JOURNEYING THROUGH ROMANS 1 to 3 WITH ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM

The great mystery of God’s revelation is that His majesty, glory, orderliness and lawfulness are found everywhere in nature. As the disciples stated in the storm on the lake, “Even the wind and the waves obey Him (Mt. 8:27).  Nature obeys, but we do not, even when we try.

Romans 1:19 For what can be known about God is evident to them, because God made it evident to them. 20 Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made. As a result, they have no excuse.

St. John Chrysostom says, “The knowledge of Himself God placed in men from the beginning.”  And later, he expounds poetically:

(What shall the) heathen say in that day? That we were ignorant of You? Did ye then not hear the heaven sending forth a voice by the sight, while the well-ordered harmony of all things spoke out more clearly than a trumpet? Did ye not see the hours of night and day abiding unmoved continually, the goodly order of winter, spring, and the other seasons remaining both sure and unmoved, the tractableness of the sea amid all its turbulence and waves? All things abiding in order and by their beauty and their grandeur, preaching aloud of the Creator? (Chrysostom in New Advent, “Homily 3 on Romans”)

Romans 1:21 for although they knew God they did not accord Him glory as God or give Him thanks. Instead, they became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened. 22 While claiming to be wise, they became fools.

Here in Romans, we here St. Paul reminding us that the Great One of the Universe has made Himself known to us through His creation, and we clearly see His glory. But we rely on our own minds to understand and make our own laws. In this way, we have destroyed the light of the Creator that was within us. Over the centuries, humanity has fashioned idols and little gods out of everything, even himself. This is what it means to become vain and darkened. We have come to worship whatever satisfies our every desire, and we even worship ourselves.

St. John says it so eloquently: 

And he names the cause through which they fell into such senselessness. What then is it? They trusted everything to their reasonings...For as in a night without a moon, if any one attempt to go by a strange road, or to sail over a strange sea, so far will he be from soon reaching his destination, that he will speedily be lost…Having destroyed the light from their own selves, and, in lieu of it, trusted themselves to the darkness of their own reasoning, and seeking bodies for Him who is incorporeal, and in shapes for Him who has no shape, underwent a most rueful shipwreck. (Chrysostom in New Advent, “Homily 3 on Romans”)

Romans 1:28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God handed them over to their undiscerning mind to do what is improper. 

And St. Paul completes the chapter noting every form of wickedness of the human heart. This goes far beyond murder and sexual sin that is so clear to us. No, we cannot escape the effects of sin in our daily lives. The list goes on:  Greed, malice, envy, murder, rivalry, treachery, spite, gossip, scandal, being insolent, haughty, boastful, ingenious in their wickedness, rebellious toward their parents, senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless (see Romans 1:29ff). With such a list that begins with common character flaws, how do we stand a chance? In fact, St. Paul continues in Romans 2 to describe how we are completely unable to do what God asks of us.

In Romans 3, St. Paul explores how the law is clear but we cannot obey it. He summarizes:  “All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).  St. John Chrysostom as well, reminds us of our 

deadness, for there was no longer any hope of recovering health, but as the paralyzed body needed the hand from above, so does the soul which has been deadened. (Chrysostom, in New Advent, “Homily 7 on Romans”)

Romans 3:24 They are justified freely by His grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus,

Thus being utterly at a loss to change our ways, much less to pay our ransom, we are hopeless and can never free ourselves.  But the hope is in Jesus Christ. We end here with St. John’s vivid description: 

Thus now the sentence being henceforth passed, and all being upon the point of perishing, and He being at hand Who by grace would break these terrors. (Chrysostom New Advent, “Homily 7)

References: 

New American Bible, Revised Edition

St. John Chrysostom, New Advent, “Homily 3 on Romans,” accessed 8-14-2023, https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/210203.htm

St. John Chrysostom, New Advent, “Homily 7 on Romans,” accessed 8-14-2023, https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/210207.htm