Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts

1 Corinthians 4:15

There are 19 footnotes for this reference.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 400, footnote 3 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)

Book III (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2627 (In-Text, Margin)

... obedierit, et sabbata custodieri, per abstinentiam a peccatis, et fecerit mandata erit honorabilior iis, qui absque recta vitæ institutione solo sermone erudiuntur. “Filioli, modicum” adhuc sum vobiscum,” inquit Magister. Quare Paulus quoque scribens ad Galatas, dicit: “Filioli mei, quos iterum parturio, donec formetur in vobis Christus.” Rursus ad Corinthios scribens: “Si enim decies mille pædagogos,” inquit, “habeatis in Christo, sed non multos patres. In Christo enim per Evangelium ego vosgenui.”[1 Corinthians 4:15] Propterea “non ingrediatur eunuchus in Ecclesiam Dei,” qui est sterilis, et non fert fructum, nec vitro institutione, nec sermone. Sed “qui se” quidem “castrarunt” ab omni peccato “propter regnum cœlorum,” ii sunt beati, qui a mundo jejunant.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 447, footnote 6 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)

Book V (HTML)
Chap. II.—On Hope. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2975 (In-Text, Margin)

... of generating men alone, and in the good man of the generation of the counterpart of himself. But it is impossible for the good man to do this without possessing the perfect virtues, in which he will train the youth who have recourse to him.” And as he says in the Theœtetus, “He will beget and finish men. For some procreate by the body, others by the soul;” since also with the barbarian philosophers to teach and enlighten is called to regenerate; and “I have begotten you in Jesus Christ,”[1 Corinthians 4:15] says the good apostle somewhere.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 446, footnote 5 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

The Five Books Against Marcion. (HTML)

Book V. Wherein Tertullian proves, with respect to St. Paul's epistles, what he had proved in the preceding book with respect to St. Luke's gospel. Far from being at variance, they were in perfect unison with the writings of the Old Testament, and therefore testified that the Creator was the only God, and that the Lord Jesus was his Christ. As in the preceding books, Tertullian supports his argument with profound reasoning, and many happy illustrations of Holy Scripture. (HTML)
Man the Image of the Creator, and Christ the Head of the Man. Spiritual Gifts. The Sevenfold Spirit Described by Isaiah. The Apostle and the Prophet Compared. Marcion Challenged to Produce Anything Like These Gifts of the Spirit Foretold in Prophecy in His God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5551 (In-Text, Margin)

... gifts were to be sent: “He ascended up on high,” that is, into heaven; “He led captivity captive,” meaning death or slavery of man; “He gave gifts to the sons of men,” that is, the gratuities, which we call charismata. He says specifically “ sons of men,” and not men promiscuously; thus exhibiting to us those who were the children of men truly so called, choice men, apostles. “For,” says he, “I have begotten you through the gospel;”[1 Corinthians 4:15] and “Ye are my children, of whom I travail again in birth.” Now was absolutely fulfilled that promise of the Spirit which was given by the word of Joel: “In the last days will I pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and their sons and their ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 63, footnote 2 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)

On Monogamy. (HTML)

The Case of Abraham, and Its Bearing on the Present Question. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 607 (In-Text, Margin)

But let us proceed with our inquiry into some eminent chief fathers of our origin: for there are some to whom our monogamist parents Adam and Noah are not pleasing, nor perhaps Christ either. To Abraham, in fine, they appeal; prohibited though they are to acknowledge any other father than God. Grant, now, that Abraham is our father; grant, too, that Paul is. “In the Gospel,” says he, “I have begotten you.”[1 Corinthians 4:15] Show yourself a son even of Abraham. For your origin in him, you must know, is not referable to every period of his life: there is a definite time at which he is your father. For if “faith” is the source whence we are reckoned to Abraham as his “sons” (as the apostle teaches, saying to the ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 320, footnote 9 (Image)

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

Methodius. (HTML)

The Banquet of the Ten Virgins; or Concerning Chastity. (HTML)

Thaleia. (HTML)
The Dispensation of Grace in Paul the Apostle. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2582 (In-Text, Margin)

... built up, then being moulded to spiritual perfection, he was made the help-meet and bride of the Word; and receiving and conceiving the seeds of life, he who was before a child, becomes a church and a mother, himself labouring in birth of those who, through him, believed in the Lord, until Christ was formed and born in them also. For he says, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you;” and again, “In Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel.”[1 Corinthians 4:15]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 117, footnote 9 (Image)

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

The Confessions (HTML)

He finally describes the thirty-second year of his age, the most memorable of his whole life, in which, being instructed by Simplicianus concerning the conversion of others, and the manner of acting, he is, after a severe struggle, renewed in his whole mind, and is converted unto God. (HTML)

The Pious Old Man Rejoices that He Read Plato and the Scriptures, and Tells Him of the Rhetorician Victorinus Having Been Converted to the Faith Through the Reading of the Sacred Books. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 608 (In-Text, Margin)

3. To Simplicianus then I went,—the father of Ambrose[1 Corinthians 4:15] (at that time a bishop) in receiving Thy grace, and whom he truly loved as a father. To him I narrated the windings of my error. But when I mentioned to him that I had read certain books of the Platonists, which Victorinus, sometime Professor of Rhetoric at Rome (who died a Christian, as I had been told), had translated into Latin, he congratulated me that I had not fallen upon the writings of other philosophers, which were full of fallacies and deceit, “after the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 201, footnote 2 (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)

He Explains the Divine Image (Ver. 26) of the Renewal of the Mind. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1372 (In-Text, Margin)

... to this world;” next also follows that which Thou presently subjoinedst, saying, “But be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,” —not now after your kind, as if following your neighbour who went before you, nor as if living after the example of a better man (for Thou hast not said, “Let man be made after his kind,” but, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”), that we may prove what Thy will is. For to this purpose said that dispenser of Thine,—begetting children by the gospel,[1 Corinthians 4:15] —that he might not always have them “babes,” whom he would feed on milk, and cherish as a nurse; “be ye transformed,” saith He, “by the renewing of your mind, that he may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.” Therefore ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 318, 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 explains the Manichæan denial that man was made by God as applying to the fleshly man not to the spiritual.  Augustin elucidates the Apostle Paul’s contrasts between flesh and spirit so as to exclude the Manichæan view. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 989 (In-Text, Margin)

... all are one in Christ." Man, then, is made by God, not when from one he is divided into many, but when from many he becomes one. The division is in the first birth, or that of the body; union comes by the second, which is immaterial and divine. This affords sufficient ground for our opinion, that the birth of the body should be ascribed to nature, and the second birth to the Supernal Majesty. So the same apostle says again to the Corinthians, "I have begotten you in Christ Jesus by the gospel;"[1 Corinthians 4:15] and, speaking of himself, to the Galatians, "When it pleased Him, who separated me from my mother’s womb, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood." It is plain that ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 335, footnote 5 (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 fails to understand why he should be required either to accept or reject the New Testament as a whole, while the Catholics accept or reject the various parts of the Old Testament at pleasure.  Augustin denies that the Catholics treat the Old Testament arbitrarily, and explains their attitude towards it. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1044 (In-Text, Margin)

... his brother’s wife to raise up seed for his brother, to be called by his name; what does this prefigure, but that every preacher of the gospel should so labor in the Church as to raise up seed to his deceased brother, that is, Christ, who died for us, and that this seed should bear His name? Moreover, the apostle fulfills this requirement not now in the typical observance, but in the spiritual reality, when he reproves those of whom he says that he had begotten them in Christ Jesus by the gospel,[1 Corinthians 4:15] and points out to them their error in wishing to be of Paul. "Was Paul," he says, "crucified for you? Or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?" As if he should say, I have begotten you for my deceased brother; your name is Christian, not Paulian. ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 531, footnote 3 (Image)

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

Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)

Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist. (HTML)

In which Augustin replies to all the several statements in the letter of Petilianus, as though disputing with an adversary face to face. (HTML)
Chapter 5 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1971 (In-Text, Margin)

... fear, as we must in any man, whoever he may be, lest he should prove to be false and of abandoned character, and we should be found to be sprung from an abandoned source, growing from an abandoned root, united to an abandoned head. For what man can feel secure about a man, when it is written, "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man?" But the seed of which we are born again is the word of God, that is, the gospel. Whence the apostle says, "For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel."[1 Corinthians 4:15] And yet he allows even those to preach the gospel who were preaching it not in purity, and rejoices in their preaching; because, although they were preaching it not in purity, but seeking their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s, yet the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 626, footnote 1 (Image)

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

Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)

Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist. (HTML)

In this book Augustin refutes the second letter which Petilianus wrote to him after having seen the first of Augustin’s earlier books.  This letter had been full of violent language; and Augustin rather shows that the arguments of Petilianus had been deficient and irrelevant, than brings forward arguments in support of his own statements. (HTML)
Chapter 55 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2455 (In-Text, Margin)

... preach the gospel." To this we may add, that according to this, Apollos begins to be more important, who watered by baptizing, than Paul, who planted by preaching the gospel, though Paul claims to himself the relation of father towards the Corinthians in virtue of this very act, and does not grant this title to those who came to them after him. For he says, "Though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel."[1 Corinthians 4:15] He says, "I have begotten you" to the same men to whom he says in another place, "I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius, and I baptized also the household of Stephanus." He had begotten them, therefore, not through himself, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 490, footnote 9 (Image)

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

Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John. (HTML)

1 John III. 9–18. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2262 (In-Text, Margin)

... and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because the darkness hath blinded his eyes.” But perhaps he has said something in what comes afterwards, and has mentioned charity by name? See that this circuit of words hath this end, hath this issue. “Whosoever is born of God, sinneth not, because His seed remaineth in him.” The “seed” of God, i.e. the word of God: whence the apostle saith, “I have begotten you through the Gospel. And he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”[1 Corinthians 4:15] Let him tell us this, let us see in what we cannot sin. “In this are manifested the children of God and the children of the devil. Whosoever is not righteous is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.” Aye, now indeed it is manifest of ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 66, footnote 6 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm XXIX (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 664 (In-Text, Margin)

2. The Prophet speaks, “Bring unto the Lord, O ye Sons of God, bring unto the Lord the young of rams” (ver. 1). Bring unto the Lord yourselves, whom the Apostles, the leaders of the flocks, have begotten by the Gospel.[1 Corinthians 4:15] “Bring unto the Lord glory and honour” (ver. 2). By your works let the Lord be glorified and honoured. “Bring unto the Lord glory to His name.” Let Him be made known gloriously throughout the world. “Worship the Lord in His holy court.” Worship the Lord in your heart enlarged and sanctified. For ye are His regal holy habitation.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 13, page 353, 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 First Thessalonians. (HTML)

1 Thessalonians 4:13 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1010 (In-Text, Margin)

Speaking concerning the faithful, and them “which are fallen asleep in[1 Corinthians 4:15] Christ” (1 Cor. xv. 18.); and again, “the dead shall rise in Christ.” Since his discourse is not concerning the Resurrection only, but both concerning the Resurrection and concerning the honor in glory; all then shall partake of a Resurrection, he says, but not all shall be in glory, only those in Christ. Since therefore he wishes to comfort them, he comforts them not with this only, but also with the abundant honor, and with its speedy arrival, since they ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 46, footnote 3 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)

The Father. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 995 (In-Text, Margin)

9. And that thou mayest learn more exactly that in the Divine Scriptures it is not by any means the natural father only that is called father, hear what Paul says:— For though ye should have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers:  for in Christ Jesus I begat you through the Gospel[1 Corinthians 4:15]. For Paul was father of the Corinthians, not by having begotten them after the flesh, but by having taught and begotten them again after the Spirit. Hear Job also saying, I was a father of the needy: for he called himself a father, not as having begotten them all, but as caring for them. And God’s Only-begotten Son Himself, when nailed ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 66, footnote 13 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)

On the Words, the Only-Begotten Son of God, Begotten of the Father Very God Before All Ages, by Whom All Things Were Made. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1272 (In-Text, Margin)

9. For the Father being Very God begat the Son like unto Himself, Very God; not as teachers beget disciples, not as Paul says to some, For in Christ Jesus I begat you through the Gospel[1 Corinthians 4:15]. For in this case he who was not a son by nature became a son by discipleship, but in the former case He was a Son by nature, a true Son. Not as ye, who are to be illuminated, are now becoming sons of God: for ye also become sons, but by adoption of grace, as it is written, But as many as received Him, to them gave He the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on His name:  ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 110, footnote 1 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)

On the Clause, And Shall Come in Glory to Judge the Quick and the Dead; Of Whose Kingdom There Shall Be No End. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1897 (In-Text, Margin)

18. Guard thyself then, O man; thou hast the signs of Antichrist; and remember them not only thyself, but impart them also freely to all. If thou hast a child according to the flesh, admonish him of this now; if thou hast begotten one through catechizing[1 Corinthians 4:15], put him also on his guard, lest he receive the false one as the True. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work. I fear these wars of the nations; I fear the schisms of the Churches; I fear the mutual hatred of the brethren. But enough on this subject; only God forbid that it should be fulfilled in our days; nevertheless, let us be on our guard. And thus ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 229, footnote 1 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)

To Those Who Had Invited Him, and Not Come to Receive Him. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2928 (In-Text, Margin)

VII. But do ye also, if you bear me any good will—ye who are my husbandry, my vineyard, my own bowels, or rather His Who is our common Father, for in Christ he hath begotten you through the Gospels[1 Corinthians 4:15] —shew to us also some respect. It is only fair, since we have honoured you above all else: ye are my witnesses, ye, and they who have placed in our hands this—shall I say Authority, or Service? And if to him that loveth most is due, how shall I measure the love, for which I have made you my debtors by my own love? Rather, shew respect for yourselves, and the Image committed to your ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 248, footnote 10 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)

On His Father's Silence, Because of the Plague of Hail. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3064 (In-Text, Margin)

4. Do not thou, therefore, restrain a tongue whose noble utterances and fruits have been many, which has begotten many children of righteousness—yea, lift up thine eyes round about and see, how many are its sons, and what are its treasures; even this whole people, whom thou hast begotten in Christ through the Gospel.[1 Corinthians 4:15] Grudge not to us those words which are excellent rather than many, and do not yet give us a foretaste of our impending loss. Speak in words which, if few, are dear and most sweet to me, which, if scarcely audible, are perceived from their spiritual cry, as God heard the silence of Moses, and said to him when interceding mentally, “Why ...

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