Gregory of Nyssa

In the case of virtue we have learned from the apostle that its one limit of perfection is the fact that it has no limit. … To stop on the path of virtue is to begin on the path of evil. … It may be that human perfection consists precisely in this constant growth in the good.

A Patristic Treasury: Early Church Wisdom for Today, edited by James R. Payton, Jr

I really appreciate this opening comment.  There is no limit to perfection as far as humans are concerned.  We can always grow in virtue, and without reaching perfection, this is perfect enough.

The Trinity

We do not learn that the Father does something on His own, in which the Son does not cooperate.  Or that the Son acts on His own without the Spirit.  Rather, every operation which extends from God to creation and is designated according to our differing conceptions of it has its origin in the Father, proceeds through the Son, and reaches its completion by the Holy Spirit.

Although we acknowledge the divine nature is undifferentiated, we do not deny a distinction with respect to causality.  That is the only way by which we distinguish one Person from the other.

A nice description of the interaction and relationship between and amongst the Trinity.

We believe that the divine nature is unlimited and incomprehensible, and hence we do not conceive of it being comprehended. … Therefore that which is without limit is certainly not limited by the word we use for it.

With regard to the Creator of the world, we know that He exists, but of His essential nature we cannot deny that we are ignorant.

Following the suggestions of Holy Scripture, we have learned that God’s nature cannot be named and is ineffable. 

Once again, why the split over the precise and extremely technical wording of the Trinity or any one person of the Trinity?

Of God’s very existence one can get no other proof than the testimony of His actions themselves.

God’s transcendent power is not so much displayed in the vastness of the heavens, or the luster of the stars, or the orderly arrangement of the universe or His perpetual oversight of it, as it is in His condescension to our weak nature.

Interesting.  It isn’t the actions of God outside of us that offers the best proof of God, but His actions within us that provides the best proof.

The Son

He united Himself with our nature, in order that by its union with the divine it might become divine…With His return from death, our mortal race begins its return to immortal life.

The reason that God, when He revealed Himself, united Himself with our mortal nature was to deify humanity by this close relation with Deity.

The Holy Spirit

The loving dispensation of the Holy Spirit, in delivering to us the divine mysteries, conveys Its instruction on those matters which transcend language by means of what is within our capacity…

I think about this often, for example when reading the first eleven chapters of Genesis.  How much have we taken away from what God intended to tell us through the Holy Spirit when we turned it into a science or history story?  Was it ever in our capacity to understand precisely how God created everything from nothing?

Creation

The fact of creation we accept; but we renounce a curious investigation of the way the universe was framed as a matter altogether ineffable and inexplicable.

Yes.  See my comment immediately above.

Man

There is a lot that Gregory has written on the subject of man, so please forgive the very many quotes.

First, our fallen nature:

By Adam’s turning from life, death came instead.  Privation of light engendered darkness.  Absence of virtue brought in wickedness….

Somehow evil is mixed up with our nature through those who first succumbed to passion and by their transgression made a permanent place for the disease.

If someone willfully closes his eyes in broad daylight, the sun is not responsible for his failure to see.

There is no other evil so harmful to our nature as that which is caused by pride.

Why it is that God condescends to us, even in our weak nature:

In what then does the greatness of humanity consist, according to the doctrine of the Church?  Not in its likeness to the created world, but in being in the image of the Creator. 

Why we have hope:

Wickedness is not so strong as to prevail over the power of good; nor is the folly of our nature more powerful and more abiding than the wisdom of God.

The change our life undergoes through rebirth would not be a change were we to continue in our present state.

How we should live:

If, then, you have received God and become His child, let your way of life testify to the God within you; make it clear who your father is!

Why it remains a constant battle:

Our reason suggests difficulties on many points, offering no small occasions for doubt as to the things which we believe.

Human life lies between the boundaries of good and evil.

Our greatest protection is self-knowledge.

Call it the continuing growth in sanctification, deification, theosis:

It is not enough…for you to rise up from sin.  You must also advance in goodness.

We need an unceasing desire for higher things which is not content to acquiesce in past achievements; we ought to count it a loss if we fail to progress further.

In our constant participation in the blessed nature of the Good, the graces that we receive at every point are indeed great, but the path that lies beyond our immediate grasp is infinite.  This will constantly happen to those who thus share in the divine Goodness, and they will always enjoy a greater and greater participation in grace through all eternity.

Of all good things the most important for me is that God’s name should be glorified through my life.

The goal of the life of virtue is to become like God.

Perfect virtue consists indeed of two things, having faith in God and living our lives according to our conscience. 

Our conscience grows ever more trustworthy as we grow in virtue.

Soteriology

Those who lean strong Calvinist, please continue to bear with me.  Your struggle is my struggle.

Now had we, in the course of our argument, contended that the divine will allots faith to people in such a way that some are called, while others fail to share in the calling, there would be occasion to prefer such a charge against our religion.  But all are equally called without respect to rank, age, or nationality… Out of His high regard for humanity, the Sovereign of the universe left something under our own control and of which each of us is the sole master.  I mean the will, a faculty which is free from bondage and independent, and is grounded in the freedom of the mind. 

The fact that faith has not taken root in all people is not to be charged against God’s goodness, but against the disposition of those to whom the gospel is preached.

I know I have commented similarly in the past, but want to keep exploring and testing this out.  I really wonder what difference this parsing of soteriology makes once we get past the point that it all starts with God’s grace – and I don’t know any Christian denomination / tradition that disagrees with this idea.

So, after His grace, why the food fight?  Don’t we all agree that faith without works is dead?  That we are to grow ever more like Christ?  That we are to increase in virtue?  That, in fact, God moves us and we act?

One says good works cause salvation (but, I have come to understand, what these mean by salvation isn’t the same as what others mean by salvation), the other says that good works are evidence of salvation.  But, in our everyday lives, is there a meaningful difference?  We are demonstrating good works if we are in Christ.

Now, as to what is meant by salvation…do we mean nothing more than a get out of jail free card – we avoid hell?  Or do we mean growing ever more like Christ – a never-ending concept? 

Ultimately, it has to be the latter, because a Christian cannot stop at the former – it is impossible for a Christian to consider that God’s work in him is done once the door has been opened to Jesus’s knocking.  Jesus will, after all, enter the house and change those with whom He is communing.

The manner of our salvation owes its efficacy less to instruction by teaching than to what He who entered into fellowship with humankind actually did.

An interesting opening to considering worship.  Especially in the most Bible-centered Protestant denominations, Sunday worship consists mostly of a university-style lecture.

Not that I mind this – in fact, I value it.  There is meaningful value in learning Scripture, and, at least in my experience, Catholic and Orthodox laypeople for the most part fall short in their understanding when compared to Protestant laypeople. 

In any case, perhaps this is why I have to also attend an Orthodox liturgy from time to time.

Sola Scriptura?

Gregory of Nyssa at least seem to lean toward Prima Scriptura:

We make the Holy Scriptures the rule and the measure of every tenet; we necessarily fix our eyes upon that, and approve that alone which may be made to harmonize with the intention of those writings.

Against Eunomius

Eunomius was one of the leaders of extreme Arians….

In the faith which was delivered by God to the apostles we admit neither subtraction, nor alteration, nor addition… Whatever is said otherwise than in exact accord with the truth is assuredly false, not true.

The desire of investigating what is obscure and tracing out hidden things by the operation of human reasoning gives and entrance to false no less than true notions…. For in speculative inquiry fallacies readily find place.  But where speculation is entirely at rest, the necessity of error is precluded.

In other words, going too far in speculation and precision regarding the unknowable can often lead to error.

Other

The Beatitudes are arranged in order like so many steps, so as to facilitate the ascent from one to another.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones made just this point.

Biographies / Sources

Gregory of Nyssa (c. 330 – 395), the younger brother of Basil of Caesarea, was the most brilliant and subtle thinker of the three Cappadocian Fathers.  He played a prominent role at the Council of Constantinople in 381.  He taught that pagan learning could be well used for the benefit of Christianity, as long as it was purified of its defilements.