Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 63:1 (Mar 2020)
Article: “To Marry In Christ”: A Theological And Ethical Appraisal Of John Chrysostom On Marriage
Author: John D. Laing

JETS 63:1 (March 2020) p. 141

“To Marry In Christ”: A Theological And Ethical Appraisal Of John Chrysostom On Marriage

John D. Laing

and

Stefana Dan Laing

John D. Laing is Senior Chaplain for the Texas Military Department in Austin, TX. He may be contacted at [email protected]. Stefana Dan Laing is Assistant Professor of Divinity (Spiritual Formation) at Beeson Divinity School, 800 Lakeshore Drive, Birmingham, AL 35229. She may be contacted at [email protected].

Abstract: This article examines John Chrysostom’s theological and ethical/practical vision of Christian marriage, focusing on the purpose(s) of marriage, and the relations that should obtain between the spouses, drawing upon Homily 19 on 1 Corinthians 7, Homily 20 on Ephesians 5, Homily 12 on Colossians 4, and two additional homilies: How to Choose a Wife and Sermon on Marriage. Amid current evangelical conversations surrounding the nature and outworking of the marital relationship, Chrysostom offers a biblically grounded and theologically rich vision of Christian marriage, a vision from which the church may still benefit today. Within a hierarchical framework (consistent with Chrysostom’s socio-historical context), he repeatedly urged mutuality and harmony between husband and wife. By preaching that marriage exists for the purpose of mutual sanctity, and calling for balanced leadership in the home based on wifely respect and husbandly sacrificial love, John encouraged a loving and holy partnership that elevated marriage and portrayed the home as a virtuous community, resembling “a little church,” benefiting society as a whole, and ultimately transforming it into a Christian politeia.

Key words: John Chrysostom, theology of marriage, Late Antique preaching, virginity, complementarianism, mutuality in marriage, 1 Corinthians 7, Ephesians 5:21–33, Aristotle, Musonius Rufus, Plutarch, chastity

John Chrysostom’s teaching on marriage has been called “the best in Christian teaching … between St. Paul and the twentieth century.”1 Despite Chrysostom’s preference for consecrated virginity as the ideal Christian vocation, and his seemingly negative assessment of marriage in his early treatise, On Virginity, some of his later sermons offer what Orthodox theologian David Ford calls a “particularly sublime vision of marriage.”2<...