It is no wonder, then, that Madame Guyon was drawn to comment on Colossians, because her life was grounded in her relationship with Jesus. As she writes, we quickly begin to understand her utter devotion to Jesus as the source of wisdom and guidance.
In her commentary on these three biblical books, Guyon ushers us into her understanding of Scripture as rooted in a mystical relationship with God. The reader not only is instructed by Madame Guyon in matters spiritual but also enters into an intimate conversation about life in Christ. We witness her courage in bold responses to Scripture, applying it to everyday life for the believer.
Readers will find in this volume a source of knowledge and inspiration. One cannot help but be moved by Guyon’s direct, heart-centered, and passionate talk about living life with God as one’s companion. James’s rich translation of Guyon might indeed yield more spiritual companions.
The Rev. William Bradley Roberts, DMA.
Professor Church Music and Director of Chapel Music
Virginia Theological Seminary
Alexandria, VA
February 3, 2017
1. James, Standing in the Whirlwind.
2. Guyon, Commentaries, 46.
3. Martyn, Galatians, 13.
4. Guyon, Commentaries, 34.
5. Barth, Ephesians, 51.
6. Martin, Ephesians, 81.
Preface
When in graduate school at the University of Virginia, I searched using the phrase “religious mysticism” and the computer screen showed the author Madame Guyon. I wondered who she was and found her book The Autobiography of Madame Guyon. I opened and read the testimony of Guyon’s life. Since that first time of reading Jeanne Guyon’s theology, my life has continually been deepened and enriched by Guyon’s Christian worldview.
I offer this volume to those who study her and those wishing to live the profound Christian faith.
These are the first English translation of Guyon’s French commentaries of the letters of the Galatians, Ephesians, and Colossians. I translated these commentaries after I realized that here she expressed the essence of her Christian theology. Guyon studied specific verses from Galatians, Ephesians, and Colossians and wrote her ideas about them. Guyon developed her theology about the interior life based on these letters.
Guyon chose to write only about certain verses from these letters. She also did not repeat herself and covered ideas only once. This translation mirrors the original French commentary with integrity. Also, Guyon treasured the idea that Christ is the bridegroom of the soul and used male pronouns for God and female pronouns for the soul and the person. I have used her method and so throughout this volume female pronouns are employed for the reference to a person and male for God and Christ.
For the Bible translation, I chose the New Revised Standard Version.
Acknowledgments
Many people have contributed to this volume. I am grateful for the support of Dr. Carlos Eire during my dissertation work on Jeanne Guyon. I thank Rev. William Roberts for his understanding of Jeanne Guyon’s theology and his foreword, which makes a substantial contribution to this book.
I want to thank the parishioners of St. John’s, Lafayette Square, Washington DC for their dialogue about Jeanne Guyon and her rich theology.
Many thanks go to my family who shares my passion for the work of Jeanne Guyon. Roger, Hannah, and Melora have read, explored, and researched Jeanne Guyon along with me. I am grateful that we share this love.
Above all, I thank my readers who share a love for Jeanne Guyon and her ideas about the Christian life. Guyon’s books have been kept alive by those who continue to seek a profound interior live lived with Christ. I hope that Guyon’s Christian worldview lives for centuries yet to come.
Introduction
In about 34 AD, the Pharisee named Saul furiously thundered on horseback toward Damascus with legal orders to arrest and kill Christians. A great light knocked Paul off of his horse and he heard the words “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do” (Acts 9:4–6). After this experience, Saul (his name later changed to Paul) found grace to know and love Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
In France in 1664, the fifteen-year-old Jeanne Guyon was forced into an arranged and unhappy marriage with an older man. In 1668 when pregnant with her second child, Jeanne, tempted by thoughts of suicide and despair, sought spiritual counsel from a monk. He told her that she could find God within her heart and immediately she felt Christ filling her with love. She wrote about this saying, “O my Lord, you were in my heart and you asked from me only a simple turning inward to make me feel your presence. O infinite Goodness, you were so near.”7
These two encounters with the risen Jesus Christ led to this book. Paul discovered the reality of Jesus Christ’s gift of grace. Between 57 and 63 AD, Paul wrote letters to churches in Galatia, Ephesus, and Colossae discussing the life lived with Christ. Centuries later, Guyon discovered the same truth of the risen Christ. In the late 1600s, Guyon studied Paul’s letters and wrote commentaries on his ideas to help readers understand the good news. She described how Paul lived his life in complete trust and dependence on Jesus Christ and how other believers are to do the same. Guyon wrote about these letters with passion, describing this life with hope. Guyon writes, “God is pleased to remake us in his image by his Word by inviting us to live within him. O, adorable grandeur! O, the wonderful marvel that we discover in our interior! We receive this wisdom by dwelling within you!”8
In his lifetime Paul had his faith tested in his many afflictions and incarcerations, as later did Guyon. Yet both testified that the Lord’s presence cared for them in the midst of their suffering, bringing them peace and joy even in the midst of persecutions.
Jeanne Guyon’s biblical commentaries on Paul’s letters of Galatians, Ephesians, and Colossians have never been translated into English. I present these first English translations for scholars who are researching and studying the ideas of Jeanne Guyon, as well as for those seeking a more profound knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Jeanne Guyon’s Life (1648–1717)
Born into an aristocratic family in France, Jeanne de la Mothe grew up in the town of Montargis on the Loire River. Both of her parents had been married before and their blended family experienced constant tensions and arguments. In the midst of this unhappiness, the mother preferred certain of her children and neglected Guyon. As a young teenager, Guyon’s parents forced her into an arranged marriage to Jacques Guyon, a wealthy man twenty-two years older
