Patristic A.D. 407
“The Lord having banished that fear which haunted the minds of His disciples, adds further comfort in what follows, not only casting out fear, but by hope of greater rewards encouraging them to a free proclamation of the truth, saying, Every man who shall confess me before men, I also will confess him before my Father which is in heaven. And it is not properly shall confess me, but as it is in the Greek, shall confess in me, shewing that it is not by your own strength but by grace from above, that you confess Him whom you do confess.”
Catena Aurea: Gospel of Matthew, as excerpted in the Catena Aurea on Matthew 10:32-33
PD · J. H. Newman (Oxford, 1841) ↗