Psalm 71:17 Douay-Rheims

Let his name be blessed for evermore: his name continueth before the sun. And in him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed: all nations shall magnify him.

Hilary of Poitiers

c. A.D. 310–367 Patristic

But he who is before the heavens, which, according to you, are also before time, is at the same time before the ages. He is not only before the ages but before all generations that have ever existed. Why do you limit divine and infinite things by those that are perishable, earthly and narrow? Paul knows nothing in Christ except the eternity of the ages. Wisdom states that It is not after something but before all things. In your opinion, the periods of time have been determined from the sun and the moon. But David points out that Christ remains before the sun when he says, "Before the sun [is] his name." And in order that you may not conclude that the things of God had their beginning with the origin of the world, the same one said, "And before the moon [are] the generations of generations." Periods of time are here regarded as of no importance by such outstanding men who were worthy of the Spirit of prophecy, and the human mind has not been afforded any opportunity for reaching into the ages before the birth that transcends the eternal years. Let the faith remain within the limits of the God-fearing teaching, so that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only-begotten God and that he has been born in order that we may confess the perfect birth, and let it not forget that he is eternal when venerating his divinity.

Source details
A.D. 367 · on Ps 72:17 (ON THE TRINITY 12:34)

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.

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