Patriarchs and God’s Promises in Early Christianity

Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho Direct teaching

...r Moses says in Exodus: 'The Lord spoke to Moses, and said to him, I am the Lord, and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as their God; and my name I revealed not to them, and I established my covenant with them.' He also says, 'A man wrestled with Jacob,' and asserts it was God; narrating that Jacob said, 'I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.' It is recorded he called the place the Face of God (Peniel), where He wrestled with him, appeared to, and blessed him. Moses says that God also appeared to Abraham near the oak in Mamre, while he was sitting at the door of his tent at noon. He continues, 'And he lifted up his eyes, looked, and, behold, three men stood before him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them.' Shortly after, one of them promises a son to Abraham: 'Why did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old? Is anything impossible with God? At the appointed time, I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.' And they left Abraham. Again he speaks of them: 'And the men rose up and looked toward Sodom.' Then to Abraham He who was and is speaks again: 'I will not hide from Abraham, my servant, what I intend to do.'" I quoted and

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching

...but snatched holy Lot out of the fire. You are He who delivered Abraham from the impiety of his forefathers, appointed him to be the heir of the world, and revealed Your Christ to him; who beforehand ordained Melchizedek as a high priest for Your worship; who made Your patient servant Job the conqueror of that serpent who is the patron of wickedness; who made Isaac the son of the promise, and Jacob the father of twelve sons, and increased his posterity into a multitude, and brought him into Egypt with seventy-five souls. You, O Lord, did not ignore Joseph, but granted him, as a reward for his chastity for Your sake, rule over the Egyptians. You, O Lord, did not ignore the Hebrews when they were afflicted by the Egyptians on account of the promises made to their fathers, but You delivered them and punished the Egyptians. And when men had corrupted the law of nature, and had sometimes considered creation to be the result of chance, and sometimes honored it more than they should, and made it equal to the God of the universe, You nevertheless did not allow them to go astray, but raised up Your holy servant Moses. By him You gave the written law to support the law of nature, showed t

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book III Supporting witness

And He gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so [Abraham] begat Isaac.” And the rest of his words announce the same God, who was with Joseph and with the patriarchs, and who spake with Moses.

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching

You, O Lord, did not overlook the Hebrews when they were afflicted by the Egyptians, on account of the promises made unto their fathers;

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching

...God of all beings, and the God of our holy and blameless fathers and of those before us; the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob; who are merciful and compassionate, long-suffering, and abundant in mercy; to whom every heart is laid bare, by whom every heart is seen, and to whom every secret thought is revealed: to you the souls of the righteous cry aloud. In you the hopes of the godly trust. You, Father of the blameless, hear the prayer of those who call on you with uprightness, and you know the prayers that are not spoken. For your providence reaches even to the deepest parts of mankind, and by your knowledge you search each person's thoughts. In every region of the whole earth, the incense of prayer and supplication is sent up to you. You have appointed this present world as a place where righteousness struggles, and you have opened the gate of mercy to all. You have shown every person, by implanted knowledge, natural judgment, and the warnings of the law, that the possession of riches does not last forever, the ornament of beauty is not permanent, and our strength and power are easily dissolved; and that all is vapor and vanity. Only the good conscience of sincere fai

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Background

And if the same mansions are promised by prophecy to us and to the patriarchs, the God of both the covenants is shown to be one.

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching

O God of our holy and blameless fathers, Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, Your faithful servants;

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book V Direct teaching

2. So, the promise of God, which He gave to Abraham, remains steadfast. For He said: “Lift up your eyes, and look from this place where you are now, towards the north and south, and east and west. For all the earth you see, I will give to you and your descendants, forever.” And again He says, “Arise, and walk through the length and breadth of the land, since I will give it to you;” yet he did not receive an inheritance in it, not even a footstep, but was always a stranger and a pilgrim there. Upon the death of Sarah his wife, when the Hittites were willing to give him a place to bury her, he declined it as a gift and bought the burial place (paying four hundred talents of silver) from Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite. Thus, he waited patiently for the promise of God, and was unwilling to seem to receive from men what God had promised to give him, when He said again to him: “I will give this land to your descendants, from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates.” If, then, God promised him the inheritance of the land, yet he did not receive it during all the time of his stay there, it must be that together with his descendants, those who fear God and believe in Him, he sh

Tertullian, Against Marcion Typology

...the stars of heaven? Are these not signs of both an earthly and a heavenly divine arrangement? When Isaac, blessing his son Jacob, says, "God give you of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth," Genesis 27:28, are there not in these words examples of both kinds of blessing? Indeed, in this case the very form of the blessing deserves notice. In relation to Jacob, who is the type of the later and better people, that is, ourselves, the promise of the dew of heaven comes first, and afterward the promise about the fatness of the earth. So we also are first called to heavenly blessings when we are separated from the world, and afterward we thus find ourselves in the way of obtaining earthly blessings also. And your own gospel says it in this way: "Seek first the kingdom of God, and these things shall be added to you," Luke 12:31. But to Esau the blessing promised is an earthly one, and afterward it adds a heavenly one. After the fatness of the earth, it says, "Your dwelling shall be also of the dew of heaven," Genesis 27:39. For the divine arrangement of the Jews, who were in Esau, the first of the sons in birth but the later in affection, was at first filled with earthly ble

Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho Direct teaching

...l you not understand that truly Christ is the everlasting King? For you know that Jacob, the son of Isaac, was never a king. Therefore, Scripture again explains to us which king is meant by Jacob and Israel: ‘Jacob is my Servant, I will uphold Him; and Israel is my Elect, my soul shall receive Him. I have given Him my Spirit; and He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, and His voice shall not be heard outside. The bruised reed He shall not break, and the smoldering wick He shall not quench, until He brings forth judgment to victory. He shall shine, and shall not be broken, until He sets judgment on the earth. And in His name, the Gentiles shall trust.’ So, is it Jacob the patriarch in whom the Gentiles and you shall trust? Or is it not Christ? Therefore, just as Christ is the Israel and the Jacob, so we, who have been brought out from the body of Christ, are the true Israelite race. But let us pay attention to the exact words: ‘And I will bring forth,’ He says, ‘the seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah: and it shall inherit My holy mountain; and My Elect and My servants shall possess the inheritance and shall dwell there; and there shall be folds of flock

Galatians 3:16 Direct teaching

Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.

Romans 15:8 Direct teaching

Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:

Galatians 3:29 Supporting witness

And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book IV Direct teaching

...rom all over by His coming, He truly declared, “Many will come from the east and west, and sit with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom will be thrown into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Therefore, if those who believe through the apostles’ preaching will sit with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, sharing the heavenly banquet, it's clear that the same God who chose the patriarchs also visited the people and called the Gentiles.

Origen, Commentary on John Direct teaching

...d," He says, Mark 12:26, "what is said by God at the Bush, 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead but of the living." If, then, God is not ashamed to be called the God of these men, and if they are counted by Christ among the living, and if all believers are sons of Abraham, Romans 4:11, since all the Gentiles are blessed with faithful Abraham, who is appointed by God to be a father of the Gentiles, can we hesitate to admit that those living persons made acquaintance with the learning of living men, and were taught by Christ, who was born before the daystar, before He became flesh? And for this cause they lived, because they had part in Him who said, "I am the life," and, as the heirs of so great promises, received the vision not only of angels but of God in Christ. For they saw, perhaps, the image of the invisible God, since he who has seen the Son has seen the Father. And so they are recorded to have known God, and to have heard God's words worthily, and therefore to have seen God and heard Him. Now I consider that those who are fully and truly sons of Abraham are sons of his actions, spiritually understood, and of

4 Maccabees 16:25 Supporting witness

And they saw this, too, that they who die for God, live to God; as Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the patriarchs.

Hebrews 11:9 Supporting witness

By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise;

4 Maccabees 7:19 Supporting witness

they who believe that to God they die not; for, as our forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, they live to God.

Cyprian, Epistles Direct teaching

...rought out bread and wine.” Genesis 14:18. Now he was a priest of the Most High God, and he blessed Abraham. And that Melchizedek bore a type of Christ, the Holy Spirit declares in the Psalms, speaking from the person of the Father to the Son: “Before the morning star I begot You; You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” This order surely comes from that sacrifice and descends from there: that Melchizedek was a priest of the Most High God, that he offered wine and bread, and that he blessed Abraham. For who is more a priest of the Most High God than our Lord Jesus Christ? He offered a sacrifice to God the Father, and He offered that very same thing which Melchizedek had offered, that is, bread and wine, namely, His body and blood. And with respect to Abraham, that blessing which came first belonged to our people. For if Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness, then surely whoever believes God and lives by faith is found righteous, and is already blessed in faithful Abraham, and is shown to be justified, as the blessed Apostle Paul proves when he says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. You know, then, t

Hippolytus, Exegetical Fragments Typology

Isaac conveys a figure of God the Father. Rebecca conveys a figure of the Holy Spirit. Esau conveys a figure of the first people and the devil. Jacob conveys a figure of the Church, or of Christ. That Isaac was old points to the end of the world. That his eyes were dim shows that faith had perished from the world, and that the light of religion was neglected before him. That the elder son is called expresses the Jews' possession of the law. That the father loves his meat and venison shows the saving of men from error, whom every righteous man seeks to gain, or hunt for, by doctrine. The word of God here is the promise anew of the blessing and the hope of a kingdom to come, in which the saints shall reign with Christ and keep the true Sabbath. Rebecca is full of the Holy Spirit, as understanding the word which she heard before she gave birth: "For the elder shall serve the younger." Genesis 25:23. As a figure of the Holy Spirit, moreover, she cares for Jacob in preference. She says to her younger son, "Go to the flock and fetch me two kids." Genesis 27:9. This prefigures the Savior's coming in the flesh to work a mighty deliverance for those who were held liable to the punishment of

Origen, Commentary on John Typology

... Thus Jacob says: “I, Jacob, who speak to you, and Israel, am an angel of God, a ruling spirit, and Abraham and Isaac were created before every work of God; and I am Jacob, called Jacob by men, but my name is Israel, called Israel by God, a man seeing God, because I am the first-born of every creature that God caused to live.” And he adds: “When I was coming from Mesopotamia of Syria, Uriel, the angel of God, came out and said, ‘I have come down to the earth and made my dwelling among men, and I am called Jacob by name.’ He was angry with me and fought with me and wrestled against me, saying that his name, and the name of Him who is before every angel, should come before my name. And I told him his name and how great he was among the sons of God: ‘Are you not Uriel, my eighth, while I am Israel, archangel of the power of the Lord and a chief captain among the sons of God? Am I not Israel, the first minister before God, and I called on my God by the inextinguishable name?’” It is likely that Jacob really said this, and that it was therefore written down. There is probably also a deeper meaning in what we are told: “He supplanted his brother in the womb.” Consider whether this sol

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book IV Typology

If anyone examines Jacob's actions, they will find them meaningful and rich in significance regarding the divine plans. Firstly, at his birth, he grabbed his brother's heel and was named Jacob, meaning "the supplanter"—one who holds but is not held; binding the feet without being bound; striving and conquering; holding in his hand the heel of his adversary, symbolizing victory. For this purpose, the Lord was born, foreshadowed by Jacob's birth, of whom John also speaks in the Revelation: "He went forth conquering, so that He might conquer." Next, Jacob received the rights of the firstborn when his brother scorned them, just as the younger nation accepted Christ, the firstborn, while the elder nation rejected Him, saying, "We have no king but Caesar." In Christ, every blessing is summed up, and so the latter people have taken the blessings of the former from the Father, just as Jacob took Esau's blessing. For this reason, his brother plotted and persecuted him, just as the Church suffers similarly from the Jews. The twelve tribes, the race of Israel, were born in a foreign land, just as Christ was to generate the twelve-pillared foundation of the Church in a foreign land. Jacob was

Hippolytus, Exegetical Fragments Typology

All these things were figuratively represented in the blessed Susannah, for our sakes, that we who now believe in God might not regard the things that are done now in the Church as strange, but believe them all to have been set forth in figure by the patriarchs of old, as the apostle also says: Now these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the world have come.

Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho Direct teaching

...it. And the Lord stood above it, and He said, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and of Isaac; do not be afraid: the land where you lie, I will give it to you, and to your descendants; and your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth, and shall be extended to the west, and south, and north, and east: and in you, and in your descendants, shall all families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with you, keeping you in every way you go, and will bring you again into this land; for I will not leave you, until I have done all that I have spoken to you about. And Jacob woke up from his sleep, and said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How awesome is this place! this is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose up in the morning, and took the stone which he had placed under his head, and he set it up as a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it; and Jacob called the name of the place The House of God, and the name of the city formerly was Luz.’ ”

Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Background

From Haran, a city of Mesopotamia, Abraham moved by God's command into the land that is now called Palestine and Judea, but was then called the region of Canaan. We have already given some account of this land in other writings, and not carelessly. So, from this migration we can trace the beginning of the growth of the population in Judea, which got its name from Judah, the fourth son of Jacob, whose name was also Israel, because a race of kings would come from him. Abraham left Mesopotamia when he was 75 years old, and when he was 100 years old he begot Isaac. Isaac, when he was 60 years old, begot Jacob. Jacob, when he was 86 years old, begot Levi. And Levi, at 40 years of age, begot Caath; and Caath was four years old when he went down with Jacob into Egypt. Therefore, the whole time during which Abraham lived, and his whole family descended from him through Isaac, in the land then called Canaanitis, was 215 years. The father of this Abraham was Thare, and the father of Thare was Nachor, and the father of Nachor was Serag, and the father of Serag was Reu, and the father of Reu was Peleg, and of this Peleg, Genesis 11:16, the father is Heber. And so the Jews came to be called Heb

Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity Background

...at He often came to visit the human race. To this, moreover, Moses added the example of God seen by Abraham at the oak of Mature, when he was sitting at the opening of his tent at noon. And yet, although he had seen three men, note that he called one of them Lord. And when he had washed their feet, he offers them bread baked on the ashes, with butter and plenty of milk itself, and urges them, being kept as guests, to eat. After this he also hears that he should be a father, and learns that Sarah his wife should bear a son by him. He also recognizes, concerning the destruction of the people of Sodom, what they deserve to suffer, and learns that God had come down because of the cry of Sodom. In this place, if they insist that the Father was seen at that time and received with hospitality together with two angels, the heretics have believed the Father to be visible. But if it was an angel, although one of the three angels is called Lord, why, although it is not usual, is an angel called God? Unless because, in order that the Father's proper invisibility may be preserved, and that the proper inferiority may be left to the angel, it was only God the Son, who also is God, who was seen

Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Supporting witness

...then, has the power to lead out and bring in? Is it not the Instructor? This was He who appeared to Abraham and said to him, "I am your God; be accepted before Me." Genesis 17:1-2 And, in a way most fitting for an instructor, He shapes him into a faithful child by saying, "And be blameless; and I will make My covenant between Me and you, and your seed." There is the sharing of the Instructor's friendship. And He appears very clearly as Jacob's instructor. He says to him, "Look, I am with you, to keep you in every way you shall go; and I will bring you back into this land. For I will not leave you until I do what I have told you." Genesis 28:15 He is also said to have wrestled with him. "And Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled with him a man"—the Instructor—"until the morning." Genesis 32:24 This was the man who led, and brought, and wrestled with, and anointed the athlete Jacob against evil. Now this shows that the Word was both Jacob's trainer and the Instructor of humanity. It is said that Jacob asked His name and said to Him, "Tell me what is Your name?" And He said to him, "Why is it that you ask My name?" For He kept the new name for the new people—the child—and was st

Genesis 17:8 Supporting witness

And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”

Genesis 28:13 Supporting witness

And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;

Genesis 26:24 Supporting witness

And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham’s sake.”

Baruch 2:34 Supporting witness

And I will bring them again into the land which I promised with an oath unto their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they shall be lords of it: and I will increase them, and they shall not be diminished.

Deuteronomy 1:8 Supporting witness

Behold, God has delivered the land before you; go in and inherit the land, which I swore to your fathers, Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, to give it to them and to their seed after them.

Exodus 32:13 Direct teaching

Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.

Genesis 28:4 Supporting witness

And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham.

Genesis 35:12 Supporting witness

And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I have given it to thee; and it shall come to pass that I will give this land also to thy seed after thee.