Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
1 Corinthians 4:21
There are 8 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 225, footnote 2 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Instructor (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
Chapter VII.—Who the Instructor Is, and Respecting His Instruction. (HTML)
... report; but He shall dispense judgment to the humble, and reprove the sinners of the earth.” And by David: “The Lord instructing, hath instructed me, and not given me over to death.” For to be chastised of the Lord, and instructed, is deliverance from death. And by the same prophet He says: “Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron.” Thus also the apostle, in the Epistle to the Corinthians, being moved, says, “What will ye? Shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, in the spirit of meekness?”[1 Corinthians 4:21] Also, “The Lord shall send the rod of strength out of Sion,” He says by another prophet. And this same rod of instruction, “Thy rod and staff have comforted me,” said some one else. Such is the power of the Instructor—sacred, soothing, saving.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 137, footnote 15 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
The Harmony of the Gospels. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
Of the Section Where It is Recorded, that Being Moved with Compassion for the Multitudes, He Sent His Disciples, Giving Them Power to Work Cures, and Charged Them with Many Instructions, Directing Them How to Live; And of the Question Concerning the Proof of Matthew’s Harmony Here with Mark and Luke, Especially on the Subject of the Staff, Which Matthew Says the Lord Told Them They Were Not to Carry, While According to Mark It is the Only Thing They Were to Carry; And Also of the Wearing of the Shoes and Coats. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 983 (In-Text, Margin)
... says, “Every man shall bear his own burden.” But the one refers to the burdens which are to be borne in sharing in one’s infirmity, the other to the burdens borne in the rendering of an account of our own actions to God: the former are burdens to be borne in our [duties of] fellowship with brethren; the latter are those peculiar to ourselves, and borne by every man for himself. And in the same way, once more, the “rod” of which the apostle spoke in the words, “Shall I come unto you with a rod?”[1 Corinthians 4:21] is meant in a spiritual sense; while the same term bears the literal meaning when it occurs of the rod applied to a horse, or used for some other purpose of the kind, not to mention, in the meantime, also other metaphorical significations of this ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 435, footnote 8 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXXIX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4183 (In-Text, Margin)
... takes not from him His mercy: let Him beat him when obstinate, as long as He does not disinherit him. If thou hast well understood the promises of thy Father, fear not to be scourged, but to be disinherited: “for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth: and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.” Does the sinful son spurn chastening, when he sees the only Son without sin scourged? “I will visit their offences with the rod.” Thus too the Apostle threatens: “What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod?”[1 Corinthians 4:21] Let not pious sons say, if Thou art coming with a rod, come not at all. For it is better to be taught with the Father’s rod, than to perish in the caresses of the robber.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 170, footnote 11 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2498 (In-Text, Margin)
1. Your letter shews you to possess that heritage of the Lord of which when going to the Father he said to the apostles, “peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you,” and to own the happiness described in the words, “blessed are the peace-makers.” You coax as a father, you teach as a master, you enjoin as a bishop. You come to me not with a rod and severity but in a spirit of kindness, gentleness, and meekness.[1 Corinthians 4:21] Your opening words echo the humility of Christ who saved men not with thunder and lightning but as a wailing babe in the manger and as a silent sufferer upon the cross. You have read the prediction made in one who was a type of Him, “Lord, remember David and all his meekness,” and you ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 206, footnote 4 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Eustochium. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2950 (In-Text, Margin)
... lest she should give occasion to slanderous tongues (always ready to cavil at the religious) to console themselves for their own misdoing. When a sister was backward in coming to the recitation of the psalms or shewed herself remiss in her work, Paula used to approach her in different ways. Was she quick-tempered? Paula coaxed her. Was she phlegmatic? Paula chid her, copying the example of the apostle who said: “What will ye? Shall I come to you with a rod or in love and in the spirit of meekness?”[1 Corinthians 4:21] Apart from food and raiment she allowed no one to have anything she could call her own, for Paul had said, “Having food and raiment let us be therewith content.” She was afraid lest the custom of having more should breed covetousness in them; an ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 272, footnote 1 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)
On the Great Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3290 (In-Text, Margin)
... disposition; angelic in appearance, more angelic in mind; calm in rebuke, persuasive in praise, without spoiling the good effect of either by excess, but rebuking with the tenderness of a father, praising with the dignity of a ruler, his tenderness was not dissipated, nor his severity sour; for the one was reasonable, the other prudent, and both truly wise; his disposition sufficed for the training of his spiritual children, with very little need of words; his words with very little need of the rod,[1 Corinthians 4:21] and his moderate use of the rod with still less for the knife.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 339, footnote 6 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Concerning Repentance. (HTML)
Book I. (HTML)
Chapter XIII. They who have committed a “sin unto death” are not to be abandoned, but subjected to penance, according to St. Paul. Explanation of the phrase “Deliver unto Satan.” Satan can afflict the body, but these afflictions bring spiritual profit, showing the power of God, Who thus turns Satan's devices against himself. (HTML)
... those who have committed a sin unto death, but that we must rather coerce them with the bread of tears and tears to drink, yet so that their sorrow itself be moderated. For this is the meaning of the passage: “Thou hast given them to drink in large measure,” that their sorrow itself should have its measure, lest perchance he who is doing penance should be consumed by overmuch sorrow, as was said to the Corinthians: “What will ye? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of meekness?”[1 Corinthians 4:21] But even the rod is not severe, since he had read: “Thou shalt beat him indeed with the rod, but shalt deliver his soul from death.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 446, footnote 1 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Selections from the Letters of St. Ambrose. (HTML)
Letter XLI: To Marcellina on the Same. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3572 (In-Text, Margin)
4. Wherefore also the Apostle says: “What will ye, shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and in the spirit of gentleness?”[1 Corinthians 4:21] First he made mention of the rod, and like the almond rod struck those who were wandering, that he might afterwards comfort them in the spirit of meekness. And so meekness restored him whom the rod had deprived of the heavenly sacraments. And to his disciple he gave similar injunctions, saying: “Reprove, beseech, rebuke.” Two of these are hard, one is gentle, but they are hard only that they may soften; for as to suffering from ...