Christian Texts

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. IX: Three Homilies Concerning the Power of Demons.: Homily III. On the Power of Man to Resist the Devil.

Christian AsceticismJohn ChrysostomNicene and Post-Nicene Fathers

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This is a patristic Christian homily — almost certainly by John Chrysostom, given its rhetorical style and the manuscript context — delivered to a congregation and belonging to the tradition of early church moral preaching. Its central argument is that neither the Devil nor wicked people can harm a person of firm moral purpose: evil's power is entirely contingent on the weakness or sloth of its target, not on any strength inherent to evil itself. The preacher makes this case through a series of contrasts — the congregation attending church versus those at the theatre, Noah maintaining virtue in a corrupt generation, Job refusing to be broken — to demonstrate that identical circumstances produce different outcomes solely because of differing intention and resolve. A distinctive theological move is the argument that God deliberately permits the wicked to coexist with the good for the benefit of both: the good grow stronger through resistance (like trees toughened by wind), while the wicked are at least shamed and restrained by the righteous example around them. The leaven-and-meal parable is used to argue that a small number of virtuous people can transform a corrupt society, as the twelve apostles transformed the world. The homily closes with an exegesis of the sheep-and-goats judgment scene, insisting the distinction is not one of nature but of moral purpose — making human will, not divine predestination or demonic coercion, fully responsible for one's fate.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. IX: Three Homilies Concerning the Power of Demons.: Homily III. On the Power of Man to Resist the Devil.

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