Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts

Hebrews 6:4

There are 11 footnotes for this reference.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 37, footnote 4 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

The Pastor of Hermas (HTML)

Book Third.—Similitudes (HTML)

Similitude Sixth. Of the Two Classes of Voluptuous Men, and of Their Death, Falling Away, and the Duration of Their Punishment. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 295 (In-Text, Margin)

... through repentance, because they have added to their other sins, and blasphemed the name of the Lord. Such men therefore, are appointed unto death. And the sheep which you saw not leaping, but feeding in one place, are they who have delivered themselves over to luxury and deceit], but have committed no blasphemy against the Lord. These have been perverted from the truth: among them there is the hope of repentance, by which it is possible to live. Corruption, then, has a hope of a kind of renewal,[Hebrews 6:4-6] but death has everlasting ruin.” Again I went forward a little way, and he showed me a tall shepherd, somewhat savage in his appearance, clothed in a white goatskin, and having a wallet on his shoulders, and a very hard staff with branches, and a ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 97, footnote 6 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)

On Modesty. (HTML)

From Apostolic Teaching Tertullian Turns to that of Companions of the Apostles, and of the Law. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 956 (In-Text, Margin)

... first principles, and strive rather after perfection, and not lay again the foundations of repentance from the works of the dead, he says: “For impossible it is that they who have once been illuminated, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have participated in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the word of God and found it sweet, when they shall—their age already setting—have fallen away, should be again recalled unto repentance, crucifying again for themselves the Son of God, and dishonouring Him.”[Hebrews 6:4-6] “For the earth which hath drunk the rain often descending upon it, and hath borne grass apt for them on whose account it is tilled withal, attaineth God’s blessing; but if it bring forth thorns, it is reprobate, and nighest to cursing, whose end is ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 156, footnote 4 (Image)

Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius

Anatolius and Minor Writers. (HTML)

Theognostus of Alexandria. (HTML)

From His Seven Books of Hypotyposes or Outlines. (HTML)
Part III. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1264 (In-Text, Margin)

... Spirit communes with the perfected, and yet we could never say on that account that the teaching of the Spirit is superior to the teaching of the Son, but only that the Son condescends to the imperfect, while the Spirit is the seal of the perfected; even so it is not on account of the superiority of the Spirit over the Son that the blasphemy against the Spirit is a sin excluding impunity and pardon, but because for the imperfect there is pardon, while for those who have tasted the heavenly gift,[Hebrews 6:4] and been made perfect, there remains no plea or prayer for pardon.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 194, footnote 9 (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)

Allegorical Explanation of Genesis, Chap. I., Concerning the Origin of the Church and Its Worship. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1214 (In-Text, Margin)

... make heaven and earth, namely, the spiritual and carnal people of His Church. Yea, and our earth, before it received the “form of doctrine,” was invisible and formless, and we were covered with the darkness of ignorance. For Thou correctest man for iniquity, and “Thy judgments are a great deep.” But because Thy Spirit was “borne over the waters,” Thy mercy forsook not our misery, and Thou saidst, “Let there be light,” “Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Repent ye, let there be light.[Hebrews 6:4] And because our soul was troubled within us, we remembered Thee, O Lord, from the land of Jordan, and that mountain equal unto Thyself, but little for our sakes; and upon our being displeased with our darkness, we turned unto Thee, “and there was ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 161, footnote 3 (Image)

Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes

Instructions to Catechumens. (HTML)

First Instruction. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 498 (In-Text, Margin)

... purification is called the laver of regeneration. “He saved us,” he saith, “through the laver of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” It is called also illumination, and this St. Paul again has called it, “For call to remembrance the former days in which after ye were illuminated ye endured a great conflict of sufferings;” and again, “For it is impossible for those who were once illuminated, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and then fell away, to renew them again unto repentance.”[Hebrews 6:4-6] It is called also, baptism: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ.” It is called also burial: “For we were buried” saith he, “with him, through baptism, into death.” It is called circumcision: “In whom ye were also ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 418, footnote 2 (Image)

Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes

The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch. (HTML)

Homily XII (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1498 (In-Text, Margin)

... into sloth. “Forget not,” saith one, “the time of famine in the day of plenty.” Therefore let us be mindful of the time of temptation in the day of relief; and with respect to our sins let us also act in the same manner. If thou hast sinned, and God hath pardoned thy sin, receive thy pardon, and give thanks; but be not forgetful of the sin; not that thou shouldest fret thyself with the thought of it, but that thou mayest school thy soul, not to grow wanton, and relapse again into the same snares.[Hebrews 6:4]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 13, page 51, footnote 1 (Image)

Chrysostom: Homilies on the Epistles to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, and Philemon

The Commentary and Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Galatians and Ephesians. (HTML)

Homilies on Ephesians. (HTML)

Ephesians 1:1--2 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 174 (In-Text, Margin)

... before My Father which is in Heaven: But whosoever shall deny Me, him will I also deny.” (Mat. x. 32, 33.) Again, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Mat. v. 8.) And again, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.” (Mat. v. 3.) And again, “Blessed are ye which are persecuted for righteousness sake, for great is your reward in Heaven.” (Mat. v. 11, 12.) Observe, how every where He speaketh of Heaven, no where of earth, or of the things on the earth.[Hebrews 6:4] And again, “Our citizenship is in Heaven, from whence also we wait for a Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Philip. iii. 20.) And again, “Not setting your mind on the things that are on the earth, but on the things which are above.” (Col. iii. 3.)

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 389, footnote 10 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

Treatises. (HTML)

Against Jovinianus. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4687 (In-Text, Margin)

... ye may not do the things that ye would.” We are a compound of the two, and must endure the strife of the two substances. And to the Ephesians: “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Does any one think that we are safe, and that it is right to fall asleep when once we have been baptized? And so, too, in the epistle to the Hebrews:[Hebrews 6:4] “For as touching those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 36, footnote 9 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

De Spiritu Sancto. (HTML)

Proof of the absurdity of the refusal to glorify the Spirit, from the comparison of things glorified in creation. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1209 (In-Text, Margin)

... by the spirit that dwelleth in you;” and again “my sheep hear my voice,…and I give unto them eternal life;” but “the Spirit” also, it is said, “giveth life,” and again “the Spirit,” it is said, “is life, because of righteousness.” And the Lord bears witness that “it is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing.” How then shall we alienate the Spirit from His quickening power, and make Him belong to lifeless nature? Who is so contentious, who is so utterly without the heavenly gift,[Hebrews 6:4] and unfed by God’s good words, who is so devoid of part and lot in eternal hopes, as to sever the Spirit from the Godhead and rank Him with the creature?

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 77b, footnote 12 (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 IV (HTML)
Concerning Faith and Baptism. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2291 (In-Text, Margin)

... being taught the confession in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Those, then, who, after having been baptized into Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and having been taught that there is one divine nature in three subsistences, are rebaptized, these, as the divine Apostle says, crucify the Christ afresh. For it is impossible, he saith, for those who were once enlightened, &c., to renew them again unto repentance: seeing they crucify to themselves the Christ afresh, and put Him to an open shame[Hebrews 6:4]. But those who were not bap tized into the Holy Trinity, these must be baptized again. For although the divine Apostle says: Into Christ and into His death were we baptized, he does not mean that the invocation of baptism must be in these ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 345, footnote 9 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)

Concerning Repentance. (HTML)

Book II. (HTML)
Chapter II. A passage quoted by the heretics against repentance is explained in two ways, the first being that Heb. vi. 4 refers to the impossibility of being baptized again; the second, that what is impossible with man is possible with God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3057 (In-Text, Margin)

... heretics yet endeavour to resist further, and say that their opinion is supported by apostolic authority, bringing forward the passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews: “For it is impossible that those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, should if they fall away be again renewed unto repentance, crucifying again the Son of God, and put Him to open shame.”[Hebrews 6:4-6]

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