Bible Verses and Early Church Commentary | Historical Christian Faith

[AD 542] Caesarius of Arles on Exodus 20:1

We should also know that the ten commandments of the law are also fulfilled by the two gospel precepts, love of God and love of neighbor. For the three commandments which were written on the first tablet pertain to the love of God, while on the second tablet seven commandments were inscribed, one of which is “Honor your father and your mother.” Doubtless all of the latter are recognized as pertaining to love of neighbor. The Lord said in the Gospel: “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” Likewise we read what the apostle James said: “But whoever offends in one point has become guilty in all.” What does it mean to offend in one point and lose all, except to have fallen from the precept of charity and so to have offended in all the other commands? According to the apostle, without charity nothing in our virtues can be shown to avail at all.

Source: SERMON 100A.12

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Exodus 20:2

Let [my opponents] insist, if they like, in contradiction to their own assertion, that worship of the one true God and the prohibition against idolatry is not to be preached to the unbaptized but to the already baptized. Do not, however, let them any longer say to those who are going to receive baptism that they need be instructed only on belief in God and after the reception of the sacrament they will be taught the manner of living required by the second precept on the love of neighbor. For both are contained in the law which the people received after the Red Sea, that is, after baptism. The commandments were not so distributed that before crossing the Red Sea the Jews were warned against idolatry and not until after their escape taught to honor father and mother, not to commit adultery, not to kill, and the remaining prescriptions for a rational and godly way of living.

Source: ON FAITH AND WORKS 11.17

[AD 533] Fulgentius of Ruspe on Exodus 20:2

In the first commandment of the Decalogue, just as the worship and service of the one Lord God is most clearly commanded, so for adoration and service to be shown by the faithful to any creature is most vehemently forbidden. For it is said there: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.” If this is taken as spoken simultaneously by the Father and the Son, the Father and the Son are believed to be one Lord God. But if either the Father is believed to have said this without the Son or the Son without the Father, it is necessary that the Father or the Son be denied to be the Lord God. Concerning this he said, “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.”

Source: LETTER 8.4.9

[AD 395] Gregory of Nyssa on Exodus 20:3

Again, he who says “you shall never worship a strange god” forbids us to worship another god, and the strange god is so called in contradistinction to our own God. Who then is our own God? Clearly, the true God. And who is the strange god? Surely, he who is alien from the nature of the true God. If therefore our own God is the true God, and if, as the heretics say, the only-begotten God is not of the nature of the true God, he is a strange God and not our God.

Source: ON THE FAITH

[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Exodus 20:4

A graven thing, nor the likeness of any thing: All such images, or likenesses, are forbidden by this commandment, as are made to be adored and served; according to that which immediately follows, thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them. That is, all such as are designed for idols or image-gods, or are worshipped with divine honour. But otherwise images, pictures, or representations, even in the house of God, and in the very sanctuary so far from being forbidden, are expressly authorized by the word of God. See Ex. 25. 15, and etc.; chap. 38. 7; Num. 21. 8, 9; 1 Chron. or Paralip. 28. 18, 19; 2 Chron. or Paralip. 3. 10.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Exodus 20:5

[God] warns a man inclined to idolatry not to practice it. But when a man who is not so inclined but yet through cowardice, which he calls “accommodation,” pretends to worship idols as the masses do, he does not, it is true, worship idols, but he does bow before them. And I would say that they who abjure Christianity in the courtroom or even before they are brought there do not worship idols, but they do bow down before them; for they apply to inanimate and unheeding matter the name of the Lord God, namely “God”.

Source: EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM 6

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Exodus 20:5

It is obvious that the Jews follow the law where God is represented as saying, “You shall have none other gods but me; you shall not make for yourself an idol nor any likeness of anything in the heaven above and in the earth beneath and in the waters under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor worship them.” And they worship none other than the supreme God who made heaven and everything else. It is clear then that since those who live according to the law reverence him who made the heavens, they do not reverence the heavens together with God. Furthermore, none of those who serve the Mosaic law worship the angels in heaven. And in the same way that they do not worship the sun, moon and stars, “the world of heaven,” they avoid worshiping heaven and the angels in it.

Source: AGAINST CELSUS 5.6

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Exodus 20:5

Christians and Jews are led to avoid temples and altars and images by the command “You shall fear the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.” … And not only do they avoid them, but when necessary they readily come to the point of death to avoid defiling their conception of the God of the universe by any act of this kind contrary to his law.

Source: AGAINST CELSUS 7.64

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Exodus 20:5

When men try to seduce us to apostasy, it is useful to reflect upon what God wishes to teach us when he says, “I am the Lord your God, jealous.” In my view, just as the bridegroom who wishes to make his bride live chastely so as to give herself entirely to him and beware of any relationship whatever with any man other than her husband, pretends, though he be wise, to be jealous—he uses this pretense as a kind of antidote for his bride—so the Lawgiver, especially when he reveals himself as “the firstborn of every creature,” says to his bride, the soul, that he is a jealous God. In this way he keeps his followers from any fornication with demons and pretended gods.

Source: EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM 9

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Exodus 20:5

Now Christ is especially jealous for the house of God in each of us, not wishing it to be a house of merchandise or that the house of prayer become a den of thieves, since he is Son of a jealous God. This is the case if we understand such words from the Scriptures in a reasonable manner, which were spoken metaphorically from the human viewpoint to set forth the fact that God wishes nothing alien to his will to be mingled with the soul of any, but especially with the soul of those who wish to receive [the teachings of the] most divine faith.

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 10.221

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Exodus 20:7

Although making a variety of suppositions about him, we all know something of God but do not all know what he is, for few indeed and fewer (if I may say so) than few are they who grasp his holiness in all things. Thus we are rightly taught to pray that our concept of God may be hallowed among us. Thus we shall see his holiness in creating, in providing, in judging, in choosing and abandoning, in accepting and rejecting, in rewarding and punishing each one according to his merits.In these activities and others like them is found, so I may say, the stamp of the personal character of God, that which in my opinion is called in Scripture the “name of God.” So in Exodus: “You shall not take the name of your God in vain.”

Source: ON PRAYER 24.2-3

[AD 339] Eusebius of Caesarea on Exodus 20:7

Here too the Lord himself teaches in the passage before us about another Lord. For he says, “I am the Lord thy God,” and adds, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” The second Lord is here mystically instructing his servant about the Father, that is to say, the God of the universe. And you could find many other similar instances occurring in Holy Scripture, in which God speaks as if in a second voice about another. The Lord himself speaks as if about another.

Source: PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 5.16.243

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Exodus 20:7

The second commandment: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain; for whoever takes the name of the Lord his God in vain will not be purified.” The name of the Lord our God Jesus Christ is Truth: he himself said, “I am the truth.” So truth purifies; futility defiles. And because whoever speaks the truth speaks from what is God’s—for “whoever speaks falsehood speaks from what is his own”—to speak the truth is to speak reasonably, whereas to speak futility is to make a noise rather than to speak. Rightly, because the second commandment means love of the truth, the opposite of that is love of futility.

Source: SERMON 8.5

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Exodus 20:7

You are told “Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain”; do not regard Christ as a creature because for your sake he put on the creature. And you, you despise him who is equal to the Father and one with the Father.

Source: SERMON 9.3

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Exodus 20:8

The third commandment: “Remember the sabbath day to sanctify it.” This third commandment imposes a regular periodical holiday—quietness of heart, tranquility of mind, the product of a good conscience. Here is sanctification, because here is the Spirit of God. Well, here is what a true holiday, that is to say, quietness and rest, means “Upon whom,” he says, “shall my spirit rest? Upon one who is humble and quiet and trembles at my words.” So unquiet people are those who recoil from the Holy Spirit, loving quarrels, spreading slanders, keener on argument than on truth, and so in their restlessness they do not allow the quietness of the spiritual sabbath to enter into themselves.

Source: SERMON 8.6

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Exodus 20:8

We are not ordered to keep the sabbath day by a literal corporal abstinence from work, as the Jews observe it—and, indeed, that observance of theirs, because it is so commanded, is considered ludicrous unless it signifies some other spiritual rest. From this we understand that all the truths which are expressed figuratively in the Scriptures are appropriately designed to arouse love. By love we attain to rest. The only commandment that is given figuratively is the one by which rest is enjoined. Rest is universally loved but found pure and entire in God alone.However, the Lord’s day was not made known to Jews but to Christians by the resurrection of the Lord, and from that event it began to acquire its solemnity. Doubtless the souls of all the saints prior to the resurrection of the body enjoy repose, but they do not possess that activity which gives power to risen bodies.

Source: LETTER 55

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Exodus 20:8

But the rite of the sabbath was taught to our ancient fathers which we Christians observe spiritually so that we abstain from all servile work, that is, from all sin (for the Lord says, “Everyone who commits a sin is a slave of sin”), and we have rest in our hearts, that is, spiritual tranquility. And, however we try in this world, we shall nevertheless not arrive at that perfect rest except when we have departed this life.

Source: TRACTATE ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 20.2

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Exodus 20:8

To teach a Christian anything about the observance of the sabbath would seem to be rather superfluous. On the contrary, not only is it not superfluous, but it is in fact basic, bedrock doctrine, because it is a shadow of things to come. The people, you see, are forbidden to perform servile works on the sabbath. Now are we, I ask you, not forbidden to perform servile works? Listen to the Lord: “Everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.” And yet to celebrate the sabbath is to hope to receive from God this very thing, of not committing sin. That’s why it is written, “God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” God rested; God enables you to rest. For God himself to rest, well when did he tire himself out working, seeing that he created all things with a word?

Source: SERMON 179A.3

[AD 542] Caesarius of Arles on Exodus 20:8

The third precept is “Remember to keep holy the sabbath day.” In this third commandment is suggested a certain idea of freedom, a repose of the heart or tranquility of the mind which a good conscience effects. Indeed, sanctification is there because the Spirit of God dwells there. Now look at the freedom or repose; our Lord says, “Upon whom shall I rest but upon the man who is humble and peaceable, and who trembles at my words?” Therefore restless souls turn away from the Holy Ghost. Lovers of strife, authors of calumnies, devotees of quarrels rather than of charity, by their uneasiness they do not admit to themselves the repose of a spiritual sabbath. Men do not observe a spiritual sabbath unless they devote themselves to earthly occupations so moderately that they still engage in reading and prayer, at least frequently, if not always. As that apostle says, “Be diligent in reading and in teaching”;31 and again, “Pray without ceasing.” Men of this kind honor the sabbath in a spiritual manner.

Source: SERMON 100.4

[AD 735] Bede on Exodus 20:8

Under the law the people were ordered to work for six days and to rest on the seventh, [and] to plow and reap for six years and desist during the seventh, because the Lord completed the creation of the world in six days and desisted from his work on the seventh. Mystically speaking, we are counseled by all this that those who in this age (which is comprised of six periods), devote themselves to good works for the Lord’s sake, are in future led by the Lord to a sabbath, that is, to eternal rest.

Source: Homilies on the Gospels 2.17

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Exodus 20:10

When he speaks to us of another commandment, not known to us by the dictate of conscience, he not only prohibits but also adds the reason. When, for instance, he gave the commandment respecting the sabbath, “On the seventh day you shall do no work,” he subjoined also the reason for this cessation. What was this? “Because on the seventh day God rested from all his works which he had begun to make.” And again, “Because you were a servant in the land of Egypt.” For what purpose then, I ask, did he add a reason respecting the sabbath but did no such thing in regard to murder? Because this commandment was not one of the leading ones. It was not one of those which were accurately defined in our conscience but a kind of partial and temporary one. And for this reason it was later experienced.

Source: HOMILIES CONCERNING THE STATUES 12.9

[AD 60] Mark on Exodus 20:12

And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: [Exodus 20:12] But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.

[AD 60] Matthew on Exodus 20:12

Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: [Exodus 20:12] and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.

[AD 62] Ephesians on Exodus 20:12

Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. [Exodus 20:12]

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Exodus 20:12

And God said, “Honor your father and your mother,” teaching that the child should pay the honor which is due to his parents. Of this honor to parents one part was to share with them the necessaries of life, such as food and clothing, and if there was any other thing in which it was possible for them to show favor toward their own parents.

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW 11.9

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Exodus 20:12

And again, who would deny that the command which says, “Honor your father and your mother, that it may be well with you,” is useful quite apart from any spiritual interpretation and that it ought certainly to be observed, especially when we remember that the apostle Paul has quoted it in the same words?

Source: ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 4.3.4

[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Exodus 20:12

The formation of the children is then the prerogative of the parents. Therefore honor your father, that he may bless you. Let the godly man honor his father out of gratitude and the ingrate do so on account of fear. Even if the father is poor and does not have plenty of resources to leave to his sons, still he has the heritage of his final blessing with which he may bestow the wealth of sanctification on his descendants. And it is a far greater thing to be blessed than it is to be rich.

Source: THE PATRIARCHS 1.1

[AD 420] Jerome on Exodus 20:12

[The Lord] declares that [this commandment] is to be interpreted not of mere words, which while offering an empty show of regard may still leave a parent’s wants unrelieved, but by the actual provision of the necessaries of life. The Lord commanded that poor parents should be supported by their children and that these should pay them back when old for those benefits which they had themselves received in their childhood.

Source: LETTER 123.6

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Exodus 20:12

It’s your parents you see when you first open your eyes, and it is their friendship that lays down the first strands of this life. If anyone fails to honor his parents, is there anyone he will spare?

Source: SERMON 9.7

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Exodus 20:12

So if you are afraid your son won’t take care of you once he has his hands on the money, you are in fact making filial piety a commodity for sale, not a quality to be loved. How much better a poor man’s son, the son, for instance, of an old man in the direst poverty, who expects nothing from his father because he hasn’t got anything he can leave him but who all the same supports his father with his labor and the sweat of his brow. Sometimes, of course, the children of rich people too take the fear of God seriously, and that’s why they show consideration to their parents, not because they expect something from them but because they are their parents who brought them into the world and brought them up, and God gave a commandment which says “Honor your father and your mother.” But where the reward is there for all to see, the genuineness of their sentiments is not so obvious.

Source: SERMON 45.2

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Exodus 20:13

How was it then when he said, “You shall not kill,” that he did not add, “because murder is a wicked thing?” The reason was that conscience had already taught this beforehand. He speaks thus, as if to those who know and understand the point.

Source: HOMILIES CONCERNING THE STATUES 12.9

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Exodus 20:13

“What about the prohibition, ‘You shall not kill,’ which is also there? If killing is evil in every respect, how will the just who, in obedience to a law, have killed many, be excused from this charge?” The answer to this question is that he does not kill who is the executor of a just command.

Source: On Lying 13.23

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Exodus 20:13

It is significant that in Holy Scripture no passage can be found enjoining or permitting suicide either in order to hasten our entry into immortality or to void or avoid temporal evils. God’s command, “You shall not kill,” is to be taken as forbidding self-destruction, especially as it does not add “your neighbor,” as it does when it forbids false witness, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

Source: City of God 1.20

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Exodus 20:14

Therefore whatsoever things God commands (and one of these is “You shall not commit adultery”) and whatsoever things are not positively ordered but are strongly advised as good spiritual counsel (and one of these is, “It is a good thing for a man to not touch a woman”)—all of these imperatives are rightly obeyed only when they are measured by the standard of our love of God and our love of our neighbor in God.

Source: A HANDBOOK ON FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE 32.121

[AD 435] John Cassian on Exodus 20:14

It is written in the law, “You shall not commit fornication.” This is required in a beneficial way according to the simple sound of the letter by the person who is still entangled in the passions of fleshly impurity. It is necessarily observed in spiritual fashion, however, by one who has already left behind this filthy behavior and impure disposition, so that he also rejects not only all idolatrous ceremonies but also every superstition of the Gentiles and the observance of auguries and omens and of all signs and days and times. And he is certainly not engaged in the divination of particular words or names, which befouls the wholesomeness of our faith.

Source: CONFERENCE 14.11.2

[AD 604] Gregory the Dialogist on Exodus 20:14

The law suppressed physical sins, but our Redeemer condemned even unlawful thoughts. And so “if they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe one who rises from the dead.” When will those who neglect to fulfill the less important commandments of the law be strong enough to obey our Savior’s more demanding precepts? This much is clear: anyone whose sayings they decline to fulfill, they have refused to believe.

Source: HOMILY 40

[AD 380] Apostolic Constitutions on Exodus 20:15

"You shall not steal:" [Exodus 20:15] for Achan, when he had stolen in Israel at Jericho, was stoned to death; [Joshua 7:1] and Gehazi, who stole, and told a lie, inherited the leprosy of Naaman; [2 Kings 5:27] and Judas, who stole the poor's money, betrayed the Lord of glory to the Jews, [John 12:6] and repented, and hanged himself, and burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out; [Matthew 27:5; Acts 1:18] and Ananias, and Sapphira his wife, who stole their own goods, and "tempted the Spirit of the Lord," were immediately, at the sentence of Peter our fellow-apostle, struck dead. [Acts 5:1-11]

Source: Apostolic Constitutions (Book VII), Section 1, II

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Exodus 20:16

In the Decalogue itself it is written, “You shall not bear false witness,” in which classification every lie is embraced, for whoever pronounces any statement gives testimony to his own mind. If anyone should argue that not every lie should be called false witness, what will he answer to this statement which is also in the sacred Scriptures: “The mouth that belies, kills the soul”? If anyone should think that this passage can be interpreted to except certain lies, he may read in another passage: “You will destroy all that speak a lie.” In this connection, our divine Lord said with his own lips, “Let your speech be ‘yes, yes’; ‘no, no’; and whatever is more comes from the evil one.” Hence the apostle too, when he directs that the old man should be put off, under which term all sins are understood, goes on to explain his remark and specifically says, “Therefore put away lying and speak the truth.”

Source: On Lying 5.6

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Exodus 20:16

The law says to you, for example, “You shall not bear false witness.” If you know what the truth of the evidence is, you have light in your mind. But if you are overcome by greed for sordid gain and decide in your heart of hearts to bear false witness for the sake of it, then you are already beginning to be tossed about by the storm in the absence of Christ. You are being heaved up and down by the waves of your avarice, you are being endangered by the tempest of your desires, and with Christ apparently absent, you are on the verge of sinking.

Source: SERMON 75.5

[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Exodus 20:17

Love of money then is an old, an ancient vice, which showed itself even at the declaration of the divine law; for a law was given to check it.

Source: On the Duties of the Clergy 2.26.130

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Exodus 20:17

The law said, “You shall not covet,” in order that, when we find ourselves lying in this diseased state, we might seek the medicine of grace. By that commandment [we might] know both in what direction our endeavors should aim as we advance in our present mortal condition and to what a height it is possible to reach in the future immortality. For unless perfection could somewhere be attained, this commandment would never have been given to us.

Source: ON MARRIAGE AND CONCUPISCENCE 1.32

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Exodus 20:17

There you are then, the law tells you “you shall not covet.” You know the law which says, “You shall not covet.” Covetousness surges up in you, which you didn’t know. It was there inside, you see, but it wasn’t known. You started to make an effort to overcome what was inside, and what was hidden came to light. Proud fellow, through the law you have been made into a transgressor. Acknowledge grace, and become a singer of praise.

Source: SERMON 26.9

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Exodus 20:17

Even a lion can be shooed off its prey by the terrifying threat of arms and weapons and the crowd of people perhaps surrounding it or coming to attack it; and yet the lion comes, the lion returns. It hasn’t seized its prey; it hasn’t either laid aside its evil intention. If that’s what you’re like, your justice is still the sort by which you take care not to get tortured. What’s so great about being afraid of punishment? Who isn’t afraid of it?

Source: SERMON 169.8

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Exodus 20:17

What is the accomplishing of good except the cessation and end of evil? But what is the cessation of evil except what the law says, “You shall not lust”? To lust not at all is the accomplishing of good because it is the cessation of evil. He said this: “To accomplish good is not there for me,” because he was unable to bring it about that he did not lust. He only brought it about that he reined in lust, that he did not consent to lust and that he did not offer his members to lust for its service.

Source: TRACTATE ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 41.12

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Exodus 20:17

To save me from saying a lot, among other commandments it contains “You shall not covet your neighbor’s property.” Don’t covet; don’t go up and down in front of that country house belonging to someone else and sigh because it’s such a fine one. Do not covet your neighbor’s property. “The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness.” What haven’t you acquired, if you have got hold of God? So don’t covet your neighbor’s property.

Source: SERMON 252A.6

[AD 604] Gregory the Dialogist on Exodus 20:17

Old Testament law forbids anyone to lust after another man’s wife, but it does not decree punishment for the king who commands his soldiers to perform dangerous feats or who desires a drink of water. We all know that David was pricked by lust and desired another man’s wife and took her. The blows his sin deserved followed, and he made amends for the evil he had done by tears of repentance.

Source: HOMILY 34

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Exodus 20:19

But notice how it happened there and how it happened here. There, the people stood a long way off; there was an atmosphere of dread, not of love. I mean, they were so terrified that they said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself, and do not let the Lord speak to us, lest we die.” So God came down, as it is written, on Sinai in fire; but he was terrifying the people who stood a long way off, and “writing with his finger on stone,” not on the heart.Here, however, when the Holy Spirit came, the faithful were gathered together as one; and he didn’t terrify them on a mountain but came in to them in a house. There came a sudden sound, indeed, from heaven, as of a fierce squall rushing upon them; it made a noise, but nobody panicked. You have heard the sound, now see the fire too, because each was there on the mountain also, both fire and sound; but there, there was smoke as well, here, though, the fire was clear. “There appeared to them,” Scripture says, you see, “divided tongues, as of fire.” Terrifying them from a long way off? Far from it. Because “it settled upon each one of them, and they began to talk in languages, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Hear a person speaking a language, and understand the Spirit writing not on stone but on the heart.

Source: SERMON 155.6

[AD 391] Pacian of Barcelona on Exodus 20:24

To make an altar of earth for the Lord is to place our hope in the incarnation of the Mediator. Our gift is accepted by God when, on this altar, our humility rests whatever it does upon faith in the Lord’s incarnation. We place the gift we offer on an altar made of earth if we base all our actions on faith in the Lord’s incarnation. Exposition of the Old and New Testament, Exodus

[AD 606] Paterius on Exodus 20:24

To make an altar of earth for the Lord is to place our hope in the incarnation of the Mediator. Our gift is accepted by God when, on this altar, our humility rests whatever it does upon faith in the Lord’s incarnation. We place the gift we offer on an altar made of earth if we base all our actions on faith in the Lord’s incarnation.

Source: EXPOSITION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT, EXODUS 30

[AD 585] Cassiodorus on Exodus 20:26

Unity knows no number, equality allows no scale. As Scripture says, “You shall not go up by steps to my altar.”

Source: EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 116:2