Tertullian

In his own words on Philippians

• Philippians 1:10

  Therefore, since the Jews still contend that the Christ is not yet come, whom we have in so many ways approved to be come, let the Jews recognise their own fate, -a fate which they were constantly foretold as destined to incur after the advent of the Christ, on account of the impiety with which they despised and slew Him.

  An Answer to the Jews

• Philippians 1:14

  When (the apostle) mentions the several motives of those who were preaching the gospel, how that some, "waxing confident by his bonds, were more fearless in speaking the word," while others "preached Christ even out of envy and strife, and again others out of good-will" many also "out of love," and certain "out of contention," and some "in rivalry to himself," he had a favourable opportunity, no doubt, of taxing what they preached with a diversity of doctrine, as if it were no less than this which caused so great a variance in their tempers.

  Against Marcion Book V

• Philippians 1:17

  What is skewed among those who "proclaim Christ out of partisanship" is their temperament and their motive, not the content of their proclamation. Paul exposes these bad tempers as the sole cause of their disunity, but these bad tempers apparently do not have a bad effect on the mysteries of the faith. There is still only one Christ and one God. This does not change, regardless of what motives may come into play in preaching him. So Paul is able to say that "it is nothing to me whether Christ be preached on a pretext or in truth; Christ is proclaimed." What really matters is the one who is preached, whether through pretentiousness or in true faith. When Christ is preached in truth he is being preached faithfully. The rule of truth remains what it is, regardless of who preaches it—better or worse, there is but one truth. Meanwhile the conduct of preachers varies. Some preach truly, single-mindedly. Others preach insincerely, with affectations.

  AGAINST MARCION 5.20.1

• Philippians 1:18

  Therefore, says he, it matters not to me "whether it be in pretence or in truth that Christ is preached," because one Christ alone was announced, whether in their "pretentious" or their "truthful" faith.

  Against Marcion Book V

• Philippians 1:20

  And if the requirements of Gentile friendships and of kindly offices call you, why not go forth clad in your own armour; (and) all the more, in that (you have to go) to such as are strangers to the faith? so that between the handmaids of God and of the devil there may be a difference; so that you may be an example to them, and they may be edified in you; so that (as the apostle says) "God may be magnified in your body." But magnified He is in the body through modesty: of course, too, through attire suitable to modesty.

  On the Apparel of Women Book II

• Philippians 1:23

  For why should we be eager to bear children, whom, when we have them, we desire to send before us (to glory) (in respect, I mean, of the distresses that are now imminent); desirous as we are ourselves, too, to be taken out of this most wicked world, and received into the Lord's presence, which was the desire even of an apostle? To the servant of God, forsooth, offspring is necessary! For of our own salvation we are secure enough, so that we have leisure for children! Burdens must be sought by us for ourselves which are avoided even by the majority of the Gentiles, who are compelled by laws, who are decimated by abortions; burdens which, finally, are to us most of all unsuitable, as being perilous to faith! For why did the Lord foretell a "woe to them that are with child, and them that give suck," except because He testifies that in that day of disencumbrance the encumbrances of children will be an inconvenience? It is to marriage, of course, that those encumbrances appertain; but that ("woe") will not pertain to widows.

  To His Wife Book I

• Philippians 1:23

  "But Christians concern themselves about posterity"-to whom there is no to-morrow! Shall the servant of God yearn after heirs, who has disinherited himself from the world? And is it to be a reason for a man to repeat marriage, if from his first (marriage) he have no children? And shall he thus have, as the first benefit (resulting therefrom), this, that he should desire longer life, when the apostle himself is in haste to be "with the Lord? " Assuredly, most free will he be from encumbrance in persecutions, most constant in martyrdoms, most prompt in distributions of his goods, most temperate in acquisitions; lastly, undistracted by cares will he die, when he has left children behind him-perhaps to perform the last rites over his grave! Is it then, perchance, in forecast for the commonwealth that such (marriages)are contracted? for fear the States fail, if no rising generations be trained up? for fear the rights of law, for fear the branches of commerce, sink quite into decay? for fear the temples be quite forsaken? for fear there be none to raise the acclaim, "The lion for the Christians? "-for these are the acclaims which they desire to hear who go in quest of offspring! Let the well-known burdensomeness of children-especially in our case-suffice to counsel widowhood: (children) whom men are compelled by laws to undertake (the charge of); because no wise man would ever willingly have desired sons! What, then, will you do if you succeed in filling your new wife with your own conscientious scruples? Are you to dissolve the conception by aid of drags? I think to us it is no more lawful to hurt (a child) in process of birth, than one (already) horn.

  On Exhortation to Chastity

• Philippians 1:23

  You long for the goal, and the stage, and the dust, and the place of combat! I would have you answer me this question: Can we not live without pleasure, who cannot but with pleasure die? For what is our wish but the apostle's, to leave the world, and be taken up into the fellowship of our Lord? You have your joys where you have your longings.

  De Spectaculis

• Philippians 1:23

  Impatience is a bad omen for our hope. It puts our faith in doubt. We wound Christ when we do not accept with equanimity his calling people away, treating them as though they were to be pitied. "I long," says the apostle, "to be taken up and be with Christ." How much better is the wish that he expresses!

  ON PATIENCE 9.4-5

• Philippians 1:29

  For the things which are seen are temporal"-he is speaking of troubles; "but the things which are not seen are eternal"-he is promising rewards. But writing in bonds to the Thessalonians, he certainly affirmed that they were blessed, since to them it had been given not only to believe on Christ, but also to suffer for His sake.

  Scorpiace

• Philippians 2:3

  There is, too, another chief spur of impatience, the lust of revenge, dealing with the business either of glory or else of malice. But "glory," on the one hand, is everywhere "vain; " and malice, on the other, is always odious to the Lord; in this case indeed most of all, when, being provoked by a neighbour's malice, it constitutes itself superior in following out revenge, and by paying wickedness doubles that which has once been done.

  Of Patience

• Philippians 2:4

  Are we to paint ourselves out that our neighbours may perish? Where, then, is (the command), "Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself? " "Care not merely about your own (things), but (about your) neighbour's? " No enunciation of the Holy Spirit ought to be (confined) to the subject immediately in hand merely, and not applied and carried out with a view to every occasion to which its application is useful.

  On the Apparel of Women Book II

• Philippians 2:6

  This for certain is He "who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God." In what form of God? Of course he means in some form, not in none.

  Against Praxeas

• Philippians 2:6

  And God made man, that is to say, the creature which He moulded and fashioned; after the image of God (in other words, of Christ) did He make him And the Word was God also, who being in the image of God, "thought it not robbery to be equal to God." Thus, that clay which was even then putting on the image of Christ, who was to come in the flesh, was not only the work, but also the pledge and surety, of God.

  On the Resurrection of the Flesh

• Philippians 2:6

  For he says of Christ, that, "being in the form of God, He thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but emptied Himself, and took upon Him the form of a servant," not the reality, "and was made in the likeness of man," not a man, "and was found in fashion as a man," not in his substance, that is to say, his flesh; just as if to a substance there did not accrue both form and likeness and fashion.

  Against Marcion Book V

• Philippians 2:8

  Suppose the terms figure (or image or fashion), likeness and form referred merely to a phantom. There would then have been no substance to Christ's humanity. But in this case figure, likeness and form all point to the reality of his humanity. He is truly God, as Son of the Father, in his figure and image. He is truly man, as the Son of Man, found in the figure and image of man. It is noteworthy that elsewhere Paul calls Christ the "image of the invisible God." And indeed he had a reason for saying found, meaning that Christ was most certainly a man; for what is found surely must exist. Just as he was found to be God in power, so too he was a man in flesh. The apostle would not have declared him to become obedient to death if he had not been constituted of a mortal substance. Still more plainly does this appear when he adds the heavily laden words "even unto the death of the cross." For he would not exaggerate the atrocity in extolling his power in a conflict which he knew to have been imaginary or a mere fantasy. In that case Christ would rather have eluded the cross than experienced it. There would then have been no virtue in his suffering but only an illusion.

  AGAINST MARCION 5.20.4-5

• Philippians 2:8

  Still more plainly does this appear from the apostle's additional words, "even the death of the cross." For he could hardly mean this to be a climax to the human suffering, to extol the virtue of His obedience, if he had known it all to be the imaginary process of a phantom, which rather eluded the cross than experienced it, and which displayed no virtue in the suffering, but only illusion.

  Against Marcion Book V

• Philippians 2:8

  Therefore, as He was found to be God by His mighty power, so was He found to be man by reason of His flesh, because the apostle could not have pronounced Him to have "become obedient unto death," if He had not been constituted of a mortal substance.

  Against Marcion Book V

• Philippians 2:8

  For his sake He came down (from heaven), for his sake He preached, for his sake "He humbled Himself even unto death-the death of the cross." He loved, of course, the being whom He redeemed at so great a cost.

  On the Flesh of Christ

• Philippians 2:15

  You are a light of the world, and a tree ever green.

  On Idolatry

• Philippians 2:17

  But writing in bonds to the Thessalonians, he certainly affirmed that they were blessed, since to them it had been given not only to believe on Christ, but also to suffer for His sake. "Having," says he, "the same conflier which ye both saw in me, and now hear to be in me." "For though I are offered upon the sacrifice, I joy and rejoice with you all; in like manner do ye also joy and rejoice with me.

  Scorpiace

• Philippians 3:1

  Whence we understand that the coming cessation of the former circumcision l then given, and the coming procession of a new law (not such as He had already given to the fathers), are announced: just as Isaiah foretold, saying that in the last days the mount of the Lord and the house of God were to be manifest above the tops of the mounts: "And it shall be exalted," he says, "above the hills; and there shall come over it all nations; and many shall walk, and say, Come, ascend we unto the mount of the Lord, and unto the house of the God of Jacob," -not of Esau, the former son, but of Jacob, the second; that is, of our "people," whose "mount" is Christ, "prµcised without concisors' hands, filling every land," shown in the book of Daniel.

  An Answer to the Jews

• Philippians 3:3

  We are the circumcision -spiritual and carnal-of all things; for both in the spirit and in the flesh we circumcise worldly principles.

  On the Apparel of Women Book II

• Philippians 3:3

  And so to the Law presently had to succeed the Word of God introducing the spiritual circumcision. Therefore, by means of the wide licence of those days, materials for subsequent emendations were furnished beforehand, of which materials the Lord by His Gospel, and then the apostle in the last days of the (Jewish) age, either cut off the redundancies or regulated the disorders.

  To His Wife Book I

• Philippians 3:3

  Plainly, a Christian will "glory" even in the flesh; but (it will be) when it has endured laceration for Christ's sake, in order that the spirit may be crowned in it, not in order that it may draw the eyes and sighs of youths after it.

  On the Apparel of Women Book II

• Philippians 3:4

  But "those things which he had once accounted gain," and which he enumerates in the preceding verse-"trust in the flesh," the sign of "circumcision," his origin as "an Hebrew of the Hebrews," his descent from "the tribe of Benjamin," his dignity in the honours of the Pharisee -he now reckons to be only "loss" to himself; (in other words, ) it was not the God of the Jews, but their stupid obduracy, which he repudiates.

  Against Marcion Book V

• Philippians 3:5

  For the occasion, indeed, of claiming Divine grace even for the Gentiles derived a pre-eminent fitness from this fact, that the man who set up to vindicate CoWs Law as his own was of the Gentiles, and not a Jew "of the stock of the Israelites." For this fact-that Gentiles are admissible to God's Law-is enough to prevent Israel from priding himself on the notion that "the Gentiles are accounted as a little drop of a bucket," or else as "dust out of a threshing-floor: " although we have God Himself as an adequate engager and faithful promiser, in that He promised to Abraham that "in his seed should be blest all nations of the earth; " and that out of the womb of Rebecca "two peoples and two nations were about to proceed," -of course those of the Jews, that is, of Israel; and of the Gentiles, that is ours.

  An Answer to the Jews

• Philippians 3:7

  But "those things which he had once accounted gain," and which he enumerates in the preceding verse-"trust in the flesh," the sign of "circumcision," his origin as "an Hebrew of the Hebrews," his descent from "the tribe of Benjamin," his dignity in the honours of the Pharisee -he now reckons to be only "loss" to himself; (in other words, ) it was not the God of the Jews, but their stupid obduracy, which he repudiates.

  Against Marcion Book V

• Philippians 3:8

  Thus far, finally, of patience simple and uniform, and as it exists merely in the mind: though in many forms likewise I labour after it in body, for the purpose of "winning the Lord; " inasmuch as it is a quality which has been exhibited by the Lord Himself in bodily virtue as well; if it is true that the ruling mind easily communicates the gifts of the Spirit with its bodily habitation.

  Of Patience

• Philippians 3:8

  Accordingly he subjoins withal a reason, that "we are called in peace unto the Lord God; "and that "the unbeliever may, through the use of matrimony, be gained by the believer." The very closing sentence of the period confirms (the supposition) that this is thus to be understood.

  To His Wife Book II

• Philippians 3:8

  But "those things which he had once accounted gain," and which he enumerates in the preceding verse-"trust in the flesh," the sign of "circumcision," his origin as "an Hebrew of the Hebrews," his descent from "the tribe of Benjamin," his dignity in the honours of the Pharisee -he now reckons to be only "loss" to himself; (in other words, ) it was not the God of the Jews, but their stupid obduracy, which he repudiates. These are also the things "which he counts but dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ" (but by no means for the rejection of God the Creator); "whilst he has not his own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through Him," i.e. Christ, "the righteousness which is of God.

  Against Marcion Book V

• Philippians 3:9

  These are also the things "which he counts but dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ" (but by no means for the rejection of God the Creator); "whilst he has not his own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through Him," i.e. Christ, "the righteousness which is of God." Then, say you, according to this distinction the law did not proceed from the God of Christ.

  Against Marcion Book V

• Philippians 3:11

  It is in expectation of this for himself that the apostle writes to the Philippians: "If by any means," says he, "I might attain to the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, or were already perfect." And yet he had believed, and had known all mysteries, as an elect vessel and the great teacher of the Gentiles; but for all that he goes on to say: "I, however, follow on, if so be I may apprehend that for which I also am apprehended of Christ.

  On the Resurrection of the Flesh

• Philippians 3:12

  If these things may happen to those women also who, having attained the faith while in (the state of) Gentile matrimony, continue in that state, still they are excused, as having been "apprehended by God" in these very circumstances; and they are bidden to persevere in their married state, and are sanctified, and have hope of "making a gain" held out to them.

  To His Wife Book II

• Philippians 3:12

  Let the one, therefore, have the necessity of continuing; the other, further, even the power of not marrying. Secondly, if, according to the Scripture, they who shall be "apprehended" by the faith in (the state of) Gentile marriage are not defiled (thereby) for this reason, that, together with themselves, others also are sanctified: without doubt, they who have been sanctified before marriage, if they commingle themselves with "strange flesh," cannot sanctify that (flesh) in (union with) which they were not "apprehended.

  To His Wife Book II

• Philippians 3:13

  But if we listen to the apostle, forgetting what is behind, let us both strain after what is before, and be followers after the better rewards.

  To His Wife Book I

• Philippians 3:13

  Yet I must necessarily prescribe you a law, not to stretch out your hand after the old things, not to look backwards: for "the old things are passed away," according to Isaiah; and "a renewing hath been renewed," according to Jeremiah; and "forgetful of former things, we are reaching forward," according to the apostle; and "the law and the prophets (were) until John," according to the Lord.

  On Modesty

• Philippians 3:15

  "And if," says (the apostle), "there are matters which ye are ignorant about, the Lord will reveal to you." Accordingly, setting out of the question the confirmer of all such things, the Paraclete, the guide of universal truth, inquire whether there be not a worthier reason adduced among its for the observing of the ninth hour; so that this reason (of ours) must be attributed even to Peter if he observed a Station at the time in question.

  On Fasting

• Philippians 3:15

  Or do you think that every believer is entitled to originate and establish a law, if only it be such as is agreeable to God, as is helpful to discipline, as promotes salvation, when the Lord says, "But why do you not even of your own selves judge what is right? " And not merely in regard to a judicial sentence, but in regard to every decision in matters we are called on to consider, the apostle also says, "If of anything you are ignorant, God shall reveal it unto you; " he himself, too, being accustomed to afford counsel though he had not the command of the Lord, and to dictate of himself as possessing the Spirit of God who guides into all truth.

  De Corona

• Philippians 3:19

  For in order that in this also the devil might rival the Lord, he has as it were quite on a par (except that the very diversity of evil and good is exactly on a par with their magnitude) taught his disciples also a patience of his own; that, I mean, which, making husbands venal for dowry, and teaching them to trade in panderings, makes them subject to the power of their wives; which, with feigned affection, undergoes every toil of forced complaisance, with a view to ensnaring the childless; which makes the slaves of the belly submit to contumelious patronage, in the subjection of their liberty to their gullet.

  Of Patience

• Philippians 3:19

  Not one of such women knows how to speak of the good of single-husbandhood; for their "god," as the apostle says, "is their belly; " and so, too, what is neighbour to the belly.

  To His Wife Book I

• Philippians 3:19

  Deservedly, therefore, while they do not cover their head, in order that they may be solicited for the sake of glory, they are forced to cover their bellies by the ruin resulting from infirmity. For it is emulation, not religion, which impels them. Sometimes it is that god- their belly -himself; because the brotherhood readily undertakes the maintenance of virgins.

  On the Veiling of Virgins

• Philippians 3:20

  In this way also "shall strength be made perfect in weakness," -saving what is lost, reviving what is dead, healing what is stricken, curing what is faint, redeeming what is lost, freeing what is enslaved, recalling what has strayed, raising what is fallen; and this from earth to heaven, where, as the apostle teaches the Philippians, "we have our citizenship, from whence also we look for our Saviour Jesus Christ, who shall change our body of humiliation, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body" -of course after the resurrection, because Christ Himself was not glorified before He suffered.

  On the Resurrection of the Flesh

• Philippians 3:20

  But we do confess that a kingdom is promised to us upon the earth, although before heaven, only in another state of existence; inasmuch as it will be after the resurrection for a thousand years in the divinely-built city of Jerusalem, "let down from heaven," which the apostle also calls "our mother from above; " and, while declaring that our poli/teuma, or citizenship, is in heaven, he predicates of it that it is really a city in heaven.

  Against Marcion Book III

• Philippians 3:20

  For when (the apostle) says, "Not (the righteousness) which is of the law, but that which is through Him," he would not have used the phrase through Him of any other than Him to whom the law belonged. "Our conversation," says he, "is in heaven." I here recognise the Creator's ancient promise to Abraham: "I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven.

  Against Marcion Book V

• Philippians 3:20

  But as for you, you are a foreigner in this world, a citizen of Jerusalem, the city above. Our citizenship, the apostle says, is in heaven. You have your own registers, your own calendar; you have nothing to do with the joys of the world; nay, you are called to the very opposite, for "the world shall rejoice, but ye shall mourn.

  De Corona

• Philippians 3:20

  For when the apostle says, "As is the earthy," that is, man, "such also are they that are earthy"-men again, of course; "therefore as is the heavenly," meaning the Man, from heaven, "such are the men also that are heavenly." For he could not possibly have opposed to earthly men any heavenly beings that were not men also; his object being the more accurately to distinguish their state and expectation by using this name in common for them both.

  Against Marcion Book V

• Philippians 3:21

  If Christ coming from heaven will "transform the body of our humiliation into conformity with the body of his glory," then this body of ours, which is humbled by sufferings and cast down into the earth by the very law of death, is the very body that will rise. For how will it be transformed if there is nothing?

  AGAINST MARCION 5.20.7

• Philippians 3:21

  It was as full of this splendid example that Paul said: "Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body." But if you maintain that a transfiguration and a conversion amounts to the annihilation of any substance, then it follows that "Saul, when changed into another man," passed away from his own bodily substance; and that Satan himself, when "transformed into an angel of light," loses his own proper character.

  On the Resurrection of the Flesh

• Philippians 3:21

  If, again, Christ in His advent from heaven "shall change the body of our humiliation, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body," it follows that this body of ours shall rise again, which is now in a state of humiliation in its sufferings and according to the law of mortality drops into the ground.

  Against Marcion Book V

• Philippians 4:3

  To meet these its counsels, do you apply the examples of sisters of ours whose names are with the Lord, -who, when their husbands have preceded them (to glory), give to no opportunity of beauty or of age the precedence over holiness.

  To His Wife Book I

• Philippians 4:5

  (That) we all know; provided, however, we remember what the same (God) has said through the apostle: "Let your probity appear before men." For what purpose, except that malice may have no access at all to you, or that you may be an example and testimony to the evil? Else, what is (that): "Let your works shine? " Why, moreover, does the Lord call us the light of the world; why has He compared us to a city built upon a mountain; if we do not shine in (the midst of) darkness, and stand eminent amid them who are sunk down? If you hide your lamp beneath a bushel, you must necessarily be left quite in darkness, and be run against by many.

  On the Apparel of Women Book II

• Philippians 4:19

  On the other hand, this worldly concupiscence (to which I referred) has, as its causes, glory, cupidity, ambition, want of sufficiency; through which causes it trumps up the "necessity" for marrying,-promising itself, forsooth, heavenly things in return-to lord it, (namely,) in another's family; to roost on another's wealth; to extort splendour from another's store to lavish expenditure which you do not feel! Far be all this from believers, who have no care about maintenance, unless it be that we distrust the promises of God, and (His) care and providence, who clothes with such grace the lilies of the field; who, without any labour on their part, feeds the fowls of the heaven; who prohibits care to be taken about to-morrow's food and clothing, promising that He knows what is needful for each of His servants-not indeed ponderous necklaces, not burdensome garments, not Gallic mules nor German bearers, which all add lustre to the glory of nuptials; but "sufficiency," which is suitable to moderation and modesty, Presume, I pray you, that you have need of nothing if you "attend upon the Lord; " nay, that you have all things, if you have the Lord, whose are all things.

  To His Wife Book I