NT References in the Ante-Nicene Fathers
Matthew 5:17
Irenaeus Against Heresies Book IV
For by His advent He Himself fulfilled all things, and does still fulfil in the Church the new covenant foretold by the law, onwards to the consummation [of all things]. To this effect also Paul, His apostle, says in the Epistle to the Romans, "But now,[546]
Clement of Alexandria Stromata Book III
Et hic est ejus finis, ut nos ab injustitia ad justitiam deducamur, honesta eligendo matrimonia, et liberorum procreationem, bonamque vitae institutionem. Dominus autem "Non venit ad solvendam legem, sed ad implendam: "[52]
Tertullian An Answer to the Jews
and him Christ Himself, coming "to fulfil the prophets,"[175]
Tertullian Against Marcion Book IV
, He came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but rather to fulfil them;[170]
Tertullian Against Marcion Book IV "I came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it."[277]
Tertullian Against Marcion Book IV " Thus Christ did not at all rescind the Sabbath: He kept the law thereof, and both in the former case did a work which was beneficial to the life of His disciples, for He indulged them with the relief of food when they were hungry, and in the present instance cured the withered hand; in each case intimating by facts, "I came not to destroy, the law, but to fulfil it,"[412]
Tertullian Against Marcion Book IV
This verity of the gospel then stands unimpaired: "I am not come to destroy the law and the prophets, but rather to fulfil them."[1452]
Tertullian Against Marcion Book V
If also the gospel of Christ is fulfilled in this same precept, but not the Creator's Christ, what is the use of our contending any longer whether Christ did or did not say, "I am not come to destroy the law, but to fulfil it? "[697]
Tertullian On Prayer
), that when, set in "the way" of prayer, we go not unto "the Father" with anger. After that, the Lord, "amplifying the Law,"[75]
Tertullian On the Apparel of Women Book II
on His goodness! But why are we a (source of) danger to our neighbour? why do we import concupiscence into our neighbour? which concupiscence, if God, in "amplifying the law,"[11]
Tertullian On Exhortation to Chastity
Unity, moreover, is everything which is once for all. But for Christ was reserved, as in all other points so in this also, the "fulfilling of the law."[34]
Tertullian On Monogamy
And since there are some who sometimes assert that they have nothing to do with the law (which Christ has not dissolved, but fulfilled),[41]
Tertullian On Modesty
For even if we are just now beginning with the Law in demonstrating (the nature of) adultery, it is justly with that phase of the law which Christ has "not dissolved, but fulfilled."[55]
Hippolytus Exegetical Fragments
For they who keep the commandments, and do not disclaim the ordinances of the law, enjoy rest both in them and in the doctrine of our Lord; and that is the meaning of "in the midst of the lots." As the Lord says, "I am not come to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfil them."[23]
Archelaus Acts of the Disputation with the Heresiarch Manes
When I heard such a sentiment propounded, I repeated to the people that sentence of the Gospel in which our Lord Jesus Christ said of Himself: "I am not come to destroy the law, but to fulfil it."[417]
Clementine Homily III "And His sending to the scribes and teachers of the existing Scriptures, as to those who knew the true things of the law that then was, is well known. And also that He said, `I am not come to destroy the law, '[42]
Origen Commentary on Matthew Book X
And before our Saviour Jesus Christ this net was not wholly filled; for the net of the law and the prophets had to be completed by Him who says, "Think not that I came to destroy the law and the prophets, I came not to destroy but to fulfil."[53]