Ambrose of Milan : Indeed, we are often deceived by sight, and we see things for the most part other than they really are. We are deceived by hearing too. And so, if we do not wish to be deceived, let us contemplate not what is seen but what is unseen…. On this account the apostle also cries out: "Do not touch, nor taste, nor handle, things which must all perish"; for things which are for the body's indulgence are also for its corruption. Ambrose of Milan : With the knowledge of what Paul had seen and heard in paradise, he cried out saying: "Why, as if still viewing the world do you lay down rules: 'Do not touch; nor handle; nor taste!'—things which must all perish in their very use!" He wished us to be in the world in figure, not in actual possession and use of it. We are to use the world as if we did not use it, as if we were but passing through, not residing in it, walking through as in a dream, not with desire, so that with the speed of thought we might pass through the shadow of this world. Ambrose of Milan : But they even fear lest their former fasting should be reckoned against them. Let them choose whichever they like: if they ever fasted, let them repent of their good work, if never, let them confess their own intemperance and luxury. And so they assert that Paul was a teacher of excess. But who can be a teacher of temperance if he was a teacher of excess, who chastised his body and brought it into subjection, and recorded his performance of the service he owed to Christ by many fastings; and this not for the purpose of praising himself and his doings, but that he might teach us, what example to follow. Did he then teach excess who said, "Why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances? Touch not, taste not, handle not, which all are to perish with the using;" who also says, "Not in indulgence of the body, not in any honour to the satisfying and love of the flesh, not in the lusts of error; but in the Spirit by Whom we are renewed." If what the Apostle has said is not enough, let them hear the Prophet saying, "I chastened myself with fasting." He therefore who fasts not is uncovered and naked and exposed to wounds. And if Adam had clothed himself with fasting he would not have been found to be naked. Nineveh delivered itself from death by fasting. And the Lord Himself says, "This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." — Letter 42 Ambrosiaster : Therefore, if you have died with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you still, as if living in this world, subject yourselves to regulations? Everyone who is baptized in Christ dies to the world; for he renounces all superstitions and worships solely the faith of Christ. For having removed what is added to natural righteousness, the discipline given by God remains, through which one lives for God through the hope that is in Christ; but he dies to those to whom he was subjected by error, denying them to be gods. For by saying 'the world', he signifies the error of the flesh; for everything that is visible is attributed to the flesh. Hence it is where even the Apostle John says: 'Do not love the world, nor the things that are in the world' (1 John 2:15); that is, neither the elements by which the world is composed, nor the errors that human tradition has invented, let us love: but only Christ, who died for us; that he might unite us with his body from the perished ones. Therefore, those who are buried with Christ are dead to the elements, so that they may not care about them; for they have learned to hold onto heavenly things, which can give eternal life. For these things do not give present things and hinder them from being apprehended in the future. But whoever doubts about some things after baptism, thinking that certain things from the past should be revered, shows himself to be living according to the elements, which he determines should be worshipped, or he hesitates to despise them; he will remain within the cycles of the world, separated from God; because, being clothed with the old man, he will not be able to pass through carnal things. — Commentary on Colossians Augustine of Hippo : As to the words "Touch not, taste not, handle not," they are not to be considered as a commandment of the apostle forbidding us to touch, taste or handle something or other. It is just the opposite, if I am not deluded by the obscurity of the passage. Surely he used these words in mockery of those by whom he did not want his followers to be deceived and led astray. They were the ones who made a distinction of foods according to the worship of angels and issued decrees for this life, saying: "Touch not, taste not, handle not," although "all things are clean to the clean." "For every creature of God is good," as he assures us in another place. . Augustine of Hippo : What is so praiseworthy as a show of wisdom, and what so detestable as the superstition of error? Humility, also, both pleasing to God and eminently praiseworthy in true religion, is given with a show of wisdom to those of whose teachings and actions we are told: "Touch not, taste not, handle not, which are unto destruction," because they are not of God, and "all that is not of faith, is sin." … I wish to know what this humility is and this show of wisdom which he says is in their superstition, which comes from the doctrines of men…. I think he is speaking of a pretended and useless abstinence such as heretics usually strive after … because they put on the appearance of a holy work, but, as they do not practice it in the fold of truth, they gain neither honor nor the reward of glory. . Clement of Alexandria : Therefore there is nothing meritorious about abstinence from marriage unless it arises from love to God. At any rate the blessed Paul says of those who revile marriage: "In the last times some shall depart from the faith, turning to spirits of error and doctrines inspired by daemons, forbidding to marry and commanding abstinence from food." And again he says: "Let no one disqualify you by demanding self-imposed ascetic practices and severe treatment of the body." — The Stromata Book 3 Cyprian : That he who has attained to trust, having put off the former man, ought to regard only celestial and spiritual things, and to give no heed to the world which he has already renounced. In Isaiah: "Seek ye the Lord; and when ye have found Him, call upon Him. But when He hath come near unto you, let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him be turned unto the Lord, and he shall obtain mercy, because He will plentifully pardon your sins." Of this same thing in Solomon: "I have seen all the works which are done under the sun; and, lo, all are vanity." Of this same thing in Exodus: "But thus shall ye eat it; your loins girt, and your shoes on your feet, and your staves in your hands: and ye shall eat it in haste, for it is the Lord's passover." Of this same thing in the Gospel according to Matthew: "Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewith shall we be clothed? for these things the nations seek after. But your Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Likewise in the same place: "Think not for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for itself. Sufficient unto the day is its own evil." Likewise in the same place: "No one looking back, and putting his hands to the plough, is fit for the kingdom of God." Also in the same place: "Behold the fowls of the heaven: for they sow not, nor reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of more value than they? " Concerning this same thing, according to Luke: "Let your loins be girded, and your lamps burning; and ye like unto men that wait for their lord, when he cometh from the wedding; that, when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him. Blessed are those servants, whom their lord, when he cometh, shall find watching." Of this same thing in Matthew: "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests; but the Son of man hath not where He may lay His head." Also in the same place: "Whoso forsaketh not all that he hath, cannot be my disciple." Of this same thing in the first to the Corinthians: "Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a great price. Glorify and bear God in your body." Also in the same place: "The time is limited. It remaineth, therefore, that both they who have wives be as though they have them not, and they who lament as they that lament not, and they that rejoice as they that rejoice not, and they who buy as they that buy not, and they who possess as they who possess not, and they who use this world as they that use it not; for the fashion of this world passeth away." Also in the same place: "The first man is of the clay of the earth, the second man from heaven. As he is of the clay, such also are they who are of the clay; and as is the heavenly, such also are the heavenly. Even as we have borne the image of him who is of the clay, let us bear His image also who is from heaven." Of this same matter to the Philippians: "All seek their own, and not those things which are Christ's; whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and their glory is to their confusion, who mind earthly things. For our conversation is in heaven, whence also we expect the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall transform the body of our humiliation conformed to the body of His glory." Of this very matter to Galatians: "But be it far from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Concerning this same thing to Timothy: "No man that warreth for God bindeth himself with worldly annoyances, that he may please Him to whom he hath approved himself. But and if a man should contend, he will not be crowned unless he fight lawfully." Of this same thing to the Colossians: "If ye be dead with Christ from I the elements of the world, why still, as if living in the world, do ye follow vain things? " Also concerning this same thing: "If ye have risen together with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting on the right hand of God. Give heed to the things that are above, not to those things which are on the earth; for ye are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ your life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." Of this same thing to the Ephesians: Put off the old man of the former conversation, who is corrupted, according to the lusts of deceit. But be ye renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, him who according to God is ordained in righteousness, and holiness, and truth." Of this same thing in the Epistle of Peter: "As strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; but having a good conversation among the Gentiles, that while they detract from you as if from evildoers, yet, beholding your good works, they may magnify God." Of this same thing in the Epistle of John: "He who saith he abideth in Christ, ought himself also to walk even as He walked." Also in the same place: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loveth the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Because everything which is in the world is lust of the flesh, and lust of the eyes, and the ambition of this world, which is not of the Father, but of the lust of this world. And the world shall pass away with its lust. But he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever, even as God abideth for ever." Also in the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: "Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new dough, as ye are unleavened. For also Christ our passover is sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not in the old leaven, nor in the leaven of malice and wickedness, but in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." — Treatise XII Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews Cyprian : And to return to the praise of martyrdom, there is a word of the blessed Paul, who says; "Know ye not that they who run in a race strive many, but one receiveth the prize? But do ye so run, that all of you may obtain." Moreover also elsewhere, that be may exhort us to martyrdom, he has called us fellow-heirs with Christ; nay, that he might omit nothing, he says, "If ye are dead with Christ, why, as if living in the world, do ye make distinctions? " Because, dearest brethren, we who bear the rewards of resurrection, who seek for the day of judgment, who, in fine, are trusting that we shall reign with Christ, ought to be dead to the world. For you can neither desire martyrdom till you have first hated the world, nor attain to God's reward unless you have loved Christ. And he who loves Christ does not love the world. For Christ was given up by the world, even as the world also was given up by Christ; as it is written, "The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." The world has been an object of affection to none whom the Lord has not previously condemned; nor could he enjoy eternal salvation who has gloried in the life of the world. That is the very voice of Christ, who says: "He that loveth his life in this world, shall lose it in the world to come; but he that hateth his life in this world, shall find it in the world to come." Moreover, also, the Apostle Paul says: "Be ye imitators of me, as I also am of Christ." And the same elsewhere says: "I wish that all of you, if it were possible, should be imitators of me." — Pseudo-Cyprian On the Glory of Martyrdom John Cassian : But one who has forsaken both these kinds of fornication, will have a third kind to avoid, which is contained in the superstitions of the law and of Judaism; of which the Apostle says: "Ye observe days and months and times and years;" and again: "Touch not, taste not, handle not." And there is no doubt that this is said of the superstitions of the law, into which one who has fallen has certainly gone a whoring from Christ, and is not worthy to hear this from the Apostle: "For I have espoused you to one husband, to exhibit you as a chaste virgin to Christ." — CONFERENCE 14:11 John Chrysostom : "If ye died with Christ." He puts that in the middle, and on either side, expressions of greater vehemence. "If ye died with Christ from the elements of the world," he saith, "why as though living in the world do ye subject yourselves to ordinances?" This is not the consequence, for what ought to have been said is, "how as though living are ye subject to those elements?" But letting this pass, what saith he? — Homily on Colossians 7 Philoxenus of Mabbug : And again he said, "If ye died with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as if ye were living in the world, do ye receive the commandments?" Now a man arriveth at this rule of life after he hath stripped himself of his possessions, and beginneth to work good deeds in the members of his person, for so long as he hath riches, he justifieth himself by riches, and he emptieth not himself from the cares of riches which he serveth in himself. — 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 9 -- Second Discourse on Poverty Severian of Gabala : These prohibitions about eating and drinking that you hear from the Greeks are based on their mistaken conviction that you should not partake of anything living. But all this has been given for consumption and nourishment. So, don't pay attention to what has been given in accordance with their teaching. . Tertullian : And therefore (the apostle) says that "sin dwelleth in the flesh," because the soul by which sin is provoked has its temporary lodging in the flesh, which is doomed indeed to death, not however on its own account, but on account of sin. For he says in another passage also "How is it that you conduct yourselves as if you were even now living in the world?" where he is not writing to dead persons, but to those who ought to have ceased to live after the ways of the world. — On the Resurrection of the Flesh