Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Ephesians 2:2
There are 36 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 83, footnote 12 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Ignatius (HTML)
Epistle to the Philadelphians: Shorter and Longer Versions (HTML)
Chapter VI.—Do not accept Judaism. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 935 (In-Text, Margin)
... good thing, and places the highest happiness in pleasure, as does the man who is falsely called a Nicolaitan, this person can neither be a lover of God, nor a lover of Christ, but is a corrupter of his own flesh, and therefore void of the Holy Spirit, and a stranger to Christ. All such persons are but monuments and sepulchres of the dead, upon which are written only the names of dead men. Flee, therefore, the wicked devices and snares of the spirit which now worketh in the children of this world,[Ephesians 2:2] lest at any time being overcome, ye grow weak in your love. But be ye all joined together with an undivided heart and a willing mind, “being of one accord and of one judgment,” being always of the same opinion about the same things, both when you ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 89, footnote 16 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Ignatius (HTML)
Epistle to the Smyrnæans: Shorter and Longer Versions (HTML)
Chapter VII.—Let us stand aloof from such heretics. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1024 (In-Text, Margin)
... evils.[Ephesians 2:2] from whom the Lord Jesus Christ will deliver us, who prayed that the faith of the apostles might not fail, not because He was not able of Himself to preserve it, but because He rejoiced in the pre-eminence of the Father. It is fitting, therefore, ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 117, footnote 1 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Ignatius (HTML)
Epistle to the Philippians (HTML)
Chapter IV.—The malignity and folly of Satan. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1320 (In-Text, Margin)
And indeed, before the cross was erected, he (Satan) was eager that it should be so; and he “wrought” [for this end] “in the children of disobedience.”[Ephesians 2:2] He wrought in Judas, in the Pharisees, in the Sadducees, in the old, in the young, and in the priests. But when it was just about to be erected, he was troubled, and infused repentance into the traitor, and pointed him to a rope to hang himself with, and taught him [to die by] strangulation. He terrified also the silly woman, disturbing her by dreams; and he, who had tried every means to have the cross prepared, now ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 553, footnote 1 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Irenæus (HTML)
Against Heresies: Book V (HTML)
Chapter XXIV.—Of the constant falsehood of the devil, and of the powers and governments of the world, which we ought to obey, inasmuch as they are appointed of God, not of the devil. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4662 (In-Text, Margin)
4. Just as if any one, being an apostate, and seizing in a hostile manner another man’s territory, should harass the inhabitants of it, in order that he might claim for himself the glory of a king among those ignorant of his apostasy and robbery; so likewise also the devil, being one among those angels who are placed over the spirit of the air, as the Apostle Paul has declared in his Epistle to the Ephesians,[Ephesians 2:2] becoming envious of man, was rendered an apostate from the divine law: for envy is a thing foreign to God. And as his apostasy was exposed by man, and man became the [means of] searching out his thoughts (et examinatio sententiæ ejus, homo factus est), he has set himself to this with ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 173, footnote 5 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
Exhortation to the Heathen (HTML)
Chapter I.—Exhortation to Abandon the Impious Mysteries of Idolatry for the Adoration of the Divine Word and God the Father. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 869 (In-Text, Margin)
Therefore (for the seducer is one and the same) he that at the beginning brought Eve down to death, now brings thither the rest of mankind. Our ally and helper, too, is one and the same—the Lord, who from the beginning gave revelations by prophecy, but now plainly calls to salvation. In obedience to the apostolic injunction, therefore, let us flee from “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,”[Ephesians 2:2] and let us run to the Lord the saviour, who now exhorts to salvation, as He has ever done, as He did by signs and wonders in Egypt and the desert, both by the bush and the cloud, which, through the favour of divine love, attended the Hebrews like a handmaid. By the fear ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 466, footnote 1 (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)
The Epistle to the Laodiceans. The Proper Designation is to the Ephesians. Recapitulation of All Things in Christ from the Beginning of the Creation. No Room for Marcion's Christ Here. Numerous Parallels Between This Epistle and Passages in the Old Testament. The Prince of the Power of the Air, and the God of This World--Who? Creation and Regeneration the Work of One God. How Christ Has Made the Law Obsolete. A Vain Erasure of Marcion's. The Apostles as Well as the Prophets from the Creator. (HTML)
... the Spirit says to the Father concerning the Son: “Thou hast put all things under His feet.” Now, if from all these facts which are found in the Creator there is yet to be deduced another god and another Christ, let us go in quest of the Creator. I suppose, forsooth, we find Him, when he speaks of such as “were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein they had walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, who worketh in the children of disobedience.”[Ephesians 2:1-2] But Marcion must not here interpret the world as meaning the God of the world. For a creature bears no resemblance to the Creator; the thing made, none to its Maker; the world, none to God. He, moreover, who is the Prince of the power of the ages ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 137, footnote 10 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
Appendix (HTML)
A Strain of the Judgment of the Lord. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1310 (In-Text, Margin)
180 And deeply moved are the high air’s powers,[Ephesians 2:2]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 299, footnote 2 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Origen. (HTML)
Origen De Principiis. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
On Counter Promises. (HTML)
... out to the worthy and deserving after their departure from life, that by the knowledge of all these things, and by the grace of full knowledge, they may enjoy an unspeakable joy. Then, if that atmosphere which is between heaven and earth is not devoid of inhabitants, and those of a rational kind, as the apostle says, “Wherein in times past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now worketh in the children of disobedience.”[Ephesians 2:2] And again he says, “We shall be caught up in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 633, footnote 8 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Origen. (HTML)
Origen Against Celsus. (HTML)
Book VII (HTML)
Chapter LII (HTML)
... on the teaching of Jesus also run until they come to the end of their course, when they can say in all truth and confidence: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.” And each of us runs “not as uncertain,” and he so fights with evil “not as one beating the air,” but as against those who are subject to “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.”[Ephesians 2:2] Celsus may indeed say of us that we “live with the body which is a dead thing;” but we have learnt, “If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye by the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live;” and, “If we live in the Spirit, ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 220, footnote 24 (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 XLIV. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1994 (In-Text, Margin)
... Moses went without fear into the darkness of the clouds that carry water; and here, the Lord Jesus walked with all power upon the waters. There, Moses gave his commands to the sea; and here, the Lord Jesus, when he was on the sea, rose and gave His commands to the winds and the sea. There, Moses, when he was assailed, stretched forth his hands and fought against Amalek; and here, the Lord Jesus, when we were assailed and were perishing by the violence of that erring spirit who works now in the just,[Ephesians 2:2] stretched forth His hands upon the cross, and gave us salvation. But there are indeed many other matters of this kind which I must pass by, my dearly beloved Diodorus, as I am in haste to send you this little book with all convenient speed; and ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 59, footnote 17 (Image)
Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents
Two Epistles Concerning Virginity. (HTML)
The First Epistle of the Blessed Clement, the Disciple of Peter the Apostle. (HTML)
Perniciousness of Idleness; Warning Against the Empty Longing to Be Teachers; Advice About Teaching and the Use of Divine Gifts. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 405 (In-Text, Margin)
... These, moreover, are like “the blind man who leads the blind man, and they both fall into the ditch.” And they will receive judgment, because in their talkativeness and their frivolous teaching they teach natural wisdom and the “frivolous error of the plausible words of the wisdom of men,” “according to the will of the prince of the dominion of the air, and of the spirit which works in those men who will not obey, according to the training of this world, and not according to the doctrine of Christ.”[Ephesians 2:2] But if thou hast received “the word of knowledge, or the word of instruction, or of prophecy,” blessed be God, “who helps every man without grudging—that God who gives to every man and does not upbraid him.” With the gift, therefore, which ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 480, footnote 4 (Image)
Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Apocalypses, Visio Pauli, Testament of Abraham, Acts of X/P, Zosimus, Aristides, Clement, Origen
Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew. (HTML)
Origen's Commentary on Matthew. (HTML)
Book XIII. (HTML)
Jesus' Prediction of His “Delivery” Into the Hands of Men. (HTML)
... it were, delivered up by the devil to his princes, namely, to those who took prisoners of war, to the horsemen, to the fire that came down from heaven, to the great wind that came from the desert and broke up his house. But you will consider if, as he delivered up the property of Job to those who took them captive, and to the horsemen, so also he delivered them up to a certain power, subordinate to “the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience,”[Ephesians 2:2] in order that the fire which descended thence on the sheep of Job might seem to fall from heaven, to the man who announced to Job that “fire fell from heaven, and burned up his sheep, and consumed the shepherds likewise.” And in the same way you ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 161, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
Having manifested what he was and what he is, he shows the great fruit of his confession; and being about to examine by what method God and the happy life may be found, he enlarges on the nature and power of memory. Then he examines his own acts, thoughts and affections, viewed under the threefold division of temptation; and commemorates the Lord, the one mediator of God and men. (HTML)
In What Manner Many Sought the Mediator. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 972 (In-Text, Margin)
... death.[Ephesians 2:2] the conspirators and companions in pride, by whom, through the power of magic, they were deceived, seeking a mediator by whom they might be cleansed; but none was there. For the devil it was, transforming himself into an angel of light. And he much ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 175, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)
He expounds this trinity that he has found in knowledge by commending Christian faith. (HTML)
All, on Account of the Sin of Adam, Were Delivered into the Power of the Devil. (HTML)
... “Dust shall thou eat.” But the apostle declares this more clearly, where he says: “And you who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of unfaithfulness; among whom we also had our conversation in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.”[Ephesians 2:1-3] The “children of unfaithfulness” are the unbelievers; and who is not this before he becomes a believer? And therefore all men are originally under the prince of the power of the air, “who worketh in the children of unfaithfulness.” And that which I ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 117, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings
Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)
Acts or Disputation Against Fortunatus the Manichæan. (HTML)
Disputation of the First Day. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 234 (In-Text, Margin)
... our peace, who made both one, and breaking down the middle wall of partition, the enmities in His flesh, making void by His decrees the law of commandments, that in Himself He might unite the two into one new man, making peace, that He might reconcile them both in one body unto God through the cross, slaying the enmities in Himself. And He came and preached peace unto you that were far off, and peace to them that were nigh. For through Him we both have our access in one Spirit unto the Father."[Ephesians 2:1-18]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 33, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
From the Epistle to the Ephesians. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 362 (In-Text, Margin)
... of this world according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit of him that now worketh in the children of disobedience; among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ; by whose grace ye are saved.”[Ephesians 2:1-5] Again, a little afterwards, he says: “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 403, footnote 13 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
Misrepresentation Concerning the Effect of Baptism. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2694 (In-Text, Margin)
... for He said this when He was explaining, “Of sin because they believed not on me,” and when He says, “If I had not come and spoken to them, they should not have sin.” For He meant not that before they had no sin, but He wished to indicate that very want of faith by which they did not believe Him even when He was present to them and speaking to them; since they belonged to him of whom the apostle says, “According to the prince of the power of the air, who now worketh in the children of unbelief.”[Ephesians 2:2] Therefore they in whom there is not faith are the children of the devil, because they have not in the inner man any reason why there should be forgiven them whatever is committed either by human infirmity, or by ignorance, or by any evil will ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 325, footnote 5 (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. xii. 32, ‘Whosoever shall speak a word against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in that which is to come.’ Or, ‘on the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost.’ (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2408 (In-Text, Margin)
... in the spirit;” for from Him comes the fervour of love. “For it is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” And the contrary to this fervour is what the Lord said, “The love of many shall wax cold.” Now perfect love is the perfect gift of the Holy Spirit. But the first “gift” is that which is concerned with the remission of sins; by which blessing “we are delivered from the power of darkness;” and the prince of this world, who worketh in the children of disobedience”[Ephesians 2:2] by no other power than the fellowship and the bond of sin, is “cast out” by our faith. For by the Holy Spirit, by whom the people of God are gathered together into one, is the unclean spirit who is divided against himself cast out.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 537, 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, John xvi. 7, ‘I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away,’ etc. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4258 (In-Text, Margin)
5. Nor let the world excuse itself by this, that it is hindered by the devil from believing on Christ. For to believers the prince of the world is cast out, that he work no more in the hearts of men whom Christ hath begun to possess by faith; as he worketh in the children of unbelief;[Ephesians 2:2] whom he is constantly stirring up to tempt and disturb the righteous. For because he is cast out, who once had dominion interiorly he wageth war exteriorly. Although then by means of his persecutions, “the Lord doth direct the meek in judgment;” nevertheless in this very fact of his being cast out, is he “judged already.” And of this, “judgment” is the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 61, footnote 10 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XXIV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 629 (In-Text, Margin)
10. “Who is this King of glory?” What! dost thou too, prince of the power of this air,[Ephesians 2:2] marvel and ask, “Who is this King of glory?” “The Lord of powers, He is the King of glory” (ver. 10). Yea, His Body now quickened, He who was tempted marches above thee; He who was tempted by the angel, the deceiver, goes above all angels. Let none of you put himself before us and stop our way, that he may be worshipped as a god by us: neither principality, nor angel, nor power, separateth us from the love of Christ. It is good to trust in the Lord, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 290, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXVIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2742 (In-Text, Margin)
... goeth into the house of a strong man to spoil his vessels, unless first he shall have bound the strong man.” Christ therefore hath bound the devil with spiritual bonds, by overcoming death, and by ascending from Hell above the Heavens: He hath bound him by the Sacrament of His Incarnation, because though finding nothing in Him deserving of death, yet he was permitted to kill: and from him so bound He took away his vessels as though they were spoils. For he was working in the sons of disobedience,[Ephesians 2:2] of whose unbelief he made use to work his own will. These vessels the Lord cleansing by the remission of sins, sanctifying these spoils wrested from the foe laid prostrate and bound, these He hath divided to the beauty of His House; making some ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 294, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXVIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2811 (In-Text, Margin)
... been said, “Thou hast led captivity captive, Thou hast received gifts in men:” there hath been added in continuation, “for they that believe not to dwell,” that is, not believing that they should dwell. What is this? Of whom saith he this? Did that captivity, before it passed into a good captivity, show whence it was an evil captivity? For through not believing they were possessed by the enemy, “that worketh in the sons of unbelief: among whom ye were sometime, while ye were living among them.”[Ephesians 2:2] By the gifts therefore of His grace, He that hath received gifts in men, hath led captive that captivity. For they believed not that they should dwell. For faith hath thence delivered them, in order that now believing they may dwell in the House of ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 328, footnote 10 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3190 (In-Text, Margin)
... more suitably recognised here than the devil. False accusation is his business. “Doth Job worship God gratis?” But the Lord Jesus doth humble him, by His grace aiding His own, in order that they may worship God gratis, that is, may take delight in the Lord. He humbled him also thus; because when in Him the devil, that is, the prince of this world, had found nothing, he slew Him by the false accusations of the Jews, whom the false-accuser made use of as his vessels, working in the sons of unbelief.[Ephesians 2:2] …
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 376, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXVIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3618 (In-Text, Margin)
... and of godly knowledge, saith not, The Lord hath given, the devil hath taken away: but, “The Lord hath given, the Lord hath taken away:” very well knowing that even what the devil was able to do with these elements, he would still not have done to a servant of God, except at his Lord’s will and permission; he did confound the malice of the devil, forasmuch as he knew who it was that was making use thereof to prove him. In the sons then of unbelief like as it were in his own slaves, he doth work,[Ephesians 2:2] like men with their beasts, and even therewith only so far as is permitted by the just judgment of God. But it is one thing when his power is restrained from treating even his own as he pleases, by a greater power; another thing when to him power is ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 377, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXVIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3624 (In-Text, Margin)
... creatures, to evil angels; we have a thing which without doubt we can ascribe to them; the dyings of the beasts, the dyings of the first-born, and this especially whence all these things proceeded, namely, the hardening of heart, so that they would not let go the people of God. For when God is said to make this most iniquitous and malignant obstinacy, He maketh it not by suggesting and inspiring, but by forsaking, so that they work in the sons of unbelief that which God doth duly and justly permit.[Ephesians 2:2] …Moreover, those evil manners which we said were signified by these corporal plagues, on account of that which was said before, “I will open in parables my mouth,” are most appropriately believed by means of evil angels to have been wrought in those ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 398, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXXIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3861 (In-Text, Margin)
6. And as if to point out the cause why they are enemies of God’s people, he adds, “For Assur came with them.” Now Assur is often used figuratively for the devil, “who works in the children of disobedience,”[Ephesians 2:2] as in his own vessels, that they may assail the people of God. “They have holpen the children of Lot,” he saith: for all enemies, by the working in them of the devil, their prince, “have holpen the children of Lot,” who is explained to mean “one declining.” But the apostate angels are well explained as the children of declension, for by declining from truth they swerved to become followers of ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 516, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CIV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4753 (In-Text, Margin)
29. “The Sun hath arisen, and they get them away together, and lay them down in their dens” (ver. 22). More and more as the Sun riseth, so that Christ is recognised by the round world, and glorified therein, do the lion’s whelps get them away together; those devils recede from the persecution of the Church, who instigated men to persecute the house of God, by working in the sons of unbelief.[Ephesians 2:2] Now that none of them dareth persecute the Church, “the Sun hath arisen, and they get them away together.” And where are they? “And they lay them down in their dens.” Their dens are the hearts of the unbelieving. How many carry lions crouching in their hearts? They burst not forth thence, they make no ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 557, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXVIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5106 (In-Text, Margin)
3. “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear what man doeth unto me” (ver. 6). But are men, then, the only enemies that the Church hath? What is a man devoted to flesh and blood, save flesh and blood? But the Apostle saith, “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against,”…he saith, “spiritual wickedness in high places;” that is, the devil and his angels; that devil whom elsewhere he calleth “the prince of the power of the air.”[Ephesians 2:2] Hear therefore what followeth: “The Lord is my helper: therefore shall I despise mine enemies” (ver. 7). From what class soever my enemies may arise, whether from the number of evil men, or from the number of evil angels; in the Lord’s help, unto whom we chant the confession of ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 570, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXIX (HTML)
Cheth. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5213 (In-Text, Margin)
59. But in what manner he was ready to keep the divine commandments, he hath added, in these words: “The bands of the ungodly have surrounded me: but I have not forgotten Thy law” (ver. 61). “The bands of the ungodly” are the hindrances of our enemies, whether spiritual, as the devil and his angels, or carnal, the children of disobedience, in whom the devil worketh.[Ephesians 2:2] For this word peccatorum is not from peccata, “sins;” but from peccatores, “sinners.” Therefore when they threaten evils, with which to alarm the righteous, that they may not suffer for the law of God, they, so to speak, entangle them with bands, with a strong and tough cord of their own. For ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 650, footnote 8 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXLII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5807 (In-Text, Margin)
... that kill the body, but cannot kill the soul.” And what perisheth? what kill they?…Why then art thou anxious about the rest of thy members, when thou shalt not lose even a hair? “Deliver me from them that persecute me.” From whom thinkest thou that he prayeth to be delivered? From men who persecuted him? Is it so? are merely men our enemies? We have other enemies, invisible, who persecute us in another way. Man persecuteth, that he may slay the body; another persecuteth, that he ensnare the soul.[Ephesians 2:2] …There are then other enemies of ours too, from whom we ought to pray God to deliver us, lest they lead us astray, either by crushing us with troubles of this world, or alluring us by its enticements. Who are these enemies? Let us see whether they ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 50, footnote 2 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
The Incarnation of the Word. (HTML)
On the Incarnation of the Word. (HTML)
Why the Cross, of all deaths? (1) He had to bear the curse for us. (2) On it He held out His hands to unite all, Jews and Gentiles, in Himself. (3) He defeated the “Prince of the powers of the air” in His own region, clearing the way to heaven and opening for us the everlasting doors. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 270 (In-Text, Margin)
... both in Himself. 4. For this is what He Himself has said, signifying by what manner of death He was to ransom all: “I, when I am lifted up,” He saith, “shall draw all men unto Me.” 5. And once more, if the devil, the enemy of our race, having fallen from heaven, wanders about our lower atmosphere, and there bearing rule over his fellow-spirits, as his peers in disobedience, not only works illusions by their means in them that are deceived, but tries to hinder them that are going up (and about this[Ephesians 2:2] the Apostle says: “According to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience”); while the Lord came to cast down the devil, and clear the air and prepare the way for us up into heaven, as said the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 213, footnote 1 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Life of Antony. (Vita Antoni.) (HTML)
Life of Antony. (Vita Antoni.) (HTML)
Of Antony's vision concerning the forgiveness of his sins. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1108 (In-Text, Margin)
... him, his way was free and unhindered. And immediately he saw himself, as it were, coming and standing by himself, and again he was Antony as before. Then forgetful of eating, he remained the rest of the day and through the whole of the night groaning and praying. For he was astonished when he saw against what mighty opponents our wrestling is, and by what labours we have to pass through the air. And he remembered that this is what the Apostle said, ‘according to the prince of the power of the air[Ephesians 2:2].’ For in it the enemy hath power to fight and to attempt to hinder those who pass through. Wherefore most earnestly he exhorted, ‘Take up the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day,’ that the enemy, ‘having no evil ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 577, footnote 10 (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)
To Adelphius, Bishop and Confessor: against the Arians. (HTML)
... this was so, how can it be other than right to worship the Body of the Lord, all-holy and all-reverend as it is, announced as it was by the archangel Gabriel, formed by the Holy Spirit, and made the Vesture of the Word? It was at any rate a bodily hand that the Word stretched out to raise her that was sick of a fever: a human voice that He uttered to raise Lazarus from the dead; and, once again, stretching out His hands upon the Cross, He overthrew the prince of the power of the air, that now works[Ephesians 2:2] in the sons of disobedience, and made the way clear for us into the heavens.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 150, footnote 1 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
The Letters. (HTML)
To a fallen virgin. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2121 (In-Text, Margin)
... shameful corruption, but that you should not fall away from the Lord Jesus? How often have you received gifts from the Bridegroom? Why enumerate the honours given you for His sake by them that are His? Why tell of your fellowship with virgins, your progress with them, your being greeted by them with praises on account of virginity, eulogies of virgins, letters written as to a virgin? Now, nevertheless, at a little blast from the spirit of the air, “that now worketh in the children of disobedience,”[Ephesians 2:2] you have abjured all these; you have changed the honourable treasure, worth fighting for at all costs, for short-lived indulgence which does for the moment gratify the appetite; one day you will find it more bitter than gall.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 251, footnote 9 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
The Letters. (HTML)
To the notables of Neocæsarea. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2795 (In-Text, Margin)
... the reflexion is, neither can a soul preoccupied with cares of this life, and darkened with the passions of the lust of the flesh, receive the rays of the Holy Ghost. Every dream is not a prophecy, as says Zechariah, “The Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain,…for the idols have spoken vanity and the diviners have told false dreams.” Those who, as Isaiah says, dream and love to sleep in their bed forget that an operation of error is sent to “the children of disobedience.”[Ephesians 2:2] And there is a lying spirit, which arose in false prophecies, and deceived Ahab. Knowing this they ought not to have been so lifted up as to ascribe the gift of prophecy to themselves. They are shewn to fall far short even of the case of the seer ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 206, footnote 12 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)
Book I. (HTML)
Chapter V. The various blasphemies uttered by the Arians against Christ are cited. Before these are replied to, the orthodox are admonished to beware of the captious arguments of philosophers, forasmuch as in these especially did the heretics put their trust. (HTML)
36. They say that the Son of God had a beginning in time, whereas He Himself is the source and ordainer of time and all that therein is.[Ephesians 2:2] We are men, and we would not be limited to time. We began to exist once, and we believe that we shall have a timeless existence. We desire after immortality—how, then, can we deny the eternity of God’s Son, Whom God declares to be eternal by nature, not by grace?