46. Слово в неделю святых Отец (оправдание человека не могло быть устроено иначе, как силою и действием Бога воплощена, но и возрождение наше к новой жизни невозможно без воплощения Бога)

Having recognized our duty to adequately prepare for the celebration of the Nativity of Christ, we decided to discuss with you the need for the incarnation of God for our salvation. We have already explained a certain part of this great subject, namely: based on the concept of our fall, in which we suffered two great evils - we offended the Truth of God and were upset in ourselves, we saw that for our salvation it is necessary, firstly, to be justified, and secondly, to receive new life - to be reborn, to be worthy, that is, to receive two benefits, not one of which can be delivered to us except by the power and action of God incarnate. Having focused on the first gift of justification, we distinguished two actions in this grace: the removal of the guilt of sin and the fulfillment by works of righteousness of a life spent in sin. That the removal from us of the guilt of sin can be granted to the lamas only by the power and action of God’s incarnate death on the cross, we talked about this with you last time. Now it remains for us to explain that it is only under the same condition that the fulfillment of the righteousness of a life spent in sins, and the correction of our corrupted strength and life, or our revival, is possible. This is what we will do now. May the Lord help me to explain well, and for you to understand these saving truths well. The first truth is that only the works of the God-man can fulfill a person’s life spent in sins by deeds of righteousness. Even if the guilt of sin is removed from a sinner, is everything given to him through this for his justification? - No. His life must not only be free from sin, but must also be an unbroken chain of good deeds, appointed by God for every minute. When the guilt is forgiven, sins seem to disappear; but where are the good deeds that should be in the place of evil deeds? - There are none. And it is necessary to borrow them somewhere and place them in the place of evil, so that a person will appear completely right in the eyes of the Truth of God. Living in sin, a person not only omits the deeds of righteousness - wastes time, but also fills it with actual deeds of untruth, subject to positive punishment. When guilt is removed from him - a positive punishment for sin, then only the real evil in his life, the destructive power of his untruths, is destroyed, and what is done for his life is that these untruths did not exist in it. But the minutes and hours of a sinful life, thus freed from real evil, do not yet acquire real good, which should have been in them in the place of evil, but remain empty, unoccupied and unsignified; so that the whole life of a person, after his guilt is removed, is like a charter without anything written, like a field not sown or overgrown, and like a tree without branches or fruit. And in this form, a person is still wrong before God, for the Truth of God requires that his whole life be full of real good deeds. The question now is, how and with what can we make up for this lack of goodness in the life of a sinner? Obviously, a person himself cannot do this, for after repentance let him stop sinning and begin to do only good deeds; but no matter what he does, he will do only what he is obliged to do at the time he does it, and therefore cannot have a saving effect on his past life. How can this be? – We must borrow truth and holiness from another person, assimilate it to ourselves so that God’s Truth itself recognizes it as our own. And from this, look what comes out: We need to assimilate the deeds of truth of another person. - Consequently: 1) this person must be human in order to do human deeds that could go towards replenishing our life, for our life must be full of human deeds; 2) but it should not be bound by law, or obliged to these matters, otherwise these matters cannot be transferred to others, or learned by others. These deeds must be his free, independent treasure; 3) since human affairs cannot escape from obligation, since they belong to the person of man, then in order to carry out human affairs, free from obligation, it is necessary for someone from those existing outside the circle of humanity to enter his circle, take on his nature and with his strength fulfill all human truth, which, however, is not obligatory for him. After these considerations, it is not difficult for you to come to the conclusion that only God can be such a being. For no creature is free from the law. Everyone is busy with their own affairs and cannot do things that could be transferred or learned by others. Neither Angels, nor Archangels, nor any other creature can fulfill this for us, but only the Lord, free from the laws that lie on his creatures. The Lord Himself inspired this when the Apostle Peter, when asked about the payment of the didrachm for the church, said: Does the son pay tribute? - On the other hand, his deeds must have eternal and infinite significance, because all people, of all times and places, need them. And they can acquire such a meaning only then, as if they were accomplished by God in human nature and by human powers, that is, when God hypostatically unites with humanity, or becomes incarnate, and completes them in the flesh. So you see that the lack of deeds of righteousness in our lives can only be filled by the deeds of the God-man. I purposely bring together all these thoughts in order to confirm your mind in the unshakable conviction that our Savior Jesus Christ is not only a man, but also God, and not only God, but also a man, the Word, who became flesh for the sake of our salvation, and that this is so urgent that it was impossible for our salvation to be achieved otherwise. Why let us glorify Him by singing with the Church: “Thou camest from the Virgin, neither an Advocate nor an Angel, but the Lord Himself became incarnate and saved me as a whole man.” He, free from the law, placed himself under the law in order to redeem those under the law. As God's Son and God, He was above all limitations; but, taking upon himself the work of our salvation, he said: “Behold, I go to do your will, O God” (Heb. 10:9), and Your law is in the midst of my womb (Ps. 39:9). Why, having come to earth in human nature, He fulfilled all truth, found the only food and drink in fulfilling the will of Him who sent Him, and was obedient even to death. And all this is not for oneself, but in order to become the end of the law for the justification of everyone who believes; so that everyone who believes, through faith in him, restores the law, compensates for its lack in his life, and through this fulfills it with righteousness. Why does the Apostle certify that just as by one crime there is condemnation for all men, so by one righteousness there is justification for life for all men. Just as through one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so through one man's obedience many were made righteous. Therefore, we have no justification in the law, but only in faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. It is clear, I think, to you now that the justification of man could not be arranged otherwise than by the power and action of God incarnate. Finally, I will briefly explain that the last condition of salvation—our rebirth to a new life—is impossible without the incarnation of God. To save a person, as we said at the beginning, it is not enough to justify him only before God; it is still necessary to completely regenerate him, give him a new life, destroy in him the beginning of a life worthy of condemnation, for as long as this beginning remains in him, he will continue to do deeds of unrighteousness. Therefore, justify him even every minute, every minute he will again fall under condemnation, and therefore, justification itself will not bring him any benefit. How can this be? – It is necessary to give him new life, to give him strength with which, overcoming sin, he would create one truth, or, according to the Apostle, walk in the renewal of life. The question is, how to achieve this? For this, it is necessary to rise up to a new ancestor - a new Adam, as the Apostle inspires, so that all who seek salvation from Him will draw new life. Remember that in the fall, man lost his true life and began to live some other life, which, in relation to the purpose of man, must be called a false life. It, beginning with the head of humanity, then spread into all its members, so that the entire human race began to be represented by a huge falsely living body. It is obvious that in order to renew this damaged and disordered body, it is necessary to infuse into it from the outside the principles of truly human life, just as a damaged human body is healed by infusing it with healthy, undamaged blood; it is necessary, imagining humanity as a tree, to graft it onto another tree, full of life, so that it is filled with its life-giving juices, it is necessary to rise up to a new head of the human race, so that people, being born again from it, or reborn through it, in union with it constitute a new body of humanity, full of true human life. The question is, who could be such a leader? No one like the God-man. This new ancestor must be a man in order to give us human life, and there must be God in order to impart to human life in his person, on the one hand, the integrity, purity and perfection inherent in human nature, on the other hand, such a comprehensive completeness that would lead to the revival of all people - past, present and future - two properties that human life can acquire only by being perceived as a person Deity, or in the person of the God-man. This is our Lord Jesus Christ - the new Adam - the “Firstfruits” (John 8:25), - He is the “Lord from heaven” (1 Cor. 15:47), he is “the life that was with the Father and appeared to us” (1 John 1:2), - he is the living bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. It is from heaven, but it also contains another life, not from Angels, but from the “seed of Abraham” received (Heb. 2:16), from the fullness of which we, all people, receive and through communication with which we ourselves receive life; and in this way we all become members of Him from His flesh and from His bones, we all make up one body, the head of which is He (Eph. 5:23-29), feeding and warming it, and which does not live for this, but Christ lives in it (Gal. 2:20); for here “Christ is all and in all” (Col. 3:11). Thus, it is true that “just as in Adam all die, so in Christ all are made alive. The firstfruits is Christ,” then all those who believe in His name (1 Cor. 15:22–23). Knowing this, brethren, beware of those who flatter you and want to divert you from the path of the eternal life in Christ Jesus into the dark path of destruction in the name of humanity. - Humanity! Humanity! - others repeat in different twists; what is humanity? – There is what we received from Adam – damaged, unreliable, sinful. It is not in his name that we must fight, but in the name of Christianity, which returns us to true life through communication with the Lord Jesus Christ. - “As is the earth, so are those who are fingered, and as is the heavenly, so are those who are in heaven” (1 Cor. 15:48). – Only those who enter into communion with the Lord receive renewed true life. Just like the only branches that are alive are those that are on the vine, those that are not on the vine die and wither; So the only people who are alive are those who are in Christ. Humanity outside Christ the Lord is a dry branch - lifeless, no matter how carefully one feeds it and walks after it. So, brethren, we have no idea of ​​any other salvation than Jesus Christ, the God-man. In His death is our excuse, in His Truth is our justification, in His life is our true life. He is our righteousness, sanctification and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30); By him we were washed, sanctified, justified (1 Cor. 6:11). In Him dwells all fullness (Col. 2:9). Through Him only and in Him can we have the fullness that is characteristic of us, according to God’s intention (Col. 2:10). Blessed be God, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. You might be interested in: