Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
John 3:21
There are 9 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 556, footnote 7 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Irenæus (HTML)
Against Heresies: Book V (HTML)
Chapter XXVII.—The future judgment by Christ. Communion with and separation from the divine being. The eternal punishment of unbelievers. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4689 (In-Text, Margin)
... without end with God, and therefore the loss of these is also eternal and never-ending. It is in this matter just as occurs in the case of a flood of light: those who have blinded themselves, or have been blinded by others, are for ever deprived of the enjoyment of light. It is not, [however], that the light has inflicted upon them the penalty of blindness, but it is that the blindness itself has brought calamity upon them: and therefore the Lord declared, “He that believeth in Me is not condemned,”[John 3:18-21] that is, is not separated from God, for he is united to God through faith. On the other hand, He says, “He that believeth not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God;” that is, he separated ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 25, footnote 9 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On the Apparel of Women. (HTML)
II (HTML)
It is Not Enough that God Know Us to Be Chaste: We Must Seem So Before Men. Especially in These Times of Persecution We Must Inure Our Bodies to the Hardships Which They May Not Improbably Be Called to Suffer. (HTML)
... moreover, does the Lord call us the light of the world; why has He compared us to a city built upon a mountain; if we do not shine in (the midst of) darkness, and stand eminent amid them who are sunk down? If you hide your lamp beneath a bushel, you must necessarily be left quite in darkness, and be run against by many. The things which make us luminaries of the world are these—our good works. What is good, moreover, provided it be true and full, loves not darkness: it joys in being seen,[John 3:21] and exults over the very pointings which are made at it. To Christian modesty it is not enough to be so, but to seem so too. For so great ought its plenitude to be, that it may flow out from the mind to the garb, and burst out from the ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 93, footnote 35 (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 XXXII. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2240 (In-Text, Margin)
... judge the world; but that the world might [44] be saved by his hand. He that believeth in him shall not be judged: but he that believeth not is condemned beforehand, because he hath not believed in the name [45] of the only Son, the Son of God. This is the judgement, that the light came into the world, and men loved the darkness more than the light; because their deeds [46] were evil. Whosoever doeth evil deeds hateth the light, and cometh not to the [47] light, lest his deeds be reproved.[John 3:21] But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be known, that they have been done in God.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 473, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On Lying. (HTML)
Section 35 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2363 (In-Text, Margin)
... defend them rather, and will not do penance, so that not content to work iniquity, he must needs wish to be thought just, and succumb not to the medicine of confession: as the very distinction of the words may seem to intimate no other, “Thou hatest all that work iniquity;” but wilt not destroy them if upon repenting they speak the truth in confession, that by doing that truth they may come to the light; as is said in the Gospel according to John, “But be that doeth truth cometh unto the light.[John 3:21] Thou wilt destroy all who” not only work what Thou hatest, but also “speak leasing;” in holding out before them false righteousness, and not confessing their sins in penitence.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 38, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
The Context of Their Chief Text. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 419 (In-Text, Margin)
... not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.”[John 3:1-21] Thus far the Lord’s discourse wholly relates to the subject of our present inquiry; from this point the sacred historian digresses to another matter.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 40, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
No One Can Be Reconciled to God, Except by Christ. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 434 (In-Text, Margin)
... light. Of what does He say, “Light is come into the world,” if not of His own advent? and without the sacrament of His advent, how are infants said to be in the light? And why should we not include this fact also in “men’s love of darkness,” that as they do not themselves believe, so they refuse to think that their infants ought to be baptized, although they are afraid of their incurring the death of the body? “In God,” however, he declares are the “works of him wrought, who cometh to the light,”[John 3:21] because he is quite aware that his justification results from no merits of his own, but from the grace of God. “For it is God,” says the apostle, “who worketh in you both to will and to do of His own good pleasure.” This then is the way in which ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 493, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)
On the words of the Gospel, John v. 31, ‘If I bear witness of myself,’ etc.; and on the words of the apostle, Galatians v. 16, ‘Walk by the spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth,’ etc. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3832 (In-Text, Margin)
... Chastity too has its pleasure. Therefore let the Spirit overcome the flesh; or by all means not be overcome by the flesh. Adultery seeks the darkness, chastity desires the light. As thou wouldest wish to appear to others, so live; as thou wouldest wish to appear to men, even when beyond the eyes of men so live; for He who made thee, even in the darkness seeth thee. Why is chastity praised publicly by all? Why do not even adulterers praise adultery? “Whoso” then “seeketh the truth, cometh to the light.”[John 3:21] But adultery has its pleasure. Be it contradicted, resisted, opposed. For it is not so that thou hast nothing wherewith to fight. Thy God is in thee, the good Spirit hath been given to thee. And notwithstanding this flesh of ours is permitted to ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 124, footnote 13 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
On the Holy Spirit. (HTML)
Book II. (HTML)
Chapter VIII. St. Ambrose examines and refutes the heretical argument that because God is said to be glorified in the Spirit, and not with the Spirit, the Holy Spirit is therefore inferior to the Father. He shows that the particle in can be also used of the Son and even of the Father, and that on the other hand with may be said of creatures without any infringement on the prerogatives of the Godhead; and that in reality these prepositions simply imply the connection of the Three Divine Persons. (HTML)
76. But let them learn that it is also said of God the Father: “In the Lord I will praise the word;” and elsewhere: “In God we will do mighty deeds;” and “My remembrance shall be ever in Thee;” and “In Thy Name will we rejoice;” and again in another place: “That his deeds may be manifested, that they are wrought in God;”[John 3:21] and Paul: “In God Who created all things;” and again: “Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus to the Church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ;” and in the Gospel: “I in the Father and the Father in Me,” and “the Father that dwelleth in Me.” It is also written: “He that glorieth let him glory in the Lord;” and in ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 249, footnote 1 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
Chapter VI. In order to dispose of an objection grounded on a text in St. John, St. Ambrose first shows that the Arian interpretation lends countenance to the Manichæans; then, after setting forth the different ways of dividing the words in this same passage, he shows plainly that it cannot, without dishonour to the Father, be understood with such reference to the Godhead as the Arians give it, and expounds the true meaning thereon. (HTML)
44. Howbeit, let them read the passage as they will, they cannot diminish the majesty of God the Word, in referring to His Person, as subject, the words “That which was made,” without also doing dishonour to God the Father, of Whom it is written: “But he who doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest that they are wrought in God.”[John 3:21] See then—here we read of man’s works being wrought in God, and yet for all that we cannot understand the Godhead as the subject of them. We must either recognize the works as wrought through Him, as the Apostle’s affirmation showeth that “all things are through Him, and were created in Him, and He is before all, and ...