I have been leading a study of St. Ephrem's the Syrian’s Hymns on Paradise with some of my friends, and along the way, I have been unable to stop seeing major themes of Law and Gospel in the work, especially in hymns 3-6, but we’ve only gotten through hymn 6 so far, so who knows what else I’ll find. I’ve joked with my friends that I’ll write my dissertation on this topic, so I thought I’d at least start with some blog articles.
One of his views which I should mention is that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not put into the garden merely to test Adam and Eve. That is true to a certain extent--in obeying the Lord and fasting, they attain virtue, and the greatest virtue is that which is chosen freely. However, the tree actually was intended to be eaten eventually. This tree would grant knowledge that would bless Adam and Eve when eaten, but it would curse the wicked. In addition, it also granted them a knowledge of what blessing and suffering is like, but it does so without necessarily experiencing either one. As ruler and judge, This knowledge "would robe [Adam] in glory and reveal to him also the nature of shame, so that he might acquire, in his good health, an understanding of sickness” (3.10), and in this way, he would also through “discernment of what suffering is,…be radiant in his limbs and grow in his discernment” (3.12). The first set of knowledge, however, is the most relevant to our discussion.
This bit is found in hymn 3 verse 6, which describes what the tree of knowledge is:
Their eyes were open— though at the same time they were still closed So as not to see the Glory or their own low estate So as not to see the Glory of that inner Tabernacle Nor to see the nakedness of their own bodies. These two kinds of knowledge God hid in the Tree, Placing it as a judge between the two parties
This knowledge the tree bears is especially fascinating for our understanding of the Law, as it’s basically the second use, which is the revelation our own sinfulness. So for St. Ephrem, the tree bears the second use of the Law. However, Ephrem nuances it by further dividing this use in two: a recognition of the Glory of God and a recognition of our own condition. As a result, “whoever has eaten of that fruit either sees and is filled with delight or he sees and groans out” (3.8). This is because seeing one’s own condition is not necessarily a bad thing. Adam is made in the image of God, an icon of the Lord which bears Him to all creation. If he had continued his fast in virtue, he would have gained such glory that he could rejoice at his becoming a “partaker of the divine nature” (2 Pet 1:4). However, Satan was crafty, and he “incited them to eat it in sin” (3.8) and “made him taste abasement in reality, and glory in recollection only” (3.12). Thus, while eating, they would instantly know their own sin and scandalize their own consciences. In addition, it also increases their suffering, as they knew what paradise was but would only experience mortality from then on. Then, enacting his plan, Adam “beheld the Glory of the Holy of Holies and trembled; he beheld, too, his own shame and blushed, groaning and lamenting because the twofold knowledge he had gained had proved for him a torment” (3.7). This is the first case of the power of the Law on display. St. Paul describes this clearly in Romans 7, when he says that the Law is sin's potency. Just like the devil, sin has no power in itself, since "apart from the law, sin lies dead" (7:8). However, sin's power comes from the fact that it is antithetical the the Law, God's character. As a result, God's holiness bursts out from Him against us, and He does His alien work of judgement against that creation which He made to be perfect and harmonious. Like the devil did to Adam and Eve, sin learns of the Law and uses it to kill through deception (7:11).
As a result of such wickedness, the Law killed Adam, and St. Ephrem makes a fascinating comparison to a king of Judah in hymn 3 verse 14:
In the midst of Paradise God had planted the Tree of Knowledge To separate off, above and below, sanctuary from Holy of Holies. Adam made bold to touch, and was smitten like Uzziah: The king became leprous, Adam was stripped Being struck like Uzziah, he hastened to leave: Both kings fled and hid in shame of their bodies.
This is an absolutely gorgeous comparison. The story of Uzziah is from 2 Chronicles 26:16-21. It features Uzziah, the wicked king who pridefully marched into the temple to burn incense himself, even though such a job was only for the priests. When he was enraged, the Lord struck him with leprosy, and he had to be secluded in a house separate from the royal palace. He remained with such an affliction until the day of his death. This connection between sin and leprosy is a powerful one that will have major implications going forward, but for now, suffice it to say that leprosy is a death-like disease, rotting the flesh while a person is still alive. This death-like disease also separated him from his home and palace, just as Adam too was cast out from Eden for his own sin of trespassing where he ought not have gone. Instead, he had to settle as a neighbor of Eden, watching it from afar.
St. Ephrem, however, does not leave us with this curse of separation. Instead, he goes on with hymn 4, a hymn so much shorter and similar in content that it honestly feels like an epilogue for hymn 3. In it, he begins where he ended last, sentencing Adam for his crime and vividly describing the fall as "a sea full of life" using waves to cast out a corpse (4.2). He then goes on to describe the same affliction Uzziah had: "when a man becomes leprous within the encampment he is driven from its midst and cast outside" (4.3). However, Ephrem notes that in the Mosaic law, this is followed by a provision for purification, which happens once one is cleansed from leprosy, in which the priest then ritually cleanses the person "with hyssop, blood and water" (Ibid.). In the next verse, Ephrem caps off this glorious theme by noting that Adam, mankind, is the leper, but Christ, the High Priest, "stooped down and came to him, He cleansed him with hyssop, and led him back to Paradise" (4.4). What great glory! As members of mankind, like Uzziah we were kings by our birthright, but by our original sin and our chosen impurity, like the prodigal we have exiled outselves from the palace, paradise, in which our loving Father dwells. The Son, then, condescends, crouches down from on high all so that He may bless us--dying on and drinking from the hyssop branch, washing us with pure water, and nourishing us with His own sacrificial blood. In this way, He takes away our leprosy and takes us back to paradise. The next verse highlights this with a scriptural image of garments. Adam and were clothed with skin and mortality because of their grave offense, these clothes being made by Eve and borne by Adam. However, through Mary, the new Eve who bears the Seed, Christ bears a new flesh that is free from original and actual sin. This mention of Mary contrasted to Eve evokes imagery from Genesis 3:15, the first gospel, in which our Lord promised to destroy the serpent by a child of Eve. This redeemed human nature, then, "adorned the thief; and when he became resplendent at Christ's promise, the Garden, looking on, embraced him in Adam's place" (4.5). This is the oh-so-blessed thief on the cross, a type for the Church, marred by sin, but because he is wrapped in Christ's word of promise, he returns to our shared ancestral homeland.
From there, Ephrem continues on with the blessings of paradise, but the ending of this hymn is especially significant, as verses 10 and 11 are pleas to God for similar mercy, acknowledging his own sin but persevering in prayer on account if his faith in in our Lord's hidden generation in eternity and public birth in time. This is a very strong preaching of the gospel, which mirrors and answers the condemnation already described in hymn 3, soothing the terrified conscience, and also putting no hope for salvation in ones works but only in his faith. This same theme is continued in hymn 5 as well, though to a much smaller degree. This hymn is largely building off his meditation from the previous passage about the nature of paradise, especially the amount of space therein. Verse 12 and 15, however, mirrors the last hymn's verse 11 with the humble reliance on God's grace for entrance. In the former, Ephrem declares, "How blessed is that person accounted worthy to receive [Paradise], if not by right, yet at least by grace; if not because of good works, yet at least through mercy." In the latter, his prayer references that of the Canaanite woman who asked for crumbs from the master's table, and he asks for fruits that fall from the tables of of the feasting righteous. The final parallel between hymns 4 and 5 is in their refrains:
"Deem me worthy that through Your grace we may enter Your Paradise."
"Blessed is that person accounted worthy to inherit Your Paradise."
The two are virtually equivalent, with the first asking for a place in Paradise and the second is simply declaring that those with a place are blessed. However, the language of "accounting" is significant, echoing an imputed righteousness. While I would typically be hesitant to argue such, as I don't want to fall into anachronism, but 4.5 said that the thief on the cross was clothed with Christ's righteous nature and was thus "embraced" by Paradise. In this was, we see the pure Gospel of our salvation by God's grace alone, on account of the righteousness imputed to us by the death of Christ.
I've already written quite a bit on this topic, so I will pause here with this beautiful gospel proclamation. In my next post I will analyze hymn 6, which is the longest hymn mentioned so far at a whopping 25 verses. In it, we will find more beautiful nuggets of gospel, an entire verse dedicated to the Church's preaching of Law and Gospel, and overall an exhortation to bear good fruits through the free will restored to us in Christ.
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