Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts

2 Corinthians 6:14

There are 39 footnotes for this reference.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 56, footnote 12 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Ignatius (HTML)

Epistle to the Ephesians: Shorter and Longer Versions (HTML)

Chapter XVI.—The fate of false teachers. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 601 (In-Text, Margin)

... only-begotten Son of God, endured the cross, and submitted to death! Whosoever, “being waxen fat,” and “become gross,” sets at nought His doctrine, shall go into hell. In like manner, every one that has received from God the power of distinguishing, and yet follows an unskilful shepherd, and receives a false opinion for the truth, shall be punished. “What communion hath light with darkness? or Christ with Belial? Or what portion hath he that believeth with an infidel? or the temple of God with idols?”[2 Corinthians 6:14-16] And in like manner say I, what communion hath truth with falsehood? or righteousness with unrighteousness? or true doctrine with that which is false?

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 392, footnote 8 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)

Book III (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2541 (In-Text, Margin)

... malum:” ut quæ per corpus fecit aliquis, recipiat. “Quare si quis est in Christo, nova creatura est,” nec amplius peccatis dedita: “Vetera præterierunt,” vitam antiquam exuimus: “Ecce enim nova facta sunt,” castitas ex fornicatione, et continentia ex incontinentia, justitia ex injustitia. “Quæ est enim participatio justitiæ et injustitiæ? aut quæ luci cure tenebris societas? quæ est autem conventio Christo cum Belial? quæ pars est fideli cum infideli? quæ est autem consensio templo Dei cum idolis?[2 Corinthians 6:14-16] Has ergo habentes promissiones, mundemus nos ipsos ab omni inquinamento carnis et spiritus, perficientes sanctitatem in timore Dei.”

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 458, footnote 1 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)

Book V (HTML)
Chapter IX.—Reasons for Veiling the Truth in Symbols. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3050 (In-Text, Margin)

... Pythagoras in plain language, was expelled from the school, and a pillar raised for him as if he had been dead. Wherefore also in the Barbarian philosophy they call those dead who have fallen away from the dogmas, and have placed the mind in subjection to carnal passions. “For what fellowship hath righteousness and iniquity?” according to the divine apostle. “Or what communion hath light with darkness? or what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what portion hath the believer with the unbeliever?”[2 Corinthians 6:14-15] For the honours of the Olympians and of mortals lie apart. “Wherefore also go forth from the midst of them, and be separated, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be to you for a Father, and ye shall be ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 69, footnote 2 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Apologetic. (HTML)

On Idolatry. (HTML)

Of the Observance of Days Connected with Idolatry. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 256 (In-Text, Margin)

... opposition to the common faith and Discipline. The first point, indeed, on which I shall join issue is this: whether a servant of God ought to share with the very nations themselves in matters of his kind either in dress, or in food, or in any other kind of their gladness. “To rejoice with the rejoicing, and grieve with the grieving,” is said about brethren by the apostle when exhorting to unanimity. But, for these purposes, “There is nought of communion between light and darkness,”[2 Corinthians 6:14] between life and death or else we rescind what is written, “The world shall rejoice, but ye shall grieve.” If we rejoice with the world, there is reason to fear that with the world we shall grieve too. But when the world rejoices, let us grieve; and ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 328, footnote 2 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

The Five Books Against Marcion. (HTML)

Book III. Wherein Christ is shown to be the Son of God, Who created the world; to have been predicted by the prophets; to have taken human flesh like our own, by a real incarnation. (HTML)
Absurdity of Marcion's Docetic Opinions; Reality of Christ's Incarnation. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3210 (In-Text, Margin)

... being God! But why should he not have propagated also the phantom of God? Can I believe him on the subject of the internal nature, who was all wrong touching the external substance? How will it be possible to believe him true on a mystery, when he has been found so false on a plain fact? How, moreover, when he confounds the truth of the spirit with the error of the flesh, could he combine within himself that communion of light and darkness, or truth and error, which the apostle says cannot co-exist?[2 Corinthians 6:14] Since however, Christ’s being flesh is now discovered to be a lie, it follows that all things which were done by the flesh of Christ were done untruly, —every act of intercourse, of contact, of eating or drinking, yea, His very miracles. If with a ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 15, footnote 9 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)

On the Apparel of Women. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)
The Origin of Female Ornamentation, Traced Back to the Angels Who Had Fallen. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 99 (In-Text, Margin)

... Sure they were that all ostentation, and ambition, and love of pleasing by carnal means, was dis pleasing to God. And these are the angels whom we are destined to judge: these are the angels whom in baptism we renounce: these, of course, are the reasons why they have deserved to be judged by man. What business, then, have their things with their judges? What commerce have they who are to condemn with them who are to be condemned? The same, I take it, as Christ has with Belial.[2 Corinthians 6:14-16] With what consistency do we mount that (future) judgment-seat to pronounce sentence against those whose gifts we (now) seek after? For you too, (women as you are,) have the self-same angelic nature promised as your reward, the self-same sex as men: ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 383, footnote 2 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)

To Jubaianus, Concerning the Baptism of Heretics. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2865 (In-Text, Margin)

15. But if we consider what the apostles thought about heretics, we shall find that they, in all their epistles, execrated and detested the sacrilegious wickedness of heretics. For when they say that “their word creeps as a canker,” how is such a word as that able to give remission of sins, which creeps like a canker to the ears of the hearers? And when they say that there can be no fellowship between righteousness and unrighteousness, no communion between light and darkness,[2 Corinthians 6:14] how can either darkness illuminate, or unrighteousness justify? And when they say that “they are not of God, but are of the spirit of Antichrist,” how can they transact spiritual and divine matters, who are the enemies of God, and whose hearts the spirit of ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 551, footnote 2 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)

Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
That marriage is not to be contracted with Gentiles. (HTML)CCEL Footnote 4513 (In-Text, Margin)

... not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? Far be it from me. Or know ye not that he who is joined together with an harlot is one body? for two shall be in one flesh. But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” Also in the second to the Corinthians: “Be not joined together with unbelievers. For what participation is there between righteousness and unrighteousness? or what communication hath light with darkness?”[2 Corinthians 6:14] Also concerning Solomon in the third book of Kings: “And foreign wives turned away his heart after their gods.”

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 294, footnote 1 (Image)

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

Alexander of Alexandria. (HTML)

Epistles on the Arian Heresy and the Deposition of Arius. (HTML)

To Alexander, Bishop of the City of Constantinople. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2421 (In-Text, Margin)

... What increase can the truth itself and God the Word receive? In what respect can the life and the true light be made better? And if this be so, how much more unnatural is it that wisdom should ever be capable of folly; that the power of God should be conjoined with infirmity; that reason should be obscured by unreason; or that darkness should be mixed up with the true light? And the apostle says, on this place, “What communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial?”[2 Corinthians 6:14-15] And Solomon says, that it is not possible that it should come to pass that a man should comprehend with his understanding “the way of a serpent upon a rock,” which is Christ, according to the opinion of Paul. But men and angels, who are His ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 297, footnote 3 (Image)

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

Alexander of Alexandria. (HTML)

Epistles on the Arian Heresy and the Deposition of Arius. (HTML)

Epistle Catholic. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2449 (In-Text, Margin)

3. Since those about Arius speak these things and shamelessly maintain them, we, coming together with the Bishops of Egypt and the Libyas, nearly a hundred in number, have anathematized them, together with their followers. But those about Eusebius have received them, earnestly endeavouring to mix up falsehood with truth, impiety with piety. But they will not prevail; for the truth prevails, and there is no communion betwixt light and darkness, no concord between Christ and Belial.[2 Corinthians 6:14] For who ever heard such things? or who, now hearing them, is not astonished, and does not stop his ears that the pollution of these words should not touch them? Who that hears John saying, “In the beginning was the Word,” does not condemn those who say ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 496, footnote 3 (Image)

Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies

Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)

Book VIII. Concerning Gifts, and Ordinations, and the Ecclesiastical Canons (HTML)

Sec. IV.—Certain Prayers and Laws (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3724 (In-Text, Margin)

... possible to assemble either in the church or in a house, let every one by himself sing, and read, and pray, or two or three together. For “where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Let not one of the faithful pray with a catechumen, no, not in the house: for it is not reasonable that he who is admitted should be polluted with one not admitted. Let not one of the godly pray with an heretic, no, not in the house. For “what fellowship hath light with darkness?”[2 Corinthians 6:14] Let Christians, whether men or women, who have connections with slaves, either leave them off, or let them be rejected.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 615, footnote 3 (Image)

Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents

The Decretals. (HTML)

The Epistles of Pope Callistus. (HTML)

To All the Bishops of Gaul. (HTML)
Of those who have intercourse with excommunicated persons, or with unbelievers. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2736 (In-Text, Margin)

... matters, will subject himself, according to the ordinance of the apostles, to like excommunication. From these, therefore, let clergy and laity keep themselves if they would not have the same penalty to endure. Also do not join the unbelievers, neither have any fellowship with them. They who do such things, indeed, are judged not as believers, but as unbelievers. Whence the apostle says: “What part hath he that believeth with an infidel? or what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?”[2 Corinthians 6:14-15]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 431, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine

City of God (HTML)

Of the last judgment, and the declarations regarding it in the Old and New Testaments. (HTML)

What the Reign of the Saints with Christ for a Thousand Years Is, and How It Differs from the Eternal Kingdom. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1369 (In-Text, Margin)

... to believe, but live as unbelievers. For they pretend to be what they are not, and are called Christians, not from a true likeness but from a deceitful image. For to this beast belong not only the avowed enemies of the name of Christ and His most glorious city, but also the tares which are to be gathered out of His kingdom, the Church, in the end of the world. And who are they who do not worship the beast and his image, if not those who do what the apostle says, “Be not yoked with unbelievers?”[2 Corinthians 6:14] For such do not worship, i.e., do not consent, are not subjected; neither do they receive the inscription, the brand of crime, on their forehead by their profession, on their hand by their practice. They, then, who are free from these ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 455, footnote 7 (Image)

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

Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)

On Baptism, Against the Donatists. (HTML)

In which he treats of what follows in the same epistle of Cyprian to Jubaianus. (HTML)
Chapter 13 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1413 (In-Text, Margin)

13.—20. There is therefore "no fellowship between righteousness and unrighteousness,"[2 Corinthians 6:14] not only without, but also within the Church; for "the Lord knoweth them that are His," and "Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." There is also "no communion between light and darkness," not only without, but also within the Church; for "he that hateth his brother is still in darkness." And they at any rate hated Paul, who, preaching Christ of envy and malicious strife, supposed that they added affliction to his bonds; ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 556, footnote 7 (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 40 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2115 (In-Text, Margin)

95. said: "Paul the apostle also bids us, ‘Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?’"[2 Corinthians 6:14-15]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 409, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

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

Book III. (HTML)

The Perfection of Apostles and Prophets. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2735 (In-Text, Margin)

... not be of such perfect virtue in this life as that which should be after this life, yet whatever of sin might creep in from human infirmity might be constantly done away by the piety of their faith itself: it results from this that, in comparison with the wicked whom God will condemn, it must be said that these were “righteous,” since by their pious faith they were so far removed into the opposite of those wicked men that the apostle cries out, “What part hath he that believeth with an infidel?”[2 Corinthians 6:14] But it is plain that the Pelagians, these modern heretics, seem to themselves to be religious lovers and praisers of the saints, since they do not dare to say that they were of an imperfect virtue; although that elected vessel confesses this, who, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 530, footnote 8 (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 xii. 44, ‘He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.’ Against a certain expression of Maximinus, a bishop of the Arians, who spread his blasphemy in Africa where he was with the Count Segisvult. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4186 (In-Text, Margin)

... Father said to the Son, “I command Thee this, I wish Thee to do that;” in what words spake He to the Only Word? When He gave commandment to the Word, did He look for words? That the Father’s Commandment then is “Life everlasting,” and that the Son Himself is “Life everlasting,” believe ye and receive, believe and understand, for the Prophet saith, “Unless ye believe ye shall not understand.” Do ye not comprehend? Be enlarged. Hear the Apostle: “Be ye enlarged, bear not the yoke with unbelievers.”[2 Corinthians 6:13-14] They who will not believe this before they comprehend, are unbelievers. And because they have determined to be unbelievers, they will remain in their ignorance. Let them believe then that they may understand. Most certainly the Father’s Commandment ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 464, footnote 2 (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 I. 1–II. 11. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2012 (In-Text, Margin)

... be with God the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” But moreover, if “God be light, and in Him is no darkness at all, and we must have fellowship with Him,” then from us also must the darkness be driven away, that there may be light created in us, for darkness cannot have fellowship with light. To this end, see what follows: “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie.” Thou hast also the Apostle Paul saying, “Or what fellowship hath light with darkness?”[2 Corinthians 6:14] Thou sayest thou hast fellowship with God, and thou walkest in darkness; “and God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all:” then how should there be fellowship between light and darkness? At this point therefore a man may say to himself, What ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 550, footnote 6 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm CXIV (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 5043 (In-Text, Margin)

4. But Egypt, since it is said to mean affliction, or one who afflicteth, or one who oppresseth, is often used for an emblem of this world; from which we must spiritually withdraw, that we may not be bearing the yoke with unbelievers.[2 Corinthians 6:14] For thus each one becometh a fit citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem, when he hath first renounced this world; just as that people could not be led into the land of promise, save first they had departed from Egypt. But as they did not depart thence, until freed by Divine help; so no man is turned away in heart from this world, unless aided by the gift of the Divine mercy. For what ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 2, page 4, footnote 2 (Image)

Socrates: Church History from A.D. 305-438; Sozomenus: Church History from A.D. 323-425

The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates Scholasticus. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)

Division begins in the Church from this Controversy; and Alexander Bishop of Alexandria excommunicates Arius and his Adherents. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 124 (In-Text, Margin)

... then, with the bishops of Egypt and Libya, being assembled together to the number of nearly a hundred, have anathematized Arius for his shameless avowal of these heresies, together with all such as have countenanced them. Yet the partisans of Eusebius have received them; endeavoring to blend falsehood with truth, and that which is impious with what is sacred. But they shall not prevail, for the truth must triumph; and ‘light has no fellowship with darkness, nor has Christ any concord with Belial.’[2 Corinthians 6:14] Who ever heard such blasphemies? or what man of any piety is there now hearing them that is not horror-struck, and stops his ears, lest the filth of these expressions should pollute his sense of hearing? Who that hears John saying, ‘In the beginning ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 38, footnote 2 (Image)

Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome

The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret. (HTML)

The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)
The Epistle of Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria to Alexander, Bishop of Constantinople. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 283 (In-Text, Margin)

... wisdom of God? What can the Very Truth, or God the Word, add to itself? How can the Life or the True Light in any way be bettered? And is it not still more contrary to nature to suppose that wisdom can be susceptible of folly? that the power of God can be united with weakness? that reason itself can be dimmed by unreasonableness, or that darkness can be mixed with the true light? Does not the Apostle say, ‘ What communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial[2 Corinthians 6:14-15]?’ and Solomon, that ‘ the way of a serpent upon a rock ’ was ‘ too wonderful ’ for the human mind to comprehend, which ‘rock,’ according to St. Paul, is Christ. Men and angels, however, who are His creatures, have received His ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 70, footnote 3 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Deposition of Arius. (Depositio Arii.) (HTML)

Deposition of Arius. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 365 (In-Text, Margin)

... when Arius and his fellows made these assertions, and shamelessly avowed them, we being assembled with the Bishops of Egypt and Libya, nearly a hundred in number, anathematized both them and their followers. But Eusebius and his fellows admitted them to communion, being desirous to mingle falsehood with the truth, and impiety with piety. But they will not be able to do so, for the truth must prevail; neither is there any “communion of light with darkness,” nor any “concord of Christ with Belial[2 Corinthians 6:14].” For who ever heard such assertions before? or who that hears them now is not astonished and does not stop his ears lest they should be defiled with such language? Who that has heard the words of John, “In the beginning was the Word,” will not ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 126, footnote 6 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Defence Against the Arians. (Apologia Contra Arianos.) (HTML)

Apologia Contra Arianos. (Defence Against the Arians.) (HTML)

Part I (HTML)
Letters of the Council of Sardica to the Churches of Egypt and of Alexandria, and to all Churches. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 624 (In-Text, Margin)

... Father, ought themselves to be separated from the Catholic Church and to be alien from the Christian name. Let them therefore be anathema to you, because they have ‘corrupted the word of truth.’ It is an Apostolic injunction, ‘If any man preach any other Gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.’ Charge your people that no one hold communion with them, for there is no communion of light with darkness; put away from you all these, for there is no concord of Christ in Belial[2 Corinthians 6:14-15]. And take heed, dearly beloved, that ye neither write to them, nor receive letters from them; but desire rather, brethren and fellow-ministers, as being present in spirit with our Council, to assent to our judgments by your subscriptions, to the end ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 214, footnote 5 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Life of Antony. (Vita Antoni.) (HTML)

Life of Antony. (Vita Antoni.) (HTML)

How he confuted the Arians. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1117 (In-Text, Margin)

... that their heresy was the last of all and a forerunner of Antichrist. And he taught the people that the Son of God was not a created being, neither had He come into being from non-existence, but that He was the Eternal Word and Wisdom of the Essence of the Father. And therefore it was impious to say, ‘there was a time when He was not,’ for the Word was always co-existent with the Father. Wherefore have no fellowship with the most impious Arians. For there is no communion between light and darkness[2 Corinthians 6:14]. For you are good Christians, but they, when they say that the Son of the Father, the Word of God, is a created being, differ in nought from the heathen, since they worship that which is created, rather than God the creator. But believe ye that the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 524, footnote 24 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Letters of Athanasius with Two Ancient Chronicles of His Life. (HTML)

The Festal Letters, and their Index. (HTML)

Festal Letters. (HTML)
For 335. Easter-day iv Pharmuthi, iii Kal. April; xx Moon; Ær. Dioclet. 51; Coss. Julius Constantius, the brother of Augustus, Rufinus Albinus; Præfect, the same Philagrius; viii Indict. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4160 (In-Text, Margin)

... not comely in the mouth of a sinner.’ Neither hath sin any place in common with the praise of God; for the sinner has a mouth speaking perverse things, as the Proverb saith, ‘The mouth of the wicked answereth evil things.’ For how is it possible for us to praise God with an impure mouth? since things which are contrary to each other cannot coexist. For what communion has righteousness with iniquity? or, what fellowship is there between light and darkness? So exclaims Paul, a minister of the Gospel[2 Corinthians 6:14].

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 12, footnote 9 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To the Virgins of Æmona. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 142 (In-Text, Margin)

Pardon, I beseech you, an aggrieved man: if I speak in tears and in anger it is because I have been injured. For in return for my regular letters you have not sent me a single syllable. Light, I know, has no communion with darkness,[2 Corinthians 6:14] and God’s handmaidens no fellowship with a sinner, yet a harlot was allowed to wash the Lord’s feet with her tears, and dogs are permitted to eat of their masters’ crumbs. It was the Saviour’s mission to call sinners and not the righteous; for, as He said Himself, “they that be whole need not a physician.” He wills the repentance of a sinner rather than his death, and carries home ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 35, footnote 6 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Eustochium. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 571 (In-Text, Margin)

... with verse, nor make yourself gay with lyric songs. And do not, out of affectation, follow the sickly taste of married ladies who, now pressing their teeth together, now keeping their lips wide apart, speak with a lisp, and purposely clip their words, because they fancy that to pronounce them naturally is a mark of country breeding. Accordingly they find pleasure in what I may call an adultery of the tongue. For “what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial?”[2 Corinthians 6:14-15] How can Horace go with the psalter, Virgil with the gospels, Cicero with the apostle? Is not a brother made to stumble if he sees you sitting at meat in an idol’s temple? Although “unto the pure all things are pure,” and “nothing is to be refused if ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 111, footnote 4 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Amandus. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1641 (In-Text, Margin)

... intercourse with that second husband who ought to be called not a husband but an adulterer. If this seems hard to her and if she cannot leave one whom she has once loved and will not prefer the Lord to sensual pleasure, let her hear the declaration of the apostle: “ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table and of the table of devils,” and in another place: “what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial?”[2 Corinthians 6:14-15] What I am about to say may sound novel but after all it is not new but old for it is supported by the witness of the old testament. If she leaves her second husband and desires to be reconciled with her first, she cannot be so now; for it is written ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 153, footnote 8 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Lucinius. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2238 (In-Text, Margin)

... the oxen and the yokes which hitherto he had employed in his work. We read in Ecclesiasticus: “he that toucheth pitch shall be defiled therewith.” As long as we are occupied with the things of the world, as long as our soul is fettered with possessions and revenues, we cannot think freely of God. “For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?”[2 Corinthians 6:14-15] “Ye cannot,” the Lord says, “serve God and Mammon.” Now the laying aside of money is for those who are beginners in the way, not for those who are made perfect. Heathens like Antisthenes and Crates the Theban have done as much before now. But to ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 231, footnote 6 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Ageruchia. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3235 (In-Text, Margin)

... the yoke of wedlock have not the option of choosing continence. When the apostle adds the words “only in the Lord,” he excludes heathen marriages of which he had spoken in another place thus: “be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?”[2 Corinthians 6:14-16] We must not plough with an ox and an ass together; nor weave our wedding garment of different colours. He at once takes back the concession he made, and, as if repenting of his opinion, withdraws it by saying: “She is happier if she so abide,” that ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 322, footnote 6 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

Treatises. (HTML)

The Dialogue Against the Luciferians. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4067 (In-Text, Margin)

... how great is the darkness!” And rightly; for since the bishop is appointed in the Church that he may restrain the people from error, how great will the error of the people be when he himself who teaches errs. How can he remit sins, who is himself a sinner? How can an impious man make a man holy? How shall the light enter into me, when my eye is blind? O misery! Antichrist’s disciple governs the Church of Christ. And what are we to think of the words, “No man can serve two masters”? And that too[2 Corinthians 6:14-15] “What communion hath light and darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial?” In the old testament we read, “No man that hath a blemish shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the Lord.” And again, “Let the priests who come nigh to the Lord ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 353, footnote 1 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

Treatises. (HTML)

Against Jovinianus. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4308 (In-Text, Margin)

... cheap. Yet at the present day many women despising the Apostle’s command, are joined to heathen husbands, and prostitute the temples of Christ to idols. They do not understand that they are part of His body though indeed they are His ribs. The Apostle is lenient to the union of unbelievers, who having (believing) husbands, afterwards come to believe in Christ. He does not extend his indulgence to those women who, although Christians, have been married to heathen husbands. To these he elsewhere says,[2 Corinthians 6:14] “Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers: for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? or what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what portion hath a believer with an unbeliever? And what ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 388, footnote 1 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

Treatises. (HTML)

Against Jovinianus. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4659 (In-Text, Margin)

... commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily hath the love of God been perfected. Hereby know we that we are in him: he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked.” My reason for telling you, little children, that everyone who is born of God sinneth not, is that you may not sin, and that you may know that so long as you sin not you abide in the birth which God has given you. Yea, they who abide in that birth cannot sin.[2 Corinthians 6:14-15] “For what communion hath light with darkness? Or Christ with Belial?” As day is distinct from night, so righteousness and unrighteousness, sin and good works, Christ and Antichrist cannot blend. If we give Christ a lodging-place in our hearts, we ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 37, footnote 2 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)

Concerning the Unity of God.  On the Article, I Believe in One God.  Also Concerning Heresies. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 869 (In-Text, Margin)

13. Heretics have dared to say that there are two Gods, and of good and evil two sources, and these unbegotten. If both are unbegotten it is certain that they are also equal, and both mighty. How then doth the light destroy the darkness? And do they ever exist together, or are they separated? Together they cannot be; for what fellowship hath light with darkness? saith the Apostle[2 Corinthians 6:14]. But if they are far from each other, it is certain that they hold also each his own place; and if they hold their own separate places, we are certainly in the realm of one God, and certainly worship one God. For thus we must conclude, even if we assent to their folly, that we must worship one God. Let ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 43, footnote 4 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)

Concerning the Unity of God.  On the Article, I Believe in One God.  Also Concerning Heresies. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 953 (In-Text, Margin)

35. But may the Lord deliver us from such delusion: and may there be given to you a hatred against the serpent, that as they lie in wait for the heel, so you may trample on their head. Remember ye what I say. What agreement can there be between our state and theirs? What communion hath light with darkness[2 Corinthians 6:14]? What hath the majesty of the Church to do with the abomination of the Manichees? Here is order, here is discipline, here is majesty, here is purity: here even to look upon a woman to lust after her is condemnation. Here is marriage with sanctity, here steadfast continence, here virginity in honour like unto the Angels: here ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 75b, footnote 6 (Image)

Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus

John of Damascus: Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. (HTML)

An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. (HTML)

Book IV (HTML)
Why it was the Son of God, and not the Father or the Spirit, that became man: and what having became man He achieved. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2264 (In-Text, Margin)

... divine nature: viz. absence of care and distraction and guile, goodness, wisdom, justice, freedom from all vice. So then, after He had placed man in communion with Himself (for having made him for incorruption, He led him up through communion with Himself to incorruption), and when moreover, through the transgression of the command we had confused and obliterated the marks of the divine image, and had become evil, we were stripped of our communion with God (for what communion hath light with darkness[2 Corinthians 6:14]?): and having been shut out from life we became subject to the corruption of death: yea, since He gave us to share in the better part, and we did not keep it secure, He shares in the inferior part, I mean our own nature, in order that through ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 57, footnote 12 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)

On the Duties of the Clergy. (HTML)

Book II. (HTML)
Chapter XVII. What virtues ought to exist in him whom we consult. How Joseph and Paul were equipped with them. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 509 (In-Text, Margin)

91. Paul knew, too, how to abound, for he had a rich soul, though he possessed not the treasure of a rich man. He knew how to abound, for he sought no gift in money, but looked for fruit in grace. We can understand his words that he knew how to abound also in another way. For he could say again: “O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.”[2 Corinthians 6:14]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 349, footnote 2 (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 V. Conference of Abbot Serapion. On the Eight Principal Faults. (HTML)
Chapter XXIII. How it is useful for us to take possession of their lands. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1357 (In-Text, Margin)

... bidden for our good to take possession of the countries of those most wicked nations, may be understood in this way. Each fault has its own especial corner in the heart, which it claims for itself in the recesses of the soul, and drives out Israel, i.e., the contemplation of holy and heavenly things, and never ceases to oppose them. For virtues cannot possibly live side by side with faults. “For what participation hath righteousness with unrighteousness? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness?”[2 Corinthians 6:14] But as soon as these faults have been overcome by the people of Israel, i.e., by those virtues which war against them, then at once the place in our heart which the spirit of concupiscence and fornication had occupied, will be filled by chastity. ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 442, footnote 7 (Image)

Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian

The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)

The Conferences of John Cassian. Part II. Containing Conferences XI-XVII. (HTML)

Conference XIV. The First Conference of Abbot Nesteros. On Spiritual Knowledge. (HTML)
Chapter XIV. How an unclean soul can neither give nor receive spiritual knowledge. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1910 (In-Text, Margin)

... from all the foul stains of sin will not be worthy to receive that blessed ointment of which it is said by the prophet: “Like the ointment upon the head, which ran down upon the beard of Aaron, which ran down upon the edge of his garment,” nor will it keep undefiled that spiritual knowledge and the words of Scripture which are “sweeter than honey and the honeycomb.” “For what share hath righteousness with iniquity? or what agreement hath light with darkness? or what concord has Christ with Belial?”[2 Corinthians 6:14-15]

Online Dictionary & Commentary of Early Church Beliefs