Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Philippians 2:15
There are 19 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 467, footnote 7 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Irenæus (HTML)
Against Heresies: Book IV (HTML)
Chapter V.—The author returns to his former argument, and shows that there was but one God announced by the law and prophets, whom Christ confesses as His Father, and who, through His word, one living God with Him, made Himself known to men in both covenants. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3853 (In-Text, Margin)
3. And teaching this very thing, He said to the Jews: “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he should see my day; and he saw it, and was glad.” What is intended? “Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness.” In the first place, [he believed] that He was the maker of heaven and earth, the only God; and in the next place, that He would make his seed as the stars of heaven. This is what is meant by Paul, [when he says,] “as lights in the world.”[Philippians 2:15] Righteously, therefore, having left his earthly kindred, he followed the Word of God, walking as a pilgrim with the Word, that he might [afterwards] have his abode with the Word.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 71, footnote 7 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Apologetic. (HTML)
On Idolatry. (HTML)
Concerning Festivals in Honour of Emperors, Victories, and the Like. Examples of the Three Children and Daniel. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 286 (In-Text, Margin)
... submissive to Darius, remained in his duty so long as it was free from danger to his religion; for, to avoid undergoing that danger, he feared the royal lions no more than they the royal fires. Let, therefore, them who have no light, light their lamps daily; let them over whom the fires of hell are imminent, affix to their posts, laurels doomed presently to burn: to them the testimonies of darkness and the omens of their penalties are suitable. You are a light of the world,[Philippians 2:15] and a tree ever green. If you have renounced temples, make not your own gate a temple. I have said too little. If you have renounced stews, clothe not your own house with the appearance of a new brothel.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 476, footnote 2 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Origen. (HTML)
Origen Against Celsus. (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
Chapter XXIX (HTML)
... the Gospel of Jesus to prevail throughout the whole world for the conversion and reformation of men, and caused Churches to be everywhere established in opposition to those of superstitious and licentious and wicked men; for such is the character of the multitudes who constitute the citizens in the assemblies of the various cities. Whereas the Churches of God which are instructed by Christ, when carefully contrasted with the assemblies of the districts in which they are situated, are as beacons[Philippians 2:15] in the world; for who would not admit that even the inferior members of the Church, and those who in comparison with the better are less worthy, are nevertheless more excellent than many of those who belong to the assemblies in the different ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 284, footnote 6 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)
To Rogatianus the Presbyter, and the Other Confessors. A.D. 250. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2160 (In-Text, Margin)
... conduct of all. For as the Jews were alienated from God, as those on whose account “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles,” so on the other hand those are dear to God through whose conformity to discipline the name of God is declared with a testimony of praise, as it is written, the Lord Himself forewarning and saying, “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” And Paul the apostle says, “Shine as lights in the world.”[Philippians 2:15] And similarly Peter exhorts: “As strangers,” says he, “and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul, having your conversation honest among the Gentiles; that whereas they speak against you as evil-doers, they may by your good ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 537, footnote 16 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
... will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall ever be in my mouth.” Of this same thing in Numbers: “Let their murmuring cease from me, and they shall not die.” Of this same thing in the Acts of the Apostles: “But about the middle of the night Paul and Silas prayed and gave thanks to God, and the prisoners heard them.” Also in the Epistle of Paul to the Philippians: “But doing all things for love, without murmurings and revilings, that ye may be without complaint, and spotless sons of God.”[Philippians 2:14-15]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 542, footnote 10 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
... down, and cast into the fire.” Also in the same place: “Many shall say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name, and in Thy name have cast out devils, and in Thy name have done great works? And then shall I say to them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye who work iniquity.” Also in the same place: “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Also Paul to the Philippians: “Shine as lights in the world.”[Philippians 2:15]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 58, footnote 7 (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)
Continuation of the Subject of Mortification; Dignity of Persons Consecrated to God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 375 (In-Text, Margin)
... approved before God and before men. For in “the man who is of God,” with him I say there is nothing of the mind of the flesh; and especially in virgins of either sex; but the fruits of all of them are “the fruits of the Spirit” and of life, and they are truly the city of God, and the houses and temples in which God abides and dwells, and among which He walks, as in the holy city of heaven. For in this “do ye appear to the world as lights, in that ye give heed to the Word of life,”[Philippians 2:15-16] and thus ye are in truth the praise, and the boast, and the crown of rejoicing, and the delight of good servants in our Lord Jesus Christ. For all who see you will “acknowledge that ye are the seed which the Lord hath blessed;” in very deed a seed ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 63, footnote 5 (Image)
Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents
Two Epistles Concerning Virginity. (HTML)
The Second Epistle of the Same Clement. (HTML)
How Christians Should Behave Themselves Among Heathens. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 462 (In-Text, Margin)
... be im portant for us to stay there a few days, let us be “wise as serpents, and harmless as doves;” and let us “not be as the foolish, but as the wise,” in all the self -restraint of the fear of God, that God may be glorified in everything through our Lord Jesus Christ, through our chaste and holy behaviour. For, “whether we eat, or drink, or do anything else, let us do it as for the glory of God.” Let “all those who see us acknowledge that we are a blessed seed,” “sons of the living God,”[Philippians 2:15] in everything—in all our words in shamefastness, in purity, in humility, forasmuch as we do not copy the heathen in anything, nor are as believers like other men, but in everything are estranged from the wicked. And we “do not ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 197, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
Of the goodness of God explained in the creation of things, and of the Trinity as found in the first words of Genesis. The story concerning the origin of the world (Gen. I.) is allegorically explained, and he applies it to those things which God works for sanctified and blessed man. Finally, he makes an end of this work, having implored eternal rest from God. (HTML)
Of the Lights and Stars of Heaven—Of Day and Night, Ver. 14. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1298 (In-Text, Margin)
... look down from heaven,” and let there be “lights in the firmament.” Let us break our bread to the hungry, and let us bring the houseless poor to our house. Let us clothe the naked, and despise not those of our own flesh. The which fruits having sprung forth from the earth, behold, because it is good; and let our temporary light burst forth; and let us, from this inferior fruit of action, possessing the delights of contemplation and of the Word of Life above, let us appear as lights in the world,[Philippians 2:15] clinging to the firmament of Thy Scripture. For therein Thou makest it plain unto us, that we may distinguish between things intelligible and things of sense, as if between the day and the night; or between souls, given, some to things intellectual, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 165, footnote 15 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise Concerning Man’s Perfection in Righteousness. (HTML)
Who May Be Said to Walk Without Spot; Damnable and Venial Sins. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1434 (In-Text, Margin)
... manner the Saviour says in the Gospel, Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.’ So the apostle, in his second Epistle to the Corinthians, says: ‘Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect.’ Again, to the Colossians he writes: ‘Warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ.’ And so to the Philippians: ‘Do all things without murmurings and disputings, that ye may be blameless, and harmless, as the immaculate sons of God.’[Philippians 2:14-15] In like manner to the Ephesians he writes: ‘Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ; according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 8, footnote 15 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount. (HTML)
Explanation of the First Part of the Sermon Delivered by Our Lord on the Mount, as Contained in the Fifth Chapter of Matthew. (HTML)
Chapter VI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 56 (In-Text, Margin)
17. “Ye are the light[Philippians 2:15] of the world.” In the same way as He said above, “the salt of the earth,” so now He says, “the light of the world.” For in the former case that earth is not to be understood which we tread with our bodily feet, but the men who dwell upon the earth, or even the sinners, for the preserving of whom and for the extinguishing of whose corruptions the Lord sent the apostolic salt. And here, by the world must be understood not the heavens and the earth, but the men who are in the world or ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 460, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XCIV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4363 (In-Text, Margin)
... work of the fourth day. What then is the reason that the Psalm hath taken its title from the fourth day: the Psalm in which patience is enjoined against the prosperity of the wicked, and the sufferings of the good. Thou findest the Apostle Paul speaking. “Do all things without murmurings and disputings: that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life.”[Philippians 2:14-16] …
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 629, footnote 9 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXXXVI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5693 (In-Text, Margin)
... both are in a manner defined; not unsuitably then do we understand wisdom to consist in the knowledge and love of That which ever is and abideth unchangeable, which is God. For where he saith, “piety is wisdom,” in Greek is θεοσ™βεια, and to express the whole of this in Latin, we may call it worship of God. But to depart from evil, which he calls knowledge, what else is it but to walk cautiously and heedfully “in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation,”[Philippians 2:15] in the night, as it were, of this world, that each one by keeping himself from iniquity may avoid being confounded with the darkness, distinguished by the light of his proper gift.…
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 666, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXLVII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5908 (In-Text, Margin)
... alone what they can do, and how far they have attained; for God I think it no great matter to count all the stars. Or doth He perhaps go over the number, lest He should forget it? Is it any great thing for God to number the stars, by whom “the very hairs of your head are numbered”? The stars are certain lights in the Church comforting our night; all of whom the Apostle saith, “In the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world, holding the Word of life.”[Philippians 2:15] These stars God counteth; all who shall reign with Him, all who are to be gathered into the Body of His only-begotten Son, He hath counted, and still counteth them. Whoso is unworthy, is not even counted. Many too have believed, or rather may, with ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 144, footnote 8 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Oceanus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2041 (In-Text, Margin)
... strained interpretation say that wives are in this passage to be taken for churches and husbands for their bishops. A decree was made by the fathers assembled at the council of Nicæa that no bishop should be translated from one church to another, lest scorning the society of a poor yet virgin see he should seek the embraces of a wealthy and adulterous one. For as the word λογισμόι, that is, “disputings,” refers to the fault and misdoing of sons in the faith,[Philippians 2:14-15] and as the precept concerning the management of a house refers to the right direction of body and of soul, so by the wives of the bishops we are to understand their churches. Concerning whom it is written in Isaiah, “Make haste ye women and come ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 479, footnote 6 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
Against the Pelagians. (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5337 (In-Text, Margin)
... while yet in the flesh, which is subject to death and decay. You deserve to be told, with the Corinthians, “Ye are already perfect, ye are already made rich: ye reign without us, and I would that ye did reign, that we might also reign with you”—since true and stainless perfection belongs to the inhabitants of heaven, and is reserved for that day when the bridegroom shall say to the bride, “Thou art all fair, my love; and there is no spot in thee.” And in this sense we must understand the words:[Philippians 2:15] “That ye may be blameless and harmless, as children of God, without blemish”; for He did not say ye are, but may be. He is contemplating the future, not stating a case pertaining to the present; so that here is toil and effort, in that ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 229, footnote 4 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)
To Those Who Had Invited Him, and Not Come to Receive Him. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2931 (In-Text, Margin)
VIII. So may ye act, and so may ye honour us, whether present or absent, whether taking your part in our sermons, or preferring to do something else: and may ye be the children of God, pure and unblamable, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation:[Philippians 2:15] and may ye never be entangled in the snares of the wicked that go round about, or bound with the chain of your sins. May the Word in you never be smothered with cares of this life and so ye become unfruitful: but may ye walk in the King’s Highway, turning aside neither to the right hand nor to the left, but led by the Spirit through the strait gate. Then all our ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 374, footnote 4 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)
The Oration on Holy Baptism. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4150 (In-Text, Margin)
... kindle for ourselves the light of knowledge. This will be done by sowing unto righteousness, and reaping the fruit of life, for action is the patron of contemplation, that amongst other things we may learn also what is the true light, and what the false, and be saved from falling unawares into evil wearing the guise of good. Let us be made light, as it was said to the disciples by the Great Light, ye are the light of the world. Let us be made lights in the world, holding forth the Word of Life;[Philippians 2:15-16] that is, let us be made a quickening power to others. Let us lay hold of the Godhead; let us lay hold of the First and Brightest Light. Let us walk towards Him shining, before our feet stumble upon dark and hostile mountains. While it is day let us ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 83, footnote 3 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
The Hexæmeron. (HTML)
The creation of luminous bodies. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1575 (In-Text, Margin)
... “illumination.” Now there is nothing here contradictory to what has been said of light. Then the actual nature of light was produced: now the sun’s body is constructed to be a vehicle for that original light. A lamp is not fire. Fire has the property of illuminating, and we have invented the lamp to light us in darkness. In the same way, the luminous bodies have been fashioned as a vehicle for that pure, clear, and immaterial light. The Apostle speaks to us of certain lights which shine in the world[Philippians 2:15] without being confounded with the true light of the world, the possession of which made the saints luminaries of the souls which they instructed and drew from the darkness of ignorance. This is why the Creator of all things, made the sun in addition ...