ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM (c. 344 - 407 AD)
You see how many are the benefits of Baptism, and some think its heavenly grace consists only in the remission of sins; but we have enumerated ten honors. For this reason we baptize even infants, THOUGH THEY ARE NOT DEFILED BY SIN [or though they do not HAVE PERSONAL SINS]: so that there may be given to them holiness, righteousness, adoption, inheritance, brotherhood with Christ, and that they may be his members. (Baptismal Catechesis cited by St. Augustine in Contra Julian 1:6)
On this passage, St. Augustine remarks in Contra Julian 1:6:22 after quoting the above line in Greek:
“You see that he (John Chrysostom) certainly did not say, ‘Infants are not defiled by sin,’ or ‘sins,’ but, ‘NOT HAVING SINS.’ Understand ‘of their own,’ and there is no difficulty. ‘But,’ you will say, ‘why did he not add “of their own” himself?’ Why else, I suppose, if not that he was speaking in a Catholic church and never supposed he would be understood in any other way, when no one had raised such a question, and he could speak more unconcernedly when you were not there to dispute the point?”
Further, Jurgens comments that Julian of Eclanum had appealed to Chrysostom in support of Pelagianism by quoting the line above from -Ad neophytos- “We baptize even infants, though they are not defiled by sin” and he took this as a denial of original sin. However, Augustine had not just the Latin but the original GREEK of the same text which reads: “We baptize even infants, though they do not HAVE SINS.” Augustine insists that the plural SINS makes it clear that Chrysostom was speaking of personal sins. Augustine further exonerates Chrysostom and deprives Julian of his source by quoting numerous other passages of Chrysostom.
Christ came once. He found OUR paternal note of hand, which Adam wrote. That man [Adam] brought in the beginning of the debt. We INCREASED the interest by OUR LATER sins. (cited by St. Augustine in Contra Julian 1:6:26, the original Greek of Chrysostom is given by Jurgens, vol 2, pg 101, n2)
Augustine comments: “Was he content to say ‘the paternal note of hand,’ without adding ‘our?’ He added the ‘our’ so that we might know that BEFORE we INCREASED the interest by our LATER sins, the debt of that paternal note of hand ALREADY pertained to us.”
What does this mean, “Because all have sinned” [Rom 5:12] ? In that fall even those who did not eat of the tree – ALL DID FROM THE TRANSGRESSION [of Adam] become mortal…For [Adam’s sin in paradise] was productive of that death in which WE ALL participate…From this it is clear that it was not this sin, the sin of transgressing the Law, that ruined everything, BUT THAT SIN OF ADAM’S DISOBEDIENCE…What is the proof of this? The fact that even before the Law, ALL DIED. “Death reigned,” he says, “from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned” [Rom 5:14a]. How did it reign? “In the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come” [Rom 5:14b]. This too is why Adam is a type of Christ: …That when a Jew would say to you, “How by the righteous action of this one Man, Christ, was the world saved?” you might be able to answer him, “How by the wrong-doing of one Adam, WAS THE WORLD CONDEMNED?” (Homilies on the Epistle to the Romans 10:1)
Jurgens comments, vol 2, pg 115-116, n5 on the above and Rom 5:12 –
“Chrysostom knew Greek too, and he never supposed it meant anything except BECAUSE. He still refers the passage to original sin, and understands by the clause “because all have sinned” that what is meant is “because all have sinned [IN ADAM].” It is not just that all have sinned in sequence after Adam, but all have sinned in consequence of Adam…The final clause clearly calls for the interpretation “because all have sinned IN ADAM.” It need not exclude personal sin, but it must include original sin… Chrysostom and the Fathers at large would have seen Rom 5:12 as referring to original sin. The mention of sin causing death, and death being therefore the lot of all men were enough; for it must be admitted that the Fathers in general do not easily distinguish between original sin and its effects. Thus, for Chrysostom, the very fact that men do die, even without the “because all have sinned,” would point to original sin.” (Note the following)
We have been freed from punishment, we have put off all wickedness, and we have been reborn from above [in Baptism, John 3:3,5], and we have risen again, with the old man buried, and we have been redeemed, and we have been sanctified, and we have been given adoption into sonship, and we have been justified, and we have been made brothers of the Only-begotten, and we have been constituted joint heirs and concorporeal with Him and have been perfected in his flesh, and have been united to Him as a body to its head…All of this Paul calls an “abundance of grace” [Rom 5:17], showing that what we have received is not just a medicine to counteract the WOUND, but even health and comeliness and honor and glory and dignities going far beyond what were natural to us. And each of these was able by itself to do away with death; but when all of them seem to run together at the same time, there is not a vestige of it left, nor a shadow of it to be seen, so completely has it disappeared…Christ paid out much more than the debt we owed, as much more as the boundless sea exceeds a little drop…“For just as by the disobedience of one man the many were MADE SINNERS, so too by the obedience of One, the many will be made just” [Rom 5:19]. …What does the word “SINNERS” mean here? It seems to me that it means LIABLE TO PUNISHMENT AND CONDEMNED TO DEATH. (Homilies on the Epistle to the Romans 10:2)
