Saturday, October 19, 2019

Ephrem the Syrian and "Clothing Imagery" Supporting Transformation, not Imputation


While researching Ephrem's Mariology just now, I came across the following from  one of his Hymns on Paradise:

Adam had been naked and fair,
but his diligent wife
labored and made for him
a garment covered with stains.
The Garden, seeing him thus vile,
drove him forth.
Through Mary Adam had
another robe
which adorned the thief (Luke 23:43);
and when he became resplendent at Christ's
promise,
the Garden, looking on,
embraced him in Adam's place. (The Hymns on Paradise IV, 5 in Hymns on Paradise [trans. Sebastian Brock; Crestwood, N.Y.: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1990], 99)

Here we see further evidence of clothing imagery not supporting imputation, but a transformation—the thief’s “garment” in Christ transformed him and he “became” resplendent.

For more on the evidence against the Protestant doctrine of imputed righteousness, see:


Response to a Recent Attempt to Defend Imputed Righteousness

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