Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Philippians 4:7
There are 12 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 685, footnote 4 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Ethical. (HTML)
On Prayer. (HTML)
When Praying the Father, You are Not to Be Angry with a Brother. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8829 (In-Text, Margin)
That we may not be as far from the ears of God as we are from His precepts, the memory of His precepts paves for our prayers a way unto heaven; of which precepts the chief is, that we go not up unto God’s altar before we compose whatever of discord or offence we have contracted with our brethren. For what sort of deed is it to approach the peace of God[Philippians 4:6-7] without peace? the remission of debts while you retain them? How will he appease his Father who is angry with his brother, when from the beginning “all anger” is forbidden us? For even Joseph, when dismissing his brethren for the purpose of fetching their father, said, “And be not angry in the way.” He ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 161, footnote 7 (Image)
Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius
Anatolius and Minor Writers. (HTML)
Theonas of Alexandria. (HTML)
The Epistle of Theonas, Bishop of Alexandria, to Lucianus, the Chief Chamberlain. (HTML)
Chapter IX. (HTML)
... giving some space to meditation. And never cast off the habit of reading in the Holy Scriptures; for nothing feeds the soul and enriches the mind so well as those sacred studies do. But look to this as the chief gain you are to make by them, that, in all due patience, ye may discharge the duties of your office religiously and piously—that is, in the love of Christ—and despise all transitory objects for the sake of His eternal promises, which in truth surpass all human comprehension and understanding,[Philippians 4:7] and shall conduct you into everlasting felicity.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 507, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
City of God (HTML)
Of the eternal happiness of the saints, the resurrection of the body, and the miracles of the early Church. (HTML)
Of the Beatific Vision. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1669 (In-Text, Margin)
... immortal and spiritual bodies, and when the flesh shall live no longer in a fleshly but a spiritual fashion. And indeed, to tell the truth, I am at a loss to understand the nature of that employment, or, shall I rather say, repose and ease, for it has never come within the range of my bodily senses. And if I should speak of my mind or understanding, what is our understanding in comparison of its excellence? For then shall be that “peace of God which,” as the apostle says, “passeth all understanding,”[Philippians 4:7] —that is to say, all human, and perhaps all angelic understanding, but certainly not the divine. That it passeth ours there is no doubt; but if it passeth that of the angels,—and he who says “all understanding” seems to make no exception in their ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 257, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
The Enchiridion. (HTML)
The Peace of God, Which Reigneth in Heaven, Passeth All Understanding. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1206 (In-Text, Margin)
This peace, as Scripture saith, “passeth all understanding,”[Philippians 4:7] and cannot be known by us until we have come into the full possession of it. For in what sense are heavenly things reconciled, except they be reconciled to us, viz. by coming into harmony with us? For in heaven there is unbroken peace, both between all the intelligent creatures that exist there, and between these and their Creator. And this peace, as is said, passeth all understanding; but this, of course, means our understanding, not that of those who ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 5, footnote 10 (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 II (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 29 (In-Text, Margin)
... under subjection to something better still, which is the truth itself, the only-begotten Son of God. For a man is not able to rule over things which are inferior, unless he subjects himself to what is superior. And this is the peace which is given on earth to men of goodwill; this the life of the fully developed and perfect wise man. From a kingdom of this sort brought to a condition of thorough peace and order, the prince of this world is cast out, who rules where there is perversity and disorder.[Philippians 4:7] When this peace has been inwardly established and confirmed, whatever persecutions he who has been cast out shall stir up from without, he only increases the glory which is according to God; being unable to shake anything in that edifice, but by the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 180, footnote 3 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
Three Homilies Concerning the Power of Demons. (HTML)
Homily I. Against Those Who Say that Demons Govern Human Affairs. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 556 (In-Text, Margin)
... grasp it, but the exceeding magnitude of it baffles the feebleness of our utterances. And Paul therefore experiencing this, and seeing the force of words defeated by its magnitude, desists after saying one word: and what is this? “Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift.” For neither speech, nor any mind is able to set forth the tender care of God. On this account he then says that it is past finding out, and elsewhere “The peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts.”[Philippians 4:7]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 249, footnote 1 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Rusticus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3461 (In-Text, Margin)
... another fault and one sin by another sin, we must overcome our faults by learning to love the opposite virtues. “Depart from evil,” says the psalmist, “and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” For if we do not hate evil we cannot love good. Nay more, we must do good if we are to depart from evil. We must seek peace if we are to avoid war. And it is not enough merely to seek it; when we have found it and when it flees before us we must pursue it with all our energies. For “it passeth all understanding;”[Philippians 4:7] it is the habitation of God. As the psalmist says, “in peace also is his habitation.” The pursuing of peace is a fine metaphor and may be compared with the apostle’s words, “pursuing hospitality.” It is not enough, he means, for us to invite guests ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 290, footnote 2 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)
The Second Theological Oration. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3435 (In-Text, Margin)
V. But enough has been said on this point. As to what concerns us, it is not only the Peace of God[Philippians 4:7] which passeth all understanding and knowledge, nor only the things which God hath stored up in promise for the righteous, which “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor mind conceived” except in a very small degree, nor the accurate knowledge of the Creation. For even of this I would have you know that you have only a shadow when you hear the words, “I will consider the heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars,” and the settled ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 30, footnote 4 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
De Spiritu Sancto. (HTML)
Against those who assert that the Spirit ought not to be glorified. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1114 (In-Text, Margin)
48. “ it so,” it is rejoined, “but glory is by no means so absolutely due to the Spirit as to require His exaltation by us in doxologies.” Whence then could we get demonstrations of the dignity of the Spirit, “passing all understanding,”[Philippians 4:7] if His communion with the Father and the Son were not reckoned by our opponents as good for testimony of His rank? It is, at all events, possible for us to arrive to a certain extent at intelligent apprehension of the sublimity of His nature and of His unapproachable power, by looking at the meaning of His title, and at the magnitude of His operations, and by His good gifts ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 44, footnote 19 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
De Spiritu Sancto. (HTML)
That our opponents refuse to concede in the case of the Spirit the terms which Scripture uses in the case of men, as reigning together with Christ. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1305 (In-Text, Margin)
... We received Him with the Father and the Son, and we dishonour Him as a part of creation. Those who “know not what they ought to pray for,” even though they be induced to utter a word of the Spirit with awe, as though coming near His dignity, yet prune down all that exceeds the exact proportion of their speech. They ought rather to bewail their weakness, in that we are powerless to express in words our gratitude for the benefits which we are actually receiving; for He “passes all understanding,”[Philippians 4:7] and convicts speech of its natural inability even to approach His dignity in the least degree; as it is written in the Book of Wisdom, “Exalt Him as much as you can, for even yet will He far exceed; and when you exalt Him put forth all your ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 212, footnote 3 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)
Book I. (HTML)
Chapter X. Christ's eternity being proved from the Apostle's teaching, St. Ambrose admonishes us that the Divine Generation is not to be thought of after the fashion of human procreation, nor to be too curiously pried into. With the difficulties thence arising he refuses to deal, saying that whatsoever terms, taken from our knowledge of body, are used in speaking of this Divine Generation, must be understood with a spiritual meaning. (HTML)
64. Dost thou ask me how He is a Son, if He have not a Father existing before Him? I ask of thee, in turn, when, or how, thinkest thou that the Son was begotten. For me the knowledge of the mystery of His generation is more than I can attain to, —the mind fails, the voice is dumb—ay, and not mine alone, but the angels’ also. It is above Powers, above Angels, above Cherubim, Seraphim, and all that has feeling and thought, for it is written: “The peace of Christ, which passeth all understanding.”[Philippians 4:7] If the peace of Christ passes all understanding, how can so wondrous a generation but be above all understanding?
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 427, footnote 10 (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 XIII. The Third Conference of Abbot Chæremon. On the Protection of God. (HTML)
Chapter X. On the weakness of free will. (HTML)
For Holy Scripture supports the freedom of the will where it says: “Keep thy heart with all diligence,” but the Apostle indicates its weakness by saying “The Lord keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”[Philippians 4:7] David asserts the power of free will, where he says “I have inclined my heart to do Thy righteous acts,” but the same man in like manner teaches us its weakness, by praying and saying, “Incline my heart unto Thy testimonies and not to covetousness:” Solomon also: “The Lord incline our hearts unto Himself that we may walk in all His ways and keep His commandments, and ordinances ...