2 Corinthians 3:6

• §859Paragraph 3 · The Church is One, Holy, Catholic, and ApostolicRead at vatican.va

  “Christ's apostles knew that they were called by God as "ministers of a new covenant," "servants of God," "ambassadors for Christ," "servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God."” — Catechism footnote: 2 Cor 3:6; 6:4; 5:20; 1 Cor 4:1.

Origen

• Origen, Against Celsus VI.70Book VI

  “…of God; who hath also made us able ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life,” where by the “letter” he means that “exposition of Scripture which is apparent to the senses,” while by the “spirit” that which is the object of the…” — editor's note: 2 Cor. iii. 5, 6.

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• Origen, Against Celsus VII.20Book VII

  “Paul in like manner says, that “the letter killeth, and the spirit giveth life,” meaning by “the letter” the literal sense, and by “the spirit” the spiritual sense of Scripture.” — editor's note: 2 Cor. iii. 6.

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• Origen, De Principiis I.1Book I

  “…wishes to designate anything opposed to this gross and solid body, to call it spirit, as in the expression, “The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life,” where there can be no doubt that by “letter” are meant bodily things, and by “spirit” intellectual things, which we also term “spiritual.”” — editor's note: 2 Cor. iii. 6.

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Gregory of Nyssa

• Gregory of Nyssa, Against Eunomius VII.1Book VII

  “…witness with our Spirit,” and “no one knoweth the things of a man save the Spirit of man which is in him,” and “the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life,” and “if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live,” and “if we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit.”” — editor's note: 2 Cor. iii. 6.

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• Gregory of Nyssa, Answer to Eunomius' Second Book Chapter 1

  “…has yet to learn that the Christian is a disciple not of the letter but of the Spirit (for the letter killeth, says the Apostle, but the Spirit giveth life), and quotes to us the bare literal reading of the words as though God Himself pronounced them—if, I say, he believes this, that, after the similitude of men,…” — editor's note: 2 Cor. iii. 6.

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Jerome

• Jerome, Against the Pelagians Book 2

  “2 Cor. iii. 4–6.” — the author cites it

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• Jerome, Against the Pelagians Book 3

  “Wherefore, also, in another place hesays, “Such confidence have we through Christ to Godward; not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is from…” — editor's note: 2 Cor. iii. 4–6.

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• Jerome, Letters Letter 52

  “Does it not seem to you—if you keep to the letter that killeth—like some farcical story or some broad jest from an Atellan play?” — editor's note: 2 Cor. iii. 6.

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• Jerome, Letters Letter 108

  “After seeing these places she did not care to go on to Kirjath-sepher, that is “the village of letters;” because despising the letter that killeth she had found the spirit that giveth life.” — editor's note: 2 Cor. iii. 6.

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• Jerome, Letters Letter 109

  “…unclean and regard as defiled even vessels which have been in the same house with them, following the letter that killeth and not the spirit that giveth life.” — editor's note: 2 Cor. iii. 6.

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Eusebius of Caesarea

• Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History VI.25Book VI

  “…thus concerning the epistles of the apostles: “But he who was ‘made sufficient to be a minister of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit,’ that is, Paul, who ‘fully preached the Gospel from Jerusalem and round about even unto Illyricum,’ did not write to all the churches which he had instructed…” — editor's note: 2 Cor. iii. 6.

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John Cassian

• John Cassian, Conferences I–X III.15Conference III

  ““Not” says he, “that we are capable of thinking anything of ourselves as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God, which can be put in less good Latin but more forcibly, “our capability is of God,” and then there follows: “Who also made us capable ministers of the New Testament.”” — editor's note: 2 Cor. iii. 5, 6.

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Augustine of Hippo

• Augustine of Hippo, Confessions V.14Book V

  “…after I had heard one or two parts of the Old Testament explained, and often allegorically—which when I accepted literally, I was “killed” spiritually.” — editor's note: 1 Cor. xiii. 12, and 2 Cor. iii. 6. See vi. sec. 6, note, below.

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• Augustine of Hippo, Expositions on the Psalms Psalm 46

  “Psalm XLVI.” — editor's note: Lat. XLV. [In his exordium the Saint recurs to his favourite idea as follows: “Korah is interpreted ‘Baldness,’ and that our Lord, since in the ‘place of the…

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• Augustine of Hippo, Expositions on the Psalms Psalm 71

  “For they gloried in their own power of the letter, therefore grace joined to the letter they knew not.…But because “the letter killeth, but the Spirit maketh alive:” “I have not known literature, and I will enter into the power of the Lord.”” — editor's note: 2 Cor. iii. 6.

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• Augustine of Hippo, Expositions on the Psalms Psalm 119

  “…slayeth, it driveth us to fly unto the quickening Spirit, through whom the whole of our sins may be blotted out, and the love of righteous deeds be inspired.…” — editor's note: 2 Cor. iii. 6.

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• Augustine of Hippo, On the Profit of Believing Chapter 9

  “Hence it is: “The letter killeth, but the Spirit quickeneth.”” — editor's note: Vid. Retr. l. i. c. 14. n. l. “In this book I said, ‘in which &c.’ but I have otherwise explained those words of the Apostle Paul, and as far as I can see, or…

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• Augustine of Hippo, Sermons on New Testament Lessons Sermon 86

  ““But the Spirit giveth life.”” — editor's note: 2 Cor. iii. 6.

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• Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on the Gospel of John Tractate 49

  “The letter that killeth is like the stone that crusheth.” — editor's note: 2 Cor. iii. 6.

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• Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on the Gospel of John Tractate 122

  “But the law, when it is not aided by grace, maketh transgressors, and is only in the letter, on account of which the apostle specially declared, “The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”” — editor's note: 2 Cor. iii. 6.

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Theodoret of Cyrus

• Theodoret of Cyrus, Dialogues (Eranistes) §4

  “The Jewish temple contained the Law; this temple contains the Lawgiver; the former the letter that killeth; the latter the spirit that giveth life.”” — editor's note: cf. 2 Cor. iii. 6

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Ambrose of Milan

• Ambrose of Milan, Exposition of the Christian Faith III.5Book III

  “This way went the Jews to destruction, despising the deep-hidden meaning, and following only after the bare form of the word, for “the letter killeth, but the Spirit maketh alive.”” — editor's note: 2 Cor. iii. 6.

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Tertullian

• Tertullian, On Modesty Chapter 17

  “For even if he has affirmed that “good dwelleth not in his flesh,” yet (he means) according to “the law of the letter,” in which he “was:” but according to “the law of the Spirit,” to which he annexes us, he frees us from the “infirmity of the flesh.”” — editor's note: This exact expression does not occur; but comp. 2 Cor. iii. 6.

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• Tertullian, The Five Books Against Marcion V.10Book V

  “Therefore “the New Testament” will appertain to none other than Him who promised it—if not “its letter, yet its spirit;” and herein will lie its newness.” — editor's note: 2 Cor. iii. 6.

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Basil the Great

• Basil the Great, On the Holy Spirit Chapter 23

  “…by the spirit that dwelleth in you;” and again “my sheep hear my voice,…and I give unto them eternal life;” but “the Spirit” also, it is said, “giveth life,” and again “the Spirit,” it is said, “is life, because of righteousness.”” — editor's note: 2 Cor. iii. 6.

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Gregory of Nazianzus

• Gregory of Nazianzus, Orations Oration 2

  “But Moses actually went up and entered into the cloud, and was charged with the law, and received the tables, which belong, for the multitude, to the letter, but, for those who are above the multitude, to the spirit.” — editor's note: 2 Cor. iii. 6, 7.

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Catena Aurea on Luke

• OrigenCatena Aurea on Luke

  “(2 Cor. 3:6.)” — the author cites it

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• 2 Corinthians 5:20

  Cited together in Catechism §859.

• 2 Corinthians 6:4

  Cited together in Catechism §859.

• 2 Corinthians 8:18

  Cited together in Church History VI.25.

• Galatians 5:4

  Cited together in On the Profit of Believing Chapter 9.

• Hebrews 12:29

  Cited together in Against Celsus VI.70.

• 1 Peter 5:13

  Cited together in Church History VI.25.

• Revelation 10:4

  Cited together in Church History VI.25.

• 1 Samuel 2:9

  Cited together in Conferences I–X III.15.

• Psalm 68:29

  Cited together in Conferences I–X III.15.

• Psalm 119:125

  Cited together in Conferences I–X III.15.

• Ezekiel 20:21

  Cited together in Against Celsus VII.20.

• Ezekiel 20:25

  Cited together in Against Celsus VII.20.

• Luke 4:10

  Cited together in Origen on Luke 4:9–13 (2) (Catena Aurea).

• Luke 4:11

  Cited together in Origen on Luke 4:9–13 (2) (Catena Aurea).

• Luke 4:12

  Cited together in Origen on Luke 4:9–13 (2) (Catena Aurea).

• Luke 4:13

  Cited together in Origen on Luke 4:9–13 (2) (Catena Aurea).

• John 4:21

  Cited together in Against Celsus VI.70.

• John 4:24

  Cited together in Against Celsus VI.70.

• John 5:19

  Cited together in Catechism §859.

• John 5:30

  Cited together in Catechism §859.

• John 15:5

  Cited together in Catechism §859.

• Romans 7:12

  Cited together in Against Celsus VII.20.

• Romans 8:14

  Cited together in Against Celsus VI.70.

• 1 Corinthians 3:12

  Cited together in Against Celsus VI.70.

• 1 Corinthians 4:1

  Cited together in Catechism §859.

• 1 Corinthians 13:12

  Cited together in Confessions V.14.