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Excerpt from “The Mystery of Christ - Lesson 2: Christ, the Fullness of Revelation: The Stages and Characteristics of the Divine Revelation“ by Fr. Peter Heers St. John Chrysostom says in his first homily on Matthew: It were indeed meet for us not at all to require the aid of the written Word, but to exhibit a life so pure, that the grace of the Spirit should be instead of books to our souls, and that as these are inscribed with ink, even so should our hearts be with the Spirit. But, since we have utterly put away from us this grace, come, let us at any rate embrace the second best course. For that the former was better, God has made manifest, both by His words, and by His doings. Since unto Noah, and unto Abraham, and unto his offspring, and unto Job, and unto Moses too, He discoursed not by writings, but Himself by Himself, finding their mind pure. But after the whole people of the Hebrews had fallen into the very pit of wickedness, then and thereafter was a written word, and tables, and the admonition which is given by these. And this one may perceive was the case, not of the saints in the Old Testament only, but also of those in the New. For neither to the apostles did God give anything in writing, but instead of written words He promised that He would give them the grace of the Spirit: for He, says our Lord, shall bring all things to your remembrance. John 14:26 And that you may learn that this was far better, hear what He says by the Prophet: I will make a new covenant with you, putting my laws into their mind, and in their heart I will write them, and, they shall be all taught of God. And Paul too, pointing out the same superiority, said, that they had received a law not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.” Blessed Theophylact in his preface to his commentary on Matthew: Those divine men who lived before the law were not taught by writings and books, but they had a pure mind and so were enlightened by the radiance of the Holy Spirit. Thus they knew the will of God, and He Himself conversed with them mouth to mouth. Such were Noah, Abraham, Job, and Moses. But when men grew weak and became unworthy to be enlightened and instructed by the Holy Spirit, God Who loves mankind gave the Scriptures so that at least by these means they might be made mindful of the will of God. So also did Christ converse in person with the apostles, and He sent the grace of the Spirit to be their teacher. But after these events heresies would arise and our morals would be corrupted. Therefore it was His good pleasure that the Gospels be written down in order to teach us the truth, so that we would not be drawn away by the falsehood of these heresies, and our morals would not altogether be corrupted. --- SIGN UP FOR OUR YOUTUBE MEMBERSHIP: Youtube members have access to all exclusive Q&A's and livestreams, discount codes for books from Uncut Mountain Press, members-only videos and more! Interested in learning more about Orthodoxy? See our Orthodoxy 101 videos: Questions? Contact us at team@ - - - - - Share and Subscribe to the OE YOUTUBE CHANNEL: OE WEBSITE: UNCUT MOUNTAIN PRESS (UMP) Website - NEW BOOKS: For all who would like to support The Orthodox Ethos, donations can be made via Paypal at the following link: -- Instagram: Facebook: TikTok: @orthodoxethos Twitter: Orthodox Ethos Podcast: Amazon Author Page: Academia: LinkedIn: Rumble: Odysee: @OrthodoxEthos GAB: Truth Social: @orthodoxethos Telegram: Telegram CHAT for OE Members: uTHSaTMOQnIzMWRh Fountain:
