How the early Church read these passages

Augustine of Hippo

354–430 · Thagaste and Hippo Regius, North Africa (present-day Algeria) · Latin West · wrote in Latin

Bishop of Hippo Regius in Roman North Africa for more than thirty years. A rhetorician converted in 386, he preached through the Gospel of John and the Psalms to ordinary congregations, and his reading of grace, sin and the Church shaped Western Christianity — Catholic and Protestant alike — more than any writer after the apostles. He read Scripture in Latin, often from Old Latin versions based on the Greek Septuagint rather than the Hebrew.

Works quoted

• Tractates on the Gospel of John (In Iohannis Evangelium Tractatus), c. 406–420. English: John Gibb and James Innes; Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 7, ed. Philip Schaff (1888). Source ↗
• Expositions on the Psalms (Enarrationes in Psalmos), c. 392–418. English: English translation as printed in NPNF First Series vol. 8 (translator not named on the volume title page); Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 8, ed. Philip Schaff (1888). Source ↗
• Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament (Sermones), c. 391–430. English: R. G. MacMullen; Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 6, ed. Philip Schaff (1888). Source ↗
• Confessions (Confessiones), c. 397–400. English: J. G. Pilkington; Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 1, ed. Philip Schaff (1886). Source ↗

On these passages

• John 1:1

  “We also uttered words when we spoke. Was it such a word that was with God? Did not those words which we uttered sound and pass away? Did God's Word, then, sound and come to an end? If so, how were all things made by it, and without it was nothing made?”

  Tractates on the Gospel of John, Tractate 1, §8

• John 1:1–3

  “How can it be that the Word of God was made, when God by the Word made all things? If the Word of God was itself also made, by what other Word was it made?”

  Tractates on the Gospel of John, Tractate 1, §11

• John 1:3

  “Sin, indeed, was not made by Him; and it is plain that sin is nothing, and men become nothing when they sin.”

  Tractates on the Gospel of John, Tractate 1, §13

• John 1:4

  “Cattle are not illuminated, because cattle have not rational minds capable of seeing wisdom. But man was made in the image of God, and has a rational mind, by which he can perceive wisdom.”

  Tractates on the Gospel of John, Tractate 1, §18

• John 1:5

  “Accordingly, brethren, as in the case of a blind man placed in the sun, the sun is present to him, but he is absent from the sun. So every foolish man, every unjust man, every irreligious man, is blind in heart. Wisdom is present; but it is present to a blind man, and is absent from his eyes; not because it is absent from him, but because he is absent from it.”

  Tractates on the Gospel of John, Tractate 1, §19

• John 1:12–14

  “Why, then, dost thou marvel that men are born of God? Consider God Himself born of men: "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us."”

  Tractates on the Gospel of John, Tractate 2, §15

• John 1:14

  “For this, "that the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us," became a medicine unto us, so that as by earth we were made blind, by earth we might be healed; and having been healed, might behold what? "And we beheld," he says, "His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."”

  Tractates on the Gospel of John, Tractate 2, §16

• Psalms 22:1

  “Now what follows is spoken in the person of The Crucified. For from the head of this Psalm are the words, which He cried out, whilst hanging on the Cross, sustaining also the person of the old man, whose mortality He bare.”

  Expositions on the Psalms, Psalm 22 (Schaff: Psalm XXII), §1

• Mark 4:38–40

  “And why is this? Because Christ is asleep in thee. What does this mean, Christ is asleep in thee? Thou hast forgotten Christ. Rouse Him up then, call Christ to mind, let Christ awake in thee, give heed to Him.”

  Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament, Sermon 13 in NPNF numbering (Sermon 63 in the Benedictine edition), §2

Tertullian of Carthage

c. 155–c. 220 · Carthage, North Africa (present-day Tunisia) · Latin West · wrote in Latin

The first major Christian writer in Latin, a convert at Carthage whose vocabulary — trinitas, persona, substantia — became the language of Western theology. Against Praxeas argues that the Father, Son and Spirit are distinct without being divided. In later life he sided with the rigorist New Prophecy (Montanist) movement — how far he broke with the Catholic church is debated — so the Church has received his work selectively.

Works quoted

• Against Praxeas (Adversus Praxean), c. 213. English: Peter Holmes; Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, rev. A. Cleveland Coxe (1885). Source ↗
• Apology (Apologeticus), c. 197. English: S. Thelwall; Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, rev. A. Cleveland Coxe (1885). Source ↗

On these passages

• John 1:1–3

  “Now, since these words may not be taken otherwise than as they are written, there is without doubt shown to be One who was from the beginning, and also One with whom He always was: one the Word of God, the other God (although the Word is also God, but God regarded as the Son of God, not as the Father)”

  Against Praxeas, Chapter 21

Cyprian of Carthage

c. 200–258 · Carthage, North Africa (present-day Tunisia) · Latin West · wrote in Latin

Bishop of Carthage through persecution and plague, executed under the emperor Valerian in 258. His letters and treatises deal with the unity of the Church and with how to receive back Christians who had lapsed under persecution — questions he answered more strictly than some of his contemporaries.

Works quoted

• On the Unity of the Church (De Ecclesiae Catholicae Unitate), c. 251. English: Ernest Wallis; Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 5, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, rev. A. Cleveland Coxe (1886). Source ↗

On these passages

Athanasius of Alexandria

c. 296–373 · Alexandria, Egypt · Greek East; honoured by the Coptic and Ethiopian churches · wrote in Greek

Bishop of Alexandria, exiled five times for his defence of the Council of Nicaea (325) against Arianism. On the Incarnation, written early in his career, argues that the eternal Word took a human body to restore humanity to the life and knowledge of God. Athanasius consecrated Frumentius as the first bishop of Ethiopia, and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church honours him among its fathers.

Works quoted

• On the Incarnation of the Word (De Incarnatione Verbi Dei), c. 318–335. English: Archibald Robertson; Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, vol. 4, ed. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (1892). Source ↗

On these passages

• John 1:14

  “For He was made man that we might be made God; and He manifested Himself by a body that we might receive the idea of the unseen Father; and He endured the insolence of men that we might inherit immortality.”

  On the Incarnation of the Word, §54

Origen of Alexandria

c. 185–c. 253 · Alexandria, Egypt; later Caesarea in Palestine · Greek East; some of his views were later condemned · wrote in Greek

The most prolific biblical scholar of the early Church: textual critic, commentator and teacher at Alexandria. His Commentary on John is the earliest surviving Christian commentary on that Gospel. He is read with care: his account of the Son as in some sense subordinate to the Father predates the Nicene settlement, and several of his speculative positions were condemned in the sixth century, long after his death.

Works quoted

• Commentary on the Gospel of John (Commentarii in evangelium Joannis), c. 231–248. English: Allan Menzies; Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 9, ed. Allan Menzies (1896). Source ↗

On these passages

• John 1:1

  “The Word was always with the Father; and so it is said, "And the Word was with God." He did not come to God, and this same word "was" is used of the Word because He was in the beginning at the same time when He was with God, neither being separated from the beginning nor being bereft of His Father.”

  Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book II, §1

• John 1:1

  “He adds the article to the Logos, but to the name of God he adds it sometimes only. He uses the article, when the name of God refers to the uncreated cause of all things, and omits it when the Logos is named God.”

  Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book II, §2

John Chrysostom

c. 347–407 · Antioch in Syria, later Constantinople · Greek East · wrote in Greek

Preacher at Antioch and later archbishop of Constantinople, called Chrysostom (“golden-mouthed”) after his death. His homilies work through whole books verse by verse, with attention to the plain sense of the text and its moral demands, and they remain central in Orthodox preaching. He died in exile after clashing with the imperial court.

Works quoted

• Homilies on the Gospel of John (Homiliae in Joannem), c. 391. English: English translation as printed in NPNF First Series vol. 14 (Oxford Library of the Fathers translation, revised); Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 14, ed. Philip Schaff (1889). Source ↗
• Homilies on the Epistle to the Romans (Homiliae in epistulam ad Romanos), c. 391–397. English: English translation as printed in NPNF First Series vol. 11; Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 11, ed. Philip Schaff (1889). Source ↗

On these passages

• John 1:14

  “So that when you hear that "the Word became Flesh," be not disturbed nor cast down. For that Essence did not change to flesh, (it is impiety to imagine this,) but continuing what it is, It so took upon It the form of a servant.”

  Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homily 11, §1

• John 1:18

  “It is to declare, that all these were instances of (His) condescension, not the vision of the Essence itself unveiled. For had they seen the very Nature, they would not have beheld It under different forms, since that is simple, without form, or parts, or bounding lines.”

  Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homily 15, §1

• Romans 8:28

  “Now when he speaks of "all things," he mentions even the things that seem painful. For should even tribulation, or poverty, or imprisonment, or famines, or deaths, or anything else whatsoever come upon us, God is able to change all these things into the opposite.”

  Homilies on the Epistle to the Romans, Homily 15

Gregory of Nyssa

c. 335–c. 395 · Cappadocia, Asia Minor (present-day Turkey) · Greek East · wrote in Greek

Bishop of Nyssa and one of the three Cappadocian Fathers with his brother Basil and Gregory of Nazianzus. On the Making of Man completes Basil's sermons on creation and reflects on what it means that humanity is made in the image of God. He also preached one of the earliest Christian sermons against slavery.

Works quoted

• On the Making of Man (De hominis opificio), c. 379. English: William Moore and Henry Austin Wilson (volume translators); Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, vol. 5, ed. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (1893). Source ↗

On these passages

• Genesis 1:27

  “For the image is not in part of our nature, nor is the grace in any one of the things found in that nature, but this power extends equally to all the race”

  On the Making of Man, Chapter 16, §17