Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts

John 1:29

There are 53 footnotes for this reference.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 424, footnote 11 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Irenæus (HTML)

Against Heresies: Book III (HTML)

Chapter X.—Proofs of the foregoing, drawn from the Gospels of Mark and Luke. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3409 (In-Text, Margin)

... the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways; to give knowledge of salvation to His people, for the remission of their sins.” For this is the knowledge of salvation which was wanting to them, that of the Son of God, which John made known, saying, “Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world. This is He of whom I said, After me cometh a man who was made before me; because He was prior to me: and of His fulness have all we received.”[John 1:29] This, therefore, was the knowledge of salvation; but [it did not consist in] another God, nor another Father, nor Bythus, nor the Pleroma of thirty Æons, nor the Mother of the (lower) Ogdoad: but the knowledge of salvation was the knowledge of the ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 215, footnote 3 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Instructor (HTML)

Book I (HTML)
Chapter V.—All Who Walk According to Truth are Children of God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1081 (In-Text, Margin)

... discipline: and of His peace there shall be no end.” O the great God! O the perfect child! The Son in the Father, and the Father in the Son. And how shall not the discipline of this child be perfect, which extends to all, leading as a schoolmaster us as children who are His little ones? He has stretched forth to us those hands of His that are conspicuously worthy of trust. To this child additional testimony is borne by John, “the greatest prophet among those born of women:” Behold the Lamb of God!”[John 1:29] For since Scripture calls the infant children lambs, it has also called Him—God the Word—who became man for our sakes, and who wished in all points to be made like to us—“the Lamb of God”—Him, namely, that is the Son of God, the child of the Father.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 582, footnote 7 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)

Fragments of Clemens Alexandrinus (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3812 (In-Text, Margin)

... then, who has been made ready to enter will say, “This my joy is fulfilled.” But the unlovely and unsightly man will hear, “Friend, how camest thou in here, without having a wedding garment?” And the fat and unctuous food,—the delicacies abundant and sufficing of the blessed,—the fatted calf is killed; which is also again spoken of as a lamb (not literally); that no one may suppose it small; but it is the great and greatest. For not small is “the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world,”[John 1:29] who “was led as a sheep to the slaughter,” the sacrifice full of marrow, all whose fat, according to the sacred law, was the Lord’s. For He was wholly devoted and consecrated to the Lord; so well grown, and to such excessive size, as to reach and ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 163, footnote 23 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Apologetic. (HTML)

An Answer to the Jews. (HTML)

Of the Prophecies of the Birth and Achievements of Christ. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1303 (In-Text, Margin)

... practice to the Holy Spirit to call those “angels” whom God has appointed as ministers of His power. For the same John is called not merely an “angel” of Christ, but withal a “lamp” shining before Christ: for David predicts, “I have prepared the lamp for my Christ;” and him Christ Himself, coming “to fulfil the prophets,” called so to the Jews. “He was,” He says, “the burning and shining lamp;” as being he who not merely “prepared His ways in the desert,” but withal, by pointing out “the Lamb of God,”[John 1:29] illumined the minds of men by his heralding, so that they understood Him to be that Lamb whom Moses was wont to announce as destined to suffer. Thus, too, (was the son of Nun called) Joshua, on account of the future mystery ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 615, footnote 9 (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 8013 (In-Text, Margin)

... dispensation, not by division. He, therefore, who became flesh was not the very same as He from whom the Word came. “His glory was beheld—the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father;” not, (observe,) as of the Father. He “declared” (what was in) “the bosom of the Father alone;” the Father did not divulge the secrets of His own bosom. For this is preceded by another statement: “No man hath seen God at any time.” Then, again, when He is designated by John (the Baptist) as “the Lamb of God,”[John 1:29] He is not described as Himself the same with Him of whom He is the beloved Son. He is, no doubt, ever the Son of God, but yet not He Himself of whom He is the Son. This (divine relationship) Nathanæl at once recognised in Him, even as ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 653, footnote 3 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

Appendix: Against All Heresies. (HTML)

Marcus and Colarbasus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8395 (In-Text, Margin)

After these there were not wanting a Marcus and a Colarbasus, composing a novel heresy out of the Greek alphabet. For they affirm that without those letters truth cannot be found; nay more, that in those letters the whole plenitude and perfection of truth is comprised; for this was why Christ said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega.” In fact, they say that Jesus Christ descended, that is, that the dove came down on Jesus;[John 1:29-34] and, since the dove is styled by the Greek name περιστερά —(peristera), it has in itself this number DCCCI. These men run through their Ω, Ψ, Χ, Φ, Υ, Τ —through the whole alphabet, indeed, up to

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 5, page 181, footnote 1 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Hippolytus. (HTML)

The Extant Works and Fragments of Hippolytus. (HTML)

Exegetical. (HTML)
On Daniel. (HTML)
The interpretation by Hippolytus, (bishop) of Rome, of the visions of Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar, taken in conjunction. (HTML)CCEL Footnote 1306 (In-Text, Margin)

... embraces the space of 434 years. For after the return of the people from Babylon under the leadership of Jesus the son of Josedech, and Ezra the scribe, and Zerubbabel the son of Salathiel, of the tribe of David, there were 434 years unto the coming of Christ, in order that the Priest of priests might be manifested in the world, and that He who taketh away the sins of the world might be evidently set forth, as John speaks concerning Him: “Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!”[John 1:29] And in like manner Gabriel says: “To blot out transgressions, and make reconciliation for sins.” But who has blotted out our transgressions? Paul the apostle teaches us, saying, “He is our peace who made both one;” and then, “Blotting out the ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 206, footnote 3 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Hippolytus. (HTML)

The Extant Works and Fragments of Hippolytus. (HTML)

Dogmatical and Historical. (HTML)
Treatise on Christ and Antichrist. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1418 (In-Text, Margin)

6. Now, as our Lord Jesus Christ, who is also God, was prophesied of under the figure of a lion, on account of His royalty and glory, in the same way have the Scriptures also aforetime spoken of Antichrist as a lion, on account of his tyranny and violence. For the deceiver seeks to liken himself in all things to the Son of God. Christ is a lion, so Antichrist is also a lion; Christ is a king, so Antichrist is also a king. The Saviour was manifested as a lamb;[John 1:29] so he too, in like manner, will appear as a lamb, though within he is a wolf. The Saviour came into the world in the circumcision, and he will come in the same manner. The Lord sent apostles among all the nations, and he in like manner will send false apostles. The ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 213, footnote 6 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Hippolytus. (HTML)

The Extant Works and Fragments of Hippolytus. (HTML)

Dogmatical and Historical. (HTML)
Treatise on Christ and Antichrist. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1493 (In-Text, Margin)

... salutation addressed to Elisabeth, leaped with joy in his mother’s womb, recognising God the Word conceived in the womb of the Virgin. Thereafter he came forward preaching in the wilderness, proclaiming the baptism of repentance to the people, (and thus) announcing prophetically salvation to the nations living in the wilderness of the world. After this, at the Jordan, seeing the Saviour with his own eye, he points Him out, and says, “Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!”[John 1:29] He also first preached to those in Hades, becoming a forerunner there when he was put to death by Herod, that there too he might intimate that the Saviour would descend to ransom the souls of the saints from the hand of death.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 522, footnote 6 (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 Christ is called a sheep and a lamb who was to be slain, and concerning the sacrament (mystery) of the passion. (HTML)CCEL Footnote 4038 (In-Text, Margin)

... prayers of the saints; and they sang a new song, saying, Worthy art Thou, O Lord, to take the book, and to open its seals: for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us with Thy blood from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation; and Thou hast made us a kingdom unto our God, and hast made us priests, and they shall reign upon the earth.” Also in the Gospel: “On the next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, and behold Him that taketh away the sins of the world!”[John 1:29]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 69, footnote 9 (Image)

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

Gregory Thaumaturgus. (HTML)

Dubious or Spurious Writings. (HTML)

Four Homilies. (HTML)
On the Holy Theophany, or on Christ's Baptism. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 580 (In-Text, Margin)

... same adoration from all. Wherefore, O Lord, baptize Thou me, if Thou pleasest; baptize me, the Baptist. Regenerate one whom Thou didst cause to be generated. Extend Thy dread right hand, which Thou hast prepared for Thyself, and crown my head by Thy touch, in order that I may run the course before Thy kingdom, crowned like a forerunner, and diligently announce the good tidings to the sinners, addressing them with this earnest call: “Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!”[John 1:29] O river Jordan, accompany me in the joyous choir, and leap with me, and stir thy waters rhythmically, as in the movements of the dance; for thy Maker stands by thee in the body. Once of old didst thou see Israel pass through thee, and thou didst ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 435, footnote 5 (Image)

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

Apocrypha of the New Testament. (HTML)

The Gospel of Nicodemus; Part II.--The Descent of Christ into Hell:  Greek Form. (HTML)

Chapter 2. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1934 (In-Text, Margin)

Then there came into the midst another, an ascetic from the desert; and the patriarchs said to him: Who art thou? And he said: I am John, the last of the prophets, who made the paths of the Son of God straight, and proclaimed to the people repentance for the remission of sins. And the Son of God came to me; and I, seeing Him a long way off, said to the people: Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world.[John 1:29] And with my hand I baptized Him in the river Jordan, and I saw like a dove also the Holy Spirit coming upon Him; and I heard also the voice of God, even the Father, thus saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And on this account He sent me also to you, to proclaim ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 49, footnote 41 (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 IV. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 344 (In-Text, Margin)

[28] Then came Jesus from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized of him. [29] And Jesus was about thirty years old, and it was supposed that he was the son of [30] Joseph.[John 1:29] And John saw Jesus coming unto him, and said, This is the Lamb of [31] God, that taketh on itself the burden of the sins of the world! This is he concerning whom I said, There cometh after me a man who was before me, because he was [32] before me. And I knew him not; but that he should be made manifest to Israel, [33] for this cause came I to baptize with water. And John was hindering him and [34] saying, I ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 299, footnote 7 (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)
All Scripture is Gospel; But the Gospels are Distinguished Above Other Scriptures. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4471 (In-Text, Margin)

... in all the churches,” and “What things I suffered at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra,” and similar things which he writes in virtue of his own authority, and which do not quite possess the character of words flowing from divine inspiration. Must we also show that the old Scripture is not Gospel, since it does not point out the Coming One, but only foretells Him and heralds His coming at a future time; but that all the new Scripture is the Gospel. It not only says as in the beginning of the Gospel,[John 1:29] “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world;” it also contains many praises of Him, and many of His teachings, on whose account the Gospel is a Gospel. Again, if God set in the Church apostles and prophets and evangelists ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 299, footnote 14 (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 Fourfold Gospel.  John's the First Fruits of the Four.  Qualifications Necessary for Interpreting It. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4478 (In-Text, Margin)

Now the Gospels are four. These four are, as it were, the elements of the faith of the Church, out of which elements the whole world which is reconciled to God in Christ is put together; as Paul says, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself;” of which world Jesus bore the sin; for it is of the world of the Church that the word is written,[John 1:29] “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” The Gospels then being four, I deem the first fruits of the Gospels to be that which you have enjoined me to search into according to my powers, the Gospel of John, that which speaks of him whose genealogy had already been set forth, but which begins to ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 309, footnote 14 (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 Title “Word” Is to Be Interpreted by the Same Method as the Other Titles of Christ.  The Word of God is Not a Mere Attribute of God, But a Separate Person.  What is Meant When He is Called the Word. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4566 (In-Text, Margin)

... slaughter.” These and other similar sayings He applies to Himself. In addition to these one might collect in the Gospels and the Apostles and in the prophets a countless number of titles which are applied to the Son of God, as the writers of the Gospels set forth their own views of what He is, or the Apostles extol Him out of what they had learned, or the prophets proclaim in advance His coming advent and announce the things concerning Him under various names. Thus John calls Him the Lamb of God, saying,[John 1:29] “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world,” and in these words he declares Him as a man, “This is He about whom I said, that there cometh after me a man who is there before me; for He was before me.” And in his Catholic Epistle ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 317, 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 a Servant, as the Lamb of God, and as the Man Whom John Did Not Know. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4627 (In-Text, Margin)

... by His death, which is given as a sort of medicine against the opposing power, and also against the sin of those who open their minds to the truth. For the death of Christ reduced to impotence those powers which war against the human race, and it set free from sin by a power beyond our words the life of each believer. Since, then, He takes away sin until every enemy shall be destroyed and death last of all, in order that the whole world may be free from sin, therefore John points to Him and says:[John 1:29] “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” It is not said that He will take it away in the future, nor that He is at present taking it, nor that He has taken it, but is not taking it away now. His taking away sin is still going ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 375, 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 VI. (HTML)
Of What John Learned from Jesus When Mary Visited Elisabeth in the Hill Country. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4948 (In-Text, Margin)

“The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him.”[John 1:29] The mother of Jesus had formerly, as soon as she conceived, stayed with the mother of John, also at that time with child, and the Former then communicated to the Formed with some exactness His own image, and caused him to be conformed to His glory. And from this outward similarity it came that with those who did not distinguish between the image itself and that which was according to the image, John was thought to be Christ and Jesus was supposed to be John risen from ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 376, footnote 3 (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 VI. (HTML)
John Calls Jesus a “Lamb.”  Why Does He Name This Animal Specially?  Of the Typology of the Sacrifices, Generally. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4954 (In-Text, Margin)

“And he sayeth, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”[John 1:29] There were five animals which were brought to the altar, three that walk and two that fly; and it seems to be worth asking why John calls the Saviour a lamb and not any of these other creatures, and why, when each of the animals that walk is offered of three kinds he used for the sheep-kind the term “lamb.” The five animals are as follows: the bullock, the sheep, the goat, the turtle-dove, the pigeon. And of the walking animals these are the three ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 480, footnote 1 (Image)

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

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

Origen's Commentary on Matthew. (HTML)

Book XIII. (HTML)
Jesus' Prediction of His “Delivery” Into the Hands of Men. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5884 (In-Text, Margin)

... interpreting this, says with reference to God, “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all;” but the Son also gave Himself to death for us, so that He was delivered up, not only by the Father but also by Himself. But another will say not merely that, but also collecting the passages together, will say that the Son is first delivered up by God,—then about to be tempted, then to be in conflict, then to suffer for men, or even for the whole world that He might take away its sin,[John 1:29] —to the prince of this age, and to the rest of its princes, and then by them delivered into the hands of men who would slay Him. The case of Job will be taken as an illustration. “Lo, all that is his I give into thy hands, but do not touch him;” ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 307, footnote 2 (Image)

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

Letters of St. Augustin (HTML)

Letters of St. Augustin (HTML)

To Januarius (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1772 (In-Text, Margin)

... no reason, however, to imagine that worship is due to those heavenly luminaries because a similitude is occasionally borrowed from them for the representation of divine mysteries; for such are borrowed from every created thing. Nor is there any reason for our incurring the sentence of condemnation which is pronounced by the apostle on some who worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. We do not adore sheep or cattle, although Christ is called both a Lamb,[John 1:29] and by the prophet a young bullock; nor any beast of prey, though He is called the Lion of the tribe of Judah; nor a stone, although Christ is called a Rock; nor Mount Zion, though in it there was a type of the Church. And, in like manner, we do not ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 42, 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)
The Creature is Not So Taken by the Holy Spirit as Flesh is by the Word. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 251 (In-Text, Margin)

... that fire, “There appeared unto them,” he says, “cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them; and they began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance; in order to show that the Spirit was manifested by that fire, as by the dove; yet we cannot call the Holy Spirit both God and a dove, or both God and fire, in the same way as we call the Son both God and man; nor as we call the Son the Lamb of God; which not only John the Baptist says, “Behold the Lamb of God,”[John 1:29] but also John the Evangelist sees the Lamb slain in the Apocalypse. For that prophetic vision was not shown to bodily eyes through bodily forms, but in the spirit through spiritual images of bodily things. But whosoever saw that dove and that fire, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 223, footnote 4 (Image)

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

Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)

He embraces in a brief compendium the contents of the previous books; and finally shows that the Trinity, in the perfect sight of which consists the blessed life that is promised us, is here seen by us as in a glass and in an enigma, so long as it is seen through that image of God which we ourselves are. (HTML)
The Infirmity of the Human Mind. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1043 (In-Text, Margin)

... of the human mind, unless that they be condemned also by the witness of their own understanding? And they would certainly not so fail in understanding, and hardly arrive at anything certain, were they not involved in penal darkness, and burdened with the corruptible body that presses down the soul. And for what demerit save that of sin is this evil inflicted on them? Wherefore, being warned by the magnitude of so great an evil, they ought to follow the Lamb that taketh away the sins of the world.[John 1:29]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 430, footnote 14 (Image)

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

Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

Of Holy Virginity. (HTML)

Section 37 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2134 (In-Text, Margin)

... Thee. They are just: but they are not, are they, such as Thou, justifying the ungodly? They are chaste: but them in sins their mothers nurtured in their wombs. They are holy, but Thou art also Holy of Holies. They are virgins, but they are not also born of virgins. They are wholly chaste both in spirit and in flesh: but they are not the Word made flesh. And yet let them learn, not from those unto whom Thou forgivest sins, but from Thee Thyself, The Lamb of God Who takest away the sins of the world,[John 1:29] in that Thou art “meek and lowly of heart.”

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 193, 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 denies that the prophets predicted Christ.  Augustin proves such prediction from the New Testament, and expounds at length the principal types of Christ in the Old Testament. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 454 (In-Text, Margin)

... which was lifted up that they might look at it. The Lord Himself gives the explanation of this: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish, but have everlasting life." So in many other things we may find a protest against the obstinacy of unbelieving hearts. In the passover a lamb is killed, representing Christ, of whom it is said in the Gospel, "Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world!"[John 1:29] In the passover the bones of the lamb were not to be broken; and on the cross the bones of the Lord were not broken. The evangelist, in reference to this, quotes the words, "A bone of Him shall not be broken." The posts were marked with blood to ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 225, 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 willing to believe not only that the Jewish but that all Gentile prophets wrote of Christ, if it should be proved; but he would none the less insist upon rejecting their superstitions.  Augustin maintains that all Moses wrote is of Christ, and that his writings must be either accepted or rejected as a whole. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 586 (In-Text, Margin)

... between parents and children, or between men in general, or any species of animals, or in trees, between one olive and another, or one laurel and another, there is often a resemblance in things of a different nature, as between a wild and a tame olive, or between wheat and barley. These things are to some extent allied. But there is the greatest possible distance between the Son of God, by whom all things were made, and a beast or a stone. And yet in the Gospel we read, "Behold the Lamb of God,"[John 1:29] and in the apostle, "That rock was Christ." This could not be said except on the supposition of some resemblance. What wonder, then, if Christ condescended to become like Moses, when He was made like the lamb which God by Moses commanded His people ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 468, footnote 5 (Image)

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

Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)

On Baptism, Against the Donatists. (HTML)

He examines the last part of the epistle of Cyprian to Jubaianus, together with his epistle to Quintus, the letter of the African synod to the Numidian bishops, and Cyprian’s epistle to Pompeius. (HTML)
Chapter 10 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1492 (In-Text, Margin)

... place in the baptism of the Lord,—just as the resurrection which is expected at the last day is fulfilled in hope in us, as the apostle says, that "He hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus;" and again, "For we are saved by hope;" or as again John himself, while he says, "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, for the remission of your sins," yet says, on seeing our Lord, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world,"[John 1:29] —nevertheless I am not disposed to contend vehemently against any one who maintains that sins were remitted even in the baptism of John, but that some fuller sanctification was conferred by the baptism of Christ on those whom Paul ordered to be ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 28, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)

Christ is the Saviour and Redeemer Even of Infants. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 311 (In-Text, Margin)

... again of water and the Spirit; nor shall any one attain salvation and eternal life except in His kingdom,—since the man who believes not in the Son, and eats not His flesh, shall not have life, but the wrath of God remains upon him. Now from this sin, from this sickness, from this wrath of God (of which by nature they are children who have original sin, even if they have none of their own on account of their youth), none delivers them, except the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world;[John 1:29] except the Physician, who came not for the sake of the sound, but of the sick; except the Saviour, concerning whom it was said to the human race: “Unto you there is born this day a Saviour;” except the Redeemer, by whose blood our debt is blotted ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 31, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)

A Collection of Scripture Testimonies. From the Gospels. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 338 (In-Text, Margin)

... world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” Now, who can be unaware that, in the case of infants, being baptized is to believe, and not being baptized is not to believe? From the Gospel of John we have already ad duced some passages. However, I must also request your attention to the following: John Baptist says of Christ, “Behold the Lamb of God, Behold Him which taketh away the sin of the world;”[John 1:29] and He too says of Himself, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish.” Now, inasmuch as infants are only able to become His sheep by baptism, it must needs come to ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 407, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians. (HTML)

Book III. (HTML)

Distinction Between the Children of the Old and of the New Testaments. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2720 (In-Text, Margin)

... and the same they lived, believing the incarnation, passion, and resurrection of Christ as future, which we believe as already accomplished,—even until John the Baptist himself, as it were a certain limit of the old dispensation, who, signifying that the Mediator Himself would come, not with any shadow of the future or allegorical intimation, or with any prophetical announcement, but pointing Him out with his finger, said: “Behold the Lamb of God; behold Him who taketh away the sin of the world.”[John 1:29] As if saying, Whom many righteous men have desired to see, on whom, as about to come, they have believed from the beginning of the human race itself, concerning whom the promises were spoken to Abraham, of whom Moses wrote, of whom the law and the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 106, footnote 5 (Image)

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

The Harmony of the Gospels. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)

Of the Reason Why Forty Generations (Not Including Christ Himself) are Found in Matthew, Although He Divides Them into Three Successions of Fourteen Each. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 699 (In-Text, Margin)

... descending scale, and at the very beginning of his Gospel. Luke, on the other hand, details those generations not at the commencement of his Gospel, but at the point of Christ’s baptism, and gives them not in the descending, but in the ascending order, ascribing to Him preferentially the character of a priest in the expiation of sins, as where the voice from heaven declared Him, and where John himself delivered his testimony in these terms: “Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!”[John 1:29] Besides, in the process by which he traces the genealogy upwards, he passes Abraham and carries us back to God, to whom, purified and atoned for, we are reconciled. Of merit, too, He has sustained in Himself the origination of our adoption; for we ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 309, 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)

On the words of the Gospel, Matt. xi. 2, ‘Now when John heard in the prison the works of the Christ, he sent by his disciples, and said unto him, art thou He that cometh, or look we for another?’ etc. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2243 (In-Text, Margin)

... see? A man clothed in soft raiment?” No, for John was clothed in rough apparel; he had his raiment of camel’s hair, not of down. “But what went ye out for to see? A Prophet? yea, and more than a Prophet.” Why “more than a Prophet”? The Prophets foretold that the Lord would come, whom they desired to see, and saw not; but to him was vouchsafed what they sought. John saw the Lord; he saw Him, pointed his finger toward Him, and said, “Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world;”[John 1:29] behold, here He is. Now had He come and was not acknowledged; and so a mistake was made also as to John himself. Behold then here is He whom the Patriarchs desired to see, whom the Prophets foretold, whom the Law prefigured. “Behold the Lamb of God, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 36, 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 103 (In-Text, Margin)

... they questioned the Lord by what authority He did those things: “I also,” said He, “will ask you this question, Tell me, the baptism of John, whence is it? from heaven, or of men?” And they, who were preparing to spread their wiles, were entangled by the question, and began to debate with themselves, and say, “If we shall answer, It is from heaven, He will say unto us, Wherefore did ye not believe him?” For John had said of the Lord, “Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world!”[John 1:29] Why then do you inquire by what authority I act? O wolves, what I do, I do by the authority of the Lamb. But that you may know the Lamb, why do you not believe John, who said, “Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world”? They, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 195, footnote 2 (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. 37–39. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 617 (In-Text, Margin)

... mercy. What then is the cause why the Lord Jesus Christ determined not to give the Holy Spirit until He should be glorified? which thing before we speak of as we may be able, we must first inquire, lest that should trouble any one, in what manner the Spirit was not yet in holy men, whilst we read in the Gospel concerning the Lord Himself newly born, that Simeon by the Holy Spirit recognized Him; that Anna the widow, a prophetess, also recognized Him; that John, who baptized Him, recognized Him;[John 1:26-34] that Zacharias, being filled with the Holy Ghost, said many things; that Mary herself received the Holy Ghost to conceive the Lord. We have therefore many preceding evidences of the Holy Spirit before the Lord was glorified by the resurrection of ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 147, footnote 7 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm XLV (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1386 (In-Text, Margin)

6. What follows then? “My tongue is the pen of a writer writing rapidly.” What likeness, my brethren, what likeness, I ask, has the “tongue” of God with a transcriber’s pen? What resemblance has “the rock” to Christ? What likeness does the “lamb” bear to our Saviour,[John 1:29] or what “the lion” to the strength of the Only-Begotten? Yet such comparisons have been made; and were they not made, we should not be formed to a certain extent by these visible things to the knowledge of the “Invisible One.” So then with this mean simile of the pen; let us not compare it to His excellent greatness, so let us not reject it with contempt. For I ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 447, footnote 6 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm XCI (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4298 (In-Text, Margin)

6. “His truth shall surround thee with a shield” (ver. 5). What are “the wings,” the same is “the shield:” since there are neither wings nor shield. If either were literally, how could the one be the same as the other? can wings be a shield or a shield wings? But all these expressions, indeed, are figuratively used through likenesses. If Christ were really a Stone, He could not be a Lion; if a Lion, He could not be a Lamb: but He is called both Lion, and Lamb,[John 1:29] and Stone, and Calf, and anything else of the sort, metaphorically, because He is neither Stone, nor Lion, nor Lamb, nor Calf, but Jesus Christ, the Saviour of all of us, for these are likenesses, not literal names. “His truth shall be thy shield,” it is said: a ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 1, page 605, footnote 2 (Image)

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

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

The Oration of Eusebius. (HTML)

Chapter XV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3572 (In-Text, Margin)

12. Thus, then, this salutary victim taken from among themselves, I mean the mortal body of the Word, was offered on behalf of the common race of men. This was that sacrifice delivered up to death, of which the sacred oracles speak: “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”[John 1:29] And again, as follows: “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is dumb.” They declare also the cause, saying: “He bears our sins, and is pained for us: yet we accounted him to be in trouble, and in suffering, and in affliction. But he was wounded on account of our sins, and bruised because of our iniquities: the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 226, footnote 6 (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 Impassible. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1465 (In-Text, Margin)

Eran. —Because John called the Lord “a lamb,”[John 1:29] and Isaiah called Him “lamb” and “sheep.”

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 142, footnote 2 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Oceanus. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2017 (In-Text, Margin)

... mystery of Christ. This heresy declares that there are some sins which Christ cannot cleanse with His blood, and that the scars left by old transgressions on the body and the soul are sometimes so deep that they cannot be effaced by the remedy which He supplies. What else is this but to say that Christ has died in vain? He has indeed died in vain if there are any whom He cannot make alive. When John the Baptist points to Christ and says: “Behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world”[John 1:29] he utters a falsehood if after all there are persons living whose sins Christ has not taken away. For either it must be shewn that they are not of the world whom the grace of Christ thus ignores: or, if it be admitted that they are of the world, we ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 200, footnote 11 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Eustochium. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2812 (In-Text, Margin)

... that is ‘of the flock,’ near which Jacob fed his flocks, and where the shepherds keeping watch by night were privileged to hear the words: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.” While they were keeping their sheep they found the Lamb of God; whose fleece bright and clean was made wet with the dew of heaven when it was dry upon all the earth beside, and whose blood when sprinkled on the doorposts drove off the destroyer of Egypt and took away the sins of the world.[John 1:29]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 323, footnote 3 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

Treatises. (HTML)

The Dialogue Against the Luciferians. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4075 (In-Text, Margin)

... are so ignorant of the sacred books that many words are needed to settle this little question. But before I say anything in support of my assertion, listen while I point out what confusion, upon your view, is introduced into Scripture. What do we mean by saying that John in his baptism could not give the Holy Spirit to others, yet gave him to Christ? And who is that John? “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make ye ready the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” He who used to say,[John 1:29] “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world”: I say too little, he who from his mother’s womb cried out, “And whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord should come unto me,” did he not give the Holy Ghost? And did Ananias ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 82, footnote 7 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)

On the words, Crucified and Buried. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1490 (In-Text, Margin)

... Saviour, but rather glory in it. For the word of the Cross is unto Jews a stumbling-block, and unto Gentiles foolishness, but to us salvation: and to them that are perishing it is foolishness, but unto us which are being saved it is the power of God. For it was not a mere man who died for us, as I said before, but the Son of God, God made man. Further; if the lamb under Moses drove the destroyer far away, did not much rather the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world[John 1:29], deliver us from our sins? The blood of a silly sheep gave salvation; and shall not the Blood of the Only-begotten much rather save? If any disbelieve the power of the Crucified, let him ask the devils; if any believe not words, let him believe what ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 87, footnote 9 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)

On the words, Crucified and Buried. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1569 (In-Text, Margin)

... assure thyself; I was like a harmless lamb led to be slaughtered; did I not know it? (for in this manner read it as a question, as I have read it; for He who said, Ye know that after two days comes the passover, and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified, did He not know?) I was like a harmless lamb led to be slaughtered; did I not know it? (but what sort of lamb? let John the Baptist interpret it, when he says, Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world[John 1:29].) They devised against Me a wicked device, saying —(He who knows the devices, knew He not the result of them? And what said they?)— Come, and let us place a beam upon His bread —(and if the Lord reckon thee worthy, thou shalt hereafter ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 298, footnote 4 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

The Letters. (HTML)

To Optimus the bishop. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3156 (In-Text, Margin)

... not made wiser by the example before me. Wherefore I deserve to suffer four hundred and ninety punishments. There are, however, some who have gone so far as the following explanation, which does not jar with the doctrine of the Church; from Cain to the flood, they say, seven generations passed by, and the punishment was brought on the whole earth, because sin was everywhere spread abroad. But the sin of Lamech requires for its cure not a Flood, but Him Who Himself takes away the sin of the world.[John 1:29] Count the generations from Adam to the coming of Christ, and you will find, according to the genealogy of Luke, that the Lord was born in the seventy-seventh.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 304, footnote 2 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

The Letters. (HTML)

To Eulogius, Alexander, and Harpocration, bishops of Egypt, in exile. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3201 (In-Text, Margin)

... where have the promises of the Gospel been blunted and destroyed as by his figments? So meanly and poorly has he dared to explain the blessed hope laid up for all who live according to the Gospel of Christ, as to reduce it to mere old wives’ fables and doctrines of Jews. He proclaims the renewal of the Temple, the observance of the worship of the Law, a typical high priest over again after the real High Priest, and a sacrifice for sins after the Lamb of God Who taketh away the sin of the world.[John 1:29] He preaches partial baptisms after the one baptism, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the Church which, through its faith in Christ, has not spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; cleansing of leprosy after the painless state of the resurrection; an ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 236, footnote 2 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

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

Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)

Book II. (HTML)
Chapter XI. The purpose and healing effects of the Incarnation. The profitableness of faith, whereby we know that Christ bore all infirmities for our sakes,--Christ, Whose Godhead revealed Itself in His Passion; whence we understand that the mission of the Son of God entailed no subservience, which belief we need not fear lest it displease the Father, Who declares Himself to be well pleased in His Son. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2035 (In-Text, Margin)

93. Let us bethink ourselves of the profitableness of right belief. It is profitable to me to know that for my sake Christ bore my infirmities, submitted to the affections of my body, that for me, that is to say, for every man, He was made sin, and a curse, that for me and in me was He humbled and made subject, that for me He is the Lamb, the Vine, the Rock,[John 1:29] the Servant, the Son of an handmaid, knowing not the day of judgment, for my sake ignorant of the day and the hour.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 471, footnote 4 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

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

Epistle LXIII: To the Church at Vercellæ. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3790 (In-Text, Margin)

... account of impiety, he talked with God, he increased in riches, in children, and in favour. Nor was he elated by these things when he met his brother; but humbly bowed down to him, not indeed considering him the pitiless, the furious, the degenerate, but Him Whom he reverenced in him. And so he bowed down seven times, which is the number of remission, for he was not bowing down to man, but to Him Whom he foresaw in the Spirit, as hereafter to come in human flesh to take away the sins of the world.[John 1:29] And this mystery is unfolded to you in the answer given to Peter, when he said: “If my brother trespass against me how often shall I forgive him? Until seven times?” You see that remission of sins is a type of that great Sabbath, of that rest of ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 580, 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 XII. How the title of Saviour is given to Christ in one sense, and to men in another. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2486 (In-Text, Margin)

... He is termed Saviour in the same sense as the title is given to others (“And the Lord raised up to them a Saviour, Othniel the Son of Kenaz,” and again, “the Lord raised up to them a Saviour, Ehud the son of Gera”), he added: “for He it is that shall save His people from their sins.” But it does not lie in the power of a man to redeem his people from the captivity of sin,—a thing which is only possible for Him of whom it is said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”[John 1:29] For the others saved a people not their own but God’s, and not from their sins, but from their enemies.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 610, 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 VII. (HTML)
Chapter XI. How the devil was forced by many reasons to the view that Christ was God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2620 (In-Text, Margin)

... tempting Him? Or what so greatly moved him, that he sought God under the humble form of man? Had he learned that by previous proofs? Or had he known of anyone who came as God in man’s body? Most certainly not. But it was by the mighty evidence of signs, by mighty results of actions, by the words of the Truth Himself that he was driven to suspect and examine into this matter: inasmuch as he had already once heard from John: “Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who taketh away the sin of the world.”[John 1:29] And again from the same person: “I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me?” The dove also which came down from heaven and stopped over the Lord’s head had made itself a clear and open proof of a God who declared Himself. The voice ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 29, footnote 11 (Image)

Leo the Great, Gregory the Great

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

Letters. (HTML)

To the Bishops of Sicily. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 197 (In-Text, Margin)

... ratified the power of re-birth on that occasion, when from His side flowed out the blood of ransom and the water of baptism. As, therefore, the Old Testament was the witness to the new, and “the law was given by Moses: but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ;” as the divers sacrifices prefigured the one Victim, and the slaughter of many lambs was ended by the offering up of Him, of whom it is said, “Behold the Lamb of God; behold Him that taketh away the sin of the world[John 1:29];” so too John, not Christ, but Christ’s forerunner, not the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, was so faithful in seeking, “not His own, but the things which are Jesus Christ’s,” as to profess himself unworthy to undo the shoes of His ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 93, footnote 4 (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 536 (In-Text, Margin)

... pointed out to them: and without the reality of the flesh that Child would not have been ordered to be carried away into Egypt and withdrawn from Herod’s persecution. Without the power of the Word the Father’s voice uttered from the sky would not have said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased:” and without the reality of the flesh John would not have been able to point to Him and say: “Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him that beareth away the sins of the world[John 1:29].” Without the power of the Word there would have been no restoring of the sick to health, no raising of the dead to life: and without the reality of the flesh He would not have hungered and needed food, nor grown weary and needed rest. Lastly, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 173, footnote 2 (Image)

Leo the Great, Gregory the Great

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

Sermons. (HTML)

On the Passion, VIII.:  on Wednesday in Holy Week. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1024 (In-Text, Margin)

... is a nobler rank of Levites, there are elders of greater dignity and priests of holier anointing: because Thy cross is the fount of all blessings, the source of all graces, and through it the believers receive strength for weakness, glory for shame, life for death. Now, too, the variety of fleshly sacrifices has ceased, and the one offering of Thy Body and Blood fulfils all those different victims: for Thou art the true “Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world[John 1:29],” and in Thyself so accomplishest all mysteries, that as there is but one sacrifice instead of many victims, so there is but one kingdom instead of many nations.

Online Dictionary & Commentary of Early Church Beliefs