Basic aspects of St John Chrysostom's doctrine of justification according to his commentary on St Paul’s letter to the Romans

Abstract

The primary aim of this thesis is to present the crucial Pauline doctrine of Justification through Christ as it has been understood and expounded by St John Chrysostom, one of the greatest exegetes of Holy Scripture in the early Church. Chrysostom's Commentary on Paul’s Letter to the Romans is the primary source and the presentation of the most basic aspects of the doctrine of justification in it is the method. The short introduction, relating to Chrysostom's text (ch.l) is followed in turn by: the presuppositions of Paul's doctrine of justification, located in original death and pattern of creation, i.e. in humanity's fall into death through sin, and its link with Christ as God the Creator (ch.2); the soteriological sense of justification, connected with Christ as man (new Adam) and giver of the justification by grace through faith as distinct from the justification in the law through works (ch.3); justification as restoration of humanity in the knowledge of God through Christ; justification as an act of faith as distinct from the acts of the Law (ch.5); justification as sacrifice involving Christ's redemptive sacrifice and the living sacrifice of the Christians (ch.6); the verification of justification through the resurrection (ch.7); justification as doxology, i.e. the worship of God by man in Christ (ch. 8); justification and the new morality of the life in the Spirit (ch. 9); justification as adoption of humanity by God in Christ (ch. 10); justification as punishment and recompense in Christ (ch. 11); justification as an indistructible grace and gift of God's love (ch. 12) and finally, the secular sense of justification (ch. 13).The rich doctrine emerging there from entails destruction of death, victory over sin, participation in God's life in and through Christ. Christ’s being and action remain the key to this doctrine.