Lessons from the life of John Chrysostom

John Chrysostom was nicknamed “Golden Mouth” and stands as one of
the most famous Greek preachers in church history. I return to his life
frequently to be reminded of some golden lessons.

1. Earnest education in the grammatical-historical interpretation of Scripture.
Plaguing the exegesis of the early church preachers (the Patristics) is
an allegorical interpretation of Scripture. The move away from
allegorical to the grammatical-historical
was attempted by several but matured primarily under the scholarship of
Diodore of Tarsus and it was this man who passed this method of
interpretation to Chrysostom in Antioch. Contrary to most schools, the
Atiochene school was “built on a method of interpretation rather than a
theological tendency” (Old, Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures, 2:169).

Training in the grammatical-historical method shows itself clearly
in the fruits of Chrysostom’s preaching, reflecting a high view of the
authority of Scripture. “The preaching of the Word of God is
authoritative and efficacious because it is God’s Word, not the
preacher’s. Here is the foundation of the passion and the power of
great preaching. It is for this reason that the great preachers have
preached and their congregations have heard them” (Old, 2:185). Only a
conviction of Scripture’s authority forces the preacher to interpret
carefully. Chrysostom held a high view of Scripture.

2. Secular liberal arts education. Amazingly,
Chrysostom was both educated by one of the great Christian exegetes of
his era and one of the great secular orators. His widowed (but wealthy)
mother sent John to study under Libanius, a pagan professor famed for
his rhetorician in Constantinople and Nicomedia. It seems to be an odd
decision for a Christian mother but the fruit of this secular learning
– a strong imagination, skills in clear communication and a powerful
literary talent – are all evident throughout John’s later work (see our
excerpt on spiritual warfare
from last week). Hughes Oliphant Old writes, “Metaphors and similes
seem to come to this preacher all quite naturally and without the least
sort of effort” (Old, 2:193).

This blending of the secular/pagan and Christian educations was
beneficial. Getting good exegetical and theological training is
obvious. But those seeking to preach are encouraged to also seek a
secular degree in liberal arts, too. “One of the reasons John
Chrysostom achieve such distinction as a preacher was because he
mastered both classical oratory as it was so brilliantly taught by
Libanius and the principles of biblical interpretation as taught with
no less luster by Diodore” (Old, 2:172). The diversity of training
provides the preacher excellent skills in critical thinking,
communicating in general and specifically in speaking the Gospel to
fellow classmates who represent the diverse colors of culture
(homosexual worldview, humanism, naturalism, atheism, agnosticism,
theological liberalism, feminism, etc.).

3. Preaching against the sins of culture. In our
day, when church-going Christians are in the minority, we are told the
church should resemble the world in order to get non-Christians in the
door. Chrysostom knew better. Christianity in his time was also the
minority, lived among a majority of pagans in Antioch. Crowds of pagans
would gather to hear good oratory and so Chrysostom’s sermons were
well-attended by non-Christians. This did not stop him from taking the
cultural sins and idols head-on. And he encouraged his people to live
differently than the culture around them, to evangelize their neighbors
by their actions before evangelizing with words. Chrysostom encourages
us to evangelize our culture by being radically different.

4. Fighting worldliness. Chrysostom wrote on the
topic of fasting: “Fasting is, as much as lies in us, an imitation of
the angles, a contemning of things present, a school of prayer, a
nourishment of the soul, a bridle of the mouth, an abatement of
concupiscence: it mollifies rage, it appeases anger, it calms the
tempests of nature, it excites reason, it clears the mind, it
disburthens the flesh, it chases away night-pollutions, it frees from
head-ache. By fasting, a man gets composed behaviour, free utterance of
his tongue, right apprehensions of his mind.” Chrysostom understood the
benefits of fasting and taught his people to prefer godly sorrow over
worldly joy. John challenged his congregation to fast as an offensive
against the idol-saturated Antioch. His asceticism and preaching
against extravagance infuriated emperor Arcadius and his wife Eudoxia.
Despite the mocking of the day, great and earnest preachers perceive
the sinfulness of worldliness and warn souls.

5. Preaching plainly. I don’t suggest that John was
a plain preacher. He was trained under one of the greatest Pagan
orators in Libanius and his sermons bear the watermark of oratorical
greatness. Whether a true offer or not, it is said Libanius eyed his
prized student Chrysostom as his replacement. Obviously, Chrysostom
could have preached with the greatest eloquence of his age. However, he
chose rather to open Scripture in a simple manner, accessible to all of
his hearers. “His plainness of speech gave great offense to the
beautiful and imperious Eudoxia, the worldly consort of Arcadius. This
hatred of the empress and the envy and anger of many of the clergy were
the causes of Chrysostom’s deposition and banishment” (Dargan, A History of Preaching, 1:90).

Chrysostom preached to sinners in the “real world.” He touched
understood the lives of his hearers, he was experientially sensitive
and these qualities made a great impact. “The Shakespeare of preachers
has not appeared,” John Broadus wrote in 1907. “But why should he not
some day appear? One who can touch every chord of human feeling, treat
every interest of human life, draw illustration from every object and
relation of the known universe, and use all to gain acceptance and
obedience for the gospel of salvation. No preacher has ever come nearer
this than Chrysostom, perhaps none, on the whole, so near” (Broadus, Lectures on the History of Preaching, p. 78).

6. Late start. Chrysostom, who died at 60, took to
the pulpit in Antioch at the age of 39. He had been educated in the
Liberal Arts, worked in law and served as a deacon for several years.
He had many years of Christian service behind him and a great knowledge
of the world when he rose to the primary preacher in Antioch. But he
was also a considerably old man when he got his start. This teaches
preachers a bit about patience. You may know God has called you to
preach His Word but now you are in school or working a secular job or
otherwise wondering what God has in store. Chrysostom reminds us that
God’s timing may come later than we want but He is sovereignly
preparing us for ministry no matter where we are. We are called to
commune with God and experience life in the “real world” in preparation
for our future tasks. John Broadus writes, “In our impatient age and
country, when so many think time spent in preparation is time lost, it
is well to remember that the two most celebrated preachers of the early
Christian centuries began to preach, Chrysostrom at thirty-nine, and
Augustine at thirty-six” (Broadus, p. 76). Nearly 40 years of
preparation for 18 years of fruitful ministry (12 years in Antioch and
6 in Constantinople). However in these 18 years, Chrysostom preached
daily and only Spurgeon has left more sermons in print. Be patient in
the preparation.

7. Sensitive to the cultural events. One of the
most powerful experiences of Chrysostom’s ministry in Antioch occurred
in 386. The people believing emperor Theodosius was overtaxing them
rioted and destroyed imperial statues in the Antioch. Such an act
brought swift and harsh response from the emperor including many
arrests and killings. Even before the reprisal took place, the people
knew they had sinned and were in deep trouble.

Amidst the upheaval in Antioch as the city awaited certain reprisal
from the emperor, Chrysostom asked his city who they feared more. Do
they fear the wrath of the emperor more than the wrath of God?

Chrysostom immediately began preaching sermons we now know as the “Sermons on the Statues”
and initiated a 40 day fast for the city. Of his sermon content we are
told, “At one time his object here is to console a people struggling
with present distress; at another, to strengthen minds that were
sinking under the extremity of danger; and above all, by repeated
admonition, to persuade the people of Antioch, on occasion of the
threatened calamities, to correct the vices and to wipe away the crimes
that had thus provoked God’s wrath; which endeavor on the part of
Chrysostom certainly ended in results agreeable to his desire, as he
sometimes acknowledges” (Preface to the Benedictine edition).

In one sermon Chrysostom said,

“How then is it any thing but absurd, to submit to the
greatest hardships, when an Emperor enjoins it; but when God commands
nothing grievous nor difficult, but what is very tolerable and easy, to
despise or to deride it, and to advance custom as an excuse? Let us
not, I entreat, so far despise our own safety, but let us fear God as
we fear man. I know that ye shudder at hearing this, but what deserves
to be shuddered at is that ye do not pay even so much respect to God;
and that whilst ye diligently observe the Emperor’s decrees, ye trample
under foot those which are divine, and which have come down from
heaven; and consider diligence concerning these a secondary object. For
what apology will there be left for us, and what pardon, if after so
much admonition we persist in the same practices.”

Chrysostom, like Jesus, used the climate of the day to point souls
towards the holiness and wrath of God and to encourage repentance (Luke
13:1-5)? When preachers today use 9/11, tsunamis and hurricanes to
point souls towards God they walk in the pattern set by Christ and
followed by Chrysostom. So preachers, take advantage of the times. Be
acquainted with the conditions of your culture and put them to use
spiritually in calling sinners to repentance.

8. Preaching as a prophet calling God’s people to repentance.
Chrysostom did not hesitate to call professing Christians to
repentance. In this sense he was prophetic. “One can hardly avoid the
observation that if he was everything a Greek orator was supposed to
be, he was also everything a Hebrew prophet was supposed to be. With
all the passion of Elijah he confronted God’s people with their sins;
with all the eloquence of Isaiah he called his congregation to
repentance” (Old, 2:195). This certainly flows from an understanding of
the age he preached and the specific temptations of his people. The
great preachers seek to pull their congregation out of their sins to
humble them and lead them to the Cross. A failure to lead a church out
of a particular sin leads to serious corporate troubles (see Rev.
2:1-3:22).

9. Errors. Chrysostom leaves a great legacy to
follow but not without errors. While watching the busy city of Antioch,
John “sharpened that penetrating knowledge of human nature,” but would
later move to a monastery, a decision that would certainly hamper his
(and his followers) sensitivity to the surrounding culture (Broadus, p.
73). While not allegorizing, he is known for twisting passages to suit
his own needs. His emphasis on celibacy, transubstantiation,
monasticism are all quite unfortunate though compared to his
contemporaries Chrysostom held a cautious and discerning Mariology.

But most unfortunate, Chrysostom said far more about ethics and
works than about Christ and redemption in the Cross. Too frequently
readers of his sermons will find only momentary glimpses of the Cross.
Were it not for his concluding benediction, Jesus Christ would be
altogether absent from many of his sermons.

Conclusion

It does no good making a list of errors if we don’t humbly recognize
we have our own. Church history repeats one general theme: Even the
greatest preacher will not escape the errors of his day. We take
lessons from Chrysostom’s life tempered with the sober reality that the
Patristic era of church history contains many grievous errors. It will
prove beneficial to pray and ask God this question: What errors of my
age – those errors commonly held by my friends and associates – what of
these errors have I unknowingly fallen? The errors which seem so
obvious centuries later go unseen at the time.

The beauty of history is that we take the good and leave the bad.
From the fruit of Chrysostom’s life we can return to our ministries
with a basket filled with rich lessons.