Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
1 Corinthians 15:9
There are 28 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 77, footnote 8 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Ignatius (HTML)
Epistle to the Romans: Shorter and Longer Versions (HTML)
Chapter IX.—Pray for the church in Syria. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 874 (In-Text, Margin)
Remember in your prayers the Church in Syria, which now has God for its shepherd, instead of me. Jesus Christ alone will oversee it, and your love [will also regard it]. But as for me, I am ashamed to be counted one of them; for indeed I am not worthy, as being the very last of them, and one born out of due time.[1 Corinthians 15:8-9] But I have obtained mercy to be somebody, if I shall attain to God. My spirit salutes you, and the love of the Churches that have received me in the name of Jesus Christ, and not as a mere passer-by. For even those Churches which were not near to me in the way, I mean according to the flesh, have gone before me, city by city, [to meet me.]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 265, footnote 3 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Origen. (HTML)
Origen De Principiis. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
On the Angels. (HTML)
... them, Peter and Paul were sprung from the root of a good tree, how should they be deemed to have brought forth fruits so wicked? And if they should return the answer which is generally invented, that it was not Paul who persecuted, but some other person, I know not whom, who was in Paul; and that it was not Peter who uttered the denial, but some other individual in him; how should Paul say, if he had not sinned, that “I am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God?”[1 Corinthians 15:9] Or why did Peter weep most bitterly, if it were another than he who sinned? From which all their silly assertions will be proved to be baseless.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 208, footnote 8 (Image)
Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius
Archelaus. (HTML)
The Acts of the Disputation with the Heresiarch Manes. (HTML)
Chapter XXXIV. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1788 (In-Text, Margin)
... epistle, where he says: “According to the grace that is given to me of God, that I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the Gospel of God.” “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost.” And again: “For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me by word and deed.” “I am the last of all the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle. But by the grace of God I am what I am.”[1 Corinthians 15:9-10] And it, is his wish to have to deal with those who sought the proof of that Christ who spake in him, for this reason, that the Paraclete was in him: and as having obtained His gift of grace, and as being enriched with magnificent, honour, he says: ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 208, footnote 16 (Image)
Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius
Archelaus. (HTML)
The Acts of the Disputation with the Heresiarch Manes. (HTML)
Chapter XXXIV. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1796 (In-Text, Margin)
... for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures; and that He was seen of Cephas, then of the eleven apostles: after that He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that He was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all He was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. For I am the last of the apostles.”[1 Corinthians 15:3-9] “Therefore, whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.” And again, in delivering over to his heirs that inheritance which he gained first himself, he says: “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 115, footnote 13 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
He recalls the beginning of his youth, i.e. the thirty-first year of his age, in which very grave errors as to the nature of God and the origin of evil being distinguished, and the Sacred Books more accurately known, he at length arrives at a clear knowledge of God, not yet rightly apprehending Jesus Christ. (HTML)
What He Found in the Sacred Books Which are Not to Be Found in Plato. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 587 (In-Text, Margin)
... the mountain’s wooded summit to see the land of peace, and not to find the way thither,—in vain to attempt impassable ways, opposed and waylaid by fugitives and deserters, under their captain the “lion” and the “dragon;” and another to keep to the way that leads thither, guarded by the host of the heavenly general, where they rob not who have deserted the heavenly army, which they shun as torture. These things did in a wonderful manner sink into my bowels, when I read that “least of Thy apostles,”[1 Corinthians 15:9] and had reflected upon Thy works, and feared greatly.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 120, footnote 4 (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)
He Shows by the Example of Victorinus that There is More Joy in the Conversion of Nobles. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 633 (In-Text, Margin)
... them much rejoice in regard to them, because they rejoice not in them alone. May it be averted that in Thy tabernacle the persons of the rich should be accepted before the poor, or the noble before the ignoble; since rather “Thou hast chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hast Thou chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are.” And yet, even that “least of the apostles,”[1 Corinthians 15:9] by whose tongue Thou soundest out these words, when Paulus the proconsul —his pride overcome by the apostle’s warfare—was made to pass under the easy yoke of Thy Christ, and became a provincial of the great King,—he also, instead of Saul, his former ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 539, footnote 6 (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 18 (HTML)
... among those sixty, if it be that we can find his name as an apostle among the twelve, or if he was ordained by the voice of Christ when Matthias was elected into the place of the traitor Judas, or another thirteenth like Paul, who calls himself the last of the apostles, expressly that any one who was later than himself might not be held to be an apostle. For these are his words: ‘For I am the last of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God.’[1 Corinthians 15:9] And do not flatter yourselves in this: he was a Jew that had done this. You too, as Gentiles, may work destruction upon us. For you carry on war without license, against whom we may not fight in turn. For you desire to live when you have murdered ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 87, footnote 12 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter. (HTML)
Paul, Whence So Called; Bravely Contends for Grace. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 747 (In-Text, Margin)
Accordingly Paul, who, although he was formerly called Saul, chose this new designation, for no other reason, as it seems to me, than because he would show himself little, —the “least of the apostles,”[1 Corinthians 15:9] —contends with much courage and earnestness against the proud and arrogant, and such as plume themselves on their own works, in order that he may commend the grace of God. This grace, indeed, appeared more obvious and manifest in his case, inasmuch as, while he was pursuing such vehement measures of persecution against the Church of God as made him worthy of the greatest punishment, he found ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 99, footnote 9 (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 890 (In-Text, Margin)
... not Himself promise, and another perform; which would no longer be promising, but prophesying. Hence it is “not of works, but of Him that calleth,” lest the result should be their own, not God’s; lest the reward should be ascribed not to His grace, but to their due; and so grace should be no longer grace which was so earnestly defended and maintained by him who, though the least of the apostles, laboured more abundantly than all the rest,—yet not himself, but the grace of God that was with him.[1 Corinthians 15:9-10] “They shall all know me,” He says,—“ 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 ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 199, footnote 14 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Work on the Proceedings of Pelagius. (HTML)
The Same Continued. The Monk Pelagius. Grace is Conferred on the Unworthy. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1721 (In-Text, Margin)
... nor will any man charge me with audacity, unless he be himself audacious enough to charge the apostle with mendacity. He frankly says, nay he protests, that he commends the gifts of God within himself, so that he glories not in himself at all, but in the Lord; he not only declares that he possessed no good deserts in himself why he should be made an apostle, but he even mentions his own demerits, in order to manifest and preach the grace of God. “I am not meet,” says he, “to be called an apostle;”[1 Corinthians 15:9] and what else does this mean than “I am not worthy ”—as indeed several Latin copies read the phrase. Now this, to be sure, is the very gist of our question; for undoubtedly in this grace of apostleship all those graces are contained. For it ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 200, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Work on the Proceedings of Pelagius. (HTML)
The Same Continued. The Monk Pelagius. Grace is Conferred on the Unworthy. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1723 (In-Text, Margin)
... that thou wast worthy to receive all the graces of thine apostleship. What dost thou say thyself?” He answers: “I am not worthy to be called an apostle.” Shall I then, under pretence of honouring Paul, in a matter concerning Paul, dare to believe Pelagius in preference to Paul? I will not do so; for if I did, I should only prove to be more onerous to myself than honouring to him. Let us hear also why he is not worthy to be called an apostle: “Because,” says he, “I persecuted the Church of God.”[1 Corinthians 15:9] Now, were we to follow up the idea here expressed, who would not judge that he rather deserved from Christ condemnation, instead of an apostolic call? Who could so love the preacher as not to loathe the persecutor? Well, therefore, and truly does he ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 201, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Work on the Proceedings of Pelagius. (HTML)
The Same Continued. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1737 (In-Text, Margin)
Since, then, Pelagius was present when these passages of the Scriptures were discussed, and by his silence acknowledged having said that he entertained the same view of their meaning, how happens it, that, after reconsidering the apostle’s testimony, as he had just done, and finding that he said: “I am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God; but by the grace of God I am what I am,”[1 Corinthians 15:9-10] he did not perceive that it was improper for him to say, respecting the question of the abundance of the graces which the said apostle received, that he had shown himself “worthy to receive them,” when the apostle himself not only confessed, but added a reason to prove, that he was ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 211, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Work on the Proceedings of Pelagius. (HTML)
How the Bishops Cleared Pelagius of Those Charges. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1778 (In-Text, Margin)
... which is commanded—although virginity is persevered in by many persons, who, notwithstanding, are not without sin. And that all those graces which he enumerates in a certain passage were possessed by the Apostle Paul; and yet, for all that, either they could quite understand, in regard to his having been worthy to receive them, that the merit was not according to his works, but rather, in some way, according to predestination (for the apostle says himself: “I am not meet to be called an apostle;”)[1 Corinthians 15:9] or else their attention was not arrested by the sense which Pelagius gave to the word, as he himself viewed it. Such are the points on which the bishops pronounced the agreement of Pelagius with the doctrines of godly truth.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 448, footnote 10 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on Grace and Free Will. (HTML)
Abstract. (HTML)
He Proves Out of St. Paul that Grace is Not Given According to Men’s Merits. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3020 (In-Text, Margin)
Now there was, no doubt, a decided merit in the Apostle Paul, but it was an evil one, while he persecuted the Church, and he says of it: “I am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God.”[1 Corinthians 15:9] And it was while he had this evil merit that a good one was rendered to him instead of the evil; and, therefore, he went on at once to say, “But by the grace of God I am what I am.” Then, in order to exhibit also his free will, he added in the next clause, “And His grace within me was not in vain, but I have laboured more abundantly than they all.” This free will of man he appeals to ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 300, footnote 4 (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, Matt. viii. 8, ‘I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof,’ etc., and of the words of the apostle, 1 Cor. viii. 10, ‘For if a man see thee who hast knowledge sitting at meat in an idol’s temple,’ etc. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2180 (In-Text, Margin)
... heaven, not in the temple of idols. Be ye then the Body of Christ, not the pressure of His Body. Ye have the border of His garment to touch, that ye may be healed of the issue of blood, that is, of carnal pleasures. Ye have, I say, the border of the garment to touch. Look upon the Apostles as the garment, by the texture of unity clinging closely to the sides of Christ. Among these Apostles was Paul, as it were the border, the least and last; as he saith himself, “I am the least of the Apostles.”[1 Corinthians 15:9] In a garment the last and least thing is the border. The border is in appearance contemptible, yet is it touched with saving efficacy. “Even to this hour we both hunger and thirst, and are naked and buffeted.” What state so low, so contemptible as ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 341, 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)
Again on Matt. xiv. 25: Of the Lord walking on the waves of the sea, and of Peter tottering. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2585 (In-Text, Margin)
7. See Paul a small portion of this inheritance, see him in weakness, who said, “I am not meet to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God.” Why then art thou an Apostle? “By the grace of God I am what I am. I am not meet, but by the grace of God I am what I am.” Paul was “weak,” but Thou hast “perfected” him. But now because by “the grace of God he is what he is,” look what follows; “And His grace in me was not in vain, but I laboured more abundantly than they all.”[1 Corinthians 15:9] Take heed lest thou lose by presumption what thou hast attained through weakness. This is well, very well; that “I am not meet to be called an Apostle. By His grace I am what I am, and His grace in me was not in vain:” all most excellent. But, “I ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 343, 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, Matt. xv. 21,’Jesus went out thence, and withdrew into the parts of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanitish woman,’ etc. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2604 (In-Text, Margin)
... and raised up the humble. For what was the reason of his change of name, that whereas he was afore called Saul, he chose afterwards to be called Paul; but that he acknowledged in himself that the name of Saul when he was a persecutor, had been a name of pride? He chose therefore a humble name; to be called Paul, that is, the least. For Paul is, “the least.” Paul is nothing else but little. And now glorying in this name, and giving us a lesson of humility, he says, “I am the least of the Apostles.”[1 Corinthians 15:9] Whence then, whence was he, but of the people of the Jews? Of them were the other Apostles, of them was Paul, of them were they whom the same Paul mentions, as having seen the Lord after His resurrection. For he says, “That He was seen of above five ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 345, footnote 1 (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, Matt. xv. 21,’Jesus went out thence, and withdrew into the parts of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanitish woman,’ etc. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2618 (In-Text, Margin)
... He would say; I do not know this people; “A people whom I have not known hath served Me. Some one hath touched Me. For I perceive that virtue is gone out of Me;” that is, that My Gospel hath gone out and filled the whole world. Now it is the border that is touched, a small and outside part of the gar ment. Consider the Apostles as it were the garment of Christ. Among them Paul was the border; that is, the last and least. For he said of himself that he was both; “I am the least of the Apostles.”[1 Corinthians 15:9] For he was called after them all, he believed after them all, he healed more than they all. The Lord was not sent but “unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But because a “people whom He had not known, was also to serve Him, and to obey Him ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 347, 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, Matt. xvii. 1, ‘After six days Jesus taketh with Him Peter, and James, and John his brother,’ etc. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2650 (In-Text, Margin)
... Him. Jesus Himself indeed shone as the sun, signifying that “He is the light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” What this sun is to the eyes of the flesh, that is He to the eyes of the heart; and what that is to the flesh of men, that is He to their hearts. Now His raiment is His Church. For if the raiment be not held together by him who puts it on, it will fall off. Of this raiment, Paul was as it were a sort of last border. For he says himself, “I am the least of the Apostles.”[1 Corinthians 15:9] And in another place, “I am the last of the Apostles.” Now in a garment the border is the last and least part. Wherefore as that woman which suffered from an issue of blood, when she had touched the Lord’s border was made whole, so the Church which ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 422, footnote 4 (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 x. 2, ‘The harvest truly is plenteous,’ etc. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3265 (In-Text, Margin)
... But the strength to labour was given him by the Lord of the harvest. Therefore he added, “Yet it is not I, but the grace of God which is with me.” For that he was employed in this husbandry he clearly enough shows, where he says, “I have planted, Apollos watered.” But this Apostle, from Saul, becoming Paul, that is, from being proud, the least of all (for the name of Saul is derived from Saul; but Paul is little; whence in a way interpreting his own name, he says, “I am the least of the Apostles”[1 Corinthians 15:9]: this Paul I say, the little, and the least, sent unto the Gentiles, says that he was sent particularly to the Gentiles. He himself so writes, we read, believe, preach it. He then in his Epistle to the Galatians says, that having been now called by ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 507, footnote 7 (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 IV. 12–16. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2400 (In-Text, Margin)
... persecutor, and raised up the preacher; killed Saul, and quickened Paul. For Saul was the persecutor of a holy man; thence had this man his name, when he persecuted the Christians: afterward of Saul he became Paul. What does the name Paulus mean? Little. Therefore when he was Saul, he was proud, lifted up; when he was Paul, he was lowly, little. Thus we say, I will see thee “ paulo post,” i.e. after a little while. Hear that he was made little: “For I am the least of the apostles;[1 Corinthians 15:9] and, To me the least of all saints,” he saith in another place. So was he among the apostles as the hem of the garment: but the Church of the Gentiles touched it, as did the woman which had the flux, and was made whole.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 315, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3073 (In-Text, Margin)
... the grace of God that delivereth us commendeth itself to us, in order that it may have us commended. This is sung of in this Psalm, whereof we have undertaken to speak.…This grace the Apostle commendeth: by this he got to have the Jews for enemies, boasting of the letter of the law and of their own justice. This then commending in the lesson which hath been read, he saith thus: “For I am the least of the Apostles, that am not worthy to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God.”[1 Corinthians 15:9] “But therefore mercy,” he saith, “I obtained, because ignorant I did it in unbelief.” Then a little afterwards, “Faithful the saying is, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am first.” Were ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 178, footnote 2 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
Three Homilies Concerning the Power of Demons. (HTML)
Homily I. Against Those Who Say that Demons Govern Human Affairs. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 548 (In-Text, Margin)
... another, when I furnished you with a sure subject for self accusation, suggesting that you should speak ill of your own sins, but should not busy yourselves about those of other people: when I brought forward the Saints as accusing themselves indeed, but sparing others: Paul saying I am the chief of sinners, and that God had compassion on him who was a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious, and calling himself one born out of due time, and not even thinking himself worthy of the title of Apostle:[1 Corinthians 15:8-9] Peter saying “Depart from me because I am a sinful man:” Matthew styling himself a publican even in the days of his Apostleship: David crying out and saying “My iniquities have gone over my head, and as a heavy burden have been burdensome to me:” ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 1, page 105, footnote 12 (Image)
Eusebius: Church History from A.D. 1-324, Life of Constantine the Great, Oration in Praise of Constantine
The Church History of Eusebius. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
The Course pursued by the Apostles after the Ascension of Christ. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 267 (In-Text, Margin)
14. In addition to these, Paul, that “chosen vessel,” “not of men neither through men, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ himself and of God the Father who raised him from the dead,” was appointed an apostle, being made worthy of the call by a vision and by a voice which was uttered in a revelation from heaven.[1 Corinthians 15:8-10]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 559, footnote 4 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Letters of Athanasius with Two Ancient Chronicles of His Life. (HTML)
The Festal Letters, and their Index. (HTML)
Personal Letters. (HTML)
Letter to Dracontius. Written A.D. 354 or 355. (HTML)
... For we ought to walk by the standard of the saints and the fathers, and imitate them, and to be sure that if we depart from them we put ourselves also out of their fellowship. Whom then do they wish you to imitate? The one who hesitated, and while wishing to follow, delayed it and took counsel because of his family, or blessed Paul, who, the moment the stewardship was entrusted to him, ‘straightway conferred not with flesh and blood?’ For although he said, ‘I am not worthy to be called an Apostle[1 Corinthians 15:9],’ yet, knowing what he had received, and being not ignorant of the giver, he wrote, ‘For woe is me if I preach not the gospel.’ But, as it was ‘woe to me’ if he did not preach, so, in teaching and preaching the gospel, he had his converts as his joy ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 66, footnote 9 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Desiderius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1035 (In-Text, Margin)
... Lot of our times. Meantime, I look for your arrival, and will give you all I have when you once come; or, if any hindrances prevent you from joining us, I will gladly send you such treatises as you shall desire. Following the example of Tranquillus and of Apollonius the Greek, I have written a book concerning illustrious men from the apostles’ time to our own; and after enumerating a great number I have put myself down on the last page as one born out of due time, and the least of all Christians.[1 Corinthians 15:8-9] Here I have found it necessary to give a short account of my writings down to the fourteenth year of the Emperor Theodosius. If you find, on procuring this treatise from the persons mentioned above, that there are any pieces mentioned which you have ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 406, footnote 5 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
Against Jovinianus. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4862 (In-Text, Margin)
... And again: “I would have you all speak with tongues, but rather that ye should prophesy: and greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues.” And again: “I thank God, I speak with tongues more than you all.” Where there are different gifts, and one man is greater, another less, and all are called spiritual, they are all certainly sheep, and they stand on the right hand; but there is a difference between one sheep and another. It is humility that leads the Apostle Paul to say:[1 Corinthians 15:9-10] “I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not found vain: but I laboured more abundantly ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 62, footnote 6 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)
On the Clause, and in One Lord Jesus Christ, with a Reading from the First Epistle to the Corinthians. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1210 (In-Text, Margin)
... beyond question, He granted to the former enemy and persecutor the privilege of writing more, in order that we all might thus be made believers. For all were amazed at Paul, and said, Is not this he that was formerly a persecutor? Did he not come hither, that he might lead us away bound to Jerusalem? Be not amazed, said Paul, I know that it is hard for me to kick against the pricks: I know that I am not worthy to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God[1 Corinthians 15:9]; but I did it in ignorance: for I thought that the preaching of Christ was destruction of the Law, and knew not that He came Himself to fulfil the Law and not to destroy it. But the grace of God was exceeding abundant in me.