Testimonia — Early Christian Bible Commentary

1867 (English edition) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Gen. xvii. 4. “As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee.”—A.V.

Editorial footnote · The Stromata (Miscellanies), THE WRITINGS OF CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA. / THE MISCELLANIES. / BOOK I. / CHAPTER XXIX. THE GREEKS BUT CHILDREN COMPARED WITH THE HEBREWS., editorial note Footnote_1084 · Original source

1867 (English edition) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Gen. xvii. 1, 2.

Editorial footnote · The Instructor, THE WRITINGS OF CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA. / THE INSTRUCTOR. / BOOK I. / CHAPTER VII. WHO THE INSTRUCTOR IS, AND RESPECTING HIS INSTRUCTION., editorial note Footnote_264 · Original source

1868 (English edition) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Gen. xvii. 12.

Editorial footnote · Against Heresies, Book 1 / Chap. xviii.— Passages from Moses, which the heretics pervert to the support of their hypothesis., editorial note cite_note-223 · Original source

1868 (English edition) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Gen. xvii. 9–11.

Editorial footnote · Against Heresies, Book 4 / Chap. xvi. — Perfect righteousness was conferred neither by circumcision nor by any other legal ceremonies. The Decalogue, however, was not cancelled by Christ, but is always in force: men were never released from its commandments., editorial note cite_note-177 · Original source

1868 (English edition) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Gen. xvii. 17.

Editorial footnote · Against Heresies, Book 4 / Chap. vii. — Recapitulation of the foregoing alignment, showing that Abraham, through the revelation of the Word, knew the Father, and the coming of the Son of God. For this cause, he rejoiced to see the day of Christ, when the promises made to him should he fulfilled. The fruit of this rejoicing has flowed to posterity, viz. to those who are partakers in the faith of Abraham, but not to the Jews who reject the Word of God., editorial note cite_note-63 · Original source

1869 (English edition) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Cf. Gen. xvii. 14.

Editorial footnote · On First Principles, The Writings of Origen, Vol. 1 of 2 / ORIGEN DE PRINCIPIIS. / BOOK IV. / FROM THE LATIN., editorial note f941 · Original source

1869 (English edition) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Gen. xvii. 14.

Editorial footnote · On First Principles, The Writings of Origen, Vol. 1 of 2 / ORIGEN DE PRINCIPIIS. / BOOK IV. / FROM THE GREEK., editorial note f949 · Original source

1870 (English edition) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Not found in Scripture; but comp. Gen. xvii. 26, 27, xiv. 14.

Editorial footnote · Epistle of Barnabas, The Writings of the Apostolic Fathers / THE EPISTLE OF BARNABAS. / THE EPISTLE OF BARNABAS. / Chap. ix.—The spiritual meaning of circumcision., editorial note f582 · Original source

1871 (English edition) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Gen. xvii. 1-22. The passage is given in full by Augustine.

Editorial footnote · The City of God, THE CITY OF GOD. / BOOK SIXTEENTH. / ARGUMENT., editorial note Footnote_284_284 · Original source

1871 (English edition) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Gen. xvii. 5, 6, 16.

Editorial footnote · The City of God, THE CITY OF GOD. / BOOK SIXTEENTH. / ARGUMENT., editorial note Footnote_291_291 · Original source

1871 (English edition) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Gen. xvii. 5, and xxii. 18.

Editorial footnote · The City of God, THE CITY OF GOD. / BOOK TWENTIETH. / ARGUMENT., editorial note Footnote_797_797 · Original source

1872 (English edition) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Gen. xvii. 9-14.

Editorial footnote · On Baptism, Against the Donatists, WRITINGS IN CONNECTION WITH THE DONATIST CONTROVERSY. / BOOK FOURTH., editorial note Footnote_301_301 · Original source

1885 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Not found in Scripture: but comp. Gen. xvii. 26, 27, Gen. xiv. 14.

Editorial footnote · The Epistle of Barnabas, Chapter IX.—The spiritual meaning of circumcision., editorial note cite_note-126 · Original source

1887 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Gen. xvii. 1

Editorial footnote · On the Holy Trinity, Chapter 11.—The Essence of God Never Appeared in Itself. Divine Appearances to the Fathers Wrought by the Ministry of Angels. An Objection Drawn from the Mode of Speech Removed. That the Appearing of God to Abraham Himself, Just as that to Moses, Was Wrought by Angels. The Same Thing is Proved by the Law Being Given to Moses by Angels. What Has Been Said in This Book, and What Remains to Be Said in the Next.; original source section: Chapter 12, editorial note cite_note-10 · Original source

1887 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Gen. xvii. 5.

Editorial footnote · On the Predestination of the Saints, Chapter 19 [X]—In What Respects Predestination and Grace Differ.; original source section: Chapter 19, editorial note cite_note-4 · Original source

1888 (historical English edition; physical printing year uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

Gen. xvii. 10.

Editorial footnote · Tractates on the Gospel of John, Tractate 30, editorial note cite_note-4 · Original source

1890 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

περὶ τῶν μετονομαζομένων καὶ ὧν ἓνεκα μετονομ€ζονται, De Mutatione nominum. Upon Gen. xvii. 1–22. This work is still extant, and is given by Mangey, I. 578–619. See Schürer, p. 485.

Editorial footnote · Book II, Chapter XVIII.—The Works of Philothat have come down to us.; original source section: Chapter 18, editorial note cite_note-12 · Original source

Date uncertain | Augustine of Hippo

After these things Sarah died, in the 127th year of her life, and the 137th of her husband; for he was ten years older than she, as he himself says, when a son is promised to him by her: "Shall a son be born to me that am an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?" Then Abraham bought a field, in which he buried his wife. And then, according to Stephen's account, he was settled in that land, entering then on actual possession of it,—that is, after the death of his father, who is inferred to have died two years before.

Source passage · edition’s verse reference · The City of God, THE CITY OF GOD. / BOOK SIXTEENTH. / ARGUMENT., source paragraph 254 · Original source

Date uncertain | Augustine of Hippo

4. But as arising out of this occasion, this must not be passed over, which may haply of itself perplex some of you; with what design is it, that when this Jacob’s grandfather Abraham’s name was changed (for he too was first called Abram, and God changed his name, and said, “Thou shall not be called Abram, but Abraham”); from that time he was not called Abram. Search in the Scriptures, and you will see that before he received another name, he was called only Abram; after he received it, he was called only Abraham. But this Jacob, when he received another name, heard the same words, “Thou shalt not be called Jacob, but Israel shalt thou be called.” Search the Scriptures, and see how that he was always called both, both Jacob and Israel. Abram after he had received another name, was called only Abraham. Jacob after he had received another name, was called both Jacob and Israel. The name of Abraham was to be developed in this world; for here he was made the father of many nations, whence he received his name. But the name of Israel relates to another world, where we shall see God. Therefore the people of God, the Christian people in this present time, is both Jacob and Israel, Jacob in fact, Israel in hope. For the younger people is called the Supplanter of its brother the elder people. What! have we supplanted the Jews? No, but we are said to be their supplanters, for that for our sakes they were supplanted. If they had not been blinded, Christ would not have been crucified; His precious Blood would not have been shed; if that Blood had not been shed, the world would not have been redeemed. Because then their blindness hath profited us, therefore hath the elder brother been supplanted by the younger, and the younger is called the Supplanter. But how long shall this be?

Source passage · edition’s verse reference · Sermon LXXII, Chapter uncertain, source paragraph 7 · Original source

Date uncertain | Augustine of Hippo

4. “I have done one work, and ye all marvel.” And immediately He subjoined: “Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision.” It was well done that ye received circumcision from Moses. “Not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers;” since it was Abraham that first received circumcision from the Lord. “And ye circumcise on the Sabbath-day.” Moses has convicted you: ye have received in the law to circumcise on the eighth day; ye have received in the law to cease from labor on the seventh day; if the eighth day from the child’s birth fall on the seventh day of the week, what will ye do? Will ye abstain from work to keep the Sabbath, or will ye circumcise to fulfill the sacrament of the eighth day? But I know, saith He, what ye do. “Ye circumcise a man.” Why? Because circumcision relates to what is a kind of seal of salvation, and men ought not to abstain from the work of salvation on the Sabbath-day. Therefore be ye not “angry with me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the Sabbath-day.” “If,” saith He, “a man on the Sabbath-day receiveth circumcision that the law should not be broken” (for it was something saving that was ordained by Moses in that ordinance of circumcision), why are ye angry at me for working a healing on the Sabbath-day?

Source passage · edition’s verse reference · Tractates on the Gospel of John, Tractate 30, source paragraph 7 · Original source

Date uncertain | Clement of Alexandria

Again, when He speaks in His own person, He confesses Himself to be the Instructor: “I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt.” Who, then, has the power of leading in and out? Is it not the Instructor? This was He who appeared to Abraham, and said to him, “I am thy God, be accepted before me;” and in a way most befitting an instructor, forms him into a faithful child, saying, “And be blameless; and I will make my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed.” There is the communication of the Instructor’s friendship. And He most manifestly appears as Jacob’s instructor. He says accordingly to him, “Lo, I am with thee, to keep thee in all the way in which thou shalt go; and I will bring thee back into this land: for I will not leave thee till I do what I have told thee.” He is said, too, to have wrestled with Him. “And Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled with him a man (the Instructor) till the morning.” This was the man who led, and brought, and wrestled with, and anointed the athlete Jacob against evil. Now that the Word was at once Jacob’s trainer and the Instructor of humanity [appears from this]—“He asked,” it is said, “His name, and said to him, Tell me what is thy name.” And he said, “Why is it that thou askest my name?” For He reserved the new name for the new people—the babe; and was as yet unnamed, the Lord God not having yet become man. Yet Jacob called the name of the place, “Face of God.” “For I have seen,” he says, “God face to face; and my life is preserved.” The face of God is the Word by whom God is manifested and made known. Then also was he named Israel, because he saw God the Lord. It was God, the Word, the Instructor, who said to him again afterwards, “Fear not to go down into Egypt.” See how the Instructor follows the righteous man, and how He anoints the athlete, teaching him to trip up his antagonist.

Source passage · edition’s verse reference · The Instructor, THE WRITINGS OF CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA. / THE INSTRUCTOR. / BOOK I. / CHAPTER VII. WHO THE INSTRUCTOR IS, AND RESPECTING HIS INSTRUCTION., source paragraph 277 · Original source

Date uncertain | Clement of Alexandria

Whether, then, it be the law which is connate and natural, or that given afterwards, which is meant, it is certainly of God; and both the law of nature and that of instruction are one. Thus also Plato, in The Statesman, says that the lawgiver is one; and in The Laws, that he who shall understand music is one; teaching by these words that the Word is one, and God is one. And Moses manifestly calls the Lord a covenant: “Behold I am my Covenant with thee,” having previously told him not to seek the covenant in writing. For it is a covenant which God, the Author of all, makes. For God is called Θεός, from θέσις (placing), and order or arrangement. And in the Preaching of Peter you will find the Lord called Law and Word. But at this point, let our first Miscellany of gnostic notes, according to the true philosophy, come to a close.

Source passage · edition’s verse reference · The Stromata (Miscellanies), THE WRITINGS OF CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA. / THE MISCELLANIES. / BOOK I. / CHAPTER XXIX. THE GREEKS BUT CHILDREN COMPARED WITH THE HEBREWS., source paragraph 851 · Original source

Date uncertain | Irenaeus of Lyons (historical collection attribution)

1. Therefore Abraham also, knowing the Father through the Word, who made heaven and earth, confessed Him to be God; and having learned, by an announcement [made to him], that the Son of God would be a man among men, by whose advent his seed should be as the stars of heaven, he desired to see that day, so that he might himself also embrace Christ; and, seeing it through the spirit of prophecy, he rejoiced. Wherefore Simeon also, one of his descendants, carried fully out the rejoicing of the patriarch, and said: “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace. For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people: a light for the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of the people Israel.” And the angels, in like manner, announced tidings of great joy to the shepherds who were keeping watch by night. Moreover, Mary said, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my salvation;”—the rejoicing of Abraham descending upon those who sprang from him,—those, namely, who were watching, and who beheld Christ, and believed in Him; while, on the other hand, there was a reciprocal rejoicing which passed backwards from the children to Abraham, who did also desire to see the day of Christ’s coming. Rightly, then, did our Lord bear witness to him, saying, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad.”

Source passage · edition’s verse reference · Against Heresies: Book IV, Chapter uncertain (transcription heading: Chapter VII), source paragraph 40 · Original source

Date uncertain | Irenaeus of Lyons (historical collection attribution)

1. Moreover, we learn from the Scripture itself, that God gave circumcision, not as the completer of righteousness, but as a sign, that the race of Abraham might continue recognisable. For it declares: “God said unto Abraham, Every male among you shall be circumcised; and ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, as a token of the covenant between Me and you.” This same does Ezekiel the prophet say with regard to the Sabbaths: “Also I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord, that sanctify them.” And in Exodus, God says to Moses: “And ye shall observe My Sabbaths; for it shall be a sign between Me and you for your generations.” These things, then, were given for a sign; but the signs were not unsymbolical, that is, neither unmeaning nor to no purpose, inasmuch as they were given by a wise Artist; but the circumcision after the flesh typified that after the Spirit. For “we,” says the apostle, “have been circumcised with the circumcision made without hands.” And the prophet declares, “Circumcise the hardness of your heart.” But the Sabbaths taught that we should continue day by day in God’s service. “For we have been counted,” says the Apostle Paul, “all the day long as sheep for the slaughter;” that is, consecrated [to God], and ministering continually to our faith, and persevering in it, and abstaining from all avarice, and not acquiring or possessing treasures upon earth. Moreover, the Sabbath of God (requietio Dei), that is, the kingdom, was, as it were, indicated by created things; in which [kingdom], the man who shall have persevered in serving God (Deo assistere) shall, in a state of rest, partake of God’s table.

Source passage · edition’s verse reference · Against Heresies: Book IV, Chapter uncertain (transcription heading: Chapter XVI), source paragraph 80 · Original source

Date uncertain | John Chrysostom

What is, “according to appearance”? “Do not, since Moses hath the greatest honor among you, give your decision according to your estimation of persons, but according to the nature of things; for this is to judge rightly. Wherefore hath no one of you reproved Moses? Wherefore hath no one disobeyed him when he ordereth that the Sabbath be broken by a commandment introduced from without into the Law? He alloweth a commandment to be of more authority than his own Law; a commandment not introduced by the Law, but from without, which is especially wonderful; while ye who are not lawgivers are beyond measure jealous for the Law, and defend it. Yet Moses, who ordereth that the Law be broken by a commandment which is not of the Law, is more worthy of confidence than you.” By saying then, (I have made) “a whole man (healthy),” He showeth that circumcision also was “partial” health. And what was the health procured by circumcision? “Every soul,” It saith, “that is not circumcised, shall be utterly destroyed.” ( Gen. xvii. 14.) “But I have raised up a man not partially afflicted, but wholly undone.” “Judge not,” therefore, “according to appearance.”

Source passage · edition’s verse reference · Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homily 49, source paragraph 35 · Original source

Date uncertain | Origen

17. In the passages containing the commandments also, similar things are found. For in the law Moses is commanded to destroy every male that is not circumcised on the eighth day, which is exceedingly incongruous, since it would be necessary, if it were related that the law was executed according to the history, to command those parents to be punished who did not circumcise their children, and also those who were the nurses of little children. The declaration of Scripture now is, “The uncircumcised male, i.e. who shall not have been circumcised, shall be cut off from his people.” And if we are to inquire regarding the impossibilities of the law, we find an animal called the goat-stag, which cannot possibly exist, but which, as being in the number of clean beasts, Moses commands to be eaten; and a griffin, which no one ever remembers or heard of as yielding to human power, but which the legislator forbids to be used for food. Respecting the celebrated observance of the Sabbath also he thus speaks: “Ye shall sit, every one in your dwellings; no one shall move from his place on the Sabbath-day.” Which precept it is impossible to observe literally; for no man can sit a whole day so as not to move from the place where he sat down. With respect to each one of these points now, those who belong to the circumcision, and all who would have no more meaning to be found in sacred Scripture than what is indicated by the letter, consider that there should be no investigation regarding the goat-stag, and the griffin, and the vulture; and they invent some empty and trifling tales about the Sabbath, drawn from some traditional sources or other, alleging that every one’s place is computed to him within two thousand cubits. Others, again, among whom is Dositheus the Samaritan, censure indeed expositions of this kind, but themselves lay down something more ridiculous, viz. that each one must remain until the evening in the posture, place, or position in which he found himself on the Sabbath-day; i.e. if found sitting, he is to sit the whole day, or if reclining, he is to recline the whole day. Moreover, the injunction which runs, “Bear no burden on the Sabbath-day,” seems to me an impossibility. For the Jewish doctors, in consequence of these [prescriptions], have betaken themselves, as the holy apostle says, to innumerable fables, saying that it is not accounted a burden if a man wear shoes without nails, but that it is a burden if shoes with nails be worn; and that if it be carried on one shoulder, they consider it a burden; but if on both, they declare it to be none.

Source passage · edition’s verse reference · On First Principles, The Writings of Origen, Vol. 1 of 2 / ORIGEN DE PRINCIPIIS. / BOOK IV. / FROM THE LATIN., source paragraph 320 · Original source

Date uncertain | Origen

17. And if we come to the legislation of Moses, many of the laws manifest the irrationality, and others the impossibility, of their literal observance. The irrationality [in this], that the people are forbidden to eat vultures, although no one even in the direst famines was [ever] driven by want to have recourse to this bird; and that children eight days old, which are uncircumcised, are ordered to be exterminated from among their people, it being necessary, if the law were to be carried out at all literally with regard to these, that their fathers, or those with whom they are brought up, should be commanded to be put to death. Now the Scripture says: “Every male that is uncircumcised, who shall not be circumcised on the eighth day, shall be cut off from among his people.” And if you wish to see impossibilities contained in the legislation, let us observe that the goat-stag is one of those animals that cannot exist, and yet Moses commands us to offer it as being a clean beast; whereas a griffin, which is not recorded ever to have been subdued by man, the lawgiver forbids to be eaten. Nay, he who carefully considers [the famous injunction relating to] the Sabbath, “Ye shall sit each one in your dwellings; let no one go out from his place on the seventh day,” will deem it impossible to be literally observed: for no living being is able to sit throughout a whole day, and remain without moving from a sitting position. And therefore those who belong to the circumcision, and all who desire that no meaning should be exhibited, save the literal one, do not investigate at all such subjects as those of the goat-stag and griffin and vulture, but indulge in foolish talk on certain points, multiplying words and adducing tasteless traditions; as, for example, with regard to the Sabbath, saying that two thousand cubits is each one’s limit. Others, again, among whom is Dositheus the Samaritan, condemning such an interpretation, think that in the position in which a man is found on the Sabbath-day, he is to remain until evening. Moreover, the not carrying of a burden on the Sabbath-day is an impossibility; and therefore the Jewish teachers have fallen into countless absurdities, saying that a shoe of such a kind was a burden, but not one of another kind; and that a sandal which had nails was a burden, but not one that was without them; and in like manner what was borne on one shoulder [was a load], but not that which was carried on both.

Source passage · edition’s verse reference · On First Principles, The Writings of Origen, Vol. 1 of 2 / ORIGEN DE PRINCIPIIS. / BOOK IV. / FROM THE GREEK., source paragraph 321 · Original source