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Ambrose of Milan

Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500 · 1,843 passages across 58 books

Commentary

341–360 of 1,843
Ezekiel 18:4

Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

The soul dies to the Lord, not through natural infirmity but through the sickness caused by guilt. This type of death is not the release from this life but is the fall resulting from sin.
Ezekiel 20:25

Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live;

For a paedagogus, as the word is rendered in the Latin, is the teacher of a boy; and he cannot apply perfect precepts to an imperfect age, because it cannot bear them. Again, the God of the Law says by the Prophet, I gave them also statutes that were not good, that is, not perfect. But the same God has preserved more perfect things for the Gospel, as He says, I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil the Law.
Ezekiel 28:3

Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee:

Who would refuse the counsel of Daniel, of whom God said, “Who is wiser than Daniel?” How can people doubt about the minds of those to whom God has given such grace? By the counsel of Moses wars were brought to an end, and for his merit’s sake food came from heaven and drink from the rock. How pure must have been the soul of Daniel to soften the character of barbarians and to tame the lions! What temperance was his, what self-restraint in soul and body! Not unworthily did he become an object of admiration to all, when—and all people do admire this—though enjoying royal friendships, he looked not for gold or counted the honor given him as more precious than his faith. For he was willing to endure danger for the law of God rather than to be turned from his purpose in order to gain human favor.
Ezekiel 28:12-13

Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.

It follows that the serpent in paradise was certainly not brought into being without the will of God. In the figure of the serpent we see the devil. That the devil existed even in paradise we are informed by the prophet Ezekiel, who in discussing the prince of Tyre says, “You are in Eden, the garden of God.” The prince of Tyre stands for the devil. Shall we, therefore, accuse God because we cannot comprehend the treasures—with the exception of those that he has deigned to reveal—of his majesty and wisdom that lie hidden and concealed in Christ? Yet he did reveal to us the fact that the wickedness of the devil is fruitful for humanity’s salvation. This would not be the devil’s intention, but the Lord makes the wickedness of him who stands in opposition to us contribute something to our salvation. The wickedness of the devil has caused the virtue and patience of one holy man to shine in a clearer light.
Ezekiel 37:1-14 · 2 passages

The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,

In minute detail the holy prophet Ezekiel teaches and describes how strength will be restored to our dry bones, feeling return and motion added; how, with the return of sinews, the whole structure of the human body will grow strong, and how the driest bones will be clothed with restored flesh and the openings of the veins and the streams of the blood will be concealed by a veil of skin drawn tautly over them. At the very words of the prophet, as we read, the crop of human bodies seems to rise up again to life, and one may see the wide expanses of the fields sprouting with a novel kind of growth.
Note how the prophet shows that there was hearing and movement in the bones before the Spirit of life was poured on them. For, above, both the dry bones are bidden to hear, as if they had the sense of hearing, and that on this each of them came to its own joint is pointed out by the words of the prophet.…Great is the lovingkindness of the Lord, that the prophet is taken as a witness of the future resurrection, that we, too, might see it with his eyes. For all could not be taken as witnesses, but in that one all we are witnesses, for neither does lying come on a holy person or error on so great a prophet.
Ezekiel 37:14 · 2 passages

And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.

We notice here how the operations of the Spirit of life are again resumed; we know in what way the dead are raised from the opening tombs. And is it in truth a matter of wonder that the sepulchers of the dead are opened at the bidding of the Lord, when the whole earth from its utmost limits is shaken by one thunderclap, the sea overflows its bounds and again checks the course of its waves?
Ezekiel 44:1-2

Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east; and it was shut.

Who is this gate, if not Mary? Is it not closed because she is a virgin? Mary is the gate through which Christ entered this world, when He was brought forth in the virginal birth and the manner of His birth did not break the seals of virginity.
Ezekiel 44:2

Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut.

What is that gate of the sanctuary, that outer gate facing the east and remaining closed? Is not Mary the gate through whom the Redeemer entered this world?
Galatians 2:20

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

This means, “Not I, who once ate from the earth [like Adam]. Not I who was once grass, as all flesh is grass, but Christ who lives in me. That is, there lives that living bread which comes from heaven, there lives wisdom, there lives righteousness, there lives the resurrection.”
Galatians 4:4

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

He says “his Son,” not one of many, not “a Son” but his own. When he says “his own” he confirms that he has the property of eternal generation. This is the one whom he subsequently declares to have been born from a woman, so as to ascribe the fact of being born not to the Godhead but to the assumed body. He was made from a woman by assuming flesh and made under the law by observing the law. But that heavenly birth of his is prior to the law, while the incarnation happens later.
Genesis 1:2 · 2 passages

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

The Spirit fittingly moved over the earth, destined to bear fruit because by the aid of the Spirit it held the seeds of new birth which were to germinate according to the words of the prophet: “Send forth thy Spirit and they shall be created and thou shalt renew the face of the earth.”
The good architect lays the foundation first and afterward, when the foundation has been laid, plots the various parts of the building, one after the other, and then adds to it the ornamentation.… Scripture points out that things were first created and afterward put in order lest it be supposed that they were not actually created and that they had no beginning, just as if the nature of things had been, as it were, generated from the beginning and did not appear to be something added afterward.
Genesis 1:3

And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

God is the author of light, and the place and cause of darkness is the world. But the good Author uttered the word light so that he might reveal the world by infusing brightness therein and thus make its aspect beautiful. Suddenly then, the air became bright and darkness shrank in terror from the brilliance of the novel brightness.
Genesis 1:4

And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

God, as judge of the whole work, foreseeing what is going to happen as something completed, commends the part of his work which is still in its initial stages, being already cognizant of its termination.
Genesis 1:5

And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

The angels, dominions and powers, although they began to exist at some time, were already in existence when the [visible] world was created.
Genesis 1:12

And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Let everyone be informed that the sun is not the author of vegetation.… How can the sun give the faculty of life to growing plants when these have already been brought forth by the life-giving creative power of God before the sun entered into such a life as this? The sun is younger than the green shoot, younger than the green plant.
Genesis 1:14-15

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

Look first on the firmament of heaven, which was made before the sun. Look first on the earth, which began to be visible and was already formed before the sun put in its appearance. Look at the plants of the earth, which preceded in time the light of the sun. The bramble preceded the sun. The blade of grass is older than the moon. Therefore, do not believe that object to be a god to which the gifts of God are seen to be preferred. Three days have passed. No one, meanwhile, has looked for the sun, yet the brilliance of light has been in evidence everywhere. For the day too has its light, which is itself the precursor of the sun.
Genesis 1:20

And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

The rivers were in labor. The lakes produced their quota of life. The sea itself began to bear all manner of reptiles.… We are unable to record the multiplicity of the names of all those species which by divine command were brought to life in a moment of time. At the same instant substantial form and the principle of life were brought into existence.… The whale, as well as the frog, came into existence at the same time by the same creative power.

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