Chapter One.

The Gospel in Saint John Chrysostom.

        An important factor behind the vitality of the Church as it stands at the beginning of the twenty-first century is its own confidence in the saving message with which it has been entrusted. The tremendous success of early Christianity in the pluralistic world of antiquity was due in large measure to the invincible conviction of the early Christians, the Christian martyrs, and the Church Fathers about the intrinsic truth and power of the Gospel grounded in the self-revelation of God in salvation history.  In this chapter we shall reflect on Saint John Chrysostom’s understanding of the Gospel.

        Saint John Chrysostom (ca. 350-407) is an heir of this early Christian confidence in the truth of the Gospel to which he devoted his life and work both in Antioch as presbyter (381-397) and Constantinople as archbishop (398-404). In his treatise On the Priesthood, as well known, Saint John expounds at length on the ministry of preaching, a task requiring talent as well as diligence. In this famous work one finds a classic patristic contribution to the understanding of preaching as a skilled and disciplined ministry in the proclamation of the good news, while refuting errors and heresies. The focus of the present chapter, however, is another. It falls neither on the preacher nor the ministry of preaching but rather on the theological meaning and spiritual power of the Gospel itself. It explores basic questions such as, how does Chrysostom define the Gospel? What is the content of the Gospel? What is the power of the Gospel and what determines its efficacy in the world?

        The sources used for this chapter are Saint John's homilies on Matthew, John, Acts, Romans, I Corinthians and Galatians, as well as his work In Praise of Saint Paul. The methodological approach is both descriptive and analytic, that is to say, reporting Chrysostom's views in diverse homilies and simultaneously seeking to assess the overall structure of his thought concerning our topic.