Proclaimer Blog
The motivation for “Christ’s glorious preacher”
Ooh, this is convicting for every preacher, isn't it?
Let therefore the man who undertakes the strain of teaching never give heed to the good opinion of the outside world, nor be dejected in soul on account of such persons, but labouring at his sermons so that he may please God (for let this alone be his rule and determination in discharging the best kind of workmanship, not acclamation, not good opinions) if, indeed, he be praised by men let him not repudiate their applause and when his hearers do not offer this, let him not seek it, let him not grieve for it. For a sufficient consolation in his labours, and one greater than all, is when he is able to be conscious of arranging and ordering his teaching with a view to pleasing God. Chrysostom, On the priesthood, v.7
Old John (344-407) was "one of the most glorious preachers of the early church, or indeed of the church in any age" says Nick Needham (2,000 Years of Christ's Power Volume 1, p234) and then he quotes Chrysostom's commentary on Genesis to show how, had he been living today, I like to think he would have been a PT boy (!).
I know the principles of allegory from the writings of others. Some preachers will not admit the ordinary meaning of the Scriptures. They will not call water 'water' but something else. They interpret a plant or a fish according to the fancy of their own imagination; they change reptiles and wild beasts into something allegorical just like those who interpret the meaning of dreams according to their own personal ideas. But when I hear the word grass, I understand that it means 'grass.'
He was fighting the Alexandrian method (allegorical) and was a great believer in what we would now call the grammactical-historical method (sometimes called the Antiochene method). As things developed it was these two different opinions that led to some of the great controversies about the nature of Christ. The Antiochenes took a literal view of Christ's humanity and so, at worst, split apart his two natures. The Alexandrians took a more allegorical view and considered the humanity of Christ, at worst, almost an allegory of his actual divine being.
Still, all sorted now….!!
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