Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Romans 8:28
There are 34 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 276, footnote 7 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Instructor (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
Chapter III.—Against Men Who Embellish Themselves. (HTML)
But the pitch does good, it is said. Nay, it defames, say I. No one who entertains right sentiments would wish to appear a fornicator, were he not the victim of that vice, and study to defame the beauty of his form. No one would, I say, voluntarily choose to do this. “For if God foreknew those who are called, according to His purpose, to be conformed to the image of His Son,” for whose sake, according to the blessed apostle, He has appointed “Him to be the first-born among many brethren,”[Romans 8:28-29] are they not godless who treat with indignity the body which is of like form with the Lord?
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 417, footnote 10 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)
Book IV. (HTML)
Chapter VII.—The Blessedness of the Martyr. (HTML)
... If we suffer with Him, that we also may be glorified together as joint-heirs of Christ. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to the purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren. And whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified.”[Romans 8:28-30]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 7, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
City of God (HTML)
Augustin censures the pagans, who attributed the calamities of the world, and especially the recent sack of Rome by the Goths, to the Christian religion, and its prohibition of the worship of the gods. (HTML)
That the Saints Lose Nothing in Losing Temporal Goods. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 53 (In-Text, Margin)
These are the considerations which one must keep in view, that he may answer the question whether any evil happens to the faithful and godly which cannot be turned to profit. Or shall we say that the question is needless, and that the apostle is vaporing when he says, “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God?”[Romans 8:28]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 258, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
City of God (HTML)
That death is penal, and had its origin in Adam’s sin. (HTML)
What We are to Understand by the Animal and Spiritual Body; Or of Those Who Die in Adam, And of Those Who are Made Alive in Christ. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 617 (In-Text, Margin)
... the New Testament dispensation, in which it is most plainly revealed. And this He did in order that, first of all, it might be evident that this first death, which is common to all, was the result of that sin which in one man became common to all. But the second death is not common to all, those being excepted who were “called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did pre destinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren.”[Romans 8:28-29] Those the grace of God has, by a Mediator, delivered from the second death.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 392, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
City of God (HTML)
A parallel history of the earthly and heavenly cities from the time of Abraham to the end of the world. (HTML)
That the Catholic Faith May Be Confirmed Even by the Dissensions of the Heretics. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1245 (In-Text, Margin)
... anything morbid and depraved, and, on being corrected that they may savor what is wholesome and right, contumaciously resist, and will not amend their pestiferous and deadly dogmas, but persist in defending them, become heretics, and, going without, are to be reckoned as enemies who serve for her discipline. For even thus they profit by their wickedness those true catholic members of Christ, since God makes a good use even of the wicked, and all things work together for good to them that love Him.[Romans 8:28] For all the enemies of the Church, whatever error blinds or malice depraves them, exercise her patience if they receive the power to afflict her corporally; and if they only oppose her by wicked thought, they exercise her wisdom: but at the same ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 590, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
Examples of the Various Styles Drawn from Scripture. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1987 (In-Text, Margin)
... famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (As it is written, For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.) Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”[Romans 8:28-39]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 122, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)
He advances reasons to show not only that the Father is not greater than the Son, but that neither are both together anything greater than the Holy Spirit, nor any two together in the same Trinity anything greater than one, nor all three together anything greater than each singly. He also intimates that the nature of God may be understood from our understanding of truth, from our knowledge of the supreme good, and from our implanted love of righteousness; but above all, that our knowledge of God is to be sought through love, in which he notices a trio of things which contains a trace of the Trinity. (HTML)
Of True Love, by Which We Arrive at the Knowledge of the Trinity. God is to Be Sought, Not Outwardly, by Seeking to Do Wonderful Things with the Angels, But Inwardly, by Imitating the Piety of Good Angels. (HTML)
... things in comparison with the love of men, whereby we wish them to live righteously. For so we should be prepared also to die profitably for our brethren, as our Lord Jesus Christ taught us by His example. For as there are two commandments on which hang all the Law and the prophets, love of God and love of our neighbor; not without cause the Scripture mostly puts one for both: whether it be of God only, as is that text, “For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God;”[Romans 8:28] and again, “But if any man love God, the same is known of Him;” and that, “Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us;” and many other passages; because he who loves God must both needs do what God ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 178, footnote 8 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)
He expounds this trinity that he has found in knowledge by commending Christian faith. (HTML)
The Remains of Death and the Evil Things of the World Turn to Good for the Elect. How Fitly the Death of Christ Was Chosen, that We Might Be Justified in His Blood. What the Anger of God is. (HTML)
... called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified.” It is of these who are predestinated, that not one shall perish with the devil; not one shall remain even to death under the power of the devil. And then follows what I have already cited above: “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all; how has He not with Him also freely given us all things?”[Romans 8:28-32]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 295, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Catechising of the Uninstructed. (HTML)
Of the Remedy for the Second Source of Weariness. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1407 (In-Text, Margin)
... make us inclined to set a greater value upon it than upon the discourse which we ourselves have to deliver, and so to lead us to speak with a reluctant or tedious utterance, will come upon us in a happier spirit, and will be found to be more enjoyable after labor. Then, too, with a stronger confidence shall we pray to God to speak to us as we wish, if we cheerfully submit to let Him speak by us as we are able. Thus is it brought about that all things come together for good to them that love God.[Romans 8:28]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 45, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings
Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)
On the Morals of the Catholic Church. (HTML)
God is the Chief Good, Whom We are to Seek After with Supreme Affection. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 50 (In-Text, Margin)
... heart," He says. Nor is that enough. "With all thy soul." Nor is it enough yet. "With all thy mind." What do you wish more? I might, perhaps, wish more if I could see the possibility of more. What does Paul say on this? "We know," he says, "that all things issue in good to them that love God." Let him, too, say what is the measure of love. "Who then," he says, "shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?"[Romans 8:28] We have heard, then, what and how much we must love; this we must strive after, and to this we must refer all our plans. The perfection of all our good things and our perfect good is God. We must neither come short of this nor go beyond it: the one ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 55, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings
Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)
On the Morals of the Catholic Church. (HTML)
Love of Ourselves and of Our Neighbor. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 130 (In-Text, Margin)
... and as it is for these things which no loving man would do that men are called wicked, all that is required is, I think, proved by these words, "The love of our neighbor worketh no ill." And if we cannot attain to good unless we first desist from working evil, our love of our neighbor is a sort of cradle of our love to God, so that, as it is said, "the love of our neighbor worketh no ill," we may rise from this to these other words, "We know that all things issue in good to them that love God."[Romans 8:28]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 477, footnote 6 (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 27 (HTML)
... who are Jews inwardly in the circumcision of the heart (for "the king’s daughter is all glorious within"), in whom is the fixed number of the saints predestined before the foundation of the world. But that multitude of thorns, whether in secret or in open separation, is pressing on it from without, above number. "If I would declare them," it is said, "and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered." The number, therefore, of the just persons, "who are the called according to His purpose,"[Romans 8:28] of whom it is said, "The Lord knoweth them that are His," is itself "the garden enclosed, the fountain sealed, a well of living water, the orchard of pomegranates with pleasant fruits." Of this number some live according to the Spirit, and enter on ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 99, footnote 14 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter. (HTML)
How that is to Be the Reward of All; The Apostle Earnestly Defends Grace. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 895 (In-Text, Margin)
... All,” the house of Israel and house of Judah. “ All,” however, “are not Israel which are of Israel,” but they only to whom it is said in “the psalm concerning the morning aid” (that is, concerning the new refreshing light, meaning that of the new testament), “All ye the seed of Jacob, glorify Him; and fear Him, all ye the seed of Israel.” All the seed, without exception, even the entire seed of the promise and of the called, but only of those who are the called according to His purpose.[Romans 8:28] “For whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified.” “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 175, footnote 16 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise Concerning Man’s Perfection in Righteousness. (HTML)
No Man is Assisted Unless He Does Himself Also Work. Our Course is a Constant Progress. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1589 (In-Text, Margin)
... help, then it would be possible;” and yet the Psalmist thus addresses God: “Be Thou my helper, forsake me not;” where of course help is not sought for procuring bodily advantages and avoiding bodily evils, but for practising and fulfilling righteousness. Hence it is that we say: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Now no man is assisted unless he also himself does something; assisted, however, he is, if he prays, if he believes, if he is “called according to God’s purpose;”[Romans 8:28] for “whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 221, footnote 10 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Grace of Christ, and on Original Sin. (HTML)
On the Grace of Christ. (HTML)
Grace Causes Us to Do. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1813 (In-Text, Margin)
... assigned, in order to check its elation, that messenger of Satan, the thorn in the flesh; although it was very strong, in contrast with the carnal or animal faculties, which as yet understand not the things of the Spirit of God. Inasmuch, then, as strength is made perfect in weakness, whoever does not own himself to be weak, is not in the way to be perfected. This grace, however, by which strength is perfected in weakness, conducts all who are predestinated and called according to the divine purpose[Romans 8:28] to the state of the highest perfection and glory. By such grace it is effected, not only that we discover what ought to be done, but also that we do what we have discovered,—not only that we believe what ought to be loved, but also that we love what ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 235, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Grace of Christ, and on Original Sin. (HTML)
On the Grace of Christ. (HTML)
Ambrose Witnesses that Perfect Purity is Impossible to Human Nature. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1925 (In-Text, Margin)
... were once by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” For through the sin of the first man, which came from his free will, our nature became corrupted and ruined; and nothing but God’s grace alone, through Him who is the Mediator between God and men, and our Almighty Physician, succours it. Now, since we have already prolonged this work too far in treating of the assistance of the divine grace towards our justification, by which God co-operates in all things for good with those who love Him,[Romans 8:28] and whom He first loved —giving to them that He might receive from them: we must commence another treatise, as the Lord shall enable us, on the subject of sin also, which by one man has entered into the world, along with death, and so has passed ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 401, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
According to Whose Purpose the Elect are Called. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2670 (In-Text, Margin)
... also assists the good purpose of every one, but that yet it does not infuse the desire of virtue into a reluctant heart”? Because they so say this as if man of himself, without God’s assistance, has a good purpose and a desire of virtue; and this precedent merit is worthy of being assisted by the subsequent grace of God. For they think, perchance, that the apostle thus said, “For we know that He worketh all things for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to the purpose,”[Romans 8:28] so as to wish the purpose of man to be understood, which purpose, as a good merit, the mercy of the God that calleth might follow; being ignorant that it is said, “Who are called according to the purpose,” so that there may be understood the purpose ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 458, footnote 8 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on Grace and Free Will. (HTML)
Abstract. (HTML)
A Good Will May Be Small and Weak; An Ample Will, Great Love. Operating and Co-operating Grace. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3140 (In-Text, Margin)
... that we may will; but when we will, and so will that we may act, He co-operates with us. We can, however, ourselves do nothing to effect good works of piety without Him either working that we may will, or co-working when we will. Now, concerning His working that we may will, it is said: “It is God which worketh in you, even to will.” While of His co-working with us, when we will and act by willing, the apostle says, “We know that in all things there is co-working for good to them that love God.”[Romans 8:28] What does this phrase, “all things,” mean, but the terrible and cruel sufferings which affect our condition? That burden, indeed, of Christ, which is heavy for our infirmity, becomes light to love. For to such did the Lord say that His burden was ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 477, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on Rebuke and Grace. (HTML)
None of the Elect and Predestinated Can Perish. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3293 (In-Text, Margin)
Of such says the apostle, “We know that to those that love God He worketh together all things for good, to them who are called according to His purpose; because those whom He before foreknew, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified.”[Romans 8:28] Of these no one perishes, because all are elected. And they are elected because they were called according to the purpose—the purpose, however, not their own, but God’s; of which He elsewhere says, “That the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 481, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on Rebuke and Grace. (HTML)
Those Who are Called According to the Purpose Alone are Predestinated. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3322 (In-Text, Margin)
For this reason the apostle, when he had said, “We know that to those who love God He work eth all things together for good,”—knowing that some love God, and do not continue in that good way unto the end,—immediately added, “to them who are the called according to His purpose.”[Romans 8:28] For these in their love for God continue even to the end; and they who for a season wander from the way return, that they may continue unto the end what they had begun to be in good. Showing, however, what it is to be called according to His purpose, he presently added what I have already quoted above, “Because whom He did before foreknow, He also ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 398, footnote 4 (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 XVII. 1–5. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1712 (In-Text, Margin)
... and men, was Himself glorified on our behalf by God the Father before the foundation of the world, if it be so that we also were then chosen in Him. For what saith the apostle? “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren: and whom He did predestinate, them He also called.”[Romans 8:28-30]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 424, footnote 9 (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 XVIII. 33–40. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1849 (In-Text, Margin)
... beareth witness unto the truth, He beareth witness, of course, unto Himself; for from His own lips are the words, “I am the truth;” as He said also in another place, “I bear witness of myself.” But when He said, “Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice,” He commendeth the grace whereby He calleth according to His own purpose. Of which purpose the apostle says, “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to those who are called according to the purpose of God,”[Romans 8:28] to wit, the purpose of Him that calleth, not of those who are called; which is put still more clearly in another place in this way, “Labor together in the gospel according to the power of God, who saveth us and calleth us with His holy calling, not ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 400, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXXIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3873 (In-Text, Margin)
... earth;” as it might be said, in all the heaven, or over all the heaven: but he used the latter word in preference, to depress the pride of earth. For earth ceaseth to be proud, that is, man ceaseth, to whom it was said, “Thou art dust;” and “why is earth and ashes proud?” when he saith that the Lord is the Most Highest above all the earth, that is, that no man’s thoughts avail against those “who are called according to His purpose,” and of whom it is said, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”[Romans 8:28]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 603, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXXV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5488 (In-Text, Margin)
... 4). They who are right in heart, of whom I was speaking a little before,—they who follow the will of God, not their own will,—reflect upon this. But they who wish to follow God, allow Him to go before, and themselves to follow; not themselves to go before, and Him to follow; and in all things they find Him good, whether chastening, or consoling, or exercising, or crowning, or cleansing, or enlightening; as the Apostle saith, “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God.”[Romans 8:28]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 452, footnote 4 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch. (HTML)
Homily XVII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1695 (In-Text, Margin)
... give thanks then, not only that God hath calmed the tempest, but that He suffered it to take place; not only that He rescued us from shipwreck, but that He allowed us to fall into such distress; and such an extreme peril to hang over us. Thus also Paul bids us “in every thing give thanks.” But when he says, “In every thing give thanks,” he means not only in our deliverance from evils, but also at the time when we suffer those evils. “For all things work together for good to them that love God.”[Romans 8:28] Let us be thankful to Him for this deliverance from trials; and let us never forget them. Let us devote ourselves to prayer, to continual supplications, and to much piety.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 11, page 466, footnote 1 (Image)
Chrysostom: Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistle to the Romans
The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans (HTML)
Homily XVI on Rom. ix. 1. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1475 (In-Text, Margin)
... vexatious. But it is upon God’s knowledge that he has cast the whole, and this no one would venture to gainsay, though he were ever so frantic. “For the children being not yet born,” he says, “it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.” And he shows that noble birth after the flesh is of no avail, but we must seek for virtue of soul, which even before the works of it God knoweth of. For “the children,” he says, “being not yet born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose[Romans 8:28] of God according to election might stand, it was said unto her that the elder shall serve the younger:” for this was a sign of foreknowledge, that they were chosen from the very birth. That the election made according to foreknowledge, might be ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 13, page 186, footnote 1 (Image)
Chrysostom: Homilies on the Epistles to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, and Philemon
The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians. (HTML)
Homilies on Philippians. (HTML)
Philippians 1:1,2 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 530 (In-Text, Margin)
... clearly as if making it their act,) nor did he call their good deeds solely their own, but primarily of God. “For I am confident,” saith he, “that He which began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ.” That is, God will. And it is not about yourselves, he implies, but about those descending from you that I feel thus. And indeed it is no small praise, that God should work in one. For if He is “no respecter of persons,” as indeed He is none, but is looking to our purpose[Romans 8:28] when He aids us in good deeds, it is evident that we are agents in drawing Him to us; so that even in this view he did not rob them of their praise. Since if His in working were indiscriminate, there would have been nothing to hinder but that even ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 201, footnote 2 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Life of Antony. (Vita Antoni.) (HTML)
Life of Antony. (Vita Antoni.) (HTML)
His address to monks, rendered from Coptic, exhorting them to perseverance, and encouraging them against the wiles of Satan. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1024 (In-Text, Margin)
19. ‘Wherefore, children, let us hold fast our discipline, and let us not be careless. For in it the Lord is our fellow-worker, as it is written, “to all that choose the good, God worketh with them for good[Romans 8:28].” But to avoid being heedless, it is good to consider the word of the Apostle, “I die daily.” For if we too live as though dying daily, we shall not sin. And the meaning of that saying is, that as we rise day by day we should think that we shall not abide till evening; and again, when about to lie down to sleep, we should think that we shall not rise up. For our life is naturally uncertain, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 162, footnote 5 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Oceanus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2374 (In-Text, Margin)
11. In the death of this noble lady we have seen a fulfilment of the apostle’s words:—“All things work together for good to them that fear God.”[Romans 8:28] Having a presentiment of what would happen, she had written to several monks to come and release her from the burthen under which she laboured; for she wished to make to herself friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that they might receive her into everlasting habitations. They came to her and she made them her friends; she fell asleep in the way that she had wished, and having at last laid aside her burthen she soared ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 1, footnote 7 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)
Procatechesis, or Prologue to the Catechetical Lectures of our Holy Father, Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 400 (In-Text, Margin)
... trees; may the fruit also be found perfect! Thus far there has been an inscription of your names, and a call to service, and torches of the bridal train, and a longing for heavenly citizenship, and a good purpose, and hope attendant thereon. For he lieth not who said, that to them that love God all things work together for good. God is lavish in beneficence, yet He waits for each man’s genuine will: therefore the Apostle added and said, to them that are called according to a purpose[Romans 8:28]. The honesty of purpose makes thee called: for if thy body be here but not thy mind, it profiteth thee nothing.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 190, footnote 1 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
The Letters. (HTML)
To the presbyters of Tarsus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2382 (In-Text, Margin)
... brethren, who are willing to join us, the Nicene Creed. If they assent to that, let us further require that the Holy Ghost ought not to be called a creature, nor any of those who say so be received into communion. I do not think that we ought to insist upon anything beyond this. For I am convinced that by longer communication and mutual experience without strife, if anything more requires to be added by way of explanation, the Lord Who worketh all things together for good for them that love Him,[Romans 8:28] will grant it.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 355, footnote 1 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)
The Conferences of John Cassian. Part I. Containing Conferences I-X. (HTML)
Conference VI. Conference of Abbot Theodore. On the Death of the Saints. (HTML)
Chapter IX. The case of Job who was tempted by the devil and of the Lord who was betrayed by Judas: and how prosperity as well as adversity is advantageous to a good man. (HTML)
... freedom from eternal punishment, because his act of betrayal contributed to the salvation of mankind. For we must not regard the result of the deed, but the purpose of the doer. Wherefore we should always cling to this assertion; viz., that evil cannot be brought upon a man by another, unless a man has admitted it by his sloth or feebleness of heart: as the blessed Apostle confirms this opinion of ours in a verse of Scripture: “But we know that all things work together for good to them that love God.”[Romans 8:28] But by saying “All things work together for good,” he includes everything alike, not only things fortunate, but also those which seem to be misfortunes: through which the Apostle tells us in another place that he himself has passed, when he says: ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 355, footnote 5 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)
The Conferences of John Cassian. Part I. Containing Conferences I-X. (HTML)
Conference VI. Conference of Abbot Theodore. On the Death of the Saints. (HTML)
Chapter IX. The case of Job who was tempted by the devil and of the Lord who was betrayed by Judas: and how prosperity as well as adversity is advantageous to a good man. (HTML)
... hand, when joy overcomes him, nor let himself be driven so to speak to the left hand, when misfortunes overwhelm him, and sorrow holds sway. For “Much peace have they that love Thy law, and to them there is no stumbling block.” But of those who shift about according to the character and changes of the several chances which happen to them, we read: “But a fool will change like the moon.” For just as it is said of men who are perfect and wise: “To them that love God all things work together for good,”[Romans 8:28] so of those who are weak and foolish it is declared that “everything is against a foolish man,” for he gets no profit out of prosperity, nor does adversity make him any better. For it requires as much goodness to bear sorrows bravely, as to be ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 542, footnote 9 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)
The Conferences of John Cassian. Part III. Containing Conferences XVIII.-XXIV. (HTML)
Conference XXIV. Conference of Abbot Abraham. On Mortification. (HTML)
Chapter XXIV. Why the Lord's yoke is felt grievous and His burden heavy. (HTML)
... swerving. And this also Ecclesiastes has pretty significantly expressed saying: “The labour of fools wearies those who know not how to go to the city;” viz., that “heavenly Jerusalem, which is the mother of us all.” But whoever truly gives up this world and takes upon him Christ’s yoke and learns of Him, and is trained in the daily practice of suffering wrong, for He is “meek and lowly of heart,” will ever remain undisturbed by all temptations, and “all things will work together for good to him.”[Romans 8:28] For as the prophet Obadiah says the words of God are “good to him that walketh uprightly;” and again: “For the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them; but the transgressors shall fall in them.”