Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts

John 1:17

There are 26 footnotes for this reference.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 224, footnote 10 (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 1162 (In-Text, Margin)

Now the law is ancient grace given through Moses by the Word. Wherefore also the Scripture says, “The law was given through Moses,”[John 1:17] 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. Presently, therefore, Moses ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 593, footnote 3 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

Who is the Rich Man that shall be saved? (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3845 (In-Text, Margin)

VIII. He then who would live the true life is enjoined first to know Him “whom no one knows, except the Son reveal (Him).” Next is to be learned the greatness of the Saviour after Him, and the newness of grace; for, according to the apostle, “the law was given by Moses, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ;”[John 1:17] and the gifts granted through a faithful servant are not equal to those bestowed by the true Son. If then the law of Moses had been sufficient to confer eternal life, it were to no purpose for the Saviour Himself to come and suffer for us, accomplishing the course of human life from His birth to His cross; and to no purpose for him who had ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 153, footnote 2 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Apologetic. (HTML)

An Answer to the Jews. (HTML)

The Law Anterior to Moses. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1152 (In-Text, Margin)

... the desert, but was more ancient; (existing) first in paradise, subsequently reformed for the patriarchs, and so again for the Jews, at definite periods: so that we are not to give heed to Moses’ Law as to the primitive law, but as to a subsequent, which at a definite period God has set forth to the Gentiles too and, after repeatedly promising so to do through the prophets, has reformed for the better; and has premonished that it should come to pass that, just as “the law was given through Moses”[John 1:17] at a definite time, so it should be believed to have been temporarily observed and kept. And let us not annul this power which God has, which reforms the law’s precepts answerably to the circumstances of the times, with a view to man’s salvation. In ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 651, footnote 13 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

Appendix: Against All Heresies. (HTML)

Carpocrates, Cerinthus, Ebion. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8376 (In-Text, Margin)

After him brake out the heretic Cerinthus, teaching similarly. For he, too, says that the world was originated by those angels; and sets forth Christ as born of the seed of Joseph, contending that He was merely human, without divinity; affirming also that the Law was given by angels;[John 1:17] representing the God of the Jews as not the Lord, but an angel.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 672, footnote 2 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Ethical. (HTML)

On Baptism. (HTML)

Use Made of Water by the Heathen. Type of the Angel at the Pool of Bethsaida. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8579 (In-Text, Margin)

... of what was to come to pass has forerun. An angel, by his intervention, was wont to stir the pool at Bethsaida. They who were complaining of ill-health used to watch for him; for whoever had been the first to descend into them, after his washing, ceased to complain. This figure of corporeal healing sang of a spiritual healing, according to the rule by which things carnal are always antecedent as figurative of things spiritual. And thus, when the grace of God advanced to higher degrees among men,[John 1:16-17] an accession of efficacy was granted to the waters and to the angel. They who were wont to remedy bodily defects, now heal the spirit; they who used to work temporal salvation now renew eternal; they who did set free but once in the year, now ...

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 3, page 711, footnote 7 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Ethical. (HTML)

On Patience. (HTML)

Patience Both Antecedent and Subsequent to Faith. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 9078 (In-Text, Margin)

... attestation of his faith. But God knew whom He had accredited with righteousness. So heavy a precept, the perfect execution whereof was not even pleasing to the Lord, he patiently both heard, and (if God had willed) would have fulfilled. Deservedly then was he “blessed,” because he was “faithful;” deservedly “faithful,” because “patient.” So faith, illumined by patience, when it was becoming propagated among the nations through “Abraham’s seed, which is Christ,” and was superinducing grace over the law,[John 1:17] made patience her pre-eminent coadjutrix for amplifying and fulfilling the law, because that alone had been lacking unto the doctrine of righteousness. For men were of old wont to require “eye for eye, and tooth for tooth” and to repay with usury ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 280, footnote 4 (Image)

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

Peter of Alexandria. (HTML)

Fragments from the Writings of Peter. (HTML)

On the Godhead. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2355 (In-Text, Margin)

Since certainly “grace and truth came by Jesus Christ,”[John 1:17] whence also by grace we are saved, according to that word of the apostle, “and that not of yourselves, nor of works, lest any man should boast;” by the will of God, “the Word was made flesh,” and “was found in fashion as a man.” But yet He was not left without His divinity. For neither “though He was rich did He become poor” that He might absolutely be separated from His power and glory, but that He might Himself endure death for us sinners, the just for the unjust, ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 48, footnote 42 (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 301 (In-Text, Margin)

... in his name: which were born, not of blood, [53] nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God. And the Word became flesh, and took up his abode among us; and we saw his glory as the glory [54] of the only Son from the Father, which is full of grace and equity. John bare witness [Arabic, p. 14] of him, and cried, and said, This is he that I said cometh after me and [55] was before me, because he was before me. And of his fullness received [56] we all grace for grace.[John 1:17] For the law was given through the mediation of Moses, but truth and grace were through Jesus Christ.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 183, footnote 1 (Image)

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

The Confessions (HTML)

He continues his explanation of the first Chapter of Genesis according to the Septuagint, and by its assistance he argues, especially, concerning the double heaven, and the formless matter out of which the whole world may have been created; afterwards of the interpretations of others not disallowed, and sets forth at great length the sense of the Holy Scripture. (HTML)

What Error is Harmless in Sacred Scripture. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1136 (In-Text, Margin)

27. All which things having been heard and considered, I am unwilling to contend about words, for that is profitable to nothing but to the subverting of the hearers. But the law is good to edify, if a man use it lawfully; for the end of it “is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned.” And well did our Master know, upon which two commandments He hung all the Law and the Prophets.[John 1:17] And what doth it hinder me, O my God, Thou light of my eyes in secret, while ardently confessing these things,—since by these words many things may be understood, all of which are yet true,—what, I say, doth it hinder me, should I think otherwise of what the writer thought than some other ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 241, footnote 3 (Image)

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

Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)

Reply to Faustus the Manichæan. (HTML)

Faustus is willing to admit that Christ may have said that He came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them; but if He did, it was to pacify the Jews and in a modified sense.  Augustin replies, and still further elaborates the Catholic view of prophecy and its fulfillment. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 670 (In-Text, Margin)

... God are in Him yea;" that is, they are set forth and fulfilled in Him. In this way you will see in the clearest light both what law Christ fulfilled, and how He fulfilled it. It is a vain attempt that you make to escape by your three kinds of law and your three kinds of prophets. It is quite plain, and the New Testament leaves no doubt on the matter, what law and what prophets Christ came not to destroy, but to fulfill. The law given by Moses is that which by Jesus Christ became grace and truth.[John 1:17] The law given by Moses is that of which Christ says, "He wrote of me." For undoubtedly this is the law which entered that the offence might abound; words which you often ignorantly quote as a reproach to the law. Read what is there said of this law: ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 242, footnote 8 (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 is willing to admit that Christ may have said that He came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them; but if He did, it was to pacify the Jews and in a modified sense.  Augustin replies, and still further elaborates the Catholic view of prophecy and its fulfillment. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 681 (In-Text, Margin)

... which shut up transgressors in increased guilt, and to the faith which was afterwards revealed, became grace through Jesus Christ, by whom grace superabounded. Thus the law, which was not fulfilled in the requirement of the letter, was fulfilled in the liberty of grace. In the same way, everything in the law that was prophetic of the Saviour’s advent, whether in words or in typical actions, became truth in Jesus Christ. For "the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."[John 1:17] At Christ’s advent the kingdom of God began to be preached; for the law and the prophets were until John: the law, that its transgressors might desire salvation; the prophets, that they might foretell the Saviour. No doubt there have been prophets ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 246, footnote 1 (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 is willing to admit that Christ may have said that He came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them; but if He did, it was to pacify the Jews and in a modified sense.  Augustin replies, and still further elaborates the Catholic view of prophecy and its fulfillment. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 698 (In-Text, Margin)

... coveting his property,—all of which things are written in the law? These moral precepts are distinct from typical sacraments: the former are fulfilled by the aid of divine grace, the latter by the accomplishment of what they promise. Both are fulfilled in Christ, who has ever been the bestower of this grace, which is also now revealed in Him, and who now makes manifest the accomplishment of what He in former times promised; for "the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."[John 1:17] Again, these things which concern the keeping of a good conscience are fulfilled in the faith which worketh by love; while types of the future pass away when they are accomplished. But even the types are not destroyed, but fulfilled; for Christ, in ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 148, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm XLV (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1391 (In-Text, Margin)

... the Angels also? Why did he say, “than the children of men,” except because He was Man? Lest you should think “the Man Christ” to be any ordinary man, he says, “Fairer than the children of men.” Even though Himself “Man,” He is “fairer than the children of men;” though among the children of men, “fairer than the children of men:” though of the children of men, “fairer than the children of men.” “Grace is shed abroad on Thy lips.” “The Law was given by Moses. Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ.”[John 1:17]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 342, footnote 12 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm LXXIV (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3315 (In-Text, Margin)

... while according to the promises of God belonging to the Old Testament he was looking for earthly felicity, he observed it to abound with ungodly men; that they who worshipped not God were enriched with those things which he was looking for from God: and as though without cause he had served God, his feet tottered.…But opportunely it hath chanced not by our own but by God’s dispensation, that just now we heard out of the Gospel, that “the Law was given by Moses, Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ.”[John 1:17] For if we distinguish between the two Testaments, Old and New, there are not the same Sacraments nor the same promises; nevertheless, the same commandments for the most part.…When examined they are either all found to be the same, or there are ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 343, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm LXXIV (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3320 (In-Text, Margin)

... Saviour. When therefore thou hast now the things promised, why dost thou seek the things promising, having now the Saviour?…God through the New Testament hath taken out of the hands of His sons those things which are like the playthings of boys, in order that He might give something more useful to them growing up, on that account must He be supposed not to have given those former things Himself. He gave both Himself. But the Law itself through Moses was given, Grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ:[John 1:17] Grace because there is fulfilled through love that which by the letter was being enjoined, Truth because there is being rendered that which was promised. This thing therefore this Asaph hath understood. In a word, all things which to the Jews had ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 13, page 471, footnote 4 (Image)

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

The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. (HTML)

Homilies on 1 Timothy. (HTML)

1 Timothy 6:13-16 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1312 (In-Text, Margin)

“Whom no man hath seen nor can see.” As, indeed, no one hath seen the Son, nor can see Him.[John 1:14-18]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 171, footnote 6 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

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

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

On the Arian Symbol “Unoriginate.” This term afterwards adopted by them; and why; three senses of it. A fourth sense. Unoriginate denotes God in contrast to His creatures, not to His Son; Father the scriptural title instead; Conclusion. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 960 (In-Text, Margin)

... to call the Father Unoriginated. Moreover, when He teaches us to pray, He says not, ‘When ye pray, say, O God Unoriginated,’ but rather, ‘When ye pray, say, Our Father, which art in heaven.’ And it was His Will, that the Summary of our faith should have the same bearing. For He has bid us be baptized, not in the name of Unoriginate and Originate, not into the name of Uncreate and Creature, but into the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for with such an initiation we too are made sons verily[John 1:12-17], and using the name of the Father, we acknowledge from that name the Word in the Father. But if He wills that we should call His own Father our Father, we must not on that account measure ourselves with the Son according to nature, for it is because ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 341, footnote 15 (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 2193 (In-Text, Margin)

... again and again, ‘But we are not in the flesh but in the Spirit,’ and, ‘For the Son of God came into the world, not to judge the world, but to redeem all men, and that the world might be saved through Him.’ Formerly the world, as guilty, was under judgment from the Law; but now the Word has taken on Himself the judgment, and having suffered in the body for all, has bestowed salvation to all. With a view to this has John exclaimed, ‘The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ[John 1:17].’ Better is grace than the Law, and truth than the shadow.

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 319, footnote 1 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

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

On the Mysteries. (HTML)

Chapter III. St. Ambrose points out that we must consider the divine presence and working in the water and the sacred ministers, and then brings forward many Old Testament figures of baptism. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2844 (In-Text, Margin)

... and that a kindly cloud, which cooled the heat of carnal passions. That kindly cloud overshadows those whom the Holy Spirit visits. At last it came upon the Virgin Mary, and the Power of the Highest overshadowed her, when she conceived Redemption for the race of men. And that miracle was wrought in a figure through Moses. If, then, the Spirit was in the figure, is He not present in the reality, since Scripture says to us: “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”[John 1:17]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 338, footnote 11 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

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

Concerning Repentance. (HTML)

Book I. (HTML)
Chapter XII. Another passage of St. John is considered. The necessity of keeping the commandments of God may be complied with by those who, having fallen, repent, as well as by those who have not fallen, as is shown in the case of David. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2999 (In-Text, Margin)

... but the correction.” I said above that he that believeth on Me is not judged, and I keep to this: “For I am not come to judge the world, but that the world may be saved through Me.” I pardon willingly, I quickly forgive, “I will have mercy rather than sacrifice,” because by sacrifice the just is rendered more acceptable, by mercy the sinner is redeemed. “I come not to call the righteous but sinners.” Sacrifice was under the Law, in the Gospel is mercy. “The Law was given by Moses, grace by Me.”[John 1:17]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 437, footnote 9 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Selections from the Letters of St. Ambrose. (HTML)

Letter XXII: To Marcellina on Finding the Bodies of SS. Gervasius and Protasius. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3531 (In-Text, Margin)

5. Paul was a heaven, when he said: “Our conversation is in heaven.” James and John were heavens, and then were called “sons of thunder”; and John, being as it were a heaven, saw the Word with God. The Lord Jesus Himself was a heaven of perpetual light, when He was declaring the glory of God, that glory which no man had seen before. And therefore He said: “No man hath seen God at any time, except the only-begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.”[John 1:17-18] If you seek for the handiwork of God, listen to Job when he says: “The Spirit of God Who hath made me.” And so strengthened against the temptations of the devil, he kept his footsteps constantly without offence. But let us go on to what follows.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 560, footnote 4 (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 II. (HTML)
Chapter V. From the gifts of Divine grace which we receive through Christ he infers that He is truly God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2412 (In-Text, Margin)

... Jesus Christ. Therefore the Lord Jesus Christ is God. But if He be, as He certainly is, God: then she who bore God is Theotocos, i.e., the mother of God. Unless perhaps you want to take refuge in so utterly absurd and blasphemous a contradiction as to deny that she from whom God was born is the mother of God, while you cannot deny that He who was born is God. But, however, let us see what the gospel of God thinks about this same grace of our Lord: “Grace and truth,” it says, “came by Jesus Christ.”[John 1:17] If Christ is a mere man, how did these come by Christ? Whence was there in Him Divine power if, as you say, there was in Him only the nature of man? Whence comes heavenly largesse, if His is earthly poverty? For no one can give what he has not ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 163, footnote 9 (Image)

Leo the Great, Gregory the Great

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

Sermons. (HTML)

A Homily delivered on the Saturday before the Second Sunday in Lent--on the Transfiguration, S. Matt. xvii. 1-13. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 965 (In-Text, Margin)

... proclamation of which the trumpet of the Old and of the New Testament joins, and the documentary evidence of the ancient witnesses combine with the teaching of the Gospel? For the pages of both covenants corroborate each other, and He Whom under the veil of mysteries the types that went before had promised, is displayed clearly and conspicuously by the splendour of the present glory. Because, as says the blessed John, “the law was given through Moses: but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ[John 1:17],” in Whom is fulfilled both the promise of prophetic figures and the purpose of the legal ordinances: for He both teaches the truth of prophecy by His presence, and renders the commands possible through grace.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 176, footnote 8 (Image)

Leo the Great, Gregory the Great

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

Sermons. (HTML)

On the Passion, XII.:  preached on Wednesday. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1053 (In-Text, Margin)

As therefore there is no believer, dearly-beloved, to whom the gifts of grace are denied, so there is no one who is not a debtor in the matter of Christian discipline; because, although the severity of the mystic Law is done away, yet the benefits of its voluntary observance have increased, as the evangelist John says, “Because the Law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ[John 1:17].” For all things that, according to the Law, went before, whether in the circumcision of the flesh, or in the multitude of victims, or in the keeping of the Sabbath, testified of Christ, and foretold the grace of Christ. And He is “the end of the Law,” not by annulling, but by fulfilling its ...

Online Dictionary & Commentary of Early Church Beliefs