Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 27:2 (Summer 2023)
Article: Amphilochius Of Iconium’s Homily On Matthew 26:39
Author: Greg Van Court

Amphilochius Of Iconium’s Homily On Matthew 26:39

Greg Van Court

Greg Van Court is Senior Pastor of Dayspring Fellowship Reformed Baptist Church in Austin, Texas. He earned his ThM and MDiv from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky. He is the author of The Obedience of Christ (New Covenant Media, 2005). He has presented papers to The Society of Biblical Literature and at various conferences. He and his wife, Sandra, have two children: Abigail and Rebecca.

Amphilochius was a late 4th and early 5th century bishop who defended the orthodox Christian faith against the heresy of Arianism. Though lesser known than his cousin Gregory of Nazianzus or his mentor Basil of Caesarea or Basil’s brother Gregory of Nyssa, Amphilochius has nevertheless been called “the fourth Great Cappadocian.”1 Most of his extant works have remained inaccessible to the church today, having never been translated into modern languages. Remarkably, the homily below has never been translated previously into any other language, including Latin. Its significance lies not only in its polemic against Arianism but also in its early witness to the Penal Substitution theory of the atonement.

From the time Gustaf Aulén’s influential work Christus Victor: An Historical Study of the Three Main Types of the Idea of Atonement was published in 1931, the notion has persisted that the Early Church Fathers held to the Christus Victor theory of the atonement and knew nothing of the Penal Substitution theory, which is thought to be a much later theological development. A widespread view is that a general Satisfaction theory of the atonement was advanced by Anselm of Canterbury in the 11th century and only extended to a Penal Substitution theory in the 16th century by the Protestant Reformers. However, the publication Pierced for Our Transgressions: Rediscovering the Glory of Penal Substitution by Jeffery, Ovey and Sach seeks to “lay to rest for good” what they describe as “the myth of the ‘late development’ of

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penal substitution” by demonstrating from the writings of the Early Church Fathers themselves, from Justin Martyr to Gregory the Great, articulations of Penal Substitution.2 Amphilochius’ homily on Matthew 26:39 adds one more voice to the chorus of Early Church Fathers who articulated a Penal Substitution theory of the atonement.

Amphilochius’ homily on verse 39 of Matthew 26 is a polemical sermon against the Arian heretics. This verse was a favorite amon...