Cyril of Jerusalem (ca. 315–86) on 8:28
Once again, I wish to begin with a church
father who is not as such offering commentary on these verses but who
illustrates how the verses might be applied in a specific pastoral setting.
Moreover, the interpretation offers at least one jarring contrast with current consensus.
Remarkably, of all the passages he might have chosen to frame the introduction
to his Catechetical Lectures –lectures
given during Lent to those preparing for baptism at Pascha – St. Cyril of
Jerusalem chose Rom 8:28. Speaking to those in the process of official
conversion, he saw in this verse a statement about conversion to the Christian
faith as well as the character of that faith as it should be lived out.
Cyril insists that unless catechumens enter the
baptismal font with the proper intention, their baptism will prove useless.
Very close to the beginning of the prologue to the Catechetical Lectures (the Procatechesis), Cyril says:
Until now, there has been for you a list of
names, a calling to a campaign, and lamps of a bridal procession, and a desire
of a citisenship of heaven, and a good purpose (πρόθεσις
ἀγαθή), and an obedient hope, for
truthful is the one who says that “to those who love God all things work
together for the good.”80 For while God is liberal with benefaction, He expects
of each the genuine decision (την γνησίαν
προαίρεσιν); therefore the Apostle
added, saying, “to those who are called in accordance with purpose (κατὰ πρόθεσιν).”
When the purpose is genuine (πρόθεσις
γνησία), it makes you “called (κλητόν)”, for even if you have the body thus but you
do not have the intention (διάνοιαν),
it benefits nothing. (PG 33:333a-336a)
Cyril interprets κατὰ πρόθεσιν as referring to human purpose – that is, the sincerity of one’s
intentions in seeking baptism – as the use of γνησία in two places and the virtual equation of πρόθεσις with διάνοια
and προαίρεσις make abundantly clear.
Throughout the Procatechesis,
Cyril admonishes the catechumens to purify their hearts and intentions lest
their baptism not be efficacious (see esp. Procat.
4). In fact, like Symeon the New Theologian
much later, he offers Simon Magus as an example of one who “was baptised, but
not illumined” (Procat. 2). Cyril will admonish his
audience to cultivate a good intention several more times in the prologue (see
esp. Procat. 4, 8, 9, though he uses the
term προαίρεσις). (He still probably has Rom
8:28 in mind in Procat. 9; see also Cat. 3.15, with reference to
Rom 8:17)
Although
I will not try to defend Cyril’s interpretation of πρόθεσις as human intention, he does link this “genuine
intention” with love for God, and in so doing, he detects an aspect of 8:28
where human decision or response is indeed involved. For Cyril, conversion,
being truly called, entails a true love for God untainted by ulterior motives
and accompanied by serious preparation for the costs that accompany such love
for God. In this regard, “conversion” is not as such instantaneous, even if
marked by baptism in an essential way. Conversion entails a process of
preparation.
Cyril did not deny the importance of God and
the Holy Spirit or the efficacy of baptism, as a passage rich in allusions to
Pauline texts in the third Mystagogical Catechesis
makes clear:
Baptised into Christ and having put on Christ,
you have become conformed to the Son of God. For having set us apart beforehand
[or, predestined] (προορίσας) for adoption, [God] made
[us] conformed to the body of the glory of Christ. Therefore, having become
partakers (μέτοχοι) of Christ, you have reasonably been called “Christs”; for
concerning you God said, “Do not touch my Christs”. So, having received the
exact representation of the Holy Spirit, you have become Christs; and all
things have become as if they are reflected in an image on you, since you are
images of Christ. [Myst. 3.1; PG 33:1088a]
Here, Cyril stresses God’s role in setting the
initiate apart and the effects of the rite of baptism in conforming one to the
image of Christ. Cyril alludes to Rom 8:29 and 8:15, as well as Phil 3:21. He
appropriates the language of 8:29 to speak of the conformity to Christ’s image
that happens through the Holy Spirit at baptism. (The Spirit descended on Jesus
at His baptism [Matt 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22], and the Christian’s Baptism
is an exact imitation effecting a transformation into the image of Christ) The
meaning of Phil 3:21, however, is modified to conform to Rom 8:29, where the
verbs are in the aorist tense. (In Rom 8:29, συμμορφος is an adjective, but the
verbs προγιγνωσκω
and προοριζω
are in the aorist. Then, in 8:30, the verbs are again in the aorist, confirming
that the “conforming to the image of His Son” took place, at least to some
degree, in the past) What is clearly a future, eschatological hope in
Philippians has here become prefigured, at the very least, through baptism.
Though the church fathers often emphasise the struggle with passions that
follow baptism, here it is clear that conformity to Christ happens already at
baptism, the very rite of initiation. This conformity, moreover, is understood
as a form of participation (μέτοχος) in Christ. Moreover, the use of the
language of Phil 3:21, “the body of the glory of
Christ”, hints again at the possible somatic ramifications of conversion. (James Buchanan Wallace, "Identities at Rick: The
“New Perspective on Paul” and Eastern Orthodox Interpretation of Romans
8:14-17, 28-30," in Participation, Justification, and Conversion:
Eastern Orthodox Interpretation of Paul and the Debate between "Old and
New Perspectives on Paul," ed. Athanasios Despotis [Wissenschaftliche
Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2. Reihe 442; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2017],
293-94)