Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts

Ephesians 2:12

There are 18 footnotes for this reference.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 9, footnote 12 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

The Pastor of Hermas (HTML)

Book First.—Visions (HTML)

Vision First. Against Filthy and Proud Thoughts, and the Carelessness of Hermas in Chastising His Sons. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 32 (In-Text, Margin)

... by thinking righteously his character is established in the heavens, and he has the Lord merciful to him in every business. But such as entertain wicked thoughts in their minds are bringing upon themselves death and captivity; and especially is this the case with those who set their affections on this world, and glory in their riches, and look not forward to the blessings of the life to come. For many will their regrets be; for they have no hope, but have despaired of themselves and their life.[Ephesians 2:12] But do thou pray to God, and He will heal thy sins, and the sins of thy whole house, and of all the saints.”

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 177, footnote 4 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

Exhortation to the Heathen (HTML)

Chapter II.—The Absurdity and Impiety of the Heathen Mysteries and Fables About the Birth and Death of Their Gods. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 886 (In-Text, Margin)

... that in truth cannot be mentioned for shame, held fast as they are in the double impiety, first in that they know not God, not acknowledging as God Him who truly is; the other and second is the error of regarding those who exist not, as existing and calling those gods that have no real existence, or rather no existence at all, who have nothing but a name. Wherefore the apostle reproves us, saying, “And ye were strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.”[Ephesians 2:12]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 454, footnote 16 (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 Second Epistle to the Corinthians. The Creator the Father of Mercies. Shown to Be Such in the Old Testament, and Also in Christ. The Newness of the New Testament. The Veil of Obdurate Blindness Upon Israel, Not Reprehensible on Marcion's Principles. The Jews Guilty in Rejecting the Christ of the Creator. Satan, the God of This World. The Treasure in Earthen Vessels Explained Against Marcion. The Creator's Relation to These Vessels, I.e. Our Bodies. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5727 (In-Text, Margin)

... the testimony of the clause (above adverted to), and certainly not to him who never said, “Let there be light.” I here pass over discussion about another epistle, which we hold to have been written to the Ephesians, but the heretics to the Laodiceans. In it he tells them to remember, that at the time when they were Gentiles they were without Christ, aliens from (the commonwealth of) Israel, without intercourse, without the covenants and any hope of promise, nay, without God, even in his own world,[Ephesians 2:12] as the Creator thereof. Since therefore he said, that the Gentiles were without God, whilst their god was the devil, not the Creator, it is clear that he must be understood to be the lord of this world, whom the Gentiles received as their god—not ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 466, footnote 15 (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)
CCEL Footnote 5985 (In-Text, Margin)

... the substance of nature, He “made” him; as touching the work of grace, He “created” him. Look also at what follows in connection with these words: “Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which has the name of circumcision in the flesh made by the hand—that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.”[Ephesians 2:11-12] Now, without what God and without what Christ were these Gentiles? Surely, without Him to whom the commonwealth of Israel belonged, and the covenants and the promise. “But now in Christ,” says he, “ye who were sometimes far off are made nigh by His ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 45, footnote 3 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)

To His Wife. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)
Of the Apostle's Meaning in 1 Cor. VII. 12-14. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 448 (In-Text, Margin)

... according to the words themselves: “If,” it says, “any believer has an unbelieving wife;” it does not say, “ takes an unbelieving wife.” It shows that it is the duty of one who, already living in marriage with an unbelieving woman, has presently been by the grace of God converted, to continue with his wife; for this reason, to be sure, in order that no one, after attaining to faith, should think that he must turn away from a woman who is now in some sense an “alien” and “stranger.”[Ephesians 2:12] Accordingly he subjoins withal a reason, that “we are called in peace unto the Lord God;” and that “the unbeliever may, through the use of matrimony, be gained by the believer.” The very closing sentence of the period confirms (the ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 109, footnote 4 (Image)

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

Lactantius (HTML)

The Divine Institutes (HTML)

Book IV. Of True Wisdom and Religion (HTML)
Chap. XI.—Of the cause of the incarnation of Christ (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 576 (In-Text, Margin)

... with the Holy Spirit, appointing them as prophets in the midst of the people, by whom He might rebuke with threatening words the sins of the ungrateful people, and nevertheless exhort them to repent of their wickedness; for unless they did this, and, laying aside their vanities, return to their God, it would come to pass that He would change His covenant, that is, bestow the inheritance of eternal life upon foreign nations, and collect to Himself a more faithful people out of those who were aliens[Ephesians 2:12] by birth. But they, when rebuked by the prophets, not only rejected their words; but being offended because they were upbraided for their sins, they slew the prophets themselves with studied tortures: all which things are sealed up and preserved in ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 398, footnote 1 (Image)

Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Apocalypses, Visio Pauli, Testament of Abraham, Acts of X/P, Zosimus, Aristides, Clement, Origen

Epistle to Gregory and Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John. (HTML)

Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John. (HTML)

Book X. (HTML)
The Ass and the Colt are the Old and the New Testament.  Spiritual Meaning of the Various Features of the Story.  Differences Between John's Narrative and that of the Other Evangelists. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5073 (In-Text, Margin)

... the text of Matthew, reserving for a further opportunity, when we may be permitted to take up the Gospel of Matthew by itself, a more complete and accurate discussion of his statements. Mark and Luke say that the two disciples, acting on their Master’s instructions, found a foal tied, on which no one had ever sat, and that they loosed it and brought it to the Lord. Mark adds that they found the foal tied at the door, outside on the road. But who is outside? Those of the Gentiles who were strangers[Ephesians 2:12] from the covenants, and aliens to the promise of God; they are on the road, not resting under a roof or a house, bound by their own sins, and to be loosed by the twofold knowledge spoken of above, of the friends of Jesus. And the bonds with which ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 424, footnote 5 (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 X. (HTML)
Parables in Relation to Similitudes.  Jesus in His Own Country. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5259 (In-Text, Margin)

... the passage about His country,—namely, the whole of Judæa,—in which He was dishonoured according to the saying, “A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country.” And if anyone thinks of Jesus Christ, “a stumbling-block to the Jews,” among whom He is persecuted even until now, but proclaimed among the Gentiles and believed in,—for His word has run over the whole world,—he will see that in His own country Jesus had no honour, but that among those who were “strangers from the covenants,”[Ephesians 2:12] the Gentiles, He is held in honour. But what things He taught and spake in their synagogue the Evangelists have not recorded, but only that they were so great and of such a nature that all were astonished. And probably the things spoken were too ...

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 4, page 191, footnote 1 (Image)

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

Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)

Reply to Faustus the Manichæan. (HTML)

Faustus denies that the prophets predicted Christ.  Augustin proves such prediction from the New Testament, and expounds at length the principal types of Christ in the Old Testament. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 445 (In-Text, Margin)

... aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants; having no hope of the promise, and without God in the world." In these words there is a description of the state of Japhet before he dwelt in the tents of Shem. But observe what follows: "Now then;" he says, "ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone."[Ephesians 2:12] Here we have Japhet enlarged, and dwelling in the tents of Shem. These testimonies are taken from the epistles of the apostles, which you yourselves acknowledge, and read, and profess to follow. You occupy an unhappy middle position in a building of ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 309, footnote 6 (Image)

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

Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)

Reply to Faustus the Manichæan. (HTML)

Faustus states his objections to the morality of the law and the prophets, and Augustin seeks by the application of the type and the allegory to explain away the moral difficulties of the Old Testament. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 960 (In-Text, Margin)

... the Psalms, where the Lord is called the cornerstone, as referring to His uniting in Himself the two walls of circumcision and uncircumcision, "that He might make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: and that He might come and preach peace to them that are far off, and to them that are nigh," that is, to the Gentiles and to the Jews; "for He is our peace, who hath made of both one;"[Ephesians 2:11-22] to the same purpose we find the prophet speaking of the Jews as the children of Judah, and of the Gentiles as children of Israel, where he says, "The children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and shall make to ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 336, footnote 8 (Image)

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

Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)

Reply to Faustus the Manichæan. (HTML)

Faustus fails to understand why he should be required either to accept or reject the New Testament as a whole, while the Catholics accept or reject the various parts of the Old Testament at pleasure.  Augustin denies that the Catholics treat the Old Testament arbitrarily, and explains their attitude towards it. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1055 (In-Text, Margin)

... polluted with the crime of murder. It would take too long to settle this question, and it is not necessary. For, allowing that the apostles did on that occasion require Christians to abstain from the blood of animals, and not to eat of things strangled, they seem to me to have consulted the time in choosing an easy observance that could not be burdensome to any one, and which the Gentiles might have in common with the Israelities, for the sake of the Corner-stone, who makes both one in Himself;[Ephesians 2:11-22] while at the same time they would be reminded how the Church of all nations was prefigured by the ark of Noah, when God gave this command,—a type which began to be fulfilled in the time of the apostles by the accession of the Gentiles to the faith. ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 33, footnote 3 (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 364 (In-Text, Margin)

... who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having in Himself slain the enmity; and He came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.”[Ephesians 2:12-18] Then in another passage he thus writes: “As the truth is in Jesus: that ye put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 183, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels

The Harmony of the Gospels. (HTML)

Book III (HTML)

Of What Took Place in the Piece of Ground or Garden to Which They Came on Leaving the House After the Supper; And of the Method in Which, in John’s Silence on the Subject, a Real Harmony Can Be Demonstrated Between the Other Three Evangelists—Namely, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1273 (In-Text, Margin)

... is in Hebrew exactly what “Pater” is in Latin. And perhaps the Lord may have used both words with some kind of symbolical significance, intending to indicate thereby, that in sustaining this sorrow He bore the part of His body, which is the Church, of which He has been made the corner-stone, and which comes to Him [in the person of disciples gathered] partly out of the Hebrews, to whom He refers when He says “Abba,” and partly out of the Gentiles, to whom He refers when He says “Pater” [Father].[Ephesians 2:11-22] The Apostle Paul also makes use of the same significant expression. For he says, “In whom we cry, Abba, Father;” and, in another passage, “God sent His Spirit into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” For it was meet that the good Master and true ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 106, footnote 5 (Image)

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

Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John. (HTML)

Chapter IV. 1–42. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 347 (In-Text, Margin)

... know: ye worship ye know not what; for salvation is of the Jews.” A great thing has He attributed to the Jews; but do not understand Him to mean those spurious Jews. Understand that wall to which another is joined, that they may be joined together, resting on the corner-stone, which is Christ. For there is one wall from the Jews, another from the Gentiles; these walls are far apart, only until they are united in the Corner. Now the aliens were strangers and foreigners from the covenants of God.[Ephesians 2:11-22] According to this, it is said, “We worship what we know.” It is said, indeed, in the person of the Jews, but not of all Jews, not of reprobate Jews, but of such as were the apostles, as were the prophets, as were all those saints who sold all their ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 262, footnote 2 (Image)

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

Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John. (HTML)

Chapter X. 14–21. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 916 (In-Text, Margin)

... is, among the Gentiles, “which are not of this fold,” that is, of the people of Israel: “them also must I bring.” Therefore, even when it is by the instrumentality of His servants, it is He and not another that bringeth them. Listen further: “They shall hear my voice.” See here also, it is He Himself who speaks by His servants, and it is His voice that is heard in those whom He sends. “That there may be one fold, and one shepherd.” Of these two flocks, as of two walls, is the corner-stone formed.[Ephesians 2:11-22] And thus is He both door and the corner-stone: all by way of comparison, none of them literally.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 67, footnote 7 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm XXIX (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 671 (In-Text, Margin)

8. “The Voice of the Lord moving the wilderness” (ver. 8). The Voice of the Lord moving to the faith the Gentiles once “without hope, and without God in the world;”[Ephesians 2:12] where no prophet, no preacher of God’s word, as it were, no man had dwelt. “And the Lord will move the desert of Cades.” And then the Lord will cause the holy word of His Scriptures to be fully known, which was abandoned by the Jews who understood it not.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 17, footnote 6 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

De Spiritu Sancto. (HTML)

Against those who say that it is not right to rank the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 937 (In-Text, Margin)

... our salvation “than when we first believed,” and deny now what we then received? Whether a man have departed this life without baptism, or have received a baptism lacking in some of the requirements of the tradition, his loss is equal. And whoever does not always and everywhere keep to and hold fast as a sure protection the confession which we recorded at our first admission, when, being delivered “from the idols,” we came “to the living God,” constitutes himself a “stranger” from the “promises”[Ephesians 2:12] of God, fighting against his own handwriting, which he put on record when he professed the faith. For if to me my baptism was the beginning of life, and that day of regeneration the first of days, it is plain that the utterance uttered in the grace ...

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