Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts

Romans 11:6

There are 23 footnotes for this reference.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 272, footnote 2 (Image)

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

Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

The Enchiridion. (HTML)

Eternal Life, Though the Reward of Good Works, is Itself the Gift of God. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1301 (In-Text, Margin)

... eternal life itself, which is surely the reward of good works, the apostle calls the gift of God. “For the wages of sin,” he says, “is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Wages (stipendium) is paid as a recompense for military service; it is not a gift: wherefore he says, “the wages of sin is death,” to show that death was not inflicted undeservedly, but as the due recompense of sin. But a gift, unless it is wholly unearned, is not a gift at all.[Romans 11:6] We are to understand, then, that man’s good deserts are themselves the gift of God, so that when these obtain the recompense of eternal life, it is simply grace given for grace. Man, therefore, was thus made upright that, though unable to remain in ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 533, footnote 3 (Image)

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

Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

On Patience. (HTML)

Section 17 (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2672 (In-Text, Margin)

17. Now this election the Apostle demonstrating to be, not of merits going before in good works, but election of grace, saith thus: “And in this time a remnant by election of grace is saved. But if by grace, then is it no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace.”[Romans 11:5-6] This is election of grace; that is, election in which through the grace of God men are elected: this, I say, is election of grace which goes before all good merits of men. For if it be to any good merits that it is given, then is it no more gratuitously given, but is paid as a debt, and consequently is not truly called grace; where “reward,” as the same Apostle ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 89, footnote 10 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter. (HTML)

How the Law Was Not Made for a Righteous Man. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 769 (In-Text, Margin)

... righteous man?” For who but a righteous man lawfully uses the law? Yet it is not for him that it is made, but for the unrighteous. Must then the unrighteous man, in order that he may be justified,—that is, become a righteous man,—lawfully use the law, to lead him, as by the schoolmaster’s hand, to that grace by which alone he can fulfil what the law commands? Now it is freely that he is justified thereby,—that is, on account of no antecedent merits of his own works; “otherwise grace is no more grace,”[Romans 11:6] since it is bestowed on us, not because we have done good works, but that we may be able to do them,—in other words, not because we have fulfilled the law, but in order that we may be able to fulfil the law. Now He said, “I am not come to destroy ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 102, footnote 4 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter. (HTML)

It is Not by Their Works, But by Grace, that the Doers of the Law are Justified; God’s Saints and God’s Name Hallowed in Different Senses. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 931 (In-Text, Margin)

Now he could not mean to contradict himself in saying, “The doers of the law shall be justified,” as if their justification came through their works, and not through grace; since he declares that a man is justified freely by His grace without the works of the law, intending by the term “ freely ” nothing else than that works do not precede justification. For in another passage he expressly says, “If by grace, then is it no more of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace.”[Romans 11:6] But the statement that “the doers of the law shall be justified” must be so understood, as that we may know that they are not otherwise doers of the law, unless they be justified, so that justification does not subsequently accrue to them as doers of the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 198, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Work on the Proceedings of Pelagius. (HTML)

Discussion of the Eleventh Item Continued. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1704 (In-Text, Margin)

... only receives it who is worthy of it. Will anybody say that I do the apostle wrong, because I do not admit him to have been worthy of grace? Nay, I should indeed rather do him wrong, and bring on myself a punishment, if I refused to believe what he himself says. Well, now, has he not pointedly so defined grace as to show that it is so called because it is bestowed gratuitously? These are his own very words: “And if by grace, then is it no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace.”[Romans 11:6] In accordance with this, he says again: “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.” Whosoever, therefore, is worthy, to him it is due; and if it is thus due to him, it ceases to be grace; for grace is given, but a ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 225, footnote 6 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on the Grace of Christ, and on Original Sin. (HTML)

On the Grace of Christ. (HTML)

Pelagius Places Free Will at the Basis of All Turning to God for Grace. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1845 (In-Text, Margin)

... our own free will; and by reason of such antecedent merits we so secure His grace, that He turns our heart which way soever He pleases. Well, now, how is that grace which is not gratuitously conferred? How can it be grace, if it is given in payment of a debt? How can that be true which the apostle says, “It is not of yourselves, but it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast;” and again, “If it is of grace, then is it no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace:”[Romans 11:6] how, I repeat, can this be true, if such meritorious works precede as to procure for us the bestowal of grace? Surely, under the circumstances, there can be no gratuitous gift, but only the recompense of a due reward. Is it the case, then, that in ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 318, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on the Soul and its Origin. (HTML)

Treatise on the Soul and Its Origin (HTML)

Victor Utterly Unable to Explain How the Sinless Soul Deserved to Be Made Sinful. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2345 (In-Text, Margin)

... desert the soul was made sinful; though he was not afraid to say, that previous to any sin of its own it had deserved to become sinful. Now, who deserves, without committing any sin, so immense a punishment as to be conceived in the sin of another, before leaving his mother’s womb, and then to be no longer free from sin? But from this punishment the free grace of God delivers the souls of such infants as are regenerated in Christ, with no previous merits of their own—otherwise grace is no grace.”[Romans 11:6] With regard, then, to this person, who is so vastly intelligent, and who in the great depth of his wisdom is displeased at our hesitation, which, if not well informed, is at all events circumspect, let him tell us, if he can, what the merit was ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 388, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

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

Book I (HTML)

The Beginning of a Good Will is the Gift of Grace. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2603 (In-Text, Margin)

... have you not said that a man is incited by God’s grace to a good work, as you have said that he is incited to evil by the suggestions of the devil, but have said that in a good work he is always aided by God’s grace?—as if by his own will, and without any grace of God, he undertook a good work, and were then divinely assisted in the work itself, for the sake, that is to say, of the merits of his good will; so that grace is rendered as due,—not given as not due,—and thus grace is made no more grace.[Romans 11:6] But this is what, in the Palestinian judgment, Pelagius with a deceitful heart condemned,—that the grace of God, namely, is given according to our merits. Tell me, I beseech you, what good, Paul, while he was as yet Saul, willed, and not rather ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 390, footnote 7 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

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

Book I (HTML)

He Rebuts the Conclusion of Julian’s Letter. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2621 (In-Text, Margin)

... rebuked. For which of us hesitates to pronounce an anathema against the Manicheans, who say that from the good God neither proceed men, nor was ordained marriage, nor was given the law, which was ministered to the Hebrew people by Moses! But against the Pelagians also, not without reason, we pronounce an anathema, for that they are so hostile to God’s grace, which comes through Jesus Christ our Lord, as to say that it is given not freely, but according to our merits, and thus grace is no more grace;[Romans 11:6] and place so much in free will by which man is plunged into the abyss, as to say that by making good use of it man deserves grace,—although no man can make good use of it except by grace, which is not repaid according to debt, but is given freely by ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 451, footnote 10 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on Grace and Free Will. (HTML)

Abstract. (HTML)

How is Eternal Life Both a Reward for Service and a Free Gift of Grace? (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3057 (In-Text, Margin)

... Scripture most openly declares: “Then He shall reward every man according to his works:” how can eternal life be a matter of grace, seeing that grace is not rendered to works, but is given gratuitously, as the apostle himself tells us: “To him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt;” and again: “There is a remnant saved according to the election of grace;” with these words immediately subjoined: “And if of grace, then is it no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace”?[Romans 11:5-6] How, then, is eternal life by grace, when it is received from works? Does the apostle perchance not say that eternal life is a grace? Nay, he has so called it, with a clearness which none can possibly gainsay. It requires no acute intellect, but ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 463, footnote 9 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on Grace and Free Will. (HTML)

Abstract. (HTML)

God Operates on Men’s Hearts to Incline Their Wills Whithersoever He Pleases. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3213 (In-Text, Margin)

... unrighteousness with God. Therefore, whenever you read in the Scriptures of Truth, that men are led aside, or that their hearts are blunted and hardened by God, never doubt that some ill deserts of their own have first occurred, so that they justly suffer these things. Thus you will not run counter to that proverb of Solomon: “The foolishness of a man perverteth his ways, yet he blameth God in his heart.” Grace, however, is not bestowed according to men’s deserts; otherwise grace would be no longer grace.[Romans 11:6] For grace is so designated because it is given gratuitously. Now if God is able, either through the agency of angels (whether good ones or evil), or in any other way whatever, to operate in the hearts even of the wicked, in return for their ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 477, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on Rebuke and Grace. (HTML)

Election is of Grace, Not of Merit. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3291 (In-Text, Margin)

... they are rebuked they are amended and some of them, although they may not be rebuked by men, return into the path which they had left; and some who have received grace in any age whatever are withdrawn from the perils of this life by swiftness of death. For He worketh all these things in them who made them vessels of mercy, who also elected them in His Son before the foundation of the world by the election of grace: “And if by grace, then is it no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace.”[Romans 11:6] For they were not so called as not to be elected, in respect of which it is said, “For many are called but few are elected;” but because they were called according to the purpose, they are of a certainty also elected by the election, as it is said, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 421, footnote 9 (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, Luke ix. 57, etc., where the case of the three persons is treated of, of whom one said, ‘I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest,’ and was disallowed: another did not dare to offer himself, and was aroused; the third wished to delay, and was blamed. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3260 (In-Text, Margin)

... hath brought to pass, not thine own deserts. For the Prophet Isaiah again having this remnant in view, had said already, “Except the Lord of Hosts had left us a seed, we should have become as Sodom, and should have been like unto Gomorrah.” “So then,” says the Apostle, “at this present time also a remnant is saved through the election of grace. But if by grace,” says he, “then is it no more of works” (that is, “be now no more lifted up upon thine own deserts”); “otherwise grace is no more grace.”[Romans 11:5-6] For if thou dost build on thine own work; then is a reward rendered unto thee, not grace freely bestowed. But if it be grace, it is gratuitously given. I ask thee then, O sinner, “Dost thou be lieve in Christ?” Thou sayest, “I do believe.” “What ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 503, footnote 12 (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 vi. 53, ‘Except ye eat the flesh,’ etc., and on the words of the apostles. And the Psalms. Against the Pelagians. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3939 (In-Text, Margin)

... and “all men are liars.” Hear what God saith; “Who crowneth thee with mercy and pity.” Of His mercy He crowneth thee, of His pity He crowneth thee. For thou hadst no worthiness that He should call thee, and being called should justify thee, being justified glorify thee. “The remnant is saved by the election of grace. But if by grace, then is it no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace. For to him that worketh, the reward shall not be reckoned according to grace, but according to debt.”[Romans 11:5-6] The Apostle saith, “Not according to grace, but according to debt.” But “thee He crowneth with pity and mercy;” and if thy own merits have gone before, God saith to thee, “Examine well thy merits, and thou shalt see that they are My gifts.”

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 353, footnote 11 (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 XV. 15, 16. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1448 (In-Text, Margin)

... it then that He chose in those who were not good? For they were not chosen because of their goodness, inasmuch as they could not be good without being chosen. Otherwise grace is no more grace, if we maintain the priority of merit. Such, certainly, is the election of grace, whereof the apostle says: “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant saved according to the election of grace.” To which he adds: “And if by grace, then is it no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace.”[Romans 11:5-6] Listen, thou ungrateful one, listen: “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.” Not that thou mayest say, I am chosen because I already believed. For if thou wert believing in Him, then hadst thou already chosen Him. But listen: “Ye have not ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 355, footnote 5 (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 XV. 17–19. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1458 (In-Text, Margin)

... of it, were chosen out of it, through no merit of their own, for no good works of theirs had preceded; and not by nature, which through free-will had become totally corrupted at its source: but gratuitously, that is, of actual grace. For He who chose the world out of the world, effected for Himself, instead of finding, what He should choose: for “there is a remnant saved according to the election of grace. And if by grace,” he adds, “then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace.”[Romans 11:5-6]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 143, footnote 7 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm XLIV (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1344 (In-Text, Margin)

... interval, what is to be our lot? Tribulations! “Why so?” That it may be seen with respect to the soul that worships God, to what extent it worships God; that it may be seen whether it worships Him “freely” from whom it received salvation “freely.”…What hast thou given unto God? Thou wert wicked, and thou wert redeemed! What hast thou given unto God? What is there that thou hast not “received” from Him “freely”? With reason is it named “grace,” because it is bestowed (gratis, i.e.) freely.[Romans 11:6] What is required of thee then is this, “that thou too shouldest worship “Him freely;” not because He gives thee things temporal, but because He holds out to thee things eternal.…

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 288, footnote 19 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm LXVIII (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2728 (In-Text, Margin)

... is thus referred, forasmuch as it is made perfect, that is, is fulfilled after that which the Lord saith in the Gospel, “I have not come to annul the Law, but to fulfil.” … There is in these words yet another sense: which seemeth to me more to approve itself. For much more in accordance with the context, grace itself is understood to be the voluntary rain, because with no preceding merits of works it is given gratis. “For if grace, no longer of works: otherwise grace no longer is grace.”[Romans 11:6] …“But to humble men He giveth grace.” And it was made weak, but Thou hast made it perfect:” because “virtue in weakness is perfected.” Some copies indeed, both Latin and Greek, have not “Mount Sina;” but, “from the face of the God of Sina, from the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 405, footnote 3 (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 IX (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1431 (In-Text, Margin)

... convey it to the rest. I know indeed, that the abstruseness of these speculations has seemed strange to your ears; but if we be a little vigilant, and accustom ourselves to them, we shall easily be able to teach others. Meanwhile, it is necessary farther to say this to your Charity. Even as God hath given us glory by means of this great creation, so let us also glorify Him by a pure conversation! “The heavens declare the glory of God,” though only seen; and we therefore should declare God’s glory[Romans 11:6] not only in speaking, but in silence, and in astonishing all men by the brightness of our life. For He saith, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” For when an unbeliever ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 11, page 526, 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 XXV on Rom. xiv. 1, 2. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1594 (In-Text, Margin)

... sinning, let us, so far from thrusting them on, even pull them back from the pit of iniquity, that we may not have to be punished for the ruin of others besides ourselves. And let us be continually in mind of the awful judgment-seat, of the stream of fire, of the chains never to be loosed, of the darkness with no light, the gnashing of teeth, and the venomous worm. “Ah, but God is merciful!” Are these then mere words? and was not that rich man punished for despising Lazarus? Are not the foolish[Romans 11:6] virgins cast out of the Bride-chamber? Do not they who did not feed Him go away into “the fire prepared for the devil?” (Matt. xxv. 41.) Will not he that hath soiled garments be “bound hand and foot” (ib. xxii. 13), and go to ruin? Will, not he that ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 11, page 527, footnote 6 (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 XXV on Rom. xiv. 1, 2. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1605 (In-Text, Margin)

... punishments. For why, pray, dost thou not deem it right thou shouldest be punished for sinning? Hath He not told thee all beforehand? Hath He not threatened thee? not come to thy aid? not done things even without number for thy salvation’s sake? Gave He thee not the laver of Regeneration, and forgave He not all thy former sins? Hath He not after this forgiveness, and the laver, also given thee the succor of repentance if thou sin? Hath He not made the way to forgiveness of sins, even after all this, easy[Romans 11:6] to thee? Hear then what He hath enjoined: “If thou forgive thy neighbor, I also will forgive thee” (ib. vi. 14), He says. What hardship is there in this? “If ye judge the cause of the fatherless, and see that the widow have right, come and let us ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 13, page 498, footnote 3 (Image)

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

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

Homilies on 2 Timothy. (HTML)

2 Timothy 2:20,21 (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1388 (In-Text, Margin)

... perishing for their pravity of doctrine. For these things hold together. You see that when we do not the will of God, we are under the snare of the devil. And often not only from a bad life, but from one defect, we enter into Hell, where there are not good qualities to counterbalance it, since the virgins were not accused of fornication or adultery, nor of envy or ill-will, nor of drunkenness, nor of unsound faith, but of a failure of oil, that is, they failed in almsgiving, for that is the oil meant.[Romans 11:6] And those who were pronounced accursed in the words, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire,” were not accused of any such crimes, but because they had not fed Christ.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 42, footnote 14 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Marcella. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 698 (In-Text, Margin)

2. I pass over the facts that, before her birth, she was blessed while still in her mother’s womb, and that, virgin-like, she was delivered to her father in a dream in a bowl of shining glass brighter than a mirror. And I say nothing of her consecration to the blessed life of virginity, a ceremony which took place when she was hardly more than ten years old, a mere babe still wrapped in swaddling clothes. For all that comes before works should be counted of grace;[Romans 11:6] although, doubtless, God foreknew the future when He sanc tified Jeremiah as yet unborn, when He made John to leap in his mother’s womb, and when, before the foundation of the world, He set apart Paul to preach the gospel of His son.