2 Corinthians 1:20
For all the promises of God are in him, It is; therefore also by him, amen to God, unto our glory.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Quotquot enim promissiones Dei sunt, in illo Est : ideo et per ipsum Amen Deo ad gloriam nostram.
- Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)
- ὅσαι γὰρ ἐπαγγελίαι θεοῦ, ἐν αὐτῷ τὸ Ναί· διὸ καὶ διʼ αὐτοῦ τὸ Ἀμὴν τῷ θεῷ πρὸς δόξαν διʼ ἡμῶν.
Haydock's commentary
The doctrine which the apostle delivered to them was not ambiguous, doubtful, or contradictory, first one thing, then another; on the contrary, it was such, that the apostle could say, (ver. 14.) we are your glory.
Amen. All the promises made by God, with regard to Christ, are fulfilled in him; therefore we may say Amen, and give glory to God, through Jesus Christ, who hath fulfilled all his promises. (Calmet)
One of the distinctive marks, as the holy fathers affirm, between separatists and Catholics is; the former are fond of innovation, changes, and reform, the latter are scrupulously tenacious of what has been delivered from the beginning. See St. Irenæus, lib. i. chap. 18.; Tertullian, de præscript.; St. Basil, ep. 12. Vine: Lyr. See also Les Variations, by Bossuet.
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Augustine Reply to Faustus the Manichæan, Faustus denies that the prophets predicted Christ. Augustin proves such prediction from the New Testament, and expounds at length the principal types of Christ in the Old Testament
5. But we reject those false teachers whose Christ is false, or rather, whose Christ never existed. For we have a Christ true and truthful, foretold by the prophets, preached by the apostles, who in innumerable places refer to the testimonies of the law and the prophets in support of their preaching. Paul, in one short sentence, gives the right view of this subject. "Now," he says, "the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets." What prophets, if not of Israel, to whom, as he expressly says, pertain the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the promises? And what promises, but about Christ? Elsewhere, speaking of Christ, he says concisely: "All the promises of God are in Him yea." Paul tells me that the giving of the law pertained to the Israelites. …
St Augustine Reply to Faustus the Manichæan, Faustus is willing to admit that Christ may have said that He came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them; but if He did, it was to pacify the Jews and in a modified sense. Augustin replies, and still further elaborates the Catholic view of prophecy and its fulfillment
7. Augustin replied: If you allow, in consideration of the authority of the Gospel, that Christ said that He came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them, you should show the same consideration to the authority of the apostle, when he says, "All these things were our examples;" and again of Christ, "He was not yea and nay, but in Him was yea; for all the promises of God are in Him yea;" that is, they are set forth and fulfilled in Him. In this way you will see in the clearest light both what law Christ fulfilled, and how He fulfilled it. It is a vain attempt that you make to escape by your three kinds of law and your three kinds of prophets. It is quite plain, and the New Testament leaves no doubt on the matter, what law and what prophets Christ came not to destroy, but to fulfill. The law given by Moses is that which by Jesus Christ became grace and truth. …
St Augustine Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John, Chapter VII. 1-13
9. All things that were spoken to the ancient people Israel in the manifold Scripture of the holy law, what things they did, whether in sacrifices, or in priestly offices, or in feast-days, and, in a word, in what things soever they worshipped God, what things soever were spoken to and given them in precept, were shadows of things to come. Of what things to come? Things which find their fulfillment in Christ. Whence the apostle says, “For all the promises of God are in Him yea;” that is, they are fulfilled in Him. …
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Psalm LXXII
18. “And there shall be a firmament on the earth, on the tops of the mountains” ( ver. 16 ). For, “all the promises of God in Him are Yea,” that is, in Him are confirmed: because in Him hath been fulfilled whatever hath been prophesied for our salvation. For the tops of the mountains it is meet to understand as the authors of the divine Scriptures, that is, those persons through whom they were supplied: wherein He is indeed Himself the Firmament: for unto Him all things that have been divinely written are ascribed. But this He willed should be on earth; because for the sake of those that are upon earth, they were written. Whence He came also Himself upon earth, in order that He might confirm all these things, that is, in Himself might show them to have been fulfilled. …
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Psalm LXXVIII
6. “They have not been hidden from their sons in another generation” ( ver. 4 ). This is our generation wherein there hath been given to us regeneration. “Telling forth the praises of the Lord and His powers, and His wonderful works which He hath done.” The order of the words is, “and our fathers have told unto us, telling forth the praises of the Lord.” The Lord is praised, in order that He may be loved. For what object can be loved more to our health? “And He hath raised up a testimony in Jacob, and hath set a law in Jacob” ( ver. 5 ). This is the beginning whereof hath been spoken above, “I will declare propositions from the beginning.” So then the beginning is the Old Testament, the end is the New. For fear doth prevail in the law. …
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Psalm CVIII
2. We are taught by this Psalm, that those titles which seem to refer to history are most rightly understood prophetically, according to the object of the composition of the Psalms.…And yet this Psalm is composed of the latter portions of two, whose titles are different. Where it is signified that each concur in a common object, not in the surface of the history, but in the depth of prophecy, the objects of both being united in this one, the title of which is, “A Song or Psalm of David:” resembling neither of the former titles, otherwise than in the word David. Since, “in many places, and in diverse manners,” as the Epistle to the Hebrews saith, “God spoke in former times to the fathers through the Prophets;” yet He spoke of Him whom He sent afterwards, that the words of the Prophets might be fulfilled: for “all the promises of God in Him are yea.”
St John Chrysostom Homilies on Second Corinthians, Homily III
Ver. 20 . “For how many soever be the promises of God,” in Him is the yea, and in Him the Amen, unto the glory of God by us.”