Some Moment Other Than the Cross

The Cross is where the world is judged and the sins of the world forgiven. For God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting our sins against us (2 Corinthians 5:19). Christ is “the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:12). Even as he was being crucified, our Lord Jesus Christ prayed for us all, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

The Moment of the Cross is the only true moment, the only moment in which we belong — the only moment there is. To turn away from this moment is to turn toward non-being. To embrace this moment is to embrace Christ, who draws us to himself. Looking to this moment, Lord Jesus said, “Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:31-32).

When we do not forgive others, or ourselves, 
we are living in some moment other than 
that of the Cross, for the Cross is where 
the forgiveness of all is revealed.

Forgiveness is All of One Piece

St. Paul tells us that God was in Christ reconciling the whole world to himself, not counting our sins against us (2 Corinthians 5:19). This forgiveness by which we are forgiven is all of one piece with the forgiveness by which we forgive each other. All humankind is one, also, for there is only one human nature, only one human being, of which we all partake. Through the Incarnation, the Human Being in which we all participate is defined in Jesus Christ, who reveals for us exactly what it is to be human. And in him we are all forgiven from before the foundation of the world.

Through our participation in Jesus Christ, the only Human Being there is, we are intimately and inextricably bound to each other, and the implication runs deep. We belong to each other so deeply that none of us can finally be whole until each one of us is finally whole. So we must learn to forgive one another, allowing the forgiveness of God, revealed in Jesus Christ, to have its full work in us. Until we do, we will not be whole. In a very real way, and as the ancient Desert Fathers would say, “My brother is my salvation.”

Divine Grace Through Tangible Means

Christ is the Creator of all. Everything in heaven and on earth is his handiwork and reveals him. It is no wonder, then, that he would minister divine grace to us through tangible things. Indeed, through the tangibility of created matter, he ministers salvation to us. For salvation is not abstract and disembodied, separating spirit from body, but it is actually and transformative. God ministers grace to us in tangible ways and through such means as water, oil, bread and wine. These are not mere symbols but become sacramental elements through which God actually accomplishes something in us, manifesting salvation to us.

In the Water of Baptism, we are buried with Christ, baptized into his death, so that just as Christ has been raised from the dead, we too may live in newness of life, the life of Christ in us.

Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Romans 6:3-4)

In the Oil of Anointing, Christ ministers healing to us, just as he sent the disciples out to preach, with authority to expel demons and heal diseases. Presbyters/Priests were likewise given authority to anoint with oil for healing.

They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. (Mark 6:13)

Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. (James 5:14)

The Bread and Wine of Eucharist have true participation in the Body and Blood of Christ, and so we, who are many, become the Body of Christ.

Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf. (1 Corinthians 10:16-17)

Whoever Loves Not Knows Nothing

God is Love. Where Love is, there God is. The Love of God is not abstract but is very tangibly revealed in the self-giving of our Lord Jesus Christ upon the Cross. This is the love God desires to reveal in us and through us — self-giving, other-centered, cross-shaped. St. Paul speaks quite splendidly and famously, in 1 Corinthians 13, on the nature of Love.

St. John the Theologian also brings us some important insights in the middle three chapters of First John. He tells us quite plainly that whoever loves has been born of God and knows God, and whoever does not love does not know God.

Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them. (1 John 2:7-11)

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. (1 John 3:14)

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. (1 John 3:18-20)

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:7-8) 

Whoever Loves Not Knows Nothing.
Whoever Loves Knows God,
For God is Love.

All of One Piece

Who and how we worship instructs our faith and informs how we live — and these cannot be separated. Even those who claim no faith nonetheless have an object of highest concern that functions as their deity. They have a pattern of rituals developed in service to such idols, which instructs their thoughts and reinforces the intents and purposes of their hearts. And so are their lives shaped and formed day by day.

Who we worship is not just a matter of doctrine — it is the foundation of our identity. To worship the Father, through the Son, and in the Holy Spirit is to anchor our lives in the One who is not only true and beautiful and good, but is Truth, Beauty, and Goodness itself.

But how we worship matters too. If our worship is full of awe, centered on the mystery of Christ, breathing the Scriptures with the Spirit of Life, we will be drawn into the divine fellowship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Our faith will be nourished with depth and clarity, illumined with the Light of God. But if our worship is casual, self-focused, empty of the sacred, our faith will easily wither into sentiment and we will be darkened by delusion.

Worship is not performance — it is formation. It teaches us who God is, who we are, and how the world, stripped of all delusion, is created to be: the Kingdom of God come, the will of God being done on earth as it is in heaven. In lifting our hearts to the Lord of All, we are shaped into people who do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God. 

Lex Orandi, 
Lex Credendi, 
Lex Vivendi.

How we pray, 
how we believe, 
how we live is 
all of one piece. 

The Humble Expectation of Hope

Do not trust in yourself or in your own strength, but put your trust in the Lord. As the wise man said, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6). 

This is humility and hope, to recognize our own weakness, inability and lack, that we may have all our confidence and expectation in God. St. Paul had a serious matter he was dealing with. “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Corinthians 12:8-9). 

Hope is not a wishy-washy maybe-so-maybe-not affair; it is a peaceful anticipation, a joyful expectation. Lord Jesus counsels us to learn of him, for he is gentle and humble in heart, and in him there is the calm assurance of rest for the weary soul. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). 

The psalm writer captures this very well, coming humbly before the Lord, lifting up his cry for help, and  watching in patient expectation:

Listen to my words, LORD, 
    consider my lament. 
Hear my cry for help, 
    my King and my God, 
    for to you I pray. 
In the morning, LORD, 
    you hear my voice; 
    in the morning I lay my requests 
    before you and wait expectantly. 

Let all who take refuge in you be glad; 
    let them ever sing for joy. 
Spread your protection over them, 
    that those who love your name 
    may rejoice in you. 
Surely, LORD, you bless the righteous; 
    you surround them with your favor 
    as with a shield. (Psalm 5:1-3, 11-12)

The secret of humility and hope is that they go together. 
In hope, there is humility, and in humility, there is hope. 

To Love is to Be

We are created in the image of God, who is Love. To be like God, who is Love. Created by Love for Love. To love is what it is to be like God. To love is what it is to be human. To love is what it is to be. This is revealed in Jesus Christ, who is the Image of the Invisible God, in whom all the fullness of divinity dwells in bodily form, and in whom we are made complete and become partakers of the divine nature. At the Cross, we see that the Love of God is Self-Giving, Other-Centered, Cross-Shaped.

One day the Pharisees got together, and one of them, an expert in the Law of Moses, asked Jesus which is the greatest commandment. Jesus answered: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40).  

Everything in the world depends on Love — love for God and love for our neighbor — for God, the Creator of All Things, the Source of All Being, is Love. To turn away from God and one another is to turn away from Love. It is to turn inwardly upon ourselves — incurvatus in se — who cannot sustain our own being. And so it is a turn from being to non-being.

To Love is to Be. 
To Fail to Love is to Fail to Be. 
For God, Who is the Source 
of All Being, is Love. 

Faith Looks Like Love

To have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is to trust him — to entrust ourselves to him — and so it is to follow him, to do as he teaches and obey as he commands. And what does he command but to love. Love for God, love for one another, love for our neighbor, and love even for our enemies. This is what faith looks like, for faith works through love.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. (Matthew 22:37-40) 

You have heard that it was said, “You shall lover your neighbor and hater your enemy.” But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:43-45) 

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13:34-35)

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. (1 Corinthians 13:1-8) 

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13) 

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. (Galatians 5:6)

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:7-8)

What It Is To Have Faith in Jesus Christ

Faith in Christ is different from faith in propositions about Christ. The latter makes faith nothing more than an abstraction, disembodied and detached from the person of Christ, and from relationship with Christ — because Christ is not the object of such faith. True faith in Christ is a living, dynamic, and personal relationship with Christ. 

Lord Jesus said, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). To have faith in Jesus Christ is to follow him, for he is the Way. It is to yield to him, for he is The Truth. It is to live him, for he is The Life.

The Gospel Begins With Jesus Christ

The Gospel begins with Jesus Christ. He is what God meant when God said, “Let us make Humankind in Our image, and to be like Us.” He is the Image of the Invisible God, in whom all the Fullness of Divinity dwells in bodily form (Colossians 1:15; 2:9). By the Incarnation, he is the one Human Being, of which we all partake. He is what it means to be human, and in him we are made complete, and become partakers of the Divine Nature (Colossians 2:10; 2 Peter 1:4).

To be created in the image of God — which is to be truly human — is to be conformed to the image of Christ, who is the Image of the Invisible God. To be like God is to be like Christ, in whom all the fullness of divinity dwells in bodily form. 

God is Love. Self-giving, other-centered, cross-shaped Love. To be created in the image of God, and to be like God, is to love with the divine love, to live the life that is self-giving, other-centered and cross-shaped. The image of God is most profoundly revealed at the cross, where our Lord Jesus Christ shows us what it is to be God and so what it is to be human. 

The Gospel begins and ends with Jesus Christ, the Incarnate One, Crucified and Risen. For all in heaven and on earth are created by him, through him, for him and in him, and all hold together in him (Colossians 1:16-17), and the express, eternal purpose of God is to bring all in heaven and on earth to unity in Christ — all summed up and headed in Christ (Ephesians 1:9-10). If we begin with anything else, we make Christ and the Cross secondary.

An Interesting Thing About the Saints

An interesting thing about the great saints is that while others experienced them as holy, they experienced themselves as sinful. St. Paul said, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners — of whom I am the worst” (1 Timothy 1:15). And Lord Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:31-32). The following story is told of Abba Sisoes (d. 429), one of the great Desert Fathers of the ancient Egyptian desert (his feast day is observed on July 6):

When Abba Sisoes was about to die, and the fathers were sitting with him, they saw that his face was shining like the sun. He said unto them, “Behold, Abba Anthony has come.” After a little while he said again, “Behold, the company of prophets has come,” and his face shone twice as bright. Suddenly, he became as one speaking with someone else, and the fathers sitting there asked him, “Show us with whom you are speaking, father.”

Immediately, Abba Sisoes said to them, “Behold, the angels came to take me away and I asked them to leave me so that I might tarry here a little longer and repent.” And the old men said unto him, “You have no need to repent, father.” And Abba Sisoes said to the fathers, “I do not know in my soul if I have rightly begun to repent,” and they all realized that the old man was perfect.

Then, suddenly, his face beamed like the sun and all who sat there were afraid and he said to them, “Look! Look! Behold, the Lord has come and he says, ‘Bring unto me the chosen vessel which is in the desert,’” and he at once delivered up his spirit and became like lightning and the whole place was filled with a sweet fragrance.*

Therefore, let us not lose heart. Let us gladly own ourselves sinners, that we may be cleansed by our Lord Jesus Christ and know our true identity in him. Let us gladly confess our lostness, that we may know our true home in him. Let us gladly embrace our death, that we may know our true life in him. Amen.

* The Paradise of the Holy Fathers, Vol 2, translated by E.A. Wallis Budge, (Seattle, WA: St. Nectarios Press, 1984)  

In Christ Humankind is Born Again

Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is Firstborn of the Dead is also Firstborn of Creation (Colossians 1:15, 18). We may say that he is Firstborn of Creation because he is Firstborn of the Dead, for the Creator of all things in heaven and on earth is Christ crucified and risen. St. Paul shows us that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ encompasses all humankind:

Just as one trespass [Adam’s] resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act [Christ’s] resulted in justification and life for all people. (Romans 5:18)

Just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:22)

It is through the resurrection of Christ, St. Peter tells us, that we have been given new birth, that we have been born again, regenerated:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. (1 Peter 1:3-4)

Paul understands this new birth to be related to baptism: “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:4-5). How is baptism related to the new birth that has been given through the resurrection of Christ? Paul shows us in Romans 6:

Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin — because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. (Romans 6:3-8)

Through baptism, we are immersed — plunged — into the reality of this new birth in a very tangible way. Dying with Lord Jesus, we are buried with him, so to be united with him in resurrection, and to live this new life. For as Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” And so, through the faithfulness of Christ, by the Cross and Resurrection, what is universally true of humankind, of human being, is personally experienced.

In the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead, all humankind is
born again, in Him who is the
Firstborn of Creation. 

The Reciprocal Truth of the Incarnation

On the Cross, we see the reciprocal truth of the Incarnation: Jesus Christ is not only God’s faithfulness toward us, he is also our faithfulness toward God. 

Just as one trespass [Adam’s] resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act [Christ’s] resulted in justification and life for all people. (Romans 5:18)

Where Adam was unfaithful and disobedient to God, resulting in death and corruption for all, our Lord Jesus Christ was faithful and obedient to God, resulting in justification and life for all. 

You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross! As a result God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow – in heaven and on earth and under the earth – and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)

As fully divine, Christ did not consider being equal with God as something to be plundered and exploited, to be held on to at all costs, and used for his own advantage — Christ reveals that God is simply not like that! As fully human, Christ was fully obedient and faithful to God, even to the point of the shameful death of the Cross. So, by the Incarnation and the Cross, we see exactly what the faithfulness of God is, and what the faithfulness of humankind is — what it means to be God, and what it means to be human.

Apart From Love, There is No Holiness

God is Love, and God is Holy. The love of God and the holiness of God are not in competition. There is never any tension between them that must somehow be resolved. They do not need to be balanced out, one against the other. There is no “God is Love, but God is also holy.” If at any time we feel the need to add a “but” after the love of God, then we have not yet come to an adequate understanding of the love of God. 

To say that God is Love is to speak of the nature of God. Love is not merely incidental to God, not merely a quality God possesses or an action God occasionally employs. God is not merely loving (adjective); God is love (noun). Love is what God is.

The Love and Holiness of God are not two different things but two different ways of speaking about the same thing, for God is simple, not a being of parts. The Holiness of God is nothing more nor less nor other than the Love of God. The Love of God is holy, and the holiness of God is God’s Love. Apart from Love, there is no such thing as Holiness, for God is Love. 

Church and Scripture

The relationship between the Church and Scripture is that the Church is guided by Scripture, and Scripture is interpreted by the Church, which is uniquely authorized to teach what Scripture means. 

The Scriptures are about our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Church is the Body of Christ. It is the only body authorized and commissioned by Christ to preach the gospel and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that he commanded. 

Further, the Church is the only body that is empowered by the Holy Spirit to fulfill that Great Commission. Indeed, Lord Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would guide the Church into the truth, and the Church is the only body St. Paul refers to as the Pillar and Foundation of the Truth.

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:18-20) 

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. (John 16:13)

Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that, if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the Pillar and Foundation of the Truth. (1 Timothy 3:14-15) 

A Traditioned Faith

The Christian faith is not an innovative one — we do not make it up as we go along. It is, rather, a traditioned faith, handed down generation by generation from the beginning. It is the Apostolic faith delivered once for all to the Church.

Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. (Jude 3)

The Greek word for “delivered” here is paradidomi, to give or entrust into the hands of another. What has been delivered in this case is the Christian faith concerning Christ and the gospel, and the “common salvation” in which we share. It has been delivered “once for all,” whole and complete, to the saints, the Church. St. Jude exhorts us to “contend earnestly” for this faith. The word is epagonizomai, from the word agonizomai, to strive or labor fervently. Literally, it is to agonize, like combatants in the public games, wrestlers grappling in competition.

St. Paul says something very similar in Ephesians 4:3-6. “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” 

There is one faith, delivered once for all, and Jude means for us to grapple fervently for it, because there were those who would “turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 4)

Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle. (2 Thessalonians 2:15)

Paul charges the Church at Thessalonica to stand fast and hold on to the “traditions” with a powerful, persistent grip. The word for “traditions” is paradosis and refers to that which is given over, delivered, or entrusted to another. Paul is speaking of one faith, the Christian faith, delivered once for all, and whether taught orally or in writing, the tradition is all of one piece. Hold fast to it.

What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you — guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. (2 Timothy 1:13-14) 

In Paul’s second letter to Timothy, we see a double action. First, he speaks of what Timothy heard from Paul, the “pattern of sounds words.” Paul has committed it to Timothy, and Timothy has received it — this is the nature of tradition. 

The word for “pattern” here is hypotyposis, a compound of hypo (under) and typos (type). The typos is an imprint or image from a die that is struck or a seal that is pressed into the wax. It is like a typewriter key that leaves the imprint of a letter or other character. Hypo emphasizes the underlying position, that the imprint comes from the original image on the die or seal. 

There is a pattern or imprint of sound teaching that shows the true and authentic image of the Christ and the gospel. Hold fast to it, Timothy, this good deposit has been entrusted to you. The word for “entrust” is paratithemi, to deposit or commit to one’s charge. This is the first action: the pattern of sound teaching has been entrusted to Timothy. The second action corresponds to this.

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will also be qualified to teach others. (2 Timothy 2:2)

Paul has entrusted to Timothy the sound teaching of the gospel, the pattern bearing the exact image of the apostolic deposit. And now Timothy is to take what has been traditioned to him and likewise tradition it to faithful men, qualified and competent to teach it to yet others. And so it is handed down from generation to generation.

The Resurrection of the Dead

The resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is the resurrection of the dead. He whom God raised from the dead has become our resurrection.

Jesus said to her, “I am the Resurrection and the Life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. (1 Peter 1:3-4)

For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:22)

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)

Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-7)

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. (Colossians 1:15-18)

Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. (Romans 6:3-5)

Why We Sin

We are not mortal because we sin; we sin because we are mortal. St. Paul did not say that death is the sting of sin, but that sin is the sting of death (1 Corinthians 15:56). It is not the sting that causes the bee but the bee that causes the sting.

For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. (1 Corinthians 15:52-56)

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death — that is, the devil — and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. (Hebrews 2:14-15)

The power of death has been broken, so also the power of the devil, who held the power of death — and with that, the power of sin.

The Nature of Salvation

The nature of salvation is to become Partakers of the Divine Nature, to be like God, who is Love. Love gives and serves. To love, give and serve is not a means to salvation but is the very nature of salvation.

For God so loved the world that He gave. (John 3:16)

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11) 

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. (2 Peter 1:3-7)

The Distinction Between Heaven and Earth

When we behold Christ in everyone and everything, 
the distinction between Heaven and Earth disappears.