Chrysostom and Exegesis
Skimming through some of Chrysostom's homilies and commentaries last night in preparation for a presentation next week, I was surprised by some of his exegesis. Chrysostom has a reputation for being one of the better exegetes of his era. He actually sought to understand things like the historical background and grammatical structure of the passage in question, rather than jumping straight into allegory. And, in most cases, his exegesis is quite good.
His take on Eph. 1, however, was odd. His conclusion upon examining the text was to conclude that God's grace and our virtue are both necessary for salvation. But the point of the text is to praise God for his grace given to us. Our response is spoken of, but usually as a the outworking of God's grace (such as v. 4).
The version I had of Chrysostom had a footnote that noted that a disciple of his by the name of Cassian went on to formulate Semi-Pelagianism. Cassian apparently appealed to Chrysostom as an authority.
April 13, 2004 03:54 PM