Romans 2:25-26
For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision?
Circumcision is the sign of the covenant (and, along with the Law that laid out the covenant, was a source of boasting). Yet St. Paul aptly points out that sin, since it still supresses knowledge of the Truth (communion with Christ), removes one from the covenant. Circumcision, in the face of sin (breaking the Law) becomes uncircumcision. He uses this to argue the converse: would not then someone who keeps the Law be counted as a member of the covenant, even if they don't have some of the outward signs of the Law?
We can apply this easily enough to Christianity. We, too, have a covenant (the Gospels) and a sign of this covenant (baptism). We, too, are faced with the stark reality that membership in the covenant does not guarantee us justification. Rather, we must repent of our sins. And indeed, if we see another who does something righteous, then we know we have seen a miracle of God and, in this righteous act, that person is joined with the God who IS Righteousness. If the covenant is to be communion with God, then that person's righteousness has become "baptism" for them, even as, by sin, our baptism becomes "unbaptism" (and we go to confession to repent).
In other words, we should avoid judging others and celebrate righteousness (love) wherever we find it. Instead of feeling threatened by other religions and retreating into shallow arguments or accusations of their paganism, we should honor the righteousness they do produce while remaining faithful to what we find disagreeable in them. The asceticism of Buddhism is something we could all do to imitate. We can do so while still respecting that, ultimately, we find disagreement with concepts like reincarnation, monism, and the absence of God in Buddhist thought.
Just as importantly, we must be sober with regards to ourselves and the sin in our lives. At any point if I call myself "in" and others "out" I've probably got it backwards. Outwards signs (which are so easy to latch on to, being easy to see and comprehend) like baptism or even the Protestant "sinner's prayer" are merely a beginning. That isn't to undermine the importance of baptism or those first moments of repentance and turning to God. The beginning is a miracle and ought to be celebrated, but it doesn't give us a claim on God - as if He now owed us salvation in some way. Nor should it be a tool for judgment - as if we could tell who has and has not made a beginning based on something visible to our limited and sinful eye.
Romans 2:27-29
And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the Law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the Law? For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumsision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly (and circumcision is that of the heart; in the Spirit, not in the letter) whose praise is not from men but from God.
A few interesting things to note here: the saints will judge the world alongside Christ. Is this because the saints (true Christians) will have power separate from Christ with which they judge? Far from it. Rather, true Christians (true Jews) will be one with Christ. The judgment of God doesn't proceed from wrath or any kind of human judgment. It is, rather, the clear and present truth regarding someone's life - did they know God and does God know them? To what degree this will be required of us I cannot pretend to know, but as to whether or not we have lived by faith our own thoughts accuse us easily enough. If even our sinful thoughts can tell us we are absent from God, how much more aware of our illness would someone be if they weren't absent from God! The saints, being continously in the presence of God (as we ought all to be) will therefore judge us because Christ will be judging us through them.
Whether or not they were circumcised has nothing to do with it. "Jewishness" isn't a culture (a set of practices and norms like the ceremonial Law), rather, Jewishness is circumcision of the heart: the cutting away of our selfishness (like the cutting away of useless foreskin) so that we may be one with God through Christ. Circumcision is of the heart: the intuitive-mind by which we are to know God. IF our heart remains untouched then what has been accomplished? Heart here doesn't mean emotions - those happen in our brains and are based on sensory input like any other brain response. The nous is a spiritual matter. If it is still dead then we are dead with it. If it lives because that which kills it (unrighteousness) is removed, then we live with Christ.
Forgive me,
Macarius
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
Romans 2:12, 16-24
Romans 2:12, 16
For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law (...) in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.
For simplicity and context I've cut the long paranthetical statement St. Paul makes and which we explored last time. Here he completes His thoughts on the nature of judgment, having established thoroughly the following basic teachings:
For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law (...) in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.
For simplicity and context I've cut the long paranthetical statement St. Paul makes and which we explored last time. Here he completes His thoughts on the nature of judgment, having established thoroughly the following basic teachings:
- God's salvation is for the Jew and also for the Greek (Rom 1:16)
- Salvation is "living by faith," or acting according to faith (Rom 1:17)
- Unrighteousness destroys our ability to know God, and thus we experience God's absence (His wrath) and fall further into unrighteousness, assuming God isn't there or replacing Him with the material. This is the plight of the Gentiles, and it makes them "deserving" of death since. (Rom 1:18 - 32)
- This unrighteous behavior endangers not only the Gentile, but the Jew as well (since it is unrighteousness, in contrast to living by faith, which removes us from God's presence) - it is therefore foolish to judge others since this unrighteous act of judgment only further separates us from God (Rom 2:1-5)
- There is no partiality with God - whether Jew or Greek we will be judged for what we DO (whether we live unrighteously and destroy the Truth or act according to faith). It is plausible that a non-Jew could act justly, having the Truth in their "nous" (intuition-heart-mind), just like a Jew having the Law can still sin. (Rom 2:6-15)
- This judgment is according to Christ - for it is Christ's gospel by which we are saved (Rom 1:16, 2:16).
As stated previously, the basic premise of Romans is that Jews and Greeks are equally members of the Church, since both are equally subject to sin or righteousness, and we are judged based on our sinfulness or righteousness (judged for our deeds).
Romans 2:17 - 20
Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest on the Law and make your boast in God, and know His will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the Law, and are confident that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the Law.
Here St. Paul summarizes one of the arguments forwarded by the Judaizers (as he will do throughout Romans).
The boast of the Jew is the Law: the Covenant with God and God's instructions for Jewish ethical and ritual actions (an important distinction). Since the Law, being God's Word, contains Truth, the Jew teaches from it as a leader of the blind. And indeed, the Law DOES inform us about God, and DOES teach us what is right and what is wrong. It is indeed the form of knowledge.
Yet that is the key word: form. True knowledge, in the Biblical sense, is not cognitive-brain knowledge - remember that limiting our experience of Truth to the physical (cognitive) brain is precisely the idolatry which the Gentiles fell into because of sin. Rather, knowledge is communion. Knowledge means complete intermingling - like the knowledge a husband has for his wife or vice-versa. Knowledge has a deep sense of holistic (Catholic) fullness. Merely asserting a doctrine is not knowledge. One can recite good ethical principles, but to know them one must do them. One can recite good doctrines regarding God, but to KNOW God is an entirely different thing.
Indeed, this was the problem with the way the Law was used. Mistaking the Law (a cognitive list of right and wrong) with living by faith (that is to say, acting righteously because one knows God) fundamentally damaged the spiritual wellbeing of the Jews. This is an easy mistake for Christians to fall into as well. How often do we mistake the Creed for knowledge? Or the Bible? Or ANY doctrine? Any source of human wisdom? There is a big difference between being able to recite all the right answers and LIVING the right answer - KNOWING the right answers - COMMUNING with THE "right answer" (the Truth) who is Christ our Lord. We can read all the right books by the right Orthodox authors, we can hear every homily and memorize the Scriptures, and have a working understanding of ancient Greek and the patristic saints. We can own a thousand icons and light a thousand candles and, ultimately, it means nothing.
We are not guides to the blind unless we have the knowledge of God. First we must judge ourselves, and realize that we are lacking, and then, once we are empties of ourselves we may be filled by God and, by being filled by God (the knowledge of God), HE may USE us to guide others. But if at any point WE are the guide, we have fallen into pride and have mistaken our egotistical cognitive-self for "truth" - we have become an idol, setting up for ourselves a nice and comprehensible God whom we "share" with others. This kind of shallow religion, which is more than obvious to those outside of it, lacks the basic humility of Christ, who, having done more miralces in a moment then "we" will EVER do, told those whom He healed to say NOTHING about Him. His divine silence - His humility - should remind us how empty our prideful words are.
This does not mean, as St. Paul will say later, that we let go of the Truth handed to us. The doctrines are important. They ground us in reality and fence us from heresy - necessary safeguards indeed. You'll notice the Law is in the Christian Bible. The Truth IS handed on, but we should never mistake our role within it. We are not experts. We do not have knowledge. We can but parrot others until we are sanctified. This parroting is "tradition" (handing-on), but it must be done with the utmost humility. This is why I conclude posts with "Forgive me." I ask your forgiveness for my own pride, and I pray that this is a faithful rendition of the Holy Tradition which contains within it the path to True knowledge of God. It is my prayer that I NEVER mistake a teaching for knowledge.
Romans 2:21 - 24
You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? You who say, "Do not commit adultery," do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who make your boast in the Law, do you dishonor God through breaking the Law? For "the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you" as it is writen.
While one may be able to walk through the first few rhetorical questions, the last one - do you who boast in the law break the law? - is a tough one to avoid. We all sin. Or rather, I know that I do. Perhaps God has already granted you sanctification, in which case I thank Him for that. The world needs more sanctified people. I myself am nowhere near it, and, like much of Romans, these are sobering thoughts. We often shout our views from rooftops, so to speak, because of our LOVE for God - yet our very hypocrisy results in His being blasphemed. How often have we heard in this culture something like this: "I could never be a Christian; they're such hypocrites! They preach all this so-called morality and not one of them follows it."
Let us be the FIRST to own up to our own sins. It is one of the greatest untapped Truths of Christianity. We so often try to "fake" that we're "all better now" because of our conversion to Christianity when, inside, we know our sins. How refreshing would it be to let that go, to be REAL! This is a major purpose of confession, at least to a point: by vocalizing our sins, we "real-ize" them (make them real to ourselves) and prevent the self-delusion which leads to hypocrisy.
It is also why it is critical that we not correct one another, but leave correction to those whom God has ordained to the task. If a woman wears pants in Church, it is not the place of other women to scold her and tell her to wear a skirt. If a man wears short sleaves, we should tolerate him and trust that it is between him, God, and whomever else God appoints over him. If a kid cries in Church, do we become annoyed? Remember that we sound just as bothersome before the saints and angels in their eternal worship before God, being mere children to them, yet we are welcomed with love and encouraged to join in. If we see people living a life we consider immoral, do we let judgment enter our heart? Do we judge drunkards and homosexuals? Do we judge prostitutes and pornographers and liers and corrupt politicians? ARE WE BETTER?
If the MIRACLE of God's Holy Tradition becomes mistaken for KNOWING GOD then we will fall into pride and hypocrisy. We should judge ourselves first, and others never. God will judge them. Our task is to love. YES - we have a responsibility to stay obedient to the teachings of the Church and to hold fast to them, as they are a precious gift; so we must seek to understand them. But we must seek to LIVE them. And until we do, and do so sufficiently, we have no business scolding another.
A story from the Desert Fathers teaches this principle effectively, and I'll conclude this post with it:
"A brother in Scetis committed a fault. A council was called to which abba Moses was invited, but he refused to go to it. Then the priest sent someone to him, saying, “Come, for everyone is waiting for you.” So he got up and went. He took a leaking jug and filled it with water and carried it with him. The others came out to meet him and said, “What is this, father?” The old man said to them, “My sins run out behind me, and I do not see them, and today I am coming to judge the errors of another.” When they heard that, they said no more to the brother but forgave him."
Forgive me,
Macarius
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Romans 2:11 - 15
Hello!
I've been a bit under the weather for the last week or so - hence no posts. I'm curious if anyone is actually reading this; I'll probably keep writing just because I find it relaxing in an odd way, but if you're reading this, say 'hi' in the comments to me. No need for a RL name, but just a way for me to gauge if I'm essentially just talking to myself... :-D
Romans 2:11 - 15
For there is no partiality with God. For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; for when Gentiles who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law unto themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them).
We pick up where we left off. We are considering how God judges Jew and Greek (for the whole text of Romans is about the unity of the Church and the universality of the Faith). Notice, for future referance, that "justification" is defined for us here. "Not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified." It is doing the law - that is to say it is living (acting) by faith - which justifies us. Justification is to "be made just." It is not "to be excused from being unjust" but rather it is a positive transformation from one who acts unjustly to one who acts justly. By this context, it cannot be a legal or juridicial category (i.e. one is unjustified if found guilty of sin or justified if found to be innocent, regardless of one's actual conduct). Rather, it is an ontological category. To be just is to think just, act just, live just. It is to live by faith. And remember the preceeding passage. We are judged according to our deeds.
We thus have two categories of people (so to speak; people probably fall on a range within this spectrum): the unrighteous who have killed their "nous" (intuitive-heart-mind) and thus cannot be justified (be made just) since they are without the light of God that justifies us, and the righteous (i.e. Abraham) who "live by faith" - that is those whose nous is repaired by God and who can thus, knowing (in an intimate union) the Truth (who is Christ) live by faith and act with Christ's justice - those who are justified.
It doesn't matter if a person has heard of or follows Judaic cultural norms (the Law). These things are good for the Jew - they teach us effectively of just how sinful we are and prepare us for Christ - but they are not the sum total of our salvation. If a Gentile, by some miracle (and by what other means are we justified?) manages to follow some portion of the "law" (speaking now of what is ethically right and ethically wrong), then that Gentile is, according to that law, justified.
There can be NO Truth apart from God, who IS the Truth. There can be nothing good apart from God, who IS goodness itself. There can be NO light except by God. Whenever we see someone doing good, be they a Buddhist or an Atheist or a Christian or a Jew or ANYONE we have seen a miracle of God. These are the do-ers of the law. They will be justified, for in so much as God is able to act in them and through them they are brought into union with God, and in so much as (that is, to what degree) that happens, their inner light is repaired - the Truth is made manifest, even if only a little bit.
Thus, as St. Paul said in the earlier passage, who are we to judge another? We cannot possibly know what light God has given to them, nor what things the world has done to steal it from them, nor what things they may have done themselves to nurture or kill that light. We can NEVER know the true nature of another except by mystical union to one another through union with Christ, and then it is not really US knowing them but rather CHRIST knowing them THROUGH us, and few and far between are those of us for whom this kind of sainthood will become a reality.
We cannot judge based on easy categories like "Christian" or "Jew" because God has come to save ALL people and, in love, reaches out continually to ALL people - to the Christian first and also to the Pagan (to paraphrase St. Paul's argument here).
And what is meant of the Gentile who does these things by nature? That nature is the image of God which is universal to all humanity and which this passage affirms survives despite the inheritence of death from the original sin. We are not born to sin. We are not born guilty. We are not born unrighteous. We each, on our own, kill the light of God in us. Though I cannot judge another, I can easily judge myself. Is the light of God present in me? Do I know it with an unsurpassing intimacy? Certainly I do not. Thus I know that I am not yet justified. As St.Paul says, I am judged by my own thoughts. My own personal realities accuse me of the fact which I spend a lot of time trying to ignore: I do not know God.
YET I am being justified, by the grace of God. When I look at the light of the saints, and the love of God that shines through them, I find myself sorely lacking. Yet they too were once like me - sinners seeking to repent. And if God can, through His Holy Spirit, bring them into that degree of unity with Him - into that light - then I have unlimited hope. If God can make even one who has never HEARD the law, HEARD the Gospel, know and follow the light, then I have hope He can save even me.
Simultaneously, this passage is an exhortation for us NEVER to judge and ALWAYS to hope. It is a reminder of God's reach (which far extends our own) and our own failures. It's one of my favorites in the Scriptures, and it humbles me (to what extent I let it) every time I read it.
Forgive me,
Macarius
I've been a bit under the weather for the last week or so - hence no posts. I'm curious if anyone is actually reading this; I'll probably keep writing just because I find it relaxing in an odd way, but if you're reading this, say 'hi' in the comments to me. No need for a RL name, but just a way for me to gauge if I'm essentially just talking to myself... :-D
Romans 2:11 - 15
For there is no partiality with God. For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; for when Gentiles who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law unto themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them).
We pick up where we left off. We are considering how God judges Jew and Greek (for the whole text of Romans is about the unity of the Church and the universality of the Faith). Notice, for future referance, that "justification" is defined for us here. "Not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified." It is doing the law - that is to say it is living (acting) by faith - which justifies us. Justification is to "be made just." It is not "to be excused from being unjust" but rather it is a positive transformation from one who acts unjustly to one who acts justly. By this context, it cannot be a legal or juridicial category (i.e. one is unjustified if found guilty of sin or justified if found to be innocent, regardless of one's actual conduct). Rather, it is an ontological category. To be just is to think just, act just, live just. It is to live by faith. And remember the preceeding passage. We are judged according to our deeds.
We thus have two categories of people (so to speak; people probably fall on a range within this spectrum): the unrighteous who have killed their "nous" (intuitive-heart-mind) and thus cannot be justified (be made just) since they are without the light of God that justifies us, and the righteous (i.e. Abraham) who "live by faith" - that is those whose nous is repaired by God and who can thus, knowing (in an intimate union) the Truth (who is Christ) live by faith and act with Christ's justice - those who are justified.
It doesn't matter if a person has heard of or follows Judaic cultural norms (the Law). These things are good for the Jew - they teach us effectively of just how sinful we are and prepare us for Christ - but they are not the sum total of our salvation. If a Gentile, by some miracle (and by what other means are we justified?) manages to follow some portion of the "law" (speaking now of what is ethically right and ethically wrong), then that Gentile is, according to that law, justified.
There can be NO Truth apart from God, who IS the Truth. There can be nothing good apart from God, who IS goodness itself. There can be NO light except by God. Whenever we see someone doing good, be they a Buddhist or an Atheist or a Christian or a Jew or ANYONE we have seen a miracle of God. These are the do-ers of the law. They will be justified, for in so much as God is able to act in them and through them they are brought into union with God, and in so much as (that is, to what degree) that happens, their inner light is repaired - the Truth is made manifest, even if only a little bit.
Thus, as St. Paul said in the earlier passage, who are we to judge another? We cannot possibly know what light God has given to them, nor what things the world has done to steal it from them, nor what things they may have done themselves to nurture or kill that light. We can NEVER know the true nature of another except by mystical union to one another through union with Christ, and then it is not really US knowing them but rather CHRIST knowing them THROUGH us, and few and far between are those of us for whom this kind of sainthood will become a reality.
We cannot judge based on easy categories like "Christian" or "Jew" because God has come to save ALL people and, in love, reaches out continually to ALL people - to the Christian first and also to the Pagan (to paraphrase St. Paul's argument here).
And what is meant of the Gentile who does these things by nature? That nature is the image of God which is universal to all humanity and which this passage affirms survives despite the inheritence of death from the original sin. We are not born to sin. We are not born guilty. We are not born unrighteous. We each, on our own, kill the light of God in us. Though I cannot judge another, I can easily judge myself. Is the light of God present in me? Do I know it with an unsurpassing intimacy? Certainly I do not. Thus I know that I am not yet justified. As St.Paul says, I am judged by my own thoughts. My own personal realities accuse me of the fact which I spend a lot of time trying to ignore: I do not know God.
YET I am being justified, by the grace of God. When I look at the light of the saints, and the love of God that shines through them, I find myself sorely lacking. Yet they too were once like me - sinners seeking to repent. And if God can, through His Holy Spirit, bring them into that degree of unity with Him - into that light - then I have unlimited hope. If God can make even one who has never HEARD the law, HEARD the Gospel, know and follow the light, then I have hope He can save even me.
Simultaneously, this passage is an exhortation for us NEVER to judge and ALWAYS to hope. It is a reminder of God's reach (which far extends our own) and our own failures. It's one of my favorites in the Scriptures, and it humbles me (to what extent I let it) every time I read it.
Forgive me,
Macarius
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Romans 1:26 - 2:11
Romans 1:26 - 27
For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of women, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
As I wrote at length about homosexuality in a previous post, I'll be brief on this. Homosexual union robs marriage of the iconic husband-wife = Christ-Church image. The Church, since its sacraments are all icons (giving windows into heaven and making the Kingdom manifest on earth) cannot marry people of the same gender. Since sex outside of marriage is a passion, it is a sin.
In keeping with the theme of the previous passage, though, this is less about homosexuality than it is about the results and consequences of a damaged nous-heart-intuition. Sin, having blackened our internal ability to know God, leaves us with only our physical senses and our responses to those senses (thoughts and emotions). Given this, it makes perfect sense why something like homosexuality would be appealing and appear ethical. There are no clear victims (since we can only evaluate victimhood in terms of sense-input, thoughts, or emotion). In fact, both consenting adults gain much in the way of positive emotions (feeling loved, pleasure, etc) - just like a heterosexual relationship (which, aside from the child bearing capabilities, isn't all that different from a sensory-input level).
Typically, when the Bible says "God gave them up" it means "God stopped holding them back." Specifically, God allowed their sin to do its damage to their heart (and this reveals what may be known of God - that He is not present in sin). This damage limited their (our) observations to the subjective ones of our senses, and this, in turn, makes it nearly impossible to deny temptations like idolatry or pleasure-seeking. Indeed, it makes tempting all things that are harmful to us spiritually, though often useful to us if we limit ourselves to a materialistic perspective, as St. Paul continues:
Romans 1:28 - 32
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.
This should sound familiar to any student of history. We should never let it be forgotten that the Church has as often been filled by these things as have human institutions of all sorts. In so much as we are an institution of people on earth, and people are victims of these temptations, we will see them in the Church. But we must never allow that to discourage us; the only way a Christian fights evil is to continue hope. Hope - optimistic expectation of God's salvation - is the only lense through which we can see the world in all its sin, call it out as such, and continue to refuse to respond to that evil with more evil.
We are as much victims of sin as we are perpetrators of it. How often does one sin cause another? If a person cuts me off on the road, and I get angry, and that anger sours my attitude and prevents me from showing kindness to someone selling me coffee, and that person in turn is upset by my rudeness and takes that emotional stress home... you get the idea. Imagine all the murder, all the rape, all the betrayal, all the lies, all the selfishness in the world; imagine how much of it is caused by pain those same people experienced. How much of it is sin causing sin? How else can we fight this except by hope? How else can we fight this except by, having sin done to us, we refuse in any way to let sin be our response? That is the only way the cycle can be broken.
The key verse of the above passage is "those who practice such things are deserving of death." Not only does sin darken our heart-intuition, deadening our ability to percieve and know God, but it also, by removing us from the source of life (God), makes us subject to death. The moment we sin we are deserving of death - not because of some legal code written into the universe (like a cosmic speeding ticket), but because when we sin we change the ontological condition of our very self from "in communion with Life" to "out of communion with Life." God is still Life. God is still Love. It is WE who change. It is WE, who by leaving God, earn our own deaths and the loneliness of eternal spiritual isolation which follows and is called the "2nd death."
Romans 2:1 - 3
Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. But we know the judgment of God is according to Truth against those who practice such things. And od you think this O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?
Now St. Paul begins to tie this back into the theme of Romans. The sinfulness of the pagans (which is where he started this), is not something the Jews can judge, for the Jews (just like the Church through history) are full of this same sinfulness. It is the blind mocking the blind. Membership in a group does not make one holy. Sin will kill us, regardless of who we are. Indeed, if we judge another, we double our sin, for by doing this we not only have committed the same sins as them, but we have added another by our judgmentalism. We have enough sin in ourselves to concern us for a lifetime - that should be our attention.
Furthermore, we cannot even judge others accurately. Notice St. Paul says that God's judgment is according to truth. We don't have the truth!! If we are in our sins, our ability to know God is dead and we have nothing on which to judge except our subjective senses and thoughts. These limited and finite tools cannot EVER know the heart of another human being - we can never know their history, their pain, the reasons for their actions. It is impossible. Perhaps if we knew she had been raped, we'd have been less judgmental of the girl who was rude to us at the store. Perhaps if we knew his wife had left him, we'd not have sworn at the man who cut us off on the highway. Perhaps if we knew he had been neglected as a child, or worse abused, we'd have forgiven (and not judged), the friend who just couldn't open up to us or who couldn't be emotionally available in our time of need. Sin breeds sin, and our culture is saturated in it. We contribute to that culture, and we are victims of it. How dare we judge so complex a thing! We have no grounds on which to do so. What we DO know is our own contributions to that culture. What we can judge is what we chose and don't chose - we know our own decisions. So in ourselves, we are aware of what we ought to do, and in so much as we don't we know what we are accountable for.
How stupid a thing it is, then, for us to judge others (for which we have no cause and which further harms us spiritually) and yet not ourselves.
Romans 2:4 - 11
Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who "will render to each one according to his deeds": eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness - indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.
This is the thesis of Romans. There is no partiality with God. Judgment is not according to one's ethnicity, nor (more relevant to us) one's membership in a group (i.e. the Church, or "Christians"). Rather, one is saved by being holy. It is according to our deeds that we are judged. And how else could it be? If sin destroys our ability to percieve and know the presence and love of God, and this spiritual isolation (made eternal in death) is hell, how can we be called saved unless that intuition of our heart is restored? Sin must be removed - it must be killed. This doesn't mean that we earn salvation (neither St. Paul nor I have said the means by which this healing occurs) - but we should recognize what St. Paul does say here: God will judge us for our deeds.
In case there isn't clarity on this, St. Paul goes on to say how we will be judged for our deeds. Those who by patient continuance seek for glory, honor and immortality... Patience and seeking. We are not told to achieve perfection (though by the grace of God such a thing is possible, for all things are possible with God and we should never lose hope), but rather to be patient and to seek. Our will must cooperate with the grace of God. We must hope. We must have faith. We must seek. We must change. And this change comes from the good will of God through that hope and that faith and that patience and that seeking. This is why, as is said over and over again in Revelations and elsewhere in the Scriptures, "Those who endure to the end shall be saved." God is faithful. It is only if we remove ourselves from God that we, by our unfaithfulness, endanger our souls.
And what is this goodness of God that calls us to repentance? It is precisely HIS patience and love. We ought to die as soon as we sin, but God immediately shows His mercy and grace by granting us continuing life that we may repent. Even in this - even before discussing how it is Christ who saves us - we see that we cannot save ourselves. We cannot merit salvation because we cannot even merit the continuation of our lives by which we repent and are saved. That is a gift of God and a gift of His mercy. Therefore every moment of every day it is appropriate for us to pray "Lord, have mercy." As often as we pray that - as fast as we spit it out - God grants us mercy even faster. His mercy is in the moments between our breaths - in the smallest unit of time and in between the smallest units of time. Creation itself is the spontaneous gift of God's continuing creative act. We have nothing apart from God. To pray "Lord, have mercy" (meaning both Lord, forgive me and Lord, have compassion) - this is the least we can do!
Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.
In Christ,
Macarius
For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of women, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
As I wrote at length about homosexuality in a previous post, I'll be brief on this. Homosexual union robs marriage of the iconic husband-wife = Christ-Church image. The Church, since its sacraments are all icons (giving windows into heaven and making the Kingdom manifest on earth) cannot marry people of the same gender. Since sex outside of marriage is a passion, it is a sin.
In keeping with the theme of the previous passage, though, this is less about homosexuality than it is about the results and consequences of a damaged nous-heart-intuition. Sin, having blackened our internal ability to know God, leaves us with only our physical senses and our responses to those senses (thoughts and emotions). Given this, it makes perfect sense why something like homosexuality would be appealing and appear ethical. There are no clear victims (since we can only evaluate victimhood in terms of sense-input, thoughts, or emotion). In fact, both consenting adults gain much in the way of positive emotions (feeling loved, pleasure, etc) - just like a heterosexual relationship (which, aside from the child bearing capabilities, isn't all that different from a sensory-input level).
Typically, when the Bible says "God gave them up" it means "God stopped holding them back." Specifically, God allowed their sin to do its damage to their heart (and this reveals what may be known of God - that He is not present in sin). This damage limited their (our) observations to the subjective ones of our senses, and this, in turn, makes it nearly impossible to deny temptations like idolatry or pleasure-seeking. Indeed, it makes tempting all things that are harmful to us spiritually, though often useful to us if we limit ourselves to a materialistic perspective, as St. Paul continues:
Romans 1:28 - 32
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.
This should sound familiar to any student of history. We should never let it be forgotten that the Church has as often been filled by these things as have human institutions of all sorts. In so much as we are an institution of people on earth, and people are victims of these temptations, we will see them in the Church. But we must never allow that to discourage us; the only way a Christian fights evil is to continue hope. Hope - optimistic expectation of God's salvation - is the only lense through which we can see the world in all its sin, call it out as such, and continue to refuse to respond to that evil with more evil.
We are as much victims of sin as we are perpetrators of it. How often does one sin cause another? If a person cuts me off on the road, and I get angry, and that anger sours my attitude and prevents me from showing kindness to someone selling me coffee, and that person in turn is upset by my rudeness and takes that emotional stress home... you get the idea. Imagine all the murder, all the rape, all the betrayal, all the lies, all the selfishness in the world; imagine how much of it is caused by pain those same people experienced. How much of it is sin causing sin? How else can we fight this except by hope? How else can we fight this except by, having sin done to us, we refuse in any way to let sin be our response? That is the only way the cycle can be broken.
The key verse of the above passage is "those who practice such things are deserving of death." Not only does sin darken our heart-intuition, deadening our ability to percieve and know God, but it also, by removing us from the source of life (God), makes us subject to death. The moment we sin we are deserving of death - not because of some legal code written into the universe (like a cosmic speeding ticket), but because when we sin we change the ontological condition of our very self from "in communion with Life" to "out of communion with Life." God is still Life. God is still Love. It is WE who change. It is WE, who by leaving God, earn our own deaths and the loneliness of eternal spiritual isolation which follows and is called the "2nd death."
Romans 2:1 - 3
Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. But we know the judgment of God is according to Truth against those who practice such things. And od you think this O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?
Now St. Paul begins to tie this back into the theme of Romans. The sinfulness of the pagans (which is where he started this), is not something the Jews can judge, for the Jews (just like the Church through history) are full of this same sinfulness. It is the blind mocking the blind. Membership in a group does not make one holy. Sin will kill us, regardless of who we are. Indeed, if we judge another, we double our sin, for by doing this we not only have committed the same sins as them, but we have added another by our judgmentalism. We have enough sin in ourselves to concern us for a lifetime - that should be our attention.
Furthermore, we cannot even judge others accurately. Notice St. Paul says that God's judgment is according to truth. We don't have the truth!! If we are in our sins, our ability to know God is dead and we have nothing on which to judge except our subjective senses and thoughts. These limited and finite tools cannot EVER know the heart of another human being - we can never know their history, their pain, the reasons for their actions. It is impossible. Perhaps if we knew she had been raped, we'd have been less judgmental of the girl who was rude to us at the store. Perhaps if we knew his wife had left him, we'd not have sworn at the man who cut us off on the highway. Perhaps if we knew he had been neglected as a child, or worse abused, we'd have forgiven (and not judged), the friend who just couldn't open up to us or who couldn't be emotionally available in our time of need. Sin breeds sin, and our culture is saturated in it. We contribute to that culture, and we are victims of it. How dare we judge so complex a thing! We have no grounds on which to do so. What we DO know is our own contributions to that culture. What we can judge is what we chose and don't chose - we know our own decisions. So in ourselves, we are aware of what we ought to do, and in so much as we don't we know what we are accountable for.
How stupid a thing it is, then, for us to judge others (for which we have no cause and which further harms us spiritually) and yet not ourselves.
Romans 2:4 - 11
Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who "will render to each one according to his deeds": eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness - indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.
This is the thesis of Romans. There is no partiality with God. Judgment is not according to one's ethnicity, nor (more relevant to us) one's membership in a group (i.e. the Church, or "Christians"). Rather, one is saved by being holy. It is according to our deeds that we are judged. And how else could it be? If sin destroys our ability to percieve and know the presence and love of God, and this spiritual isolation (made eternal in death) is hell, how can we be called saved unless that intuition of our heart is restored? Sin must be removed - it must be killed. This doesn't mean that we earn salvation (neither St. Paul nor I have said the means by which this healing occurs) - but we should recognize what St. Paul does say here: God will judge us for our deeds.
In case there isn't clarity on this, St. Paul goes on to say how we will be judged for our deeds. Those who by patient continuance seek for glory, honor and immortality... Patience and seeking. We are not told to achieve perfection (though by the grace of God such a thing is possible, for all things are possible with God and we should never lose hope), but rather to be patient and to seek. Our will must cooperate with the grace of God. We must hope. We must have faith. We must seek. We must change. And this change comes from the good will of God through that hope and that faith and that patience and that seeking. This is why, as is said over and over again in Revelations and elsewhere in the Scriptures, "Those who endure to the end shall be saved." God is faithful. It is only if we remove ourselves from God that we, by our unfaithfulness, endanger our souls.
And what is this goodness of God that calls us to repentance? It is precisely HIS patience and love. We ought to die as soon as we sin, but God immediately shows His mercy and grace by granting us continuing life that we may repent. Even in this - even before discussing how it is Christ who saves us - we see that we cannot save ourselves. We cannot merit salvation because we cannot even merit the continuation of our lives by which we repent and are saved. That is a gift of God and a gift of His mercy. Therefore every moment of every day it is appropriate for us to pray "Lord, have mercy." As often as we pray that - as fast as we spit it out - God grants us mercy even faster. His mercy is in the moments between our breaths - in the smallest unit of time and in between the smallest units of time. Creation itself is the spontaneous gift of God's continuing creative act. We have nothing apart from God. To pray "Lord, have mercy" (meaning both Lord, forgive me and Lord, have compassion) - this is the least we can do!
Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.
In Christ,
Macarius
Monday, December 1, 2008
Romans 1:18 - 25
Romans 1:18 - 19
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.
Here faith is contrasted with unrighteousness. Notice faith is not contrasted with mere unbelief but rather by unrighteousness which leads to unbelief, just as righteousness (living by faith) leads to knowledge. By what means has the knowledge of God been shown to them? By the fruits of their own unrighteousness. The Truth, which is Christ, is suppressed by their unrighteousness - that is to say that one will never find God in unrighteousness. This tells us where God IS: in righteousness. Faith in God will, then, lead us to righteousness.
The problem - the blindness - of the unrighteous is that so often they (we) do not EXPECT to find God. We assume that the deep, existential loneliness of our existence - our spiritual deadness and isolation - is the norm. We assume that we were merely meant to know of God through our physical senses, rational intellect, and emotions. There is a deeper knowledge of God, though - an "intuitive" and direct knowing of God that surpasses the subjectivity of the human condition and experiences God in the heart, directly and without filter. Remember that the Kingdom of God is within you! You are God's image and likeness, and are made to know God on an intimiate and unitive level. If you DON'T then what can be known of God is revealed in our unrighteousness, for the very experience of the absence of God (which is His wrath) tells us that we must repent and begin to "live by faith."
Romans 1:20 - 21
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because although they knew God they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Not only are we to know God intuitively, but there is a degree to which God is evident in His creation. It may be that we are raised in a culture which is ignorant of God - indeed, we are raised in such a culture - but this inheritence of ignorance and sin is insufficient to absolve us of guilt for that sin. We are responsible for our own sins, for even though we are victims of the culture around us, we also contribute to and perpetuate that culture by our own sins. I am responsible for my sins, and their effect on you, and it is appropriate that the wrath of God is revealed in me since, from the goodness of His creation I may know the love of God, from the intuitive God-given mind of my heart I may know God directly, and in neither of these things have I responded. I am unrighteous, and as a result I am found separate from God and ignorant of Him. Please forgive me, in so much as this has also impacted you.
Thoughts and heart, in the last verse, are the two means of knowing: our physical senses and emotions (the intellect) and the heart - not here meant to indicate emotions (which are caused by the physical brains response to physical stimulus and are therefore part of our thoughts). The heart here means the internal eye of our soul - the "nous" in patristic thought. It is this which becomes blackened when we willfully remove ourselves from God's light. With our heart darkened, how could our thoughts possibly be true?
Romans 1:22-25
Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man - and birds and four footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the Truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
St. Paul here finishes his discussion of the contrast between the pagan sinners (idolaters) and the righteous who live by faith. Notice still that St. Paul is discussing action. The foolishness, caused by unrighteousness, results in our hearts being darkened and our intellect becoming ignorant of God. In the absence of true spiritual knowledge, we turn to what we can know - our senses. We see the animals and the forces of nature, and being ignorant of our true nature we become fearful of death. Sin invades us and transforms us from majestic images of God's love on earth into pitiful, frightened animals, giving reverance to things we were meant to rule.
Do not think we are above this today. Fearful of death, we ignore and hide from it. Unable to see God, we worship money, sex, and power. The blackness of our nous still drives us from the true knowledge of God and drives us into idolatry, and in this foolishess - in this lack of truth - we remain unable to find God, spiritually isolated. In short, we remain in hell. When our physical bodies die, what will happen to us except that we will forever be in this state, since lacking the physical senses and body we will be unable even to experience those things - all of us will be black, isolated, lonely. This is hell.
Forgive me,
Macarius
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.
Here faith is contrasted with unrighteousness. Notice faith is not contrasted with mere unbelief but rather by unrighteousness which leads to unbelief, just as righteousness (living by faith) leads to knowledge. By what means has the knowledge of God been shown to them? By the fruits of their own unrighteousness. The Truth, which is Christ, is suppressed by their unrighteousness - that is to say that one will never find God in unrighteousness. This tells us where God IS: in righteousness. Faith in God will, then, lead us to righteousness.
The problem - the blindness - of the unrighteous is that so often they (we) do not EXPECT to find God. We assume that the deep, existential loneliness of our existence - our spiritual deadness and isolation - is the norm. We assume that we were merely meant to know of God through our physical senses, rational intellect, and emotions. There is a deeper knowledge of God, though - an "intuitive" and direct knowing of God that surpasses the subjectivity of the human condition and experiences God in the heart, directly and without filter. Remember that the Kingdom of God is within you! You are God's image and likeness, and are made to know God on an intimiate and unitive level. If you DON'T then what can be known of God is revealed in our unrighteousness, for the very experience of the absence of God (which is His wrath) tells us that we must repent and begin to "live by faith."
Romans 1:20 - 21
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because although they knew God they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Not only are we to know God intuitively, but there is a degree to which God is evident in His creation. It may be that we are raised in a culture which is ignorant of God - indeed, we are raised in such a culture - but this inheritence of ignorance and sin is insufficient to absolve us of guilt for that sin. We are responsible for our own sins, for even though we are victims of the culture around us, we also contribute to and perpetuate that culture by our own sins. I am responsible for my sins, and their effect on you, and it is appropriate that the wrath of God is revealed in me since, from the goodness of His creation I may know the love of God, from the intuitive God-given mind of my heart I may know God directly, and in neither of these things have I responded. I am unrighteous, and as a result I am found separate from God and ignorant of Him. Please forgive me, in so much as this has also impacted you.
Thoughts and heart, in the last verse, are the two means of knowing: our physical senses and emotions (the intellect) and the heart - not here meant to indicate emotions (which are caused by the physical brains response to physical stimulus and are therefore part of our thoughts). The heart here means the internal eye of our soul - the "nous" in patristic thought. It is this which becomes blackened when we willfully remove ourselves from God's light. With our heart darkened, how could our thoughts possibly be true?
Romans 1:22-25
Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man - and birds and four footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the Truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
St. Paul here finishes his discussion of the contrast between the pagan sinners (idolaters) and the righteous who live by faith. Notice still that St. Paul is discussing action. The foolishness, caused by unrighteousness, results in our hearts being darkened and our intellect becoming ignorant of God. In the absence of true spiritual knowledge, we turn to what we can know - our senses. We see the animals and the forces of nature, and being ignorant of our true nature we become fearful of death. Sin invades us and transforms us from majestic images of God's love on earth into pitiful, frightened animals, giving reverance to things we were meant to rule.
Do not think we are above this today. Fearful of death, we ignore and hide from it. Unable to see God, we worship money, sex, and power. The blackness of our nous still drives us from the true knowledge of God and drives us into idolatry, and in this foolishess - in this lack of truth - we remain unable to find God, spiritually isolated. In short, we remain in hell. When our physical bodies die, what will happen to us except that we will forever be in this state, since lacking the physical senses and body we will be unable even to experience those things - all of us will be black, isolated, lonely. This is hell.
Forgive me,
Macarius
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