Gregory of Nyssa Running the Race

Gregory of Nyssa Running the Race

            In the essay this week from Gregory of Nyssa, he exhorts us to treat the pursuit of virtue as a race well worth running, and he is cheering us on (123). However, he also points out that the attainment of perfect virtue is not possible (124). We are limited, finite creatures, so our pursuit of holy perfection is limited (124). We all stop in our race towards perfection, and that halting of the race is the beginning of evil (124).

            However, just because we sometimes stop running the race towards perfect virtue doesn’t mean we should give up. God is eternal, and he is perfect in everything. When we participate in the race towards perfection, we are participating in God because “God is absolute virtue” (125). So, my pursuit of holiness is not avoiding sin for the sake of avoiding punishment or doing good works for the sake of transactionally making God like me (126). It is pursuing God as a friend and having intimate fellowship with Him (126-127).

            I wonder what a conversation between Gregory and John Wesley would be like. Wesley believed that Christian Perfection – the ability to love people and God through the power of the Holy Spirit is possible. But Gregory thinks not. What both agree on is that what matters most is the pursuit of Sanctification. Keep going. Even though I may stumble, I still must run the race. The Holy Spirit empowers me to know that I am friends with God and that I can keep going. And somewhere, both Gregory and Wesley are cheering me on.

All references with page numbers are from Richard J. Foster and James Bryan Smith, Devotional Classics: Selected Readings for Individuals and Groups, Revised and expanded (San Francisco: HarperOne, 2005).