Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts

John 3:29

There are 17 footnotes for this reference.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 582, footnote 5 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)

Fragments of Clemens Alexandrinus (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3810 (In-Text, Margin)

... chariot as he requires who has turned his mind towards the Father. For, beautiful after being first beautifully adorned with all these things without, he enters into the gladness within. For “Bring out” was said by Him who had first said, “While he was yet a great way off, he ran and fell upon his neck.” For it is here that all the preparation for entrance to the marriage to which we are invited must be accomplished. He, then, who has been made ready to enter will say, “This my joy is fulfilled.”[John 3:29] 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 ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 523, footnote 11 (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 the Bridegroom, having the Church as His bride, from which spiritual children were to be born. (HTML)CCEL Footnote 4056 (In-Text, Margin)

... And he took me in the Spirit to a great mountain, and he showed me the holy city Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God.” Also in the Gospel according to John: “Ye are my witnesses, that I said to them who were sent from Jerusalem to me, that I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before Him. For he who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom is he who standeth and heareth him with joy, and rejoiceth because of the voice of the bridegroom.”[John 3:28-29] The mystery of this matter was shown in Jesus the son of Nave, when he was bidden to put his shoes from off him, doubtless because he himself was not the bridegroom. For it was in the law, that whoever should refuse marriage should put off his shoe, ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 109, footnote 10 (Image)

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

Lactantius (HTML)

The Divine Institutes (HTML)

Book IV. Of True Wisdom and Religion (HTML)
Chap. XI.—Of the cause of the incarnation of Christ (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 582 (In-Text, Margin)

The prophet Elias also, in the third book of Kings: “I have been very jealous[John 3:29] for the Lord God of hosts, because the children of Israel have forsaken Thee, thrown down Thine altars, and slain Thy prophets with the sword; and I only am left, and they seek my life to take it away.” On account of these impieties of theirs He cast them off for ever; and so He ceased to send to them prophets. But He commanded His own Son, the first-begotten, the maker of all things, His own counsellor, to descend from heaven, that He might transfer the ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 52, footnote 27 (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 VI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 462 (In-Text, Margin)

... prison. And there was an inquiry between [9] one of John’s disciples and one of the Jews about purifying. And they came unto John, and said unto him, Our master, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom [10] thou hast borne witness, behold, he also baptizeth, and many come to him. John answered and said unto them, A man can receive nothing of himself, except it be [11] given him from heaven. Ye are they that bear witness unto me that I said, I am [12] not the Messiah, but I am one sent before him.[John 3:29] And he that hath a bride is a bridegroom: and the friend of the bridegroom is he that standeth and listeneth to him, and rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Lo now, behold, [13, 14] [Arabic, p. 23] my joy becometh complete. And he ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 77, footnote 1 (Image)

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

The Confessions (HTML)

Then follows a period of nine years from the nineteenth year of his age, during which having lost a friend, he followed the Manichæans—and wrote books on the fair and fit, and published a work on the liberal arts, and the categories of Aristotle. (HTML)

While Writing, Being Blinded by Corporeal Images, He Failed to Recognise the Spiritual Nature of God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 339 (In-Text, Margin)

27. I was about six or seven and twenty years of age when I wrote those volumes—meditating upon corporeal fictions, which clamoured in the ears of my heart. These I directed, O sweet Truth, to Thy inward melody, pondering on the “fair and fit,” and longing to stay and listen to Thee, and to rejoice greatly at the Bridegroom’s voice,[John 3:29] and I could not; for by the voices of my own errors was I driven forth, and by the weight of my own pride was I sinking into the lowest pit. For Thou didst not “make me to hear joy and gladness;” nor did the bones which were not yet humbled rejoice.

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

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

The Confessions (HTML)

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

That Word Itself is the Beginning of All Things, in the Which We are Instructed as to Evangelical Truth. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1034 (In-Text, Margin)

... the good and only Master teacheth all His disciples. There, O Lord, I hear Thy voice, the voice of one speaking unto me, since He speaketh unto us who teacheth us. But He that teacheth us not, although He speaketh, speaketh not to us. Moreover, who teacheth us, unless it be the immutable Truth? For even when we are admonished through a changeable creature, we are led to the Truth immutable. There we learn truly while we stand and hear Him, and rejoice greatly “because of the Bridegroom’s voice,”[John 3:29] restoring us to that whence we are. And, therefore, the Beginning, because unless It remained, there would not, where we strayed, be whither to return. But when we return from error, it is by knowing that we return. But that we may know, He teacheth ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 194, footnote 29 (Image)

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

The Confessions (HTML)

Of the goodness of God explained in the creation of things, and of the Trinity as found in the first words of Genesis. The story concerning the origin of the world (Gen. I.) is allegorically explained, and he applies it to those things which God works for sanctified and blessed man. Finally, he makes an end of this work, having implored eternal rest from God. (HTML)

That the Renewal of Man is Not Completed in This World. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1234 (In-Text, Margin)

... world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” And, “Be not children in understanding, howbeit in malice be ye children,” that in “understanding ye may be perfect;” and “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you?” But now not in his own voice, but in Thine who sentest Thy Spirit from above; through Him who “ascended up on high,” and set open the flood-gates of His gifts, that the force of His streams might make glad the city of God. For, for Him doth “the friend of the bridegroom”[John 3:29] sigh, having now the first-fruits of the Spirit laid up with Him, yet still groaning within himself, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of his body; to Him he sighs, for he is a member of the Bride; for Him is he jealous, for he is the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 194, footnote 31 (Image)

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

The Confessions (HTML)

Of the goodness of God explained in the creation of things, and of the Trinity as found in the first words of Genesis. The story concerning the origin of the world (Gen. I.) is allegorically explained, and he applies it to those things which God works for sanctified and blessed man. Finally, he makes an end of this work, having implored eternal rest from God. (HTML)

That the Renewal of Man is Not Completed in This World. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1236 (In-Text, Margin)

... sentest Thy Spirit from above; through Him who “ascended up on high,” and set open the flood-gates of His gifts, that the force of His streams might make glad the city of God. For, for Him doth “the friend of the bridegroom” sigh, having now the first-fruits of the Spirit laid up with Him, yet still groaning within himself, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of his body; to Him he sighs, for he is a member of the Bride; for Him is he jealous, for he is the friend of the Bridegroom;[John 3:29] for Him is he jealous, not for himself; because in the voice of Thy “waterspouts,” not in his own voice, doth he call on that other deep, for whom being jealous he feareth, lest that, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so their minds ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 288, footnote 6 (Image)

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

Letters of St. Augustin (HTML)

Letters of St. Augustin (HTML)

To Eleusius, Glorius, and the Two Felixes (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1658 (In-Text, Margin)

... baptized more disciples than John, though Jesus Himself baptized not, but His disciples, that is to say, baptized by means of His disciples? How could they give what they had not received (a question often used by the Donatists themselves)? Did Christ baptize with the baptism of John? I was prepared to ask many other questions in connection with this opinion of Fortunius; such as—how John himself was interrogated as to the Lord’s baptizing, and replied that He had the bride, and was the Bridegroom?[John 3:29] Was it, then, lawful for the Bridegroom to baptize with the baptism of him who was but a friend or servant? Again, how could they receive the Eucharist if not previously baptized? or how could the Lord in that case have said in reply to Peter, who ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 128, footnote 1 (Image)

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

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

Chapter V. 19–30. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 393 (In-Text, Margin)

14. But what of that resurrection of the body? For these who hear and live, whence live, except by hearing? For “the friend of the Bridegroom standeth and heareth Him, and rejoiceth greatly because of the Bridegroom’s voice:”[John 3:29] not because of his own voice; that is to say, they hear and live by partaking, not by coming into being; and all that hear live, because all that obey live. Tell us something, O Lord, also of the resurrection of the flesh; for there have been those who denied it, asserting that this is the only resurrection which is wrought by faith. Of which resurrection the Lord has just now made ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 91, footnote 4 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm XXXVI (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 847 (In-Text, Margin)

... against thee, when thou mayest fall, that he may cast thee down. But watch thou his head: the beginning of all sin is pride. “Thereby have fallen all that work iniquity: they are driven out, and are not able to stand.” He first, who in the Truth stood not, then, through him, they whom God sent out of Paradise. Whence he, the humble, who said that he was not worthy to unloose His shoe’s latchet, is not driven out, but standeth and heareth Him, and rejoiceth greatly because of the Bridegroom’s voice;[John 3:29] not because of his own, lest the foot of pride come against him, and he be driven out, and be not able to stand.…

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 113, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm XXXIX (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1027 (In-Text, Margin)

... committing a sin; so that I spoke not; that I imposed on myself the necessity of silence: for I had spoken thus, “I will take heed to my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue.” Whilst I was too much afraid of saying anything wrong, I kept silence from all that is good. For whence could I say good things, except that I heard them? “It is Thou that shalt make me to hear of joy and gladness.” And the “friend of the bridegroom standeth and heareth Him, and rejoiceth on account of the bridegroom’s voice,”[John 3:29] not his own. That he may speak true things, he hears what he is to say. For it is he that “speaketh a lie,” that “speaketh of his own.” …When therefore I had “put a bridle,” as it were, “on my lips;” and constrained myself to silence, because I saw ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 473, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm XCVI (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4433 (In-Text, Margin)

... Lord, O ye kindreds of the people: ascribe unto the Lord worship and honour.” Ascribe them not unto yourselves: because they also who have declared it unto you, have not declared their own, but His honour. Do ye then “ascribe unto the Lord worship and honour;” and say, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us: but unto Thy Name give the praise.” Put not your trust in man. If each of you is baptized, let him say: He baptizeth me, of whom the friend of the Bridegroom said, “He baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.”[John 3:29] For when ye say this, ye ascribe unto the Lord worship and honour: “Ascribe unto the Lord worship and honour.”

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 495, footnote 6 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm CII (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4582 (In-Text, Margin)

... then to poverty: let Him transfigure unto Himself our humble body: let Him be our Head, we His limbs, let there be two in one flesh. …For He hath deigned to hold even us as His limbs. The penitent also are among His limbs. For they are not shut out, nor separated from His Church: nor would He make the Church His spouse, unless by words like these: “Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Let us then hear what the head and the body prayeth, the bridegroom and bride, Christ and the Church,[John 3:29] both one Person; but the Word and the flesh are not both one thing; the Father and the Word are both one thing; Christ and the Church are both one Person, one perfect man in the form of His own fulness.…Let us hear therefore Christ, poor within us ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 613, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm CXXIX (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 5565 (In-Text, Margin)

... they declared against these what they were doomed to become, but they gave them no blessing. Ye therefore who read in the Scriptures, find all those wicked men whom the Church beareth, who are declared cursed, pertain unto Antichrist, pertain unto the devil, pertain to the chaff, pertain to the tares.…But they who say, None save God sanctifieth, nor is any man good save by the gift of God; they bless in the name of the Lord, not in their own name: because they are the friends of the bridegroom,[John 3:29] they refuse to be adulterers of the bride.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 272, footnote 8 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)

On the Great Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3297 (In-Text, Margin)

... women alike, young men and maidens, old men and children, priests and people, solitaries and cenobites, men of simple or of exact life, contemplatives or practically minded. Let one praise him in his fastings and prayers as if he had been disembodied and immaterial, another his unweariedness and zeal for vigils and psalmody, another his patronage of the needy, another his dauntlessness towards the powerful, or his condescension to the lowly. Let the virgins celebrate the friend of the Bridegroom;[John 3:29] those under the yoke their restrainer, hermits him who lent wings to their course, cenobites their lawgiver, simple folk their guide, contemplatives the divine, the joyous their bridle, the unfortunate their consolation, the hoary-headed their ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 253, footnote 4 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

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

Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)

Book III. (HTML)
Chapter X. Observations on the words of John the Baptist (John i. 30), which may be referred to divine fore-ordinance, but at any rate, as explained by the foregoing considerations, must be understood of the Incarnation. The precedence of Christ is mystically expounded, with reference to the history of Ruth. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2235 (In-Text, Margin)

71. Moses was not the Bridegroom, for to him cometh the word, “Loose thy shoe from off thy foot,” that he might give place to his Lord. Nor was Joshua, the son of Nun, the Bridegroom, for to him also it was told, saying, “Loose thy shoe from off thy foot,” lest, by reason of the likeness of his name, he should be thought the spouse of the Church. None other is the Bridegroom but Christ alone, of Whom St. John said: “He Who hath the bride is the Bridegroom.”[John 3:29] They, therefore, loose their shoes, but His shoe cannot be loosed, even as St. John said: “I am not worthy to loose the latchet of His shoe.”

Online Dictionary & Commentary of Early Church Beliefs