Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Hebrews 11:1
There are 15 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 349, footnote 5 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
Chapter II.—The Knowledge of God Can Be Attained Only Through Faith. (HTML)
... understand.” For how ever could the soul admit the transcendental contemplation of such themes, while unbelief respecting what was to be learned struggled within? But faith, which the Greeks disparage, deeming it futile and barbarous, is a voluntary preconception, the assent of piety—“the subject of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” according to the divine apostle. “For hereby,” pre-eminently, “the elders obtained a good report. But without faith it is impossible to please God.”[Hebrews 11:1-2] Others have defined faith to be a uniting assent to an unseen object, as certainly the proof of an unknown thing is an evident assent. If then it be choice, being desirous of something, the desire is in this instance intellectual. And since choice ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 19, footnote 2 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On the Apparel of Women. (HTML)
II (HTML)
Perfect Modesty Will Abstain from Whatever Tends to Sin, as Well as from Sin Itself. Difference Between Trust and Presumption. If Secure Ourselves, We Must Not Put Temptation in the Way of Others. We Must Love Our Neighbour as Ourself. (HTML)
... of pleasing does not spring from a sound conscience: why therefore excite toward yourself that evil (passion)? why invite (that) to which you profess yourself a stranger? secondly, because we ought not to open a way to temptations, which, by their instancy, sometimes achieve (a wickedness) which God expels from them who are His; (or,) at all events, put the spirit into a thorough tumult by (presenting) a stumbling-block (to it). We ought indeed to walk so holily, and with so entire substantiality[Hebrews 11:1] of faith, as to be confident and secure in regard of our own conscience, desiring that that (gift) may abide in us to the end, yet not presuming (that it will). For he who presumes feels less apprehension; he who feels less ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 167, footnote 2 (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)
The Attempt is Made to Distinguish Out of the Scriptures the Offices of Wisdom and of Knowledge. That in the Beginning of John Some Things that are Said Belong to Wisdom, Some to Knowledge. Some Things There are Only Known by the Help of Faith. How We See the Faith that is in Us. In the Same Narrative of John, Some Things are Known by the Sense of the Body, Others Only by the Reason of the Mind. (HTML)
... him, and he deceived me. And this kind of faith, if indeed it too is to be called faith, perishes from the heart without blame, when truth is found and expels it. But faith in things that are true, passes, as one should wish it to pass, into the things themselves. For we must not say that faith perishes, when those things which were believed are seen. For is it indeed still to be called faith, when faith, according to the definition in the Epistle to the Hebrews, is the evidence of things not seen?[Hebrews 11:1]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 239, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
The Enchiridion. (HTML)
The Distinction Between Faith and Hope, and the Mutual Dependence of Faith, Hope, and Love. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1100 (In-Text, Margin)
... and only what affects the man who entertains the hope. For these reasons, then, faith must be distinguished from hope, not merely as a matter of verbal propriety, but because they are essentially different. The fact that we do not see either what we believe or what we hope for, is all that is common to faith and hope. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, for example, faith is defined (and eminent defenders of the catholic faith have used the definition as a standard) “the evidence of things not seen.”[Hebrews 11:1] Although, should any one say that he believes, that is, has grounded his faith, not on words, nor on witnesses, nor on any reasoning whatever, but on the direct evidence of his own senses, he would not be guilty of such an impropriety of speech as ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 64, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
Why It is that Death Itself is Not Abolished, Along with Sin, by Baptism. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 627 (In-Text, Margin)
... caught up along with the risen in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, and so shall they ever live with the Lord. And rightly shall it be these who receive this grace, since there will be no posterity after them to be led to believe, not by the hope of what they see not, but by the love of what they see. This faith is weak and nerveless, and must not be called faith at all, inasmuch as faith is thus defined: “Faith is the firmness of those who hope, the clear proof of things which they do not see.”[Hebrews 11:1] Accordingly, in the same Epistle to the Hebrews, where this passage occurs, after enumerating in subsequent sentences certain worthies who pleased God by their faith, he says: “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but seeing ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 342, footnote 4 (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 XIV. 29–31. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1369 (In-Text, Margin)
... as in those words of the same Lord, when, in reproving a disciple, He said, “Because thou hast seen, thou hast believed; blessed are they that see not, and yet believe.” And I hardly know whether any one can be said to believe what he sees; for this same faith is thus defined in the epistle addressed to the Hebrews: “Now faith is the substance of those that hope, the assurance of things not seen.” Accordingly, if faith is in things that are believed, and that, too, in things which are not seen,[Hebrews 11:1] what mean these words of the Lord, “And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe”? Ought He not rather to have said, And now I have told you before it come to pass, that ye may believe what, when it ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 370, footnote 3 (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 XVI. 8–11. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1550 (In-Text, Margin)
... required this very definition, “Because I go to the Father, and ye shall see me no more.” For blessed are they who see not, and yet do believe. For of those also who saw Christ, the faith in Him that met with commendation was not that they believed what they saw, namely, the Son of man; but that they believed what they did not see, namely, the Son of God. But after His servant-form was itself also withdrawn from their view, then in every respect was the word truly fulfilled, “The just liveth by faith.”[Hebrews 11:1] For “faith,” according to the definition in the Epistle to the Hebrews, “is the confidence of those that hope, the conviction of things that are not seen.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 414, footnote 7 (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 XVII. 24–26. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1793 (In-Text, Margin)
... what follows furnish its testimony to the words that precede. For after saying, “I will that they also be with me where I am,” He went on immediately to add, “That they may behold my glory, which Thou gavest me: for Thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.” “That they may behold,” He said; not, that they may believe. This is faith’s wages, not faith itself. For if faith has been correctly defined in the Epistle to the Hebrews as “the assurance [conviction] of things that are not seen,”[Hebrews 11:1] why may not the wages of faith be defined, the beholding of things which were hoped for in faith? For when we shall see the glory which the Father hath given the Son, even though we may understand what is spoken of in this passage, not as that ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 36, footnote 9 (Image)
Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome
The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret. (HTML)
The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
The Epistle of Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria to Alexander, Bishop of Constantinople. (HTML)
... all things were made by Him, and were called by Him out of the non-existent into being. ‘ That which is ’ must be of an opposite nature to, and essentially different from, things created out of the non-existent. This shows, likewise, that there is no separation between the Father and the Son, and that the idea of separation cannot even be conceived by the mind; while the fact that the world was created out of the non-existent involves a later and fresh genesis of its essential nature[Hebrews 11:1], all things having been endowed with such an origin of existence by the Father through the Son. John, the most pious apostle, perceiving that the word ‘was’ applied to the Word of God was far beyond and above the intelligence of created beings, did ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 5, page 62, footnote 2 (Image)
Gregory of Nyssa: Dogmatic Treatises; Select Writings and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises. (HTML)
Against Eunomius. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
He has no right to assert a greater and less in the Divine being. A systematic statement of the teaching of the Church. (HTML)
If, then, this surmise is to have its way, namely, that our Lord is not perfected in every kind of good, it is very easy to see the conclusion of the blasphemy. This being so, our faith is vain, and our preaching vain; our hopes, which take their substance from our faith, are unsubstantial. Why are they baptized into Christ[Hebrews 11:1], if He has no power of goodness of His own? God forgive me for saying it! Why do they believe in the Holy Ghost, if the same account is given of Him? How are they regenerate by baptism from their mortal birth, if the regenerating Power does not possess in its own nature infallibility and independence? How can their ‘vile body’ be ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 5, page 71, footnote 1 (Image)
Gregory of Nyssa: Dogmatic Treatises; Select Writings and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises. (HTML)
Against Eunomius. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
It will not do to apply this conception, as drawn out above, of the Father and Son to the Creation, as they insist on doing: but we must contemplate the Son apart with the Father, and believe that the Creation had its origin from a definite point. (HTML)
... the two, that same interval would fix a beginning for the life of the Almighty;—a monstrous supposition. But there is nothing to prevent the creation, being, as it is, in its own nature something other than its Creator and in no point trenching on that pure pre-temporal world, from having, in our belief, a beginning of its own, as we have said. To say that the heavens and the earth and other contents of creation were out of things which are not, or, as the Apostle says, out of “things not seen,[Hebrews 11:1] ” inflicts no dishonour upon the Maker of this universe; for we know from Scripture that all these things are not from everlasting nor will remain for ever. If on the other hand it could be believed that there is something in the Holy Trinity which ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 5, page 98, footnote 5 (Image)
Gregory of Nyssa: Dogmatic Treatises; Select Writings and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises. (HTML)
Against Eunomius. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
Explanation of 'Ungenerate,' and a 'study' of Eternity. (HTML)
... the future and on that which can be looked forward to, that which has no end will have more value than that which has no beginning. So let our thoughts upon the divine nature be worthy and exalted ones; or else, if they are going to judge of it according to human tests, let the future be more valued by them than the past, and let them confine the being of the Deity to that, since time’s lapse sweeps away with it all existence in the past, whereas expected existence gains substance from our hope[Hebrews 11:1].
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 79b, footnote 20 (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. (HTML)
But again, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen[Hebrews 11:1], or undoubting and unambiguous hope alike of what God hath promised us and of the good issue of our prayers. The first, therefore, belongs to our will, while the second is of the gifts of the Spirit.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 347, footnote 3 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Concerning Repentance. (HTML)
Book II. (HTML)
Chapter III. Explanation of the parable of the Prodigal Son, in which St. Ambrose applies it to refute the teaching of the Novatians, proving that reconciliation ought not to be refused to the greatest offender upon suitable proof of repentance. (HTML)
15. “And,” it is said, “wasted his substance.” Rightly, for he whose faith halts in bringing forth good works does consume it. For, “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”[Hebrews 11:1] And faith is a good substance, the inheritance of our hope.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 402, footnote 2 (Image)
Gregory the Great II, Ephriam Syrus, Aphrahat
Selections from the Hymns and Homilies of Ephraim the Syrian and from the Demonstrations of Aphrahat the Persian Sage. (HTML)
Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations. (HTML)
Of Persecution. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1164 (In-Text, Margin)
... affliction and persecution to the whole Church of God, which was in all their region. The Churches were overthrown and uprooted, and many confessors and martyrs made confession. And (the Lord) turned in mercy to them after they were persecuted. And also in our days these things happened to us also on account of our sins; but also that what is written might be fulfilled, even as our Redeemer said:— These things are to be. The Apostle also said:— Also over us is set this cloud of confession;[Hebrews 11:1] which (is) our honour, wherein many confess and are slain.