“Peace on earth to men of (God’s) good will”

I recently read this exchange in an interview with Metropolitan Hierotheos of Navpaktos, Greece, a disciple of the late Fr. John Romanides and one of the most important Orthodox figures of our time:

 

Question: What does the hymn that was chanted by the Angels at the time of the birth mean: "Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace to men of good pleasure"? What "peace" (ειρήνη) did the Angels mean here, and what does the word "good pleasure" (ευδοκία) mean?

Answer: The peace of which the angels sang at the birth of Christ is the union of the divine and human nature in the Person of Christ. Christ assumed human nature in His Person and deified it, by which all of human nature was brought peace from the consequences of the fall, and in this way every person was given the opportunity to participate in this peace, by living within the Church, with her sacramental and ascetic life. The Church is the "place" in which man experiences the love and peace of God.

The word good pleasure, according to Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite, who used various patristic texts, such as Saint Maximus the Confessor, Saint John of Damascus and Saint Gregory Palamas, means that the reception of human nature by Christ was the original/prior will of God for the deification of humanity (according to the will of His good pleasure). The deification of man could not take place if there was not a hypostatic union of the divine and human natures, the uncreated and the created natures. However, the law through Moses, the words of the Prophets, etc. were imperfect (according to the will of concession) due to the fall, but were perfected through the incarnation of Christ. This is the difference between the will "according to good pleasure" (κατ' ευδοκίαν) and "according to concession" (κατά παραχώρησιν). The incarnation of Christ was the original plan of God, His good pleasure. What was introduced after the fall of Adam, was the Cross and death.

Let me break this down in plain English. God had a Plan A which was spoiled, and so He had to introduce a Plan B. This teaches us that God adapts His will to our actions.

Think of the Prophet Jonah. God told Jonah to tell the people of Nineveh that He was going to destroy their city: “Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (Jonah 3:4). This was Plan A. But then the Ninevites did something which led God to change His plan: they repented! Could God still have destroyed their city? Of course. He could do whatever He wanted. But He chose to respond to their repentance with His mercy. This was Plan B for the Ninevites. Now this made Jonah furious. “How dare God change His mind! (… and make me look like a fool!)” But change His mind He did. Don’t let anyone tell you that God never changes His mind. To claim otherwise is to make God smaller than He is. God is big enough to adapt to our choices, whether good or bad.

            This is a specific example of God introducing a Plan B that just affected a particular time and place, but at Nativity we focus on God’s plan for all of mankind. In the beginning, God had a Plan A for Adam and Eve. If they had been obedient, God would have become man and mankind would have been deified directly. But because Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they broke their relationship with Him and the world became damaged. This ancestral sin became compounded by all of the disobedience and passions of Adam and Eve’s descendents to this day. We are born into a corrupted world where it is easier to sin than not. (This is very different from Western Christianity’s notion of “original sin”, that is, the false teaching that we are born guilty of Adam and Eve’s sin.) So God came up with Plan B: He would not only become man, but because of our fallen nature and fallen world, He would die and rise again, so that we can die and rise with Him.

            Metropolitan Hierotheos is explaining that the Holy Fathers call God’s Plan A His will “according to good pleasure”, and Plan B is His will “according to concession”.

            It is interesting that the Gospel passage that is often translated “Peace on earth, goodwill toward men” sometimes appears as “Peace on earth to men of good will” (Luke 2:14). The Greek manuscripts that have come down to us put this two different ways. This used to confuse me because they seemed to be two very different things: Are the angels saying that God is wishing us well (“goodwill toward men”)? Or was their message that God’s peace is only for those whose will is good (“to men of good will”)? Our culture hears in these words nothing more than God having a warm, fuzzy feeling toward mankind. But Metropolitan Hierotheos teaches us that the Holy Fathers have always seen something much more profound at work here.

            The angels’ message to the shepherds that night was that Christ’s birth was the fulfillment of God’s original plan from all eternity: His Plan A. The moment of Christ’s birth can even be said to be more momentous than His Resurrection, because Christ had to die and rise only as a result of Plan B. It was not God’s original intention for Christ to die and rise again, but was always His plan to become man.

            The expression “to men of good will” is only confusing if we misinterpret it to mean our own good will. In fact, it has to do with God’s good will, meaning His Plan A. This is the only way that the two different wordings can both be found in Greek manuscripts without contradicting each other. “Good will toward men”, then, means that God is now finally bringing His great plan to pass. And “to men of good will” means to those whose will coincides with God’s great plan. When the Holy Fathers explain it this way, there is no conflict between the two alternate readings.

            God loves us so much that even while we were still in our sins, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). But the message of Nativity is that even above and beyond this, there is God’s original plan from all eternity: for God to become human that we might become divine. This is His Plan A for us and for all mankind. We must bring our will in line with God’s will in order for this to come to pass. Let this be our prayer this Nativity!