Nicene/Post-Nicene, Series I, Volume 16

Augustine, A.D. 354 - 430

... And this, too, was a figure of Christ as the one who was, in a certain sense, to pass from the circumcision to the uncircumcision, or, so to speak, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and to be, as it were, the corner-stone to all who believe on Him ... .
The Harmony of the Gospels, Book II, Chapter IV, § 10

... Neither is there anything contradictory here to that other passage where Matthew tells us how the Lord said to Peter, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my Church." But we are not to understand that that was the time when he first received this name; but we are rather to suppose that this took place on the occasion when it was said to him, as John mentions, "Thou shall be called Cephas, which is, by interpretation, A stone." Thus the Lord could address him at that later period by this very name, when He said, "Thou art Peter." For He does not say then, "Thou shalt be called Peter," but, "Thou art Peter;" because on a previous occasion he had already been spoken to in this manner, "Thou shalt be called."
The Harmony of the Gospels, Book II, Chapter XVII, § 34

109. I recollect having already stated that no one should suppose that Peter received that name for the first time on the occasion when He said to Him, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church." For the time at which he did obtain this name was that referred to by John, when he mentions that he was addressed in these terms: "Thou shalt be called Cephas, which is, by interpretation, Peter."...
The Harmony of the Gospels, Book II, Chapter LIII, § 109

... And He beheld them, and said, What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?"...
The Harmony of the Gospels, Book II, Chapter LXX, § 135

... And perhaps the Lord may have used both words with some kind of symbolical significance, intending to indicate thereby, that in sustaining this sorrow He bore the part of His body, which is the Church, of which He has been made the corner-stone ... .
The Harmony of the Gospels, Book III, Chapter IV, § 14

... no one should suppose Simon to have received the name Peter on this occasion for the first time, or fancy that Mark is here in any antagonism with John, who reports that disciple to have been addressed long before in these terms: "Thou shalt be called Cephas, which is, by interpretation, A stone." For John has there recorded the very words in which the Lord gave him that name. Mark, on the other hand, has introduced the matter in the form of a recapitulation in this passage, when he says, "And Simon He surnamed Peter." For, as it was his intention to enumerate the names of the twelve apostles here, and it was necessary for him thus to mention Peter, he decided briefly to intimate the fact that the said name was not borne by that disciple all along, but was given him by the Lord, not, however, at the time with which Mark was immediately dealing, but on the occasion in connection with which John has introduced the very words employed by the Lord....
The Harmony of the Gospels, Book IV, Chapter III, § 4

... for if he were a figure of Christ passing over from the Jews unto the Gentiles, consider only what Christ is between the Jews and Gentiles. Is He not that Corner-stone? In a corner-stone you see the end of one wall, and the beginning of another; up to that stone you measure one wall, and another from it; therefore the corner-stone which connects both walls is reckoned twice. Jechonias then as prefiguring the Lord was, as it were, a type of the corner-stone; and as Jechonias was not permitted to reign over the Jews, but they went unto Babylon, so Christ, "the stone which the builders rejected, is made the head of the corner," that the Gospel might reach unto the Gentiles....
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament, Sermon I, § 15

1. ... Again, when the Lord Jesus Christ asked, whom men said that He was, and when the disciples gave the various opinions of men, and the Lord asked again and said, "But whom say ye that I am?" Peter answered, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." One for many gave the answer, Unity in many. Then said the Lord to Him, "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjonas: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven." Then He added, "and I say unto thee." As if He had said, "Because thou hast said unto Me, `Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God;' I also say unto thee, `Thou art Peter.'" For before he was called Simon. Now this name of Peter was given him by the Lord, and that in a figure, that he should signify the Church. For seeing that Christ is the rock (Petra), Peter is the Christian people. For the rock (Petra) is the original name. Therefore Peter is so called from the rock; not the rock from Peter; as Christ is not called Christ from the Christian, but the Christian from Christ. "Therefore," he saith, "Thou art Peter; and upon this Rock" which thou hast confessed, upon this Rock which thou hast acknowledged, saying, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, will I build My Church;" that is upon Myself, the Son of the living God, "will I build My Church." I will build thee upon Myself, not Myself upon thee.
2. For men who wished to be built upon men, said "I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas," who is Peter. But others who did not wish to be built upon Peter, but upon the Rock, said, "But I am of Christ." And when the Apostle Paul ascertained that he was chosen, and Christ despised, he said, "Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?" And, as not in the name of Paul, so neither in the name of Peter; but in the name of Christ: that Peter might be built upon the Rock, not the Rock upon Peter.
3. This same Peter therefore who had been by the Rock pronounced "blessed," bearing the figure of the Church, holding the chief place in the Apostleship ... after that he had heard that he was to be "built upon the Rock" ... .
4. Let us, looking at ourselves in this member of the Church ... . then shall we be founded on the Rock ... .
8. ... And He went down, and began to walk on the water; and Peter was able, because the Rock had bidden him....
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament, Sermon XXVI, §§ 1, 2, 3, 4, 8

... Christ is called the "Corner Stone who made both one." For a corner joins two walls which come from different sides together. And what was so different as the circumcision and uncircumcision, having one wall from Judaea, the other from the Gentiles? But they are joined together by the corner stone. "For the stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner."...
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament, Sermon XXXVIII, § 10

... "The stone which the builders refused, is become the Head of the corner," is spoken in a figure. If we take "the stone" literally, what "stone did the builders refuse, which became the Head of the corner"? If we take "the stone" literally, of what corner is this "stone" become the Head? If we admit that it was figuratively expressed, and take it figuratively, the Corner-stone is Christ: the head of the corner, is the Head of the Church....
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament, Sermon XXXIX, § 4

... Call to mind with me whereupon Peter was praised, whereupon called blessed. Was it because he said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God"? He who pronounced Him blessed, regarded not the sound of the words, but the affection of the heart....
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament, Sermon XL, § 8

... our Lord Jesus Christ, making use of a prophetic testimony to assert His authority, called Himself "the Stone." Yea such a stone, "that whosoever shall stumble against it shall be shaken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder." For when this stone is stumbled against ... .
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament, Sermon XLI, § 1

... He was that stone that lay on the ground, the Jews stumbled against it, and were shaken. And what doth He Himself say? "Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be shaken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder."...
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament, Sermon XLII, § 2

... Are then these two Prophets at disagreement in the Corner-stone of peace? Both spake of Christ, both spake of the Cornerstone....
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament, Sermon XLV, § 4

... once more suppose two persons, and let us speak to them. One comes with supplication, a sinner covered over with thorns as a hedgehog, and timid exceedingly as a hare. But the rock is the hedgehog's and the hare's refuge. He comes then to the Rock, he finds refuge, he receives succour....
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament, Sermon XLIX, § 6

2. ... When Jacob slept at a certain place, he put a stone at his head ... . Jacob himself, because he understood what he had seen, placed a stone there, and anointed it with oil. Now ye recognise the anointing; recognise The Anointed also. For He is "the Stone which the builders rejected; He was made the Head of the corner." He is the Stone of which Himself said, "Whosoever shall stumble against This Stone shall be shaken; but on whomsoever That Stone shall fall, It will crush him."....
5. ... see why Jacob anointed the stone with oil; see why Jacob prophetically signified and prefigured the Anointed One....
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament, Sermon LXXII, §§ 2, 5

... Was not Christ the Rock? Is it not that he that buildeth upon the rock, neither the wind nor the floods overthrow him? Come then, if thou wilt, with me upon the Rock, and do not wish to be to me for the rock.
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament, Sermon LXXIX, § 8

... For already have two councils on this question been sent to the Apostolic see; and rescripts also have come from thence....
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament, Sermon LXXXI, § 10

... "If ye shall continue in Me." A short work; short in description, great in execution. "If ye shall build on the Rock." O how great a thing is this, Brethren, to build on the Rock, how great is it "The floods came, the winds blew, the rain descended, and beat upon that house, and it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock."...
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament, Sermon LXXXIV, § 2

3. ... For He saith to Peter, in whom singly He formeth the Church; "Peter, lovest thou Me?"...
6. ... Did not the Lord come for this end, that He might establish a Church, and separate those Jews who had a good faith, and a good hope, and a good love, as wheat from the chaff, and might make them one wall of the circumcision, to which should be joined another wall from the uncircumcision of the Gentiles, of which two walls coming from different directions, Himself should be the Corner-Stone?... For to this end the Corner-Stone serveth, for to make of two One....
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament, Sermon LXXXVII, §§ 3, 6

1. We have heard the Lord Jesus setting forth to us the office of a good shepherd ... . Christ then is the good Shepherd. What was Peter? was he not a good shepherd? Did not he too lay down his life for the sheep? What was Paul? what the rest of the Apostles? what the blessed Bishops, Martyrs, who followed close upon their times? What again our holy Cyprian? Were they not all good shepherds ... ? All these then were good shepherds ... .
3. ... For it is not, as I have said already, that Peter was not a good shepherd, and Paul, the rest of the Apostles, and the holy Bishops who were after them, and blessed Cyprian. All these were good shepherds; and notwithstanding to good shepherds, He commended not good shepherds, but a good Shepherd. "I," saith He," am the good Shepherd."
4. ... What sayest Thou, O Lord, Thou good Shepherd? For Thou art the good Shepherd, who art also the good Lamb; at once Pastor and Pasturage, at once Lamb and Lion. What sayest Thou? Let us give ear and aid us, that we may understand. "I," saith He, "am the good Shepherd." What is Peter? is he either not a shepherd, or a bad one?... So then he is both a shepherd, and a good shepherd; nothing it is true to the power and goodness of the Shepherd of shepherds; but nevertheless even he is both a shepherd, and a good one; and all other such are good shepherds.
5. What means it then, that to good shepherds Thou dost set forth One Only Shepherd, but that in One Shepherd Thou teachest unity? and the Lord Himself explains this more clearly by my ministry, putting you, beloved, in remembrance by this Gospel, and saying, "Hear ye what I have set forth; I have said, `I am the good Shepherd ;' because all the rest, all the good shepherds, are My members." One Head, One Body, One Christ. So then both the Shepherd of shepherds, and the shepherds of the Shepherd, and the sheep with their shepherds under The Shepherd.... Christ in Himself containing all good shepherds, set forth One, saying, "`I am the good Shepherd.' `I am,' I Alone am, all the rest with Me are one in unity....
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament, Sermon LXXXVIII, §§ 1, 3, 4, 5
{These excerpts are set forth here to illustrate that unity in the Church is found only in Christ, rather than, as Rome claims, in the Roman bishop.}

... how is it written, "Now the Rock was Christ "?...
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament, Sermon LXXXIX, § 2

2. ... For each several time the Lord Jesus said to Peter, as he said, "I love thee;" "Feed My lambs," feed My "little sheep." In this one Peter was figured the unity of all pastors, of good pastors, that is, who know that they feed Christ's sheep for Christ, not for themselves....
3. ... The Rock (Petra) made Peter true, for the Rock was Christ....
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament, Sermon XCVII, §§ 2, 3

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