The Narrow Path Ministries

You will find that all of these church fathers unanimously and unequivically agree to and believe what eventually became known in the reformation teaching known as the Doctrines of Grace. Predating Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Augustine. How is this possible? Because they took it directly out of scripture.

John Gill wrote an excellent, exhaustive book on this very subject. It is called "The Cause of God and Truth". He has a huge section listing quotes from every major church father on each area of reformed theology/TULIP.

Its free online, and here's the link:

http://www.pbministries.org/books/gill/ ... hive.htm#5

*NOTE: I posted this in another forum in a response to someone, but I didn't see it getting alot of attention and thought it would be good for a new topic altogether.


CHAPTER 1. OF PREDESTINATION

Introduction
SECTION 1. - Clemens Romanus
SECTION 2. - Ignatius
SECTION 3. - Justin
SECTION 4. - Minutius Felix
SECTION 5. - Irenaeus
SECTION 6. - Clemens Alexandrinus
SECTION 7. - Tertullian
SECTION 8. - Origenes Alexandrinus
SECTION 9. - Caecillius Thascius Cyprianus
SECTION 10. - Novatianus
SECTION 11. - Athanasius
SECTION 12. - Hilarius Pictaviensis
SECTION 13. - Basilius Caesariensis
SECTION 14. - Cyrillus Hierosolymitanus
SECTION 15. - Gregorius Nazianzenus
SECTION 16. - Hilarius Diaconus
SECTION 17. - Ambrosius Mediolanensis
SECTION 18. - Joannes Chrysostomus
SECTION 19. - Hieronymus

CHAPTER 2. OF REDEMPTION.

Introduction
SECTION 1. - Clemens Romanus
SECTION 2. - Barnabas
SECTION 3. - Ignatius
SECTION 4. - Justin
SECTION 5. - Ecclesia Smyrnensis
SECTION 6. - Irenaeus
SECTION 7. - Tertullian
SECTION 8. - Origenes Alexandrinus
SECTION 9. - Cyprian
SECTION 10. - Lactautius
SECTION 11. - Paulinus Tyrius
SECTION 12. - Eusebius Pamphilius Caesariensis
SECTION 13. - Julius Firmicus
SECTION 14. - Athanasius
SECTION 15. - Macarius AEgyptius
SECTION 16. - Hilarius Pietaviensia
SECTION 17. - Basilius Caesariensis
SECTION 18. - Optatus Milevitanus
SECTION 19. - Victorinus
SECTION 20. - Marcus Eremita
SECTION 21. - Faustinus
SECTION 22. - Cyrillus Hierosolymitanus
SECTION 23. - Gregorius Nazianzenus
SECTION 24. - Didymus Alexandrinus
SECTION 25. - Gregorius Nyssenus
SECTION 26. - Pacianus Bareinonensis vel Barcilonensis
SECTION 27. - Hilarius Diaconus
SECTION 28. - Ambrosius Mediolanesiss
SECTION 29. - Epiphanius
SECTION 30. - Gaudentius Brixiensis
SECTION 31. - Joannes Chrysostomus
SECTION 32. - Ruffinus Aquileiensis
SECTION 33. - Hieronymus

CHAPTER 3. OF ORIGINAL SIN, THE IMPOTENCE OF MAN’S FREE WILL, ETC.

Introduction
SECTION 1. - Clemens Romanus
SECTION 2. - Barnabas
SECTION 3. - Ignatius
SECTION 4. - Justin
SECTION 5. - Irenaeus
SECTION 6. - Clemens Alexandrinus
SECTION 7. - Tertullian
SECTION 8. - Origenes Alexandrinus
SECTION 9. - Gregorius Neocaesariensis
SECTION 10. - Cyprian
SECTION 11. - Arnobius
SECTION 12. - Lactantius
SECTION 13. - Eusebius Caesariensis

CHAPTER 3. OF ORIGINAL SIN, THE IMPOTENCE OF MAN’S FREE WILL, ETC. (CONT.)

SECTION 14. - Macarius Egyptius
SECTION 15. - Athanasius
SECTION 16. - Hilarius Pietaviensis
SECTION 17. - Victorinus Afer
SECTION 18. - Optatus Milevitanus
SECTION 19. - Cyrillus Hierosolymitanus
SECTION 20. - Basilius Caesariensis
SECTION 21. - Gregorius Nazianzenus
SECTION 22. - Gregorius Nyssenus
SECTION 23. - Hilarius Diaconus
SECTION 24. - Ambrosius Mediolanensis
SECTION 25. - Epiphanius
SECTION 26. - Marcus Eremita
SECTION 27. - Joannes Chrysostomus
SECTION 28. - Hieronymus

CHAPTER 4. OF EFFICACIOUS GRACE

Introduction
SECTION 1. - Clenems Romanus
SECTION 2. - Barnabas
SECTION 3. - Justin
SECTION 4. - Irenaeus
SECTION 5. - Clemens Alexandrinus
SECTION 6. - Tertullian
SECTION 7. - Origenes Alexandrinus
SECTION 8. - Cyprian
SECTION 9. - Eusebius Caesyreinsis
SECTION 10. - Athanasius
SECTION 11. - Marcus Egyptius
SECTION 12. - Hilarius Pictaviensis
SECTION 13. - Basilius Caesariensis
SECTION 14. - Gregorius Nazianzenus
SECTION 15. - Didymus Alexandrinus
SECTION 16. - Gregorius Nysseuus
SECTION 17. - Hillarius Diaconus
SECTION 18. - Ambrosius Mediolanensis
SECTION 19. - Marcus Eremita
SECTION 20. - Joannes Chrysostomus
SECTION 21. - Hieronymus

CHAPTER 5. OF PERSEVERANCE.

Introduction
SECTION 1. - Clemens Romanus
SECTION 2. - Barnabas
SECTION 3. - Ignatius
SECTION 4. - Irenaeus
SECTION 5. - Epistola Martyrum Galliae
SECTION 6. - Clemens Alexandrinus
SECTION 7. - Tertullian
SECTION 8. - Origenes Alexandrinus
SECTION 9. - Cyprian
SECTION 10. - Lactantius
SECTION 11. - Eusebius Caesariensis
SECTION 12. - Chronomatius
SECTION 13. - Athanasius
SECTION 14. - Macarius Egyptius
SECTION 15. - Hilarius Pictaviensis
SECTION 16. - Basilius Ceasariensis
SECTION 17. - Gregorius Nazianzenus
SECTION 18. - Oregorius Nyssenus
SECTION 19. - Hilarius Diaconus
SECTION 20. - Ambrosius Mediolanensis
SECTION 21. - Joannes Chrysostomus
SECTION 22. - Hieronymus

Mr. Gill's article goes to show that a Calvinist can find Calvinist beliefs in any virtually any writing. How can Gill include Justin Martyr and Irenaeus in his "list" of supporters for Calvinism, when they clearly believed in free will?

Justin Martyr, in his Dialogue With Trypho said [Ch 102]

... yet, since He knew that it would be good, He created both angel and men free to do that which is righteous, and He appointed periods of time during which He knew it would be good for them to have the exercise of their free-will; and because He likewise knew it would be good, He made general and particular judgments; each one's freedom of will, however, being guarded.


Even more detailed is Irenaeus's teaching on the free will of man.

The following is from CHAPTER 37 of AGAINST HERESIES by Irenaeus. [Bolding for emphasis is mine]

MEN ARE POSSESSED OF FREE WILL,AND ENDOWED WITH THE FACULTY OF MAKING A CHOICE. ITIS NOT TRUE, THEREFORE, THAT SOME
ARE BY NATURE GOOD, AND OTHERS BAD

1. This expression [of our Lord], “How often would I have gathered thy
children together, and thou wouldest not,” set forth the ancient law of
human liberty, because God made man a free [agent] from the beginning,possessing his own power, even as he does his own soul, to obey thebehests (ad utendum sententia) of God voluntarily, and not by compulsionof God. For there is no coercion with God, but a good will [towards us] is present with Him continually. And therefore does He give good counsel to all. And in man, as well as in angels, He has placed the power of choice (for angels are rational beings), so that those who had yielded obedience might justly possess what is good, given indeed by God, but preserved by themselves. On the other hand, they who have not obeyed shall, with justice, be not found in possession of the good, and shall receive condign punishment: for God did kindly bestow on them what was good; but they themselves did not diligently keep it, nor deem it something precious, but poured contempt upon His super-eminent goodness. Rejecting therefore the good, and as it were spuing it out, they shall all deservedly incur the just judgment of God, which also the Apostle Paul testifies in his Epistle to the Romans, where he says, “But dost thou despise the riches of His goodness, and patience, and long-suffering, being ignorant that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou treasurest to thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” “But glory and honor,” he says, “to every one that doeth good.” God therefore has given that which is good, as the apostle tells us in this Epistle, and they who work it shall receive glory and honor, because they have done that which is good when they had it in their power not to do it; but those who do it not shall receive the just judgment of God, because they did not work good when they had it in their power so to do.

2. But if some had been made by nature bad, and others good, these latter would not be deserving of praise for being good, for such were they
created; nor would the former be reprehensible, for thus they were made
[originally]. But since all men are of the same nature, able both to hold fast and to do what is good; and, on the other hand, having also the power to cast it from them and not to do it, — some do justly receive praise even among men who are under the control of good laws (and much more from God), and obtain deserved testimony of their choice of good in general, and of persevering therein; but the others are blamed, and receive a just condemnation, because of their rejection of what is fair and good. And therefore the prophets used to exhort men to what was good, to act justly and to work righteousness, as I have so largely demonstrated, because it is in our power so to do, and because by excessive negligence we might become forgetful, and thus stand in need of that good counsel which the good God has given us to know by means of the prophets.

3. For this reason the Lord also said, “Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good deeds, and glorify your Father who is in
heaven.” And, “Take heed to yourselves, lest perchance your hearts be
overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and worldly cares.” And,
“Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning, and ye like unto
men that wait for their Lord, when He returns from the wedding, that
when He cometh and knocketh, they may open to Him. Blessed is that
servant whom his Lord, when He cometh, shall find so doing.” And again,
“The servant who knows his Lord’s will, and does it not, shall be beaten
with many stripes.” And, “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the
things which I say?” And again, “But if the servant say in his heart, The
Lord delayeth, and begin to beat his fellow-servants, and to eat, and drink,
and to be drunken, his Lord will come in a day on which he does not
expect Him, and shall cut him in sunder, and appoint his portion with the
hypocrites.” All such passages demonstrate the independent will of man,
and at the same time the counsel which God conveys to him, by which He
exhorts us to submit ourselves to Him, and seeks to turn us away from
[the sin of] unbelief against Him, without, however, in any way coercing
us.

4. No doubt, if any one is unwilling to follow the Gospel itself, it is in his
power [to reject it] ,but it is not expedient. For it is in man’s power to
disobey God, and to forfeit what is good; but [such conduct] brings no
small amount of injury and mischief. And on this account Paul says, “All
things are lawful to me, but all things are not expedient;” referring both to
the liberty of man, in which respect “all things are lawful,” God exercising no compulsion in regard to him; and [by the expression] “not expedient” pointing out that we “should not use our liberty as a cloak of maliciousness, for this is not expedient. And again he says, “Speak ye every man truth with his neighbor.” And, “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor scurrility, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks.” And, “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord; walk honestly as children of the light, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in anger and jealousy. And such were some of you; but ye have been washed, but ye have been sanctified in the name of our Lord.” If then it were not in our power to do or not to do these things, what reason had the apostle, and much more the Lord Himself, to give us counsel to do some things, and to abstain from others?

But because man is possessed of free will from the beginning, and God is
possessed of free will, in whose likeness man was created, advice is always given to him to keep fast the good, which thing is done by means of obedience to God.

5. And not merely in works, but also in faith, has God preserved the will
of man free and under his own control, saying, “According to thy faith be it unto thee; “ thus showing that there is a faith specially belonging to man,since he has an opinion specially his own. And again, “All things are
possible to him that believeth;” and, “Go thy way; and as thou hast
believed, so be it done unto thee.” Now all such expressions demonstrate that man is in his own power with respect to faith. And for this reason, “he that believeth in Him has eternal life while he who believeth not the Son hath not eternal life, but the wrath of God shall remain upon him.” In the same manner therefore the Lord, both showing His own goodness, and indicating that man is in his own free will and his own power, said to Jerusalem, “How often have I wished to gather thy children together, as a hen [gathereth] her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Wherefore your house shall be left unto you desolate.”

Paidion, before I reply, I'm asking you if you actually read all of the above. Did you?

"All of the above"???

Are you talking about all of what I posted?----- Or all of John Gill's book?

Paidion wrote:"All of the above"???

Are you talking about all of what I posted?----- Or all of John Gill's book?

I'm talking about the section from Gill's book quoting the church Fathers. I'm interested if you actually read through it, or just shook your head and pasted in your quotes. If you read all of it, I will interact and respond. If you didn't, I'm not going to bother, brother.