Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Colossians 2:3
There are 24 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 459, footnote 3 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)
Book V (HTML)
Chapter X.—The Opinion of the Apostles on Veiling the Mysteries of the Faith. (HTML)
... perfect in Christ;” not every man simply, since no one would be unbelieving. Nor does he call every man who believes in Christ perfect; but he says all the man, as if he said the whole man, as if purified in body and soul. For that the knowledge does not appertain to all, he expressly adds: “Being knit together in love, and unto all the riches of the full assurance of knowledge, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God in Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge.”[Colossians 2:2-3] “Continue in prayer, watching therein with thanksgiving.” And thanksgiving has place not for the soul and spiritual blessings alone, but also for the body, and for the good things of the body. And he still more clearly reveals that knowledge belongs ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 463, footnote 6 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)
Book V (HTML)
Chapter XII.—God Cannot Be Embraced in Words or by the Mind. (HTML)
... respecting the unbegotten and His powers, ought to be concealed? In confirmation of these things, in the Epistle to the Corinthians the apostle plainly says: “Howbeit we speak wisdom among those who are perfect, but not the wisdom of this world, or of the princes of this world, that come to nought. But we speak the wisdom of God hidden in a mystery.” And again in another place he says: “To the acknowledgment of the mystery of God in Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”[Colossians 2:2-3] These things the Saviour Himself seals when He says: “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.” And again the Gospel says that the Saviour spake to the apostles the word in a mystery. For prophecy says of Him: “He will open ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 416, 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 X. (HTML)
The Field and the Treasure Interpreted. (HTML)
... sells. The field, indeed, seems to me according to these things to be the Scripture, which was planted with what is manifest in the words of the history, and the law, and the prophets, and the rest of the thoughts; for great and varied is the planting of the words in the whole Scripture; but the treasure hidden in the field is the thoughts concealed and lying under that which is manifest, “of wisdom hidden in a mystery,” “even Christ, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden.”[Colossians 2:3] But another might say that the field is that which is verily full, which the Lord blessed, the Christ of God; but the treasure hidden in it is the things said to have been “hidden in Christ” by Paul, who says about Christ, “in whom are the treasures ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 162, footnote 20 (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)
That Jesus Christ, at the Same Time God and Man, is the True and Most Efficacious Mediator. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 996 (In-Text, Margin)
... in my heart, and meditated flight into the wilderness; but Thou didst forbid me, and didst strengthen me, saying, therefore, Christ “died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them.” Behold, O Lord, I cast my care upon Thee, that I may live, and “behold wondrous things out of Thy law.” Thou knowest my unskilfulness and my infirmities; teach me, and heal me. Thine only Son—He “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”[Colossians 2:3] —hath redeemed me with His blood. Let not the proud speak evil of me, because I consider my ransom, and eat and drink, and distribute; and poor, desire to be satisfied from Him, together with those who eat and are satisfied, and they praise the Lord ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 164, footnote 14 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
The design of his confessions being declared, he seeks from God the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, and begins to expound the words of Genesis I. I, concerning the creation of the world. The questions of rash disputers being refuted, ‘What did God before he created the world?’ That he might the better overcome his opponents, he adds a copious disquisition concerning time. (HTML)
He Begs of God that Through the Holy Scriptures He May Be Led to Truth. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1021 (In-Text, Margin)
... man, whom Thou madest strong for Thyself,” as Thy Mediator and ours, through whom Thou hast sought us, although not seeking Thee, but didst seek us that we might seek Thee, —Thy Word through whom Thou hast made all things, and amongst them me also, Thy Only-begotten, through whom Thou hast called to adoption the believing people, and therein me also. I beseech Thee through Him, who sitteth at Thy right hand, and “maketh intercession for us,” “in whom are hid all treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”[Colossians 2:3] Him do I seek in Thy books. Of Him did Moses write; this saith Himself; this saith the Truth.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 18, footnote 10 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)
The unity and equality of the Trinity are demonstrated out of the Scriptures; and the true interpretation is given of those texts which are wrongly alleged against the equality of the Son. (HTML)
This Work is Written Against Those Who Sophistically Assail the Faith of the Trinity, Through Misuse of Reason. They Who Dispute Concerning God Err from a Threefold Cause. Holy Scripture, Removing What is False, Leads Us on by Degrees to Things Divine. What True Immortality is. We are Nourished by Faith, that We May Be Enabled to Apprehend Things Divine. (HTML)
... without any change in Himself, and creates things temporal, yet without any temporal movement in Himself. And it is necessary, therefore, to purge our minds, in order to be able to see ineffably that which is ineffable; whereto not having yet attained, we are to be nourished by faith, and led by such ways as are more suited to our capacity, that we may be rendered apt and able to comprehend it. And hence the Apostle says, that “in Christ indeed are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge;”[Colossians 2:3] and yet has commended Him to us, as to babes in Christ, who, although already born again by His grace, yet are still carnal and psychical, not by that divine virtue wherein He is equal to the Father, but by that human infirmity whereby He was ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 181, footnote 1 (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)
What in the Incarnate Word Belongs to Knowledge, What to Wisdom. (HTML)
... Jesus, has the treasures both of wisdom and of knowledge. For the apostle, writing to the Colossians, says: “For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; that their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God which is Christ Jesus: in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”[Colossians 2:1-3] To what extent the apostle knew all those treasures, how much of them he had penetrated, and in them to how great things he had reached, who can know? Yet, for my part, according to that which is written, “But the manifestation of the Spirit is ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 430, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
Of Holy Virginity. (HTML)
Section 35 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2122 (In-Text, Margin)
... not bid what Himself did not. I see Thee, O good Jesu, with the eyes of faith, which Thou hast opened for me, as in an assembly of the human race, crying out and saying, “Come unto Me, and learn of Me.” What, I beseech Thee, through Whom all things were made, O Son of God, and the Same Who was made among all things, O Son of Man: to learn what of Thee, come we to Thee? “For that I am meek,” saith He, “and lowly of heart.” Is it to this that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden in Thee[Colossians 2:3] are brought, that we learn this of Thee as a great thing, that Thou art “meek and lowly of heart?” Is it so great a thing to be little, that it could not at all be learned unless it were brought to pass by Thee, Who art so great? So indeed it is. ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 61, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount. (HTML)
On the Latter Part of Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Contained in the Sixth and Seventh Chapters of Matthew. (HTML)
Chapter XXV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 470 (In-Text, Margin)
... eye one may have, i.e. with however single and sincere a heart one may live, he yet cannot look into the heart of another: whatever things could not have become apparent in deeds or words, are disclosed by trials. Now trial is twofold; either in the hope of obtaining some temporal advantage, or in the terror of losing it. And especially must we be on our guard, lest, when striving after wisdom, which can be found in Christ alone, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge;[Colossians 2:3] —we must be on our guard, I say, lest, under the very name of Christ, we be deceived by heretics, or by any parties whatever defective in intelligence, and lovers of this world. For on this account He adds a warning, saying, “Not every one that ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 247, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)
Of the agreement of the evangelists Matthew and Luke in the generations of the Lord. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1704 (In-Text, Margin)
... brethren, do you hear all this, because ye are believers! Attend, dearly beloved, and see what wholesome advice the Apostle gives, who says, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus our Lord, so walk ye in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith;” for with this simple and assured faith ought we to abide stedfastly in Him, that He may Himself open to the faithful what is hidden in Him; for as the same Apostle saith, “In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge;”[Colossians 2:3] and He does not hide them to refuse them, but to stir up desire for those hidden things. This is the advantage of their secrecy. Honour in Him then what as yet thou understandest not, and so much the more as the veils which thou seest are more in ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 293, footnote 8 (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 XII. 37–43. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1082 (In-Text, Margin)
... forbidden us, since the divine Master saith, “There is nothing hid that shall not be revealed:” but if we walk up to the measure of our present attainments, then, as the apostle tells us, not only what we know not and ought to know, but also if we are minded to know anything else, God will reveal even this unto us. But if we have reached the pathway of faith, let us keep to it with all constancy: let it be our guide to the chamber of the King, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.[Colossians 2:3] For it was in no spirit of grudging that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself acted towards those great and specially chosen disciples of His, when He said, “I have many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.” We must be walking, making ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 129, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XLI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1184 (In-Text, Margin)
... “understand not the needy and poor.” For what now thou wilt not believe, shall be made manifest in the end. But neither shalt thou escape, when it shall be made manifest, because thou believest not, when it is kept secret. Invited art thou, what thou seest not to believe, lest when thou see, thou be put to the blush. “Understand then upon the needy and poor One,” that is, Christ: understand in Him the hidden riches, whom poor thou seest. “In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”[Colossians 2:3] For thereby in the evil day shall He deliver thee, in that He is God: but in that He is man, and that which in Him is human hath raised to life, and changed for the better, He hath lifted (thee) to heaven. But He who is God, who would have one ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 185, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm L (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1758 (In-Text, Margin)
... Him, whence He will He taketh what is needful for Him. These words are said to convince little understanding; not that God hath declared His hunger. Though for our sake this God of gods deigned even to hunger. He came to hunger, and to fill; He came to thirst, and give drink; He came to be clothed with mortality, and to clothe with immortality; He came poor, to make rich. For He lost not His riches by taking to Him our poverty, for, “In him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden.”[Colossians 2:3] “If I shall be hungry, I will not tell thee. For Mine is the whole world, and the fulness thereof.” Do not then labour to find what to give Me, without whom I have what I will.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 256, footnote 8 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2439 (In-Text, Margin)
12. …For even the Lord saith, “Many things I have to say to you, but ye cannot bear them now.” What is therefore, “These two things I have heard”? These two things which to you I am about to say not of myself to you I say, but what things I have heard I say. “Once hath God spoken:” One Word hath He, the Only-begotten God. In that Word are all things, because by the Word were made all things. One Word hath He, “in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.”[Colossians 2:3] One Word He hath, “once hath God spoken.” “These two things,” which to you I am about to say, these I have heard: not of myself I speak, not of myself I say: to this belongeth the “I have heard.” But the friend of the Bridegroom standeth and heareth Him, that ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 562, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXIX (HTML)
Beth. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5142 (In-Text, Margin)
13. “I have had as great delight in the way Thy testimonies, as in all manner of riches” (ver. 14). We understand that there is no more speedy, no more sure, no shorter, no higher way of the testimonies of God than Christ, “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”[Colossians 2:3] Thence he saith that he hath had as great delight in this way, as in all riches. Those are the testimonies, by which He deigneth to prove unto us how much He loveth us. …
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 629, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXXXVI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5689 (In-Text, Margin)
... saints, spiritual men, to whom He has given not only to believe, but also to understand things divine; those who cannot yet attain to this, and only hold their faith firmly, as being beneath the heavens, are figured by the name of earth. And because they abide with unshaken belief upon the baptism they have received, therefore it is said, “He laid out the earth above the waters.” Further, since it is written of our Lord Jesus Christ, that “in Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,”[Colossians 2:3] and that these two, wisdom and knowledge, differ somewhat from one another is testified by other utterances of Scripture, especially in the words of holy Job, where both are in a manner defined; not unsuitably then do we understand wisdom to consist ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 231, footnote 7 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Circular to Bishops of Egypt and Libya. (Ad Episcopos Ægypti Et Libyæ Epistola Encyclica.) (HTML)
To the Bishops of Egypt. (HTML)
Chapter II (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1234 (In-Text, Margin)
... are reduced by such an opinion. For if God has a succession of words, they certainly must consider Him as a man. And if those words proceed from Him and then vanish away, they are guilty of a greater impiety, because they resolve into nothing what proceeds from the self-existent God. If they conceive that God doth at all beget, it were surely better and more religious to say that He is the begetter of One Word, who is the fulness of His Godhead, in whom are hidden the treasures of all knowledge[Colossians 2:3], and that He is co-existent with His Father, and that all things were made by Him; rather than to suppose God to be the Father of many words which are nowhere to be found, or to represent Him who is simple in His nature as compounded of many, and as ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 14, footnote 10 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
De Spiritu Sancto. (HTML)
In how many ways “Through whom” is used; and in what sense “with whom” is more suitable. Explanation of how the Son receives a commandment, and how He is sent. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 899 (In-Text, Margin)
... but with Him all together and at once. Among men, the workman who has been thoroughly taught his craft, and, through long training, has sure and established experience in it, is able, in accordance with the scientific methods which now he has in store, to work for the future by himself. And are we to suppose that the wisdom of God, the Maker of all creation, He who is eternally perfect, who is wise, without a teacher, the Power of God, “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,”[Colossians 2:3] needs piecemeal instruction to mark out the manner and measure of His operations? I presume that in the vanity of your calculations, you mean to open a school; you will make the one take His seat in the teacher’s place, and the other stand by in a ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 177, footnote 1 (Image)
Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus
Title Page (HTML)
De Trinitate or On the Trinity. (HTML)
De Trinitate or On the Trinity. (HTML)
Book IX (HTML)
62. Moreover Paul, the teacher of the Gentiles, forestalls the impious falsehood, that the Only-begotten God was partially nescient. Listen to his words, Being instructed in love, unto all riches of the fulness of understanding, unto knowledge of the mystery of God, even Christ, in Whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden[Colossians 2:2-3]. God, even Christ, is the mystery, and all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Him. But a portion is one thing, the whole another: a part is not the same as all, nor can all be called a part. If the Son does not know the day, all the treasures of knowledge are not in Him; but He has all the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 178, footnote 6 (Image)
Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus
Title Page (HTML)
De Trinitate or On the Trinity. (HTML)
De Trinitate or On the Trinity. (HTML)
Book IX (HTML)
67. We can now understand why He said that He knew not the day. If we believe Him to have been really ignorant, we contradict the Apostle, who says, In Whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden[Colossians 2:3]. There is knowledge which is hidden in Him, and because it has to be hidden, it must sometimes for this purpose be professed as ignorance, for once declared, it will no longer be secret. In order, therefore, that the knowledge may remain hidden, He declares that He does not know. But if He does not know, in order that the knowledge may remain hidden, this ignorance is not due to His ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 69b, 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 III (HTML)
Concerning ignorance and servitude. (HTML)
... for our sakes He assumed the form of a servant and is called a servant among us. For although He is without passion, yet for our sake He was the servant of passion and became the minister of our salvation. Those, then, who say that He is a servant divide the one Christ into two, just as Nestorius did. But we declare Him to be Master and Lord of all creation, the one Christ, at once God and man, and all-knowing. For in Him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, the hidden treasures[Colossians 2:3].
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 262, footnote 4 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)
Book IV. (HTML)
Chapter I. The marvel is, not that men have failed to know Christ, but that they have not listened to the words of the Scriptures. Christ, indeed, was not known, even of angels, save by revelation, nor again, by His forerunner. Follows a description of Christ's triumphal ascent into heaven, and the excellence of its glory over the assumption of certain prophets. Lastly, from exposition of the conversation with angels upon this occasion, the omnipotence of the Son is proved, as against the Arians. (HTML)
2. What reason, indeed, is there to wonder, if by their worldly wisdom men failed to comprehend the mystery of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, in Whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden,[Colossians 2:3] that mystery of which not even angels have been able to take knowledge, save by revelation?
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 309, footnote 1 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)
Book V. (HTML)
Chapter XVI. The Arians are condemned by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of David: for they dare to limit Christ's knowledge. The passage cited by them in proof of this is by no means free from suspicion of having been corrupted. But to set this right, we must mark the word “Son.” For knowledge cannot fail Christ as Son of God, since He is Wisdom; nor the recognition of any part, for He created all things. It is not possible that He, who made the ages, cannot know the future, much less the day of judgment. Such knowledge, whether it concerns anything great or small, may not be denied to the Son, nor yet to the Holy Spirit. Lastly, various proofs are given from which we can gather that this knowledge exists in Christ. (HTML)
193. Suppose however that the Evangelist wrote thus. The name of “Son” embraces both natures. For He is also called Son of Man, so that in the ignorance attached to the assumption of our nature, He seems not to have known the day of the judgment to come. For how could the Son of God be ignorant of the day, seeing that the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God are hidden in Him?[Colossians 2:3]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 443, footnote 2 (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 XVI. The answer to the effect that bad men cannot possess true knowledge. (HTML)
... penetrate to the very heart of Scripture and the mysteries of its spiritual meanings. For true knowledge is only acquired by true worshippers of God; and certainly this people does not possess it to whom it is said: “Hear, O, foolish people, thou who hast no heart: ye who having eyes see not, and having ears, hear not.” And again: “Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I also will reject thee from acting as My priest.” For as it is said that in Christ “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid,”[Colossians 2:3] how can we hold that he who has scorned to find Christ, or, when He is found blasphemes Him with impious lips, or at least defiles the Catholic faith by his impure deeds, has acquired spiritual knowledge? “For the Spirit of God will avoid deception, ...