Browse statements from Christian writers and witnesses closest to the apostolic era. The collection is ordered by attribution and divided into manageable pages.
Clement of Alexandria:
“To those who were righteous according to the Law, faith was lacking. For that reason, the Lord, in healing them, said, ‘Your faith has saved you.’”
Clement of Alexandria:
“Rightly, then, to those who have believed and obey, grace will abound beyond measure.”
Clement of Alexandria:
“We have discovered faith to be the first movement towards salvation. After faith, fear, hope, and repentance (accompanied by temperance and patience) lead us to love and knowledge.”
Clement of Alexandria:
“‘For by grace we are saved’ – but not, indeed, without good works. Rather, we must be saved by being molded for what is good, acquiring an inclination for it. And we must possess…
Clement of Alexandria:
“Those who glory in their looks – not in their hearts – dress to please others.”
Clement of Alexandria:
“He who hopes for everlasting rest knows also that the entrance to it is toilsome and narrow. So let him who has once received the Gospel not turn back, like Lot’s wife, as is…
Clement of Alexandria:
“The teachings of both the Old and the New Testaments are unnecessary if a person is saved by nature (as Valentinus [a Gnostic heretic] would have it) and is a believer and an elect…
Clement of Alexandria:
“I wonder how some dare to call themselves ‘perfect’ and ‘Gnostics.’ They are inflated and boastful, viewing themselves above the apostle. For Paul himself acknowledged about himself: ‘Not that I have already attained or…
Clement of Alexandria:
“Neither praises nor censures, neither rewards nor punishments, are right if the soul does not have the power of inclination and disinclination and if evil is involuntary. . . . In no respect is…
Clement of Alexandria:
“The Lord clearly shows sins and transgressions to be in our own power, by prescribing modes of cure corresponding to the maladies.”
Clement of Alexandria:
“Choice depended on the man as being free. But the gift depended on God as the Lord. And He gives to those who are willing, are exceedingly earnest, and who ask. So their salvation…
Clement of Alexandria:
“Nothing happens without the will of the Lord of the universe. It remains to say that such things happen without the prevention of God. For this alone saves both the providence and the goodness…
Clement of Rome:
“On account of his hospitality and godliness, Lot was saved out of Sodom when all the country round was punished by means of fire and brimstone, the Lord thus making it manifest that He…
Clement of Rome:
“For what reason was our father Abraham blessed? Was it not because he worked righteousness and truth through faith?”
Commodianus:
“If you wish to live, surrender yourselves to the second law. . . . Turn yourselves to Christ, and you will be co-workers with God.”
Cyprian:
“We are philosophers – not in words – but in deeds. We do not speak great things; we live them.”
Cyprian:
“It is clear that the devil is driven out in baptism by the faith of the believer. But he returns if the faith should afterwards fail.”
Cyprian:
“He shows that our prayers and fastings are of less avail if they are not aided by almsgiving. . . . Life is redeemed from dangers by almsgiving. Souls are delivered from death by…
Cyprian:
“He who is freed owes obedience to his Deliverer.”
Cyprian:
“Those sins that had been previously committed are purged by the blood and sanctification of Christ.”
Cyprian:
“The former Law that had been given by Moses was about to cease, and a new law was to be given. Another dispensation and a new covenant were to be given. The old baptism…
Cyprian:
“Abraham believed in God and it was accounted to him as righteousness. Assuredly, then, whoever believes in God and lives in faith is found righteous and is already blessed in faithful Abraham.”
Cyprian:
“How can a man say that he believes in Christ, if he does not do what Christ commanded him to do? From where will he attain the reward of faith, if he will not…
Cyprian:
“‘Depart from me, you workers of iniquity.’ There is need of righteousness, that one may deserve well of God the Judge. We must obey His teachings and warnings, so that our merits may receive…