherefore blaspheme the Word as after times, by whom even the ages were made? for how did time or age at all subsist when the Word, as you say, had not appeared, ‘through’ whom ‘all things have been made and without’ whom ‘not one thing was made[John 1:3]?’ Or why, when you mean time, do you not plainly say, ‘a time was when the Word was not?’ But while you drop the word ‘time’ to deceive the simple, you do not at all conceal your own feeling, nor, even if you did, could you escape discovery. For you ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 317, footnote 11 (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)
Subject Continued. Third proof of the Son's eternity, viz. from other titles indicative of His coessentiality; as the Creator; One of the Blessed Trinity; as Wisdom; as Word; as Image. If the Son is a perfect Image of the Father, why is He not a Father also? because God, being perfect, is not the origin of a race. Only the Father a Father because the Only Father, only the Son a Son because the Only Son. Men are not really fathers and really sons, but shadows of the True. The Son does not become a Father, because He has received from the Father to be immutable and ever the same. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1949 (In-Text, Margin)

... But their doctrine is false; truth witnessing that God is the eternal Fountain of His proper Wisdom; and, if the Fountain be eternal, the Wisdom also must needs be eternal. For in It were all things made, as David says in the Psalm, ‘In Wisdom hast Thou made them all;’ and Solomon says, ‘The Lord by Wisdom hath formed the earth, by understanding hath He established the heavens.’ And this Wisdom is the Word, and by Him, as John says, ‘all things were made,’ and ‘without Him was made not one thing[John 1:3].’ And this Word is Christ; for ‘there is One God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we for Him; and One Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through Him.’ And if all things are through Him, He Himself is not to be reckoned ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 339, footnote 5 (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 2159 (In-Text, Margin)

... generate, as ‘become’ or ‘made;’ but on the contrary, things originate cannot be called generate, God’s handiwork as they are, except so far as after their making they partake of the generate Son, and are therefore said to have been generated also, not at all in their own nature, but because of their participation of the Son in the Spirit. And this again divine Scripture recognises; for it says in the case of things originate, ‘All things came to be through Him, and without Him nothing came to be[John 1:3],’ and, ‘In wisdom hast Thou made them all;’ but in the case of sons which are generate, ‘To Job there came to be seven sons and three daughters,’ and, ‘Abraham was an hundred years old when there came to be to him Isaac his son;’ and Moses said, ‘If ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 351, footnote 3 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

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

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

Discourse II (HTML)
Texts explained; Fourthly, Hebrews iii. 2. Introduction; the Regula Fidei counter to an Arian sense of the text; which is not supported by the word 'servant,' nor by 'made' which occurs in it; (how can the Judge be among the 'works' which 'God will bring into judgment?') nor by 'faithful;' and is confuted by the immediate context, which is about Priesthood; and by the foregoing passage, which explains the word 'faithful' as meaning trustworthy, as do 1 Pet. iv. fin. and other texts. On the whole made may safely be understood either of the divine generation or the human creation. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2247 (In-Text, Margin)

... allegation of such phrases, ought now, though late in the day, after what has been said, to disown their irreligious thoughts, and think of the Lord as of a true Son, Word, and Wisdom of the Father, not a work, not a creature. For if the Son be a creature, by what word then and by what wisdom was He made Himself? for all the works were made through the Word and the Wisdom, as it is written, ‘In wisdom hast Thou made them all,’ and, ‘All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made[John 1:3].’ But if it be He who is the Word and the Wisdom, by which all things come to be, it follows that He is not in the number of works, nor in short of things originate, but the Offspring of the Father.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 361, footnote 8 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

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

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

Discourse II (HTML)
Introduction to Proverbs viii. 22 continued. Absurdity of supposing a Son or Word created in order to the creation of other creatures; as to the creation being unable to bear God's immediate hand, God condescends to the lowest. Moreover, if the Son a creature, He too could not bear God's hand, and an infinite series of media will be necessary. Objected, that, as Moses who led out the Israelites was a man, so our Lord; but Moses was not the Agent in creation:--again, that unity is found in created ministrations, but all such ministrations are defective and dependent:--again, that He learned to create, yet could God's Wisdom need teaching? and why should He learn, if the Father worketh hitherto? If the Son was created to create us, He is for (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2361 (In-Text, Margin)

24 (continued). here it were well to ask them also this question, for a still clearer refutation of their heresy;—Wherefore, when all things are creatures, and all are brought into consistence from nothing, and the Son Himself, according to you, is creature and work, and once was not, wherefore has He made ‘all things through Him’ alone, ‘and without Him was made not one thing[John 1:3]?’ or why is it, when ‘all things’ are spoken of, that no one thinks the Son is signified in the number, but only things originate; whereas when Scripture speaks of the Word, it does not understand Him as being in the number of ‘all,’ but places Him with the Father, as Him in whom Providence and salvation ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 367, footnote 13 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

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

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

Discourse II (HTML)
Introduction to Proverbs viii. 22 continued. Contrast between the Father's operations immediately and naturally in the Son, instrumentally by the creatures; Scripture terms illustrative of this. Explanation of these illustrations; which should be interpreted by the doctrine of the Church; perverse sense put on them by the Arians, refuted. Mystery of Divine Generation. Contrast between God's Word and man's word drawn out at length. Asterius betrayed into holding two Unoriginates; his inconsistency. Baptism how by the Son as well as by the Father. On the Baptism of heretics. Why Arian worse than other heresies. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2444 (In-Text, Margin)

... being, and man’s word subsists not. But the ‘Word of God,’ as the Apostle says, ‘is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight; but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. ’ He is then Framer of all, ‘and without Him was made not one thing[John 1:3],’ nor can anything be made without Him.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 369, 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 II (HTML)
Introduction to Proverbs viii. 22 continued. Contrast between the Father's operations immediately and naturally in the Son, instrumentally by the creatures; Scripture terms illustrative of this. Explanation of these illustrations; which should be interpreted by the doctrine of the Church; perverse sense put on them by the Arians, refuted. Mystery of Divine Generation. Contrast between God's Word and man's word drawn out at length. Asterius betrayed into holding two Unoriginates; his inconsistency. Baptism how by the Son as well as by the Father. On the Baptism of heretics. Why Arian worse than other heresies. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2466 (In-Text, Margin)

... accordingly the Saviour signifies to be distinct from Himself, when He says in His own person, ‘The words which I have spoken unto you.’ For certainly such words are not offsprings or sons, nor are there so many words that frame the world, nor so many images of the One God, nor so many who have become men for us, nor as if from many such there were one who has become flesh, as John says; but as being the only Word of God was He preached by John, ‘The Word was made flesh,’ and ‘all things were made by Him[John 1:3].’ Wherefore of Him alone, our Lord Jesus Christ, and of His oneness with the Father, are written and set forth the testimonies, both of the Father signifying that the Son is One, and of the saints, aware of this and saying that the Word is One, and ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 376, footnote 2 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

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

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

Discourse II (HTML)
Texts explained; Sixthly, Proverbs viii. 22. Proverbs are of a figurative nature, and must be interpreted as such. We must interpret them, and in particular this passage, by the Regula Fidei. 'He created me' not equivalent to 'I am a creature.' Wisdom a creature so far forth as Its human body. Again, if He is a creature, it is as 'a beginning of ways,' an office which, though not an attribute, is a consequence, of a higher and divine nature. And it is 'for the works,' which implied the works existed, and therefore much more He, before He was created. Also 'the Lord' not the Father 'created' Him, which implies the creation was that of a servant. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2540 (In-Text, Margin)

... the Son, might have confidence to call Him by grace Father, who is by nature our Lord. But as we, in calling the Lord Father, do not deny our servitude by nature (for we are His works, and it is ‘He that hath made us, and not we ourselves ’), so when the Son, on taking the servant’s form, says, ‘The Lord created me a beginning of His ways,’ let them not deny the eternity of His Godhead, and that ‘in the beginning was the Word,’ and ‘all things were made by Him,’ and ‘in Him all things were created[John 1:3].’

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 387, footnote 10 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

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

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

Discourse II (HTML)
Texts Explained; Sixthly, Proverbs viii. 22, Continued. Our Lord not said in Scripture to be 'created,' or the works to be 'begotten.' 'In the beginning' means in the case of the works 'from the beginning.' Scripture passages explained. We are made by God first, begotten next; creatures by nature, sons by grace. Christ begotten first, made or created afterwards. Sense of 'First-born of the dead;' of 'First-born among many brethren;' of 'First-born of all creation,' contrasted with 'Only-begotten.' Further interpretation of 'beginning of ways,' and 'for the works.' Why a creature could not redeem; why redemption was necessary at all. Texts which contrast the Word and the works. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2700 (In-Text, Margin)

... ‘My hand hath made all these things;’ and David says in the Psalm, ‘And Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Thy hands;’ and again, in the hundred and forty-second Psalm, ‘I do remember the time past, I muse upon all Thy works, yea I exercise myself in the works of Thy hands.’ Therefore if by the Hand of God the works are wrought, and it is written that ‘all things were made through the Word,’ and ‘without Him was not made one thing[John 1:3],’ and again, ‘One Lord Jesus, through whom are all things,’ and ‘in Him all things consist,’ it is very plain that the Son cannot be a work, but He is the Hand of God and the Wisdom. This knowing, the martyrs in Babylon, Ananias, Azarias, and ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 392, footnote 8 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

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

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

Discourse II (HTML)
Texts Explained; Sixthly, the Context of Proverbs viii. 22 Vz. 22-30. It is right to interpret this passage by the Regula Fidei. 'Founded' is used in contrast to superstructure; and it implies, as in the case of stones in building, previous existence. 'Before the world' signifies the divine intention and purpose. Recurrence to Prov. viii. 22, and application of it to created Wisdom as seen in the works. The Son reveals the Father, first by the works, then by the Incarnation. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2773 (In-Text, Margin)

81. But since He proceeds to say, ‘When He prepared the heaven, I was present with Him,’ we ought to know that He says not this as if without Wisdom the Father prepared the heaven or the clouds above (for there is no room to doubt that all things are created in Wisdom, and without It was made not even one[John 1:3] thing); but this is what He says, ‘All things took place in Me and through Me, and when there was need that Wisdom should be created in the works, in My Essence indeed I was with the Father, but by a condescension to things originate, I was disposing over the works My own impress, so that the whole world as being in one body, might not be at ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 393, footnote 5 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

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

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

Discourse II (HTML)
Texts Explained; Sixthly, the Context of Proverbs viii. 22 Vz. 22-30. It is right to interpret this passage by the Regula Fidei. 'Founded' is used in contrast to superstructure; and it implies, as in the case of stones in building, previous existence. 'Before the world' signifies the divine intention and purpose. Recurrence to Prov. viii. 22, and application of it to created Wisdom as seen in the works. The Son reveals the Father, first by the works, then by the Incarnation. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2785 (In-Text, Margin)

... vainly did ye parade and circulate everywhere your text, ‘The Lord created me a beginning of His ways,’ perverting its sense, and publishing, not Solomon’s meaning, but your own comment. For behold your sense is proved to be but a fantasy; but the passage in the Proverbs, as well as all that is above said, proves that the Son is not a creature in nature and essence, but the proper Offspring of the Father, true Wisdom and Word, by whom ‘all things were made,’ and ‘without Him was made not one thing.[John 1:3]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 434, footnote 6 (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)
The substantiality of the Word proved from Scripture. If the One Origin be substantial, Its Word is substantial. Unless the Word and Son be a second Origin, or a work, or an attribute (and so God be compounded), or at the same time Father, or involve a second nature in God, He is from the Father's Essence and distinct from Him. Illustration of John x. 30, drawn from Deut. iv. 4. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3289 (In-Text, Margin)

... plain that the Word is not from nothing, nor once was not; for He was ever; since He of whom He is the Image, exists ever. But if they say that He is indeed wise and not word-less, but that He has in Himself His own wisdom and own word, and that, not Christ, but that by which He made Christ, we must answer that, if Christ in that word was brought to be, plainly so were all things; and it must be He of whom John says, ‘All things were made by Him,’ and the Psalmist, ‘In Wisdom hast Thou made them all[John 1:3].’ And Christ will be found to speak untruly, ‘I in the Father,’ there being another in the Father. And ‘the Word became flesh ’ is not true according to them. For if He in whom ‘all things came to be,’ Himself became flesh, but Christ is not in the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 491, footnote 2 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Synodal Letter to the Bishops of Africa. (Ad Afros Epistola Synodica.) (HTML)

Synodal Letter to the Bishops of Africa. (Ad Afros Epistola Synodica.) (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3731 (In-Text, Margin)

... being the brightness of his glory, and the express Image of his subsistence.’ But the others, who think they know the Scriptures and call themselves wise, and do not choose to speak of subsistence in God (for thus they wrote at Ariminum and at other synods of theirs), were surely with justice deposed, saying as they did, like the fool did in his heart, ‘God is not.’ And again the fathers taught at Nicæa that the Son and Word is not a creature, nor made, having read ‘all things were made through Him[John 1:3],’ and ‘in Him were all things created, and consist;’ while these men, Arians rather than Christians, in their other synods have ventured to call Him a creature, and one of the things that are made, things of which He Himself is the Artificer and ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 5, page 58, footnote 1 (Image)

Gregory of Nyssa: Dogmatic Treatises; Select Writings and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises. (HTML)

Against Eunomius. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)
He does wrong in assuming, to account for the existence of the Only-Begotten, an 'energy' that produced Christ's Person. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 115 (In-Text, Margin)

Thereby, too, the creation of all things by the Son[John 1:3] will be found to have no foundation: another personality, prior to Him, has been invented by our neologian, to which the authorship of the world must be referred, because the Son Himself derives His being according to them from that ‘energy.’ If, however, to avoid such profanities, he makes this ‘energy’ which produced the Son into something unsubstantial, he will have to explain to us how non-being can ‘follow’ being, and how what is not a substance can produce a ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 5, page 111, footnote 4 (Image)

Gregory of Nyssa: Dogmatic Treatises; Select Writings and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises. (HTML)

Against Eunomius. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)
Gregory further shows that the Only-Begotten being begotten not only of the Father, but also impassibly of the Virgin by the Holy Ghost, does not divide the substance; seeing that neither is the nature of men divided or severed from the parents by being begotten, as is ingeniously demonstrated from the instances of Adam and Abraham. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 320 (In-Text, Margin)

... matter or of any instrumental agency. Accordingly the language of Eunomius on this point is not to be rejected. For God, when creating all things that have their origin by creation, neither stood in need of any matter on which to operate, nor of instruments to aid Him in His construction: for the power and wisdom of God has no need of any external assistance. But Christ is “the Power of God and the Wisdom of God,” by Whom all things were made and without Whom is no existent thing, as John testifies[John 1:3]. If, then, all things were made by Him, both visible and invisible, and if His will alone suffices to effect the subsistence of existing things (for His will is power), Eunomius utters our doctrine though with a loose mode of expression. For what ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 5, page 112, footnote 2 (Image)

Gregory of Nyssa: Dogmatic Treatises; Select Writings and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises. (HTML)

Against Eunomius. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)
Gregory further shows that the Only-Begotten being begotten not only of the Father, but also impassibly of the Virgin by the Holy Ghost, does not divide the substance; seeing that neither is the nature of men divided or severed from the parents by being begotten, as is ingeniously demonstrated from the instances of Adam and Abraham. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 326 (In-Text, Margin)

... he would not be only-begotten. And moreover, whatever the essence of the brothers of the first-born is, the same is the essence of the first-born himself. Nor is this all that is signified by the title, but also that the first-born and those born after him draw their being from the same source, without the first-born contributing at all to the birth of those that come after him: so that hereby is maintained the falsehood of that statement of John, which affirms that “all things were made by Him[John 1:3].” For if He is first-born, He differs from those born after Him only by priority in time, while there must be some one else by Whom the power to be at all is imparted alike to Him and to the rest. But that we may not by our objections give any ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 5, page 116, footnote 7 (Image)

Gregory of Nyssa: Dogmatic Treatises; Select Writings and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises. (HTML)

Against Eunomius. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)
Gregory again discusses the generation of the Only-Begotten, and other different modes of generation, material and immaterial, and nobly demonstrates that the Son is the brightness of the Divine glory, and not a creature. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 364 (In-Text, Margin)

... the creation contains, both small and great, are of course entitled to the appellation of “very Son.” And in what sense does He call Him Who has come into being “Only-begotten”? For all things that come into being are unquestionably in brotherhood with each other, so far, I mean, as their coming into being is concerned. And from whom did He come into being? For assuredly all things that have ever come into being did so from the Son. For thus did John testify, saying, “All things were made by Him[John 1:3].” If then the Son also came into being, according to Eunomius’ creed, He is certainly ranked in the class of things which have come into being. If then all things that came into being were made by Him, and the Word is one of the things that came ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 5, page 130, footnote 2 (Image)

Gregory of Nyssa: Dogmatic Treatises; Select Writings and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises. (HTML)

Against Eunomius. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)
He proceeds to discuss the views held by Eunomius, and by the Church, touching the Holy Spirit; and to show that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are not three Gods, but one God. He also discusses different senses of “Subjection,” and therein shows that the subjection of all things to the Son is the same as the subjection of the Son to the Father. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 473 (In-Text, Margin)

Let us however resume Eunomius’ statement in its entirety. “Having come into being from the only God through the Only-begotten, this Spirit also—” What proof is there of the statement that “this Spirit also” is one of the things that were made by the Only-begotten? They will say of course that “all things were made by Him[John 1:3],” and that in the term “all things” “this Spirit also” is included. Our answer to them shall be this, All things were made by Him, that were made. Now the things that were made, as Paul tells us, were things visible and invisible, thrones, authorities, dominions, principalities, powers, and among those included under the head of ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 5, page 136, footnote 4 (Image)

Gregory of Nyssa: Dogmatic Treatises; Select Writings and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises. (HTML)

Against Eunomius. (HTML)

Book III (HTML)
This third book shows a third fall of Eunomius, as refuting himself, and sometimes saying that the Son is to be called Only-begotten in virtue of natural generation, and that Holy Scripture proves this from the first; at other times, that by reason of His being created He should not be called a Son, but a “product,” or “creature.” (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 529 (In-Text, Margin)

... saints”? For that by Him all things were made, you may hear almost from the whole of their holy utterance, from Moses and the prophets and apostles who come after him, whose particular expressions it would be tedious here to set forth. Enough for our purpose, with the others, and above the others, is the sublime John, where in the preface to his discourse on the Divinity of the Only-begotten he proclaims aloud the fact that there is none of the things that were made which was not made through Him[John 1:3], a fact which is an incontestable and positive proof of His being Lord of the creation, not reckoned in the list of created things. For if all things that are made exist by no other but by Him (and John bears witness that nothing among the things ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 20, footnote 6 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)

On the Ten Points of Doctrine. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 655 (In-Text, Margin)

... another of the body; a doctrine at once absurd and impious. For how can a man become the one servant of two masters, when our Lord says in the Gospels, No man can serve two masters? There is then One Only God, the Maker both of souls and bodies: One the Creator of heaven and earth, the Maker of Angels and Archangels: of many the Creator, but of One only the Father before all ages,—of One only, His Only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom He made all things visible and invisible[John 1:3].

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 35, footnote 15 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)

Concerning the Unity of God.  On the Article, I Believe in One God.  Also Concerning Heresies. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 851 (In-Text, Margin)

9. One He is, everywhere present, beholding all things, perceiving all things, creating all things through Christ: For all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made[John 1:3]. A fountain of every good, abundant and unfailing, a river of blessings, an eternal light of never-failing splendour, an insuperable power condescending to our infirmities: whose very Name we dare not hear. Wilt thou find a footstep of the Lord? saith Job, or hast thou attained unto the least things which the Almighty hath made? If the least of His works are incomprehensible, shall He ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 67, footnote 7 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)

On the Words, the Only-Begotten Son of God, Begotten of the Father Very God Before All Ages, by Whom All Things Were Made. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1286 (In-Text, Margin)

... men, who by their imagined reverence fall into impiety. For though they know nothing of Thrones, and Dominions, and Principalities, and Powers, the workmanship of Christ, they attempt to scrutinise their Creator Himself. Tell me first, O most daring man, wherein does Throne differ from Dominion, and then scrutinise what pertains to Christ. Tell me what is a Principality, and what a Power, and what a Virtue, and what an Angel: and then search out their Creator, for all things were made by Him[John 1:3]. But thou wilt not, or thou canst not ask Thrones or Dominions. What else is there that knoweth the deep things of God1287

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 70, footnote 5 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)

On the Words, the Only-Begotten Son of God, Begotten of the Father Very God Before All Ages, by Whom All Things Were Made. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1327 (In-Text, Margin)

... we see. Silenced be they who say that the world is the workmanship of Angels, who wish to steal away the dignity of the Only-begotten. For whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, or anything that is named, all things were made by Christ. He reigns over the things which have been made by Him, not having seized another’s spoils, but reigning over His own workmanship, even as the Evangelist John has said, All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made[John 1:3]. All things were made by Him, the Father working by the Son.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 125, footnote 25 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)

Continuation of the Discourse on the Holy Ghost. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2132 (In-Text, Margin)

6. This is the Holy Ghost, who came upon the Holy Virgin Mary; for since He who was conceived was Christ the Only-begotten, the power of the Highest overshadowed her, and the Holy Ghost came upon her, and sanctified her, that she might be able to receive Him, by whom all things were made[John 1:3]. But I have no need of many words to teach thee that generation was without defilement or taint, for thou hast learned it. It is Gabriel who says to her, I am the herald of what shall be done, but have no part in the work. Though an Archangel, I know my place; and though I joyfully bid thee All hail, yet how thou shalt bring forth, is not of ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 440, footnote 3 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

Select Letters of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)

Letters on the Apollinarian Controversy. (HTML)

To Cledonius the Priest Against Apollinarius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4700 (In-Text, Margin)

... novel teaching. If anyone assert that His flesh came down from heaven, and is not from hence, nor of us though above us, let him be anathema. For the words, The Second Man is the Lord from Heaven; and, As is the Heavenly, such are they that are Heavenly; and, No man hath ascended up into Heaven save He which came down from Heaven, even the Son of Man which is in Heaven; and the like, are to be understood as said on account of the Union with the heavenly; just as that All Things were made by Christ,[John 1:3] and that Christ dwelleth in your hearts is said, not of the visible nature which belongs to God, but of what is perceived by the mind, the names being mingled like the natures, and flowing into one another, according to the law of their intimate ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 14, footnote 3 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

De Spiritu Sancto. (HTML)

In how many ways “Through whom” is used; and in what sense “with whom” is more suitable.  Explanation of how the Son receives a commandment, and how He is sent. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 892 (In-Text, Margin)

... commission, a condition distinctly menial and quite inadequate to the divine dignity. Rather was the Word full of His Father’s excellences; He shines forth from the Father, and does all things according to the likeness of Him that begat Him. For if in essence He is without variation, so also is He without variation in power. And of those whose power is equal, the operation also is in all ways equal. And Christ is the power of God, and the wisdom of God. And so “all things are made through [by, A.V.] him,”[John 1:3] and “all things were created through [by, A.V.] him and for him,” not in the discharge of any slavish service, but in the fulfilment of the Father’s will as Creator.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 118, footnote 9 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

The Letters. (HTML)

To the Cæsareans.  A defence of his withdrawal, and concerning the faith. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1818 (In-Text, Margin)

6. It is on thy account that He knows not the hour and the day of judgment. Yet nothing is beyond the ken of the real Wisdom, for “all things were made by Him;”[John 1:3] and even among men no one is ignorant of what he has made. But this is His dispensation because of thine own infirmity, that sinners be not plunged into despair by the narrow limits of the appointed period, no opportunity for repentance being left them; and that, on the other hand, those who are waging a long war with the forces of the enemy may not desert their post on account of the protracted time. For both of ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 138, footnote 6 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

The Letters. (HTML)

To his Brother Gregory, concerning the difference between οὐσία and ὑπόστασις. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2030 (In-Text, Margin)

... as the apostle says, “But all these worketh that one and the self same Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will.” If we ask, if the supply of good things which thus comes to the saints has its origin in the Holy Ghost alone, we are on the other hand guided by Scripture to the belief that of the supply of the good things which are wrought in us through the Holy Ghost, the Originator and Cause is the Only-begotten God; for we are taught by Holy Scripture that “All things were made by Him,”[John 1:3] and “by Him consist.” When we are exalted to this conception, again, led by God-inspired guidance, we are taught that by that power all things are brought from non-being into being, but yet not by that power to the exclusion of origination. On the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 43, footnote 1 (Image)

Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus

Title Page (HTML)

De Trinitate or On the Trinity. (HTML)

De Trinitate or On the Trinity. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 515 (In-Text, Margin)

... in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own things, and they that were His own received Him not. But to as many as received Him He gave power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of man, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the Only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth[John 1:1-14]. Here the soul makes an advance beyond the attainment of its natural capacities, is taught more than it had dreamed concerning God. For it learns that its Creator is God of God; it hears that the Word is God and was with God in the beginning. It ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 74, footnote 5 (Image)

Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus

Title Page (HTML)

De Trinitate or On the Trinity. (HTML)

De Trinitate or On the Trinity. (HTML)
Book IV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 686 (In-Text, Margin)

... possesseth a more excellent name than they, and again, Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus Christ, who is faithful to Him that made Him. For their depreciation of the might and majesty and Godhead of the Son they rely chiefly on His own words, The Father is greater than I. But they admit that He is not one of the common herd of creatures on the evidence of All things were made through Him[John 1:3]. And so they sum up the whole of their blasphemous teaching in these words which follow:—

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 76, footnote 2 (Image)

Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus

Title Page (HTML)

De Trinitate or On the Trinity. (HTML)

De Trinitate or On the Trinity. (HTML)
Book IV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 694 (In-Text, Margin)

... inconsistent with the clear sense of Scripture. For all things, as the Prophet says, were made out of nothing; it was no transformation of existing things, but the creation into a perfect form of the non-existent. Through whom? Hear the Evangelist: All things were made through Him. If you ask Who this is, the same Evangelist will tell you: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him[John 1:1-3]. If you are minded to combat the view that it was the Father Who said, Let there be a firmament, the prophet will answer you: He spake, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created. The recorded words, Let there be a ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 221, footnote 1 (Image)

Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus

Title Page (HTML)

De Trinitate or On the Trinity. (HTML)

De Trinitate or On the Trinity. (HTML)
Book XII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1317 (In-Text, Margin)

12. On the other hand His works in creation are acts of making and not a birth through generation. For the heaven is not a son, neither is the earth a son, nor is the world a birth; for of these it is said, All things were made through Him[John 1:3]; and by the prophet, The heavens are the works of Thy hands; and by the same prophet, Neglect not the works of Thy hands. Is the picture a son of the painter, or the sword a son of the smith or the house a son of the architect? These are the works of their making: but He alone is the Son of the Father Who is born of the Father.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 97, footnote 1 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

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

On the Holy Spirit. (HTML)

Book I. (HTML)
Chapter II. The words, “All things were made by Him,” are not a proof that the Holy Spirit is included amongst all things, since He was not made. For otherwise it could be proved by other passages that the Son, and even the Father Himself, must be numbered amongst all things, which would be similar irreverence. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 823 (In-Text, Margin)

27. This seems, gracious Emperor, to be a full account of our right feeling, but to the impious it does not seem so. Observe what they are striving after. For the heretics are wont to say that the Holy Spirit is to be reckoned amongst all things, because it is written of God the Son: “All things were made by Him.”[John 1:3]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 147, footnote 2 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

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

On the Holy Spirit. (HTML)

Book III. (HTML)
Chapter XI. The objection has been made, that the words of St. John, “The Spirit is God,” are to be referred to God the Father; since Christ afterwards declares that God is to be worshipped in Spirit and in truth. The answer is, first, that by the word Spirit is sometimes meant spiritual grace; next, it is shown that, if they insist that the Person of the Holy Spirit is signified by the words “in Spirit,” and therefore deny that adoration is due to Him, the argument tells equally against the Son; and since numberless passages prove that He is to be worshipped, we understand from this that the same rule is to be laid down as regards the Spirit. Why are we commanded to fall down before His footstool? Because by this signified Lord's (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1339 (In-Text, Margin)

83. Let us investigate the force of that word and expression more diligently, and deduce its proper meaning from other passages. “Thou hast,” it is said, “made them all in wisdom.” Do we here understand that Wisdom was without a share in the things that were made? But “all things were made by Him.”[John 1:3] And David says: “By the Word of the Lord were the heavens established.” So, then, he himself who calls the Son of God the maker even of heavenly things, has also plainly said that all things were made in the Son, that in the renewal of His works He might by no means separate the Son from the Father, but unite Him to the Father.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 202, footnote 4 (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 1673 (In-Text, Margin)

6. Now this is the declaration of our Faith, that we say that God is One, neither dividing His Son from Him, as do the heathen, nor denying, with the Jews, that He was begotten of the Father before all worlds,[John 1:1-3] and afterwards born of the Virgin; nor yet, like Sabellius, confounding the Father with the Word, and so maintaining that Father and Son are one and the same Person; nor again, as doth Photinus, holding that the Son first came into existence in the Virgin’s womb: nor believing, with Arius, in a number of diverse Powers, and so, like the benighted heathen, making out more than one ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 203, footnote 13 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

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

Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)

Book I. (HTML)
Chapter II. The Emperor is exhorted to display zeal in the Faith. Christ's perfect Godhead is shown from the unity of will and working which He has with the Father. The attributes of Divinity are shown to be proper to Christ, Whose various titles prove His essential unity, with distinction of Person. In no other way can the unity of God be maintained. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1694 (In-Text, Margin)

... Father doeth, the same also doeth the Son, in like manner. The Son both doeth the same things, and doeth them in like manner, but it is the Father’s will that He be entreated in the matter of what He Himself proposeth to do, that you may understand, not that He cannot do it otherwise, but that there is one power displayed. Truly, then, is the Son of God to be adored and worshipped, Who by the power of His Godhead hath laid the foundations of the world, and by His submission informed our affections.[John 1:3]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 208, footnote 16 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

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

Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)

Book I. (HTML)
Chapter VII. The likeness of Christ to the Father is asserted on the authority of St. Paul, the prophets, and the Gospel, and especially in reliance upon the creation of man in God's image. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1770 (In-Text, Margin)

... Father, saying, “Philip, he that sees Me, sees the Father also. How then dost thou say, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?” Yes, he who looks upon the Son sees, in portrait, the Father. Mark what manner of portrait is spoken of. It is Truth, Righteousness, the Power of God: not dumb, for it is the Word; not insensible, for it is Wisdom; not vain and foolish, for it is Power; not soulless, for it is the Life; not dead, for it is the Resurrection.[John 1:1-18] You see, then, that whilst an image is spoken of, the meaning is that it is the Father, Whose image the Son is, seeing that no one can be his own image.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 216, footnote 5 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

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

Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)

Book I. (HTML)
Chapter XIV. That the Son of God is not a created being is proved by the following arguments: (1) That He commanded not that the Gospel should be preached to Himself; (2) that a created being is given over unto vanity; (3) that the Son has created all things; (4) that we read of Him as begotten; and (5) that the difference of generation and adoption has always been understood in those places where both natures--the divine and the human--are declared to co-exist in Him. All of which testimony is confirmed by the Apostle's interpretation. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1833 (In-Text, Margin)

88. Who was it that led first into this error, of declaring Him Who created and made all things to be a creature? Did the Lord, I would ask, create Himself? We read that “all things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made.”[John 1:3] This being so, did He make Himself? We read—and who shall deny?—that in wisdom hath God made all things. If so, how can we suppose that wisdom was made in itself?

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 221, footnote 2 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

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

Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)

Book I. (HTML)
Chapter XIX. Arius is charged with the first of the above-mentioned errors, and refuted by the testimony of St. John. The miserable death of the Heresiarch is described, and the rest of his blasphemous errors are one by one examined and disproved. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1877 (In-Text, Margin)

123. Arius, then, says: “There was a time when the Son of God existed not,” but Scripture saith: “He was,” not that “He was not.” Furthermore, St. John has written: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.”[John 1:1-3] Observe how often the verb “was” appears, whereas “was not” is nowhere found. Whom, then, are we to believe?—St. John, who lay on Christ’s bosom, or Arius, wallowing amid the outgush of his very bowels?—so wallowing that we might understand how Arius in his teaching showed himself like unto Judas, being visited with like punishment.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 268, footnote 1 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

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

Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)

Book IV. (HTML)
Chapter IV. The passage quoted adversely by heretics, namely, “The Son can do nothing of Himself,” is first explained from the words which follow; then, the text being examined, word by word, their acceptation in the Arian sense is shown to be impossible without incurring the charge of impiety or absurdity, the proof resting chiefly on the creation of the world and certain miracles of Christ. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2370 (In-Text, Margin)

47. But neither did the Father make the earth without Thee, for it is written: “All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made.”[John 1:3] For if the Father made aught without Thee, God the Word, then not all things were made by the Word, and the Evangelist lies. Whereas if all things were made by the Word, and if by Thee all things begin to be, which before were not, then surely Thou Thyself, of Thyself, hast made what Thou didst not see made by the Father; though perchance our adversaries may have recourse to that theory of Plato, and place before Thee the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 280, footnote 9 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

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

Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)

Book IV. (HTML)
Chapter XI. The particular distinction which the Arians endeavoured to prove upon the Apostle's teaching that all things are “of” the Father and “through” the Son, is overthrown, it being shown that in the passage cited the same Omnipotence is ascribed both to Father and to Son, as is proved from various texts, especially from the words of St. Paul himself, in which heretics foolishly find a reference to the Father only, though indeed there is no diminution or inferiority of the Son's sovereignty proved, even by such a reference. Finally, the three phrases, “of Whom,” “through Whom,” “in Whom,” are shown to suppose or imply no difference (of power), and each and all to hold true of the Three Persons. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2465 (In-Text, Margin)

140. The Father is not “amongst” all things, for to Him it is confessed that “all things serve Thee.” Nor is the Son reckoned “amongst” all things, for “all things were made by Him,”[John 1:3] and “all things exist together in Him, and He is above all the heavens.” The Son, therefore, exists not “amongst” but above all things, being, indeed, after the flesh, of the people, of the Jews, but yet at the same time God over all, blessed for ever, having a Name which is above every name, it being said of Him, “Thou hast put all things in subjection under His feet.” But in making all ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 378, footnote 1 (Image)

Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian

The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)

The Conferences of John Cassian. Part I. Containing Conferences I-X. (HTML)

Conference VIII. The Second Conference of Abbot Serenus. On Principalities. (HTML)
Chapter VII. Of the origin of principalities or powers. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1528 (In-Text, Margin)

... Creator because of all those visible creatures which, as they saw, proceeded forth from nothing. Before then that beginning in time which is spoken of by Moses, and which according to the historic and Jewish interpretation denotes the age of this world (without prejudice to our interpretation, according to which we explain that the “beginning,” of all things is Christ, in whom the Father created all things, as it is said “All things were made by him, and without Him was not anything made,”)[John 1:3] before, I say, that beginning of Genesis in time there is no question that God had already created all those powers and heavenly virtues; which the Apostle enumerates in order and thus describes: “For in Christ were created all things both in heaven ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 576, footnote 5 (Image)

Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian

The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)

The Seven Books of John Cassian on the Incarnation of the Lord, Against Nestorius. (HTML)

Book IV. (HTML)
Chapter VI. That there is in Christ but one Hypostasis (i.e., Personal self). (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2462 (In-Text, Margin)

... refers to God his statements had no need of lengthened arguments, and that the Divinity added faith to his utterances. For the demonstration of facts is enough to confirm what is said, whenever the proof rests on the authority of the speaker. There is then, he says, “one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things.” Notice how you read the same thing of the Word of the Father, which you read of Christ. For the gospel tells us that “All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made.”[John 1:3] The Apostle says, “By Christ are all things:” the gospel says, “By the Word are all things.” Do these sacred utterances contradict each other? Most certainly not. But by Christ, by whom the Apostle said that all things were created, and by the Word, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 59, footnote 4 (Image)

Leo the Great, Gregory the Great

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

Letters. (HTML)

To the Clergy and People of the City of Constantinople. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 388 (In-Text, Margin)

In this passage let the adversaries of the Truth say when or according to what nature did the Almighty Father exalt His Son above all things, or to what substance did He subject all things. For the Godhead of the Word is equal in all things, and consubstantial with the Father, and the power of the Begetter and the Begotten is one and the same always and eternally. Certainly, the Creator of all natures, since “through Him all things were made, and without Him was nothing made[John 1:3],” is above all things which He created, nor were the things which He made ever not subject to their Creator, Whose eternal property it is, to be from none other than the Father, and in no way different to the Father. If greater power, grander dignity, more ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 94, footnote 6 (Image)

Leo the Great, Gregory the Great

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

Letters. (HTML)

To the Monks of Palestine. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 547 (In-Text, Margin)

... indiscriminately, and what “in the form of a slave” He received from the Father, He also Himself gave in the form of the Father. He is in Himself at once both rich and poor; rich, because “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. This was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was made nothing:” and poor because “the Word became flesh and dwelt in us[John 1:1-3].” But what is that emptying of Himself, or that poverty except the receiving of the form of a slave by which the majesty of the Word was veiled, and the scheme for man’s redemption carried out? For as the original chains of our captivity could not ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 129, footnote 1 (Image)

Leo the Great, Gregory the Great

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

Sermons. (HTML)

On the Feast of the Nativity, I. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 726 (In-Text, Margin)

Therefore the Word of God, Himself God, the Son of God who “in the beginning was with God,” through whom “all things were made” and “without” whom “was nothing made[John 1:1-3],” with the purpose of delivering man from eternal death, became man: so bending Himself to take on Him our humility without decrease in His own majesty, that remaining what He was and assuming what He was not, He might unite the true form of a slave to that form in which He is equal to God the Father, and join both natures together by such a ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 133, footnote 4 (Image)

Leo the Great, Gregory the Great

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

Sermons. (HTML)

On the Feast of the Nativity, III. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 755 (In-Text, Margin)

... “The Father is greater than I,” just as He says with the same form, “I and my Father are one.” For in “the form of a slave,” which He took at the end of the ages for our restoration, He is inferior to the Father: but in the form of God, in which He was before the ages, He is equal to the Father. In His human humiliation He was “made of a woman, made under the Law:” in His Divine majesty He abides the Word of God, “through whom all things were made[John 1:3].” Accordingly, He Who in the form of God made man, in the form of a slave was made man. For both natures retain their own proper character without loss: and as the form of God did not do away with the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 139, footnote 5 (Image)

Leo the Great, Gregory the Great

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

Sermons. (HTML)

On the Feast of the Nativity, VII. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 809 (In-Text, Margin)

... Inasmuch as whether it be the testimony of the Law, or the oracles of the prophets, or the trumpet of the gospel to which we apply our inward ear, that is true which the blessed John full of the Holy Spirit uttered with his voice of thunder: “in the beginning was the Word: and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was nothing made[John 1:1-3].” And similarly is it true what the same preacher added: “the Word became flesh and dwelt in us: and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father.” Therefore in both natures it is the same Son of God ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 139, footnote 6 (Image)

Leo the Great, Gregory the Great

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

Sermons. (HTML)

On the Feast of the Nativity, VII. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 810 (In-Text, Margin)

... blessed John full of the Holy Spirit uttered with his voice of thunder: “in the beginning was the Word: and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was nothing made.” And similarly is it true what the same preacher added: “the Word became flesh and dwelt in us: and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father[John 1:1-3].” Therefore in both natures it is the same Son of God taking what is ours and not losing what is His own; renewing man in His manhood, but enduring unchangeable in Himself. For the Godhead which is His in common with the ...

Online Dictionary & Commentary of Early Church Beliefs