Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius
Ante-Nicene · to AD 325 · d. AD 325 · 114 passages across 31 books
Commentary
Amos 8:10
And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.
Suspended, then, and fastened to his cross Christ cried out to God the Father in a loud voice and willingly laid down his life. In that same hour there was an earthquake, and the veil of the temple that separated the two tabernacles was cut in two, and the sun was suddenly withdrawn, and from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness. The prophet Amos bears witness to this. “And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord, that the sun shall go down at midday, and the day shall be darkened of light. And I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation.”
Micah 4:1-3
But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
For Micah announced that the new law would be given in this way: “The law shall go forth out of Zion, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people, and he shall vanquish and rebuke nations.” For that prior law that was given through Moses was given not on Mount Zion but on Mount Horeb. And the Sibyl showed that this would be destroyed by the Son of God. “But when all these things have been fulfilled which he spoke, at that time then the whole law is destroyed.”
Zechariah 3:3
Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.
Now who this one would be to whom God promised an eternal priesthood Zechariah has taught, even giving his name most clearly. For thus he spoke: “And the Lord God showed me Jesus the high priest standing before the face of the angel of the Lord, and the devil stood at his right hand to be his adversary. And the Lord said to the devil, ‘May the Lord that chose Jerusalem rule over you, and behold the brand plucked out of the fire!’ And Jesus was clothed with filthy garments, and he stood before the face of the angel. And he answered and said to them that stood around before his face, saying, ‘Take away the filthy garments from him, and put on him a tunic and sandals, and put a clean miter upon his head.’ And they clothed him with garments and put a clean miter upon his head. And the angel of the Lord stood and testified before Jesus, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord almighty: If you will walk in my ways and keep my charges, you shall judge my house. And I will give you some of them that are now present to walk with you.’ Hear, then, O Jesus, the high priest.”
Mark 5:4
Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.
“Neither could anyone tame him.” Give me a reprobate who is impetuous, foul-mouthed and overbearing. With few words the Lord will render him as gentle as a lamb. Give me one who is covetous, avaricious, grasping. The Lord will restore him to liberality, and he will dispose of his resources bountifully of his own hand. Show me one who trembles at the idea of pain and of death, and soon I will show you one who has learned to disdain crosses, flames and the bull of Perillus. Even one who is sensual, adulterous and gluttonous can be made sober, chaste and abstinent.
Mark 7:35
And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.
He thereby declared that it would shortly come to pass, that those who were destitute of the revealed truth would both hear and understand the majestic words of God. Accordingly you may truly call those deaf who do not hear the heavenly things which are true, and worthy of being performed. He loosed the tongues of the dumb. They spoke plainly—a power worthy of admiration even in its ordinary operation. But there was also contained in this display of power another meaning. It would shortly come to pass that those who were previously ignorant of heavenly things, having received the instruction of wisdom, might soon speak God’s own truth.
Mark 7:37
And were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.
He loosed the tongues of the dumb, so that they spake plainly. A power worthy of admiration, even when it was in operation: but there was contained in this display of power another meaning, which showed that it would shortly come to pass that those who were lately ignorant of heavenly things, having received the instruction of wisdom, might speak respecting God and the truth. For he who is ignorant of the divine nature, he truly is speechless and dumb, although he is the most eloquent of all men.
Mark 14:8
She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.
The last and greatest office of piety is the burying of strangers and the poor; which subject those teachers of virtue and justice have not touched upon at all. For they were unable to see this, who measured all their duties by utility. Moreover, there have not been wanting those who esteemed burial as superfluous, and said that it was no evil to lie unburied and neglected; but their impious wisdom is rejected alike by the whole human race, and by the divine expressions which command the performance of the rite.
Luke 6:32
For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.
"Sometimes, however, we must exercise bounty in giving: nor is this kind of liberality altogether to be rejected; and we must give from our property to suitable persons when they are in need of assistance." What is the meaning of "suitable"? Assuredly those who are able to restore and give back the favour. If Cicero were now alive, I should certainly exclaim: Here, here, Marcus Tullius, you have erred from true justice; and you have taken it away by one word, since you measured the offices of piety and humanity by utility. For we must not bestow our bounty on suitable objects, but as much as possible on unsuitable objects. For that will be done with justice, piety, and humanity, which you shall do without the hope of any return!
Luke 10:3
Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.
I relate all those things on the authority of well-informed persons; and I thought it proper to commit them to writing exactly as they happened, lest the memory of events so important should perish, and lest any future historian of the persecutors should corrupt the truth, either by suppressing their offences against God, or the judgment of God against them. To His everlasting mercy ought we to render thanks, that, having at length looked on the earth, He deigned to collect again and to restore His flock, partly laid waste by ravenous wolves, and partly scattered abroad, and to extirpate those noxious wild beasts who had trod down its pastures, and destroyed its resting-places.
Luke 19:42
Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.
Therefore He went into Galilee, for He was unwilling to show Himself to the Jews, lest He should lead them to repentance, and restore them from their impiety to a sound mind. And there He opened to His disciples again assembled the writings of Holy Scripture, that is, the secrets of the prophets; which before His suffering could by no means be understood, for they told of Him and of His passion.
Luke 22:25
And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors.
Therefore the change of the age and the expulsion of justice is to be deemed nothing else, as I have said, than the laying aside of divine religion, which alone effects that man should esteem man dear, and should know that he is bound to him by the tie of brotherhood, since God is alike a Father to all, so as to share the bounties of the common God and Father with those who do not possess them; to injure no one, to oppress no one, not to close his door against a stranger, nor his ear against a suppliant, but to be bountiful, beneficent, and liberal, which Tullius thought to be praises suitable to a king. This truly is justice, and this is the golden age.
John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Solomon also shows that it is the Word of God, and no other, by whose hands these works of the world were made. "I," He says, "came forth out of the mouth of the Most High before all creatures: I caused the light that faileth not to arise in the heavens, and covered the whole earth with a cloud. I have dwelt in the height, and my throne is in the pillar of the cloud." John also thus taught: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made."
John 1:9
That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
These results are accomplished gratuitously, easily, and quickly, if only the ears are open and the breast thirsts for wisdom. Let no one fear: we do not sell water, nor offer the sun for a reward. The fountain of God, most abundant and most full, is open to all; and this heavenly light rises for all, as many as have eyes.
John 2:19-21
· 2 passages
Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
[Christ] meant that his passion would be brief and that when he was put to death … he would raise himself up on the third day. For he himself was the true temple of God.… For when there was no justice on the earth, [God] sent a teacher, a living law, as it were, to establish his name and a new temple, to sow the seeds of true and loving worship throughout the whole earth by his words and example.
Thus Judas, induced by a bribe, delivered up to the Jews the Son of God. But they took and brought Him before Pontius Pilate, who at that time was administering the province of Syria as governor, and demanded that He should be crucified, though they laid nothing else to His charge except that He said that He was the Son of God, the King of the Jews; also His own saying, "Destroy this temple, which was forty-six years in building, and in three days I will raise it up again without hands,"—signifying that His passion would shortly take place, and that He, having been put to death by the Jews, would rise again on the third day. For He Himself was the true temple of God.
John 5:22
For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:
But in what manner and with what commands He was sent by God to the earth, the Spirit of God declared through the prophet, teaching us that when He had faithfully and uniformly fulfilled the will of His supreme Father, He should receive judgment and an everlasting dominion. If, He says, Thou wilt walk in my ways, and keep my precepts, then Thou shalt judge my house.
John 5:23
That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.
He who has not acknowledged the Son is unable to acknowledge the Father. This is wisdom, and this is the mystery of the supreme God. God willed that he should be acknowledged and worshiped through him. On this account he sent the prophets beforehand to announce his coming so that when the things that had been foretold were fulfilled in him, then he might be believed by people to be both the Son of God and God. Nor, however, must the opinion be entertained that there are two gods, for the Father and the Son are one.
John 5:28
Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Not all men, however, shall then be judged by God, but those only who have been exercised in the religion of God. For they who have not known God, since sentence cannot be passed upon them for their acquittal, are already judged and condemned, since the Holy Scriptures testify that the wicked shall not arise to judgment. Therefore they who have known God shall be judged, and their deeds, that is, their evil works, shall be compared and weighed against their good ones: so that if those which are good and just are more and weighty, they may be given to a life of blessedness; but if the evil exceed, they may be condemned to punishment.
John 5:29
And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
Man, therefore, was made from different and opposite substances, as the world itself was made from light and darkness, from life and death; and he has admonished us that these two things contend against each other in man: so that if the soul, which has its origin from God, gains the mastery, it is immortal, and lives in perpetual light; if, on the other hand, the body shall overpower the soul, and subject it to its dominion, it is in everlasting darkness and death. And the force of this is not that it altogether annihilates the souls of the unrighteous, but subjects them to everlasting punishment.
John 8:34
Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
Therefore they who either make prayers to the dead, or venerate the earth, or make over their souls to unclean spirits, do not act as becomes men, and that they will suffer punishment for their impiety and guilt, who, rebelling against God, the Father of the human race, have undertaken inexpiable rites, and violated every sacred law.