John 8:56 (WEB)
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and was glad.”
Fathers and councils · 48
Irenaeus of Lyons
“Then, at last, He came on to death itself, that He might be “the first-born from the dead, that in all things He might have the pre-eminence,” the Prince of life, existing before all, and going before all.” — editor's note: [That our Lord was prematurely old may be inferred from the text which Irenæus regards as proof that he literally lived to be old. St. John viii. 56, 57; comp.…
Read the whole comment“And teaching this very thing, He said to the Jews: “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he should see my day; and he saw it, and was glad.”” — editor's note: John viii. 56.
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Tertullian
“But when He goes on to say, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad,” He certainly proves that it was not the Father that appeared to Abraham, but the Son.” — editor's note: Ver. 56.
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Cyril of Jerusalem
“Hear Him again saying, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it, and was glad.” — editor's note: John viii. 56.
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Eusebius of Caesarea
“For he remained among them until the time of Trajan.”” — editor's note: It is in this immediate connection that Irenæus makes the extraordinary assertion, founding it upon the testimony of those who were with John in Asia, that…
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Theodoret of Cyrus
“Orth.—You ought by all means to follow teachers of the Church, but, since you improperly oppose yourself to these, hear the Saviour Himself when addressing the Jews; “Your Father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad.”” — editor's note: John viii. 56
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Ambrose of Milan
“Moreover, the Son of God saith, “Abraham saw My day, and rejoiced.”” — editor's note: S. John viii. 56.
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Augustine of Hippo
“For no man was ever reconciled unto God outside of that faith which is in Christ Jesus, either before His Incarnation, or after: as it is most truly defined by the Apostle: “For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.”” — editor's note: John viii. 56.
Read the whole comment“And again, how wonderful, how divine, how sublime are the words which John represents Him to have spoken after He had gone up to the temple, at the time of the feast!” — editor's note: John viii. 56.
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Athanasius of Alexandria
“For thus the patriarch Abraham rejoiced not to see his own day, but that of the Lord; and thus looking forward ‘he saw it, and was glad.’” — editor's note: John viii. 56; Heb. xi. 17.
Read the whole comment“Thus Abraham beholding the Lord rejoiced; so also John at the voice of Mary, the God-bearer, leaped for gladness.” — editor's note: John viii. 56.
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John Chrysostom
“Concerning the Patriarch Christ Himself speaks by name, “that your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it, and was glad.” ( c. viii. 56.)” — the author cites it
Read the whole comment“For hear what the Prophet says to the Jews, “Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept (sheep)” ( Hos. xii. 12 ); and again Christ, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it, and was glad.” ( c. viii. 56.)” — the author cites it
Read the whole comment“Ver.” — the author cites it
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Catena Aurea on Matthew
- JeromeCatena Aurea on Matthew
““Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and was glad.” [John 8:56]” — the author cites it
Read the whole comment - OrigenCatena Aurea on Matthew
“…world have been called and chosen, but all from the foundation of the world, who like Abraham have seen the day of Christ and rejoiced therein. [marg. note: John 8:56] And that He here means not only those that shall be found in the body, but those also who have quitted the body, the following words shew, “from one…” — the author cites it
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Jerome
“Abraham saw His day and was glad.” — editor's note: Joh. viii. 56.
Read the whole comment“Shortly afterwards she entered the home of Sarah and beheld the birthplace of Isaac and the traces of Abraham’s oak under which he saw Christ’s day and was glad.” — editor's note: Joh. viii. 56: cf. Gen. xviii. 1, R.V.—q.v.
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Ephrem the Syrian
“Abraham perceived in Spirit that the Son’s Birth was far off; instead of Him in person he rejoiced to see even His day.” — editor's note: John viii. 56.
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Hilary of Poitiers
“Faith so strong has not missed its recognition; the Lord says in the Gospel, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day; and he saw it, and was glad.” — editor's note: St. John viii. 56.
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Catena Aurea on Luke
- OrigenCatena Aurea on Luke
“Because it is said of Abraham, That he saw the day of Christ and was glad, (John 8:56.) which sight not many, but few attained to; but there were other prophets and just men not so great as to reach to Abraham’s vision, and the experience of the Apostles, who, He says, saw not, but desired to see.” — the author cites it
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Leo the Great
“For the Incarnation of the Word did but contribute to the doing of that which was done: and the mystery of man’s salvation was never in the remotest age at a standstill.” — editor's note: Hoc contulit faciendum quod factum, i.e. the Incarnation was but a part (though an essential part) in the Divine scheme of redemption, and, as he goes on to…
Read the whole comment“This day “Abraham saw and was glad,” when he understood that the sons of his faith would be blessed in his seed that is in Christ, and foresaw that by believing he should be the father of all nations, “giving glory to God and being fully assured that What He had promised, He was able also to perform.”” — editor's note: S. John viii. 56.
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Catena Aurea on John
- Gregory the GreatCatena Aurea on John
As it is necessary that the good should grow better by contumely, so are the reprobate made worse by kindness. On hearing our Lord’s words, the Jews again blaspheme: Then said the Jews unto Him, Now we know Thou hast…
Read the whole comment - OrigenCatena Aurea on John
Those who believe the Holy Scriptures, understand that what men do contrary to right reason, is not done without the operation of devils. Thus the Jews thought that Jesus had spoken by the influence of the devil,…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on John
Again, they have recourse to the vainglorious argument of their descent: Art Thou greater than our father Abraham, winch is dead? They might have said, Art Thou greater than God, whose words they are dead who heard?…
Read the whole comment - OrigenCatena Aurea on John
For they do not see that not Abraham only, but every one born of woman, is less than He who was born of a Virgin. Now were the Jews right in saying that Abraham was dead? for he heard the word of Christ, and kept it,…
Read the whole comment - Gregory the GreatCatena Aurea on John
For being given over to eternal death, which death they saw not, and thinking only, as they did, of the death of the body, their minds were darkened, even while the Truth Himself was speaking. They add: Whom makest…
Read the whole comment - Theophylact of OhridCatena Aurea on John
As if to say, Thou a person of no account, a carpenter’s son of Galilee, to take glory to Thyself!
Read the whole comment - BedeCatena Aurea on John
Whom makest Thou Thyself? i. e. Of what merit, of what dignity wouldest Thou be accounted? Nevertheless, Abraham only died in the body; his soul lived. And the death of the soul which is to live for ever, is greater…
Read the whole comment - OrigenCatena Aurea on John
This was the speech of persons spiritually blind. For Jesus did not make Himself what He was, but received it from the Father: Jesus answered and said, If I honour Myself, My honour is nothing.
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on John
This is to answer their suspicions; as above, If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.
Read the whole comment - BedeCatena Aurea on John
He shews in these words that the glory of this present life is nothing.
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on John
This is to answer those who said, Whom makest Thou Thyself? He refers His glory to the Father, from Whom is: It is My Father that honoureth Me. The Arians take occasion from those words to calumniate our faith, and…
Read the whole comment - Alcuin of YorkCatena Aurea on John
The Father glorified the Son, at His baptism, on the mount, at the time of His passion, when a voice came to Him, in the midst of the crowd, when He raised Him up again after His passion, and placed Him at the right…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on John
He adds, Of whom ye say that He is your God; meaning to tell them that they were not only ignorant of the Father, but even of God.
Read the whole comment - Theophylact of OhridCatena Aurea on John
For had they known the Father really, they would have reverenced the Son. But they even despise God, who in the Law forbad murder, by their clamours against Christ. Wherefore He says, Ye have not known Him.
Read the whole comment - Alcuin of YorkCatena Aurea on John
As if to say, Ye call Him your God, after a carnal manner, serving Him for temporal rewards. Ye have not known Him, as He should be known; ye are not able to serve Him spiritually.
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on John
Some heretics say that the God proclaimed in the Old Testament is not the Father of Christ, but a kind of prince of bad angels. These He contradicts when He calls Him His Father, whom the Jews called their God, and…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on John
As if to say, As ye, saying that ye know Him, lie; so were I a liar, did I say I knew Him not. It follows, however, (which is the greatest proof of all that He was sent from God,) But I know Him.
Read the whole comment - Theophylact of OhridCatena Aurea on John
Having that knowledge by nature; for as I am, so is the Father also; I know Myself, and therefore I know Him. And He gives the proof that He knows Him: And I keep His saying, i. e. His commandments. Some understand,…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on John
He spoke the saying of the Father too, as being the Son; and He was Himself that Word of the Father, which He spoke to men.
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on John
In answer then to their question, Art Thou greater than our father Abraham, He shews them that He is greater than Abraham; Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day: he saw it, and was glad; he must have rejoiced,…
Read the whole comment - Theophylact of OhridCatena Aurea on John
As if to say, He regarded My day, as a day to be desired, and full of joy; not as if I was an unimportant or common person.
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on John
He did not fear, but rejoiced to see: he rejoiced in hope, believing, and so by faith saw. It admits of doubt whether He is speaking here of the temporal day of the Lord, that, viz. of His coming in the flesh, or of…
Read the whole comment - Gregory the GreatCatena Aurea on John
Abraham saw the day of the Lord even then, when he entertained the three Angels, a figure of the Trinity.
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on John
They are aliens from Abraham if they grieve over what he rejoiced in. By this day perhaps He means the day of the cross, which Abraham prefigured by the offering up of Isaac and the ram: intimating hereby that He did…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on John
If they rejoiced to whom the Word appeared in the flesh, what was his joy, who beheld in spiritual vision the light ineffable, the abiding Word, the bright illumination of pious souls, the indefectible wisdom, still…
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Cross-references · 23
Cited together in Against Heresies IV.5.
Cited together in Homilies on John Homily 7.
Cited together in Against Heresies IV.5.
Cited together in Against Heresies IV.5.
Cited together in Against Heresies IV.5.
Cited together in Church History III.23.
Cited together in Against Heresies IV.5.
Cited together in Against Heresies IV.5.
Cited together in Augustine of Hippo on John 8:52–56 (4) (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in Against Heresies IV.5.
Cited together in Against Heresies IV.5.
Cited together in Origen on Luke 10:23–24 (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in Against Heresies IV.5.
Cited together in Against Heresies IV.5.
Cited together in Sermons Sermon 23.
Cited together in Against Heresies IV.5.
Cited together in Origen on Matthew 24:31 (3) (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in Homilies on John Homily 7.
Cited together in Origen on Luke 10:23–24 (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in Origen on Luke 10:23–24 (Catena Aurea) and 1 other place.
Cited together in Homilies on John Homily 7.
Cited together in Homilies on John Homily 7.
Cited together in Homilies on John Homily 7.