Ignatius of Antioch : I know both who I am, and to whom I write. I am a condemned man, ye have been the objects of mercy; I am subject to danger, ye are established in safety. Ye are the persons through whom those pass that are cut off for the sake of God. Ye are initiated into the mysteries of the Gospel with Paul, the holy, the martyred, the deservedly most happy, at whose feet may I be found, when I shall attain to God; who in all his Epistles makes mention of you in Christ Jesus. — Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians Irenaeus : But again, we allege the same against those who do not recognise Paul as an apostle: that they should either reject the other words of the Gospel which we have come to know through Luke alone, and not make use of them; or else, if they do receive all these, they must necessarily admit also that testimony concerning Paul, when he (Luke) tells us that the Lord spoke at first to him from heaven: "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? I am Jesus Christ, whom thou persecutest;" and then to Ananias, saying regarding him: "Go thy way; for he is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My name among the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him, from this time, how great things he must suffer for My name's sake." Those, therefore, who do not accept of him as a teacher, who was chosen by God for this purpose, that he might boldly bear His name, as being sent to the forementioned nations, do despise the election of God, and separate themselves from the company of the apostles. For neither can they contend that Paul was no apostle, when he was chosen for this purpose; nor can they prove Luke guilty of falsehood, when he proclaims the truth to us with all diligence. It may be, indeed, that it was with this view that God set forth very many Gospel truths, through Luke's instrumentality, which all should esteem it necessary to use, in order that all persons, following his subsequent testimony, which treats upon the acts and the doctrine of the apostles, and holding the unadulterated rule of truth, may be saved. His testimony, therefore, is true, and the doctrine of the apostles is open and stedfast, holding nothing in reserve; nor did they teach one set of doctrines in private, and another in public. — Against Heresies Book III Jerome : Why is the apostle Paul called a chosen vessel? Assuredly because he is a repertory of the law and of the holy Scriptures. — LETTER 53.3 John Chrysostom : "But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: for I will show him how great things he must suffer for My name's sake." "Not only," saith He, "shall he be a believer, but even a teacher, and great boldness shall he show: before Gentiles and kings"-such shall be the spread of the doctrine!-that just as He astonished him by the former, so He may startle him even more by the latter. — Homily on Acts 20 John Chrysostom : And justly he is called "a vessel" (or, instrument)-for reason shows that evil is not a physical quality: "a vessel of election" (or, chosen instrument), He saith; for we choose that which is approved. For there was indeed need of strength. Since He says, "a vessel of election," that thou mayest not imagine that God is to do all, He adds, "to bear My Name before Gentiles and kings, and the children of Israel." Ananias has heard what he most desired-that against the Jews also he will take his stand: this above all gave him courage. "For I," saith He, "will show him how great things he must suffer for My Name's sake." At the same time also this is said by way of putting Ananias to the blush: If he, that was so frantic, shall suffer all things, and thou not willing even to baptize him! — Homily on Acts 20 John Chrysostom : And what is wonderful indeed is, that he shall first know "how great things he shall suffer," and then shall take the field against the perils. — Homily on Acts 20 John Chrysostom : Since He says, "a vessel of election," that thou mayest not imagine that God is to do all, He adds, "to bear My Name before Gentiles and kings, and the children of Israel." Ananias has heard what he most desired-that against the Jews also he will take his stand: this above all gave him courage. "For I," saith He, "will show him how great things he must suffer for My Name's sake." At the same time also this is said by way of putting Ananias to the blush: If he, that was so frantic, shall suffer all things, and thou not willing even to baptize him! "It is well," saith he: "let him continue blind" (this is why he says these words): "he is blind: why dost Thou at all bid me open his eyes, that he may bind men again?" Fear not the future: for that opening of his eyes he will use not against you, but for you (with reference to that saying, "That he may receive his sight," these words are spoken): for not only will he do you no harm, but he "will suffer many things." And what is wonderful indeed is, that he shall first know "how great things he shall suffer," and then shall take the field against the perils. — Homily on Acts 20 John Chrysostom : Here he establishes two things: both that they are without excuse, since they persecuted him contrary to all likelihood or calculation of reason; and, that Christ was God, as prophesying things contrary to expectation, and as not looking to past things, but foreknowing the things to come. How then does He say, "He shall bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and children of Israel?" Not, certainly persuade. Besides which, on other occasions we find the Jews were persuaded, but here they were not. Where most of all they ought to have been persuaded, as knowing his former zeal in their cause, here they were not persuaded. — Homily on Acts 48 Oecumenius : For he says that he is a chosen vessel. For this reason, he says, he has shown that he is approved; for an approved thing is selected as a vessel. And not only will he be faithful, he says, but also a teacher and preacher to the world, and many will be persuaded on my account. For this reason he says that he is a chosen vessel of mine, and that he will carry my name. — Commentary on Acts Tertullian : Come, now, if he had not "wholly saddened" so many persons in the first Epistle; if he had "rebuked" none, had "terrified" none; if he had "smitten" the incestuous man alone; if, for his cause, he had sent none into panic, had struck (no) "inflated" one with consternation,-would it not be better for you to suspect, and more believing for you to argue, that rather some one far different had been in the same predicament at that time among the Corinthians; so that, rebuked, and terrified, and already wounded with mourning, he therefore-the moderate nature of his fault permitting it-subsequently received pardon, than that you should interpret that (pardon as granted) to an incestuous fornicator? For this you had been bound to read, even if not in an Epistle, yet impressed upon the very character of the apostle, by (his) modesty more clearly than by the instrumentality of a pen: not to steep, to wit, Paul, the "apostle of Christ," the "teacher of the nations in faith and verity," the "vessel of election," the founder of Churches, the censor of discipline, (in the guilt of) levity so great as that he should either have condemned rashly one whom he was presently to absolve, or else rashly absolved one whom he had not rashly condemned, albeit on the ground of that fornication which is the result of simple immodesty, not to say on the ground of incestuous nuptials and impious voluptuousness and parricidal lust,-(lust) which he had refused to compare even with (the lusts of) the nations, for fear it should be set down to the account of custom; (lust) on which he would sit in judgment though absent, for fear the culprit should "gain the time; " (lust) which he had condemned after calling to his aid even "the Lord's power," for fear the sentence should seem human. — On Modesty