Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts

John 1:8

There are 18 footnotes for this reference.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 674, footnote 8 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Ethical. (HTML)

On Baptism. (HTML)

Of John's Baptism. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8646 (In-Text, Margin)

... course the servant could not furnish. Accordingly, in the Acts of the Apostles, we find that men who had “John’s baptism” had not received the Holy Spirit, whom they knew not even by hearing. That, then, was no celestial thing which furnished no celestial (endowments): whereas the very thing which was celestial in John—the Spirit of prophecy—so completely failed, after the transfer of the whole Spirit to the Lord, that he presently sent to inquire whether He whom he had himself preached,[John 1:6-36] whom he had pointed out when coming to him, were “HE.” And so “the baptism of repentance” was dealt with as if it were a candidate for the remission and sanctification shortly about to follow in Christ: for in that John used to preach “baptism ...

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 8, page 15, footnote 6 (Image)

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

The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. (HTML)

The Testament of Levi Concerning the Priesthood and Arrogance. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 83 (In-Text, Margin)

... because of you, and to all the Gentiles shall it become a mocking. For our father Israel shall be pure from the ungodliness of the chief priests who shall lay their hands upon the Saviour of the world. Pure is the heaven above the earth, and ye are the lights of the heaven as the sun and the moon. What shall all the Gentiles do if ye be darkened in ungodliness? So shall ye bring a curse upon our race for whom came the light of the world, which was given among you for the lighting up of every man.[John 1:4-9] Him will ye desire to slay, teaching commandments contrary to the ordinances of God. The offerings of the Lord will ye rob, and from His portion will ye steal; and before ye sacrifice to the Lord, ye will take the choicest parts, in despitefulness ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 48, footnote 30 (Image)

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

The Diatessaron of Tatian. (HTML)

The Diatessaron. (HTML)

Section III. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 289 (In-Text, Margin)

[46] This man came to bear witness, that he might bear witness to the light, that [47] every man might believe through his mediation.[John 1:8] He was not the light, but that he [48] might bear witness to the light, which was the light of truth, that giveth light to [49] every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made [50] by him, and the world knew [51] him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. And those who received him, to them gave he the power that they might [52] be sons of God,—those which believe in his name: ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 112, 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)

Above His Changeable Mind, He Discovers the Unchangeable Author of Truth. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 549 (In-Text, Margin)

... thence to its inward faculty, to which the bodily senses represent outward things, and up to which reach the capabilities of beasts; and thence, again, I passed on to the reasoning faculty, unto which whatever is received from the senses of the body is referred to be judged, which also, finding itself to be variable in me, raised itself up to its own intelligence, and from habit drew away my thoughts, withdrawing itself from the crowds of contradictory phantasms; that so it might find out that light[John 1:6-9] by which it was besprinkled, when, without all doubting, it cried out, “that the unchangeable was to be preferred before the changeable;” whence also it knew that unchangeable, which, unless it had in some way known, it could have had no sure ground ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 182, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine

City of God (HTML)

Porphyry’s doctrine of redemption. (HTML)

The Opinion of Plotinus the Platonist Regarding Enlightenment from Above. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 376 (In-Text, Margin)

... soul itself, and that these heavenly spirits derive their blessed life, and the light of truth from their blessed life, and the light of truth, the source as ourselves, agreeing with the gospel where we read, “There was a man sent from God whose name was John; the same came for a witness to bear witness of that Light, that through Him all might believe. He was not that Light, but that he might bear witness of the Light. That was the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world;”[John 1:6-9] a distinction which sufficiently proves that the rational or intellectual soul such as John had cannot be its own light, but needs to receive illumination from another, the true Light. This John himself avows when he delivers his witness: “We have ...

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 5, page 171, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise Concerning Man’s Perfection in Righteousness. (HTML)

The Fourth Passage. In What Sense God Only is Good. With God to Be Good and to Be Himself are the Same Thing. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1510 (In-Text, Margin)

... be understood in the same sense as the former one, “There is none good, save one, that is, God.” Either because all created things, although God made them very good, are yet, when compared with their Creator, not good, being in fact incapable of any comparison with Him. For in a transcendent, and yet very proper sense, He said of Himself, “ ” The statement therefore before us, “None is good save one, that is, God,” is used in some such way as that which is said of John, “He was not that light;”[John 1:8] although the Lord calls him “a lamp,” just as He says to His disciples: “Ye are the light of the world: . . .neither do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel.” Still, in comparison with that light which is “the true light which lighteth every ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 224, footnote 4 (Image)

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

The Harmony of the Gospels. (HTML)

Book III (HTML)

Of Christ’s Subsequent Manifestations of Himself to the Disciples, and of the Question Whether a Thorough Harmony Can Be Established Between the Different Narratives When the Notices Given by the Four Several Evangelists, as Well as Those Presented by the Apostle Paul and in the Acts of the Apostles, are Compared Together. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1582 (In-Text, Margin)

... the testimony of John, “And I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.” That is to say, He was afterwards to manifest Himself, not merely as they saw Him before, nor merely in the way in which, rising as He did with His wounds upon Him, He was to give Himself to be touched as well as seen by them, but in the character of that ineffable light, wherewith He enlightens every man that cometh into this world, and in virtue of which He shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehends Him not.[John 1:5-9] Thus has He gone before us to something from which He withdraws not, although He comes to us, and which does not involve His leaving us, although He has preceded us thither. That will be a revelation which may be spoken of as a true Galilee, when we ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 313, footnote 4 (Image)

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

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

On the words of the Gospel, Matt. xi. 25, ‘I thank thee, O Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding,’ etc. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2284 (In-Text, Margin)

9. So John also, the friend of the Bridegroom, was thought to be the Christ, was thought to be the Light. “He was not that Light, but that he might bear witness of the Light.”[John 1:8] But what was the Light? It was the true Light. What is the true Light? “That which lighteneth every man.” If that be the true Light which lighteneth every man, then it lightened John also, who professed and confessed rightly, “Of His fulness have all we received.” See if he said ought else, but “Thou, O Lord, shalt lighten my candle.” Finally, being now enlightened, He gave His testimony. For the benefit of ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 469, 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, John i. 10, ‘The world was made through him,’ etc. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3629 (In-Text, Margin)

... the Pharisees unto Him, “Restrain the children, that they cry not out so unto Thee.” And He said, “If these shall hold their peace, the stones will cry out.” Us He saw when He spake these words; “If these shall hold their peace, the stones will cry out.” Who are stones, but they who worship stones? If the Jewish children shall hold their peace, the elder and the younger Gentiles shall cry out. Who are the stones, but they of whom speaketh that very John, who came “to bear witness of the Light”?[John 1:8] For when he saw these self-same Jews priding themselves on their birth from Abraham, he said to them, “O generation of vipers.” They called themselves the children of Abraham; and he addressed them, “O generation of vipers.” Did he do Abraham wrong? ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 190, 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 VII. 25–36. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 594 (In-Text, Margin)

... was known; where He was born was to be known by inquiry. Rightly then did He say, “Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am,” according to the flesh and form of man which He bore; but according to His divinity, “And I am not come of myself, but He that sent me is true, whom ye know not;” but yet that ye may know Him, believe on Him whom He has sent, and ye will know Him. For, “No man has seen God at any time, except the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him:”[John 1:8] and, “None knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 23, footnote 10 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm VII (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 239 (In-Text, Margin)

... reference to righteousness; that the sense should be this, Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness, and according to my harmlessness, which righteousness and harmlessness is upon me. By which addition he shows that this very thing, that the soul is righteous and harmless, she has not by herself, but by God who giveth brightness and light. For of this he says in another Psalm, “Thou, O Lord, wilt light my candle.” And of John it is said, that “he was not the light, but bore witness of the light.”[John 1:8] “He was a burning and shining candle.” That light then, whence souls, as candles, are kindled, shines forth not with borrowed, but with original, brightness, which light is truth itself. It is then so said, “According to my righteousness, and ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 256, footnote 4 (Image)

Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes

Two Homilies on Eutropius. (HTML)

Homily II. After Eutropius having been found outside the Church had been taken captive. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 830 (In-Text, Margin)

... earth. It never waxes old, but is always in full vigour. Wherefore as significant of its solidity and stability Holy Scripture calls it a mountain: or of its purity a virgin, or of its magnificence a queen; or of its relationship to God a daughter; and to express its productiveness it calls her barren who has borne seven: in fact it employs countless names to represent its nobleness. For as the master of the Church has many names: being called the Father, and the way, and the life, and the light,[John 1:8-9] and the arm, and the propitiation, and the foundation, and the door, and the sinless one, and the treasure, and Lord, and God, and Son, and the only begotten, and the form of God, and the image of God so is it with the Church itself: does one name ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 420, footnote 32 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)

Funeral Oration on the Great S. Basil, Bishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4571 (In-Text, Margin)

75. I now turn to the New Testament, and comparing his life with those who are here illustrious, I shall find in the teachers a source of honour for their disciple. Who was the forerunner of Jesus? John, the voice of the Word, the lamp of the Light,[John 1:8] before Whom he even leaped in the womb, and Whom he preceded to Hades, whither he was despatched by the rage of Herod, to herald even there Him who was coming. And, if my language seems audacious to anyone, let me assure him beforehand, that in making this comparison, I neither prefer Basil, nor imply that he is equal to him who surpasses all who are born of women, but ...

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 10, page 112, footnote 1 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

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

On the Holy Spirit. (HTML)

Book I. (HTML)
Chapter XIV. Each Person of the Trinity is said in the sacred writings to be Light. The Spirit is designated Fire by Isaiah, a figure of which Fire was seen in the bush by Moses, in the tongues of fire, and in Gideon's pitchers. And the Godhead of the same Spirit cannot be denied, since His operation is the same as that of the Father and of the Son, and He is also called the light and fire of the Lord's countenance. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 969 (In-Text, Margin)

161. But the Son, too, is Light, because “the Life was the Light of men.”[John 1:8] And the Evangelist, that he might show that he was speaking of the Son of God, says of John the Baptist: “He was not light, but [was sent] to be a witness of the Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into this world.” So, then, since God is Light, and the Son of God the true Light, without doubt the Son of God is true God.

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.

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