[ CONTENTS ]In regard to the doctrine of
original sin as contained in the Old Testament and illumnated by
the unique revelation of Christ in the New Testament, there
continues to reign in the denominations of the West--especially
since the development of scholastic presuppositions--a great
confusion, which in the last few centuries seems to have gained
much ground in the theological problematics of the Orthodox East.
In some circles this problem has been dressed in a halo of
mystifying vagueness to such an extent that even some Orthodox
theologians seem to expect one to accept the doctrine of original
sin simply as a great and profound mystery of faith (e.g.,
Androutsos, Dogmatike, pp. 161-162). This has certainly
become a paradoxical attitude, especially since these Christians
who cannot point their fingers at this enemy of mankind are the
same people who illogically claim that in Christ there is
remission of this unknown original sin. This is a far cry from
the certitude of St. Paul, who, of the devil himself, claimed
that "we are not ignorant of his thoughts" (noemata).[ 1 ]
If one is to vigorously and
consistently maintain that Jesus Christ is the unique Savior Who
has brought salvation to a world in need of salvation, one
obviously must know what is the nature of the need which provoked
this salvation.[ 2 ] It would, indeed, seem foolish to have
medical doctors trained to heal sickness if there were no such
thing as sickness in the world. Likewise, a savior who claims to
save people in need of no salvation is a savior only unto
himself.
Undoubtedly, one of the most
important causes of heresy is the failure to understand the exact
nature of the human situation described by the Old and New
Testaments, to which the historical events of the birth,
teachings, death, resurrection and second coming of Christ are
the only remedy. The failure to understand this automatically
implies a perverted understanding of what it is that Christ did
and continues to do for us, and what our subsequent relation is
to Christ and neighbor within the realm of salvation. The
importance of a correct definition of original sin and its
consequences can never be exaggerated. Any attempt to minimize
its importance or alter its significance automatically entails
either a weakening or even a complete misunderstanding of the
nature of the Church, sacraments and human destiny.
The temptation facing every
inquiry into the thought of St. Paul and the other Apostolic
writers is to approach their writings with definite, although
many times unconscious, presuppositions contrary to the Biblical
witness. If one approaches the Biblical testimony to the work of
Christ and the life of the primitive community with predetermined
metaphysical notions concerning the moral structure of what most
would call the natural world, and, by consequence, with fixed
ideas concerning human destiny and the needs of hte individual
and humanity in general, he will undoubtedly take from the faith
and life of the ancient Church only such aspects as fit his own
frame of reference. Then, if he wishes to be consistent in
representing his own interpretation of the Scriptures as
authentic, he will necessarily proceed to exaplain away
everything extraneous to his concepts as secondary and
superficial, or simply as the product of some misunderstanding on
the part of certain Apostles or a group of Fathers, or even the
whole primitive Church in general.
A proper approach to the New
Testament teaching of St. Paul concerning original sin cannot be
one-sided. It is incorrect, for example, to emphasize, in Romans
5:12, the phrase, eph'ho pantes hemarton, by trying to
make it fit any certain system of thought concerning moral law
and guilt without first establishing the importance of St. Paul's
beliefs concerning the powers of Satan and the true situation not
only of man, but of all creation. It is also wrong to deal with
the problem of the transmission of original sin within the
framework of dualistic anthropology while at the same time
completely ignoring the Hebraic foundations of St. Paul's
anthropology. Likewise, and attempt to interpret the Biblical
doctrine of the fall in terms of a hedonistic philosophy of
happiness is already doomed to failure because of its refusal to
recognize not only the abnormality but, more important, the
consequences of death and corruption.
A correct approach to the Pauline
doctrine of original sin must take into consideration St. Paul's
understanding of (1) the fallen state of creation, including the
powers of Satan, death and corruption, (2) the justice of God and
law, and (3) anthropology and the destiny of man and creation.
These divisions are not meant to suggest that each topic is to be
dealt with here in detail; rather, they shall be discussed only
in the light of the main problem of original sin and its
transmission according to St. Paul.
St. Paul strongly affirms the
belief that all things created by God are good.[ 3 ] Yet,
at the same time, he insists on the fact that not only man,[ 4 ] but also all of creation has fallen.[ 5 ] Both man and creation
are awaiting the final redemption. [ 6 ] Thus, in spite of
the fact that all things created by God are good, the devil has
temporarily [ 7 ] become the "god of this
age."[ 8 ] A basic presupposition of St.
Paul's thought is that althought the world was created by God and
as such is good, yet now there rules in it the power of Satan.
The devil, however, is by no means absolute, since God has never
abandoned His creation.[ 9 ]
Thus, according to St. Paul,
creation as it is is not what God intended it to be--"For
the creature was made subject to vanity...by reason of him who
hath subjected the same."[ 10 ] Therefore, evil can
exist, at least temporarily, as a parasitic element alongside and
inside of that which God created originally good. A good example
of this is one who would do the Good according to the "inner
man," but finds it impossible because of the indwelling
power of sin in the flesh.[ 11 ] Although created good and
still maintained and governed by God, creation as it is is still
far from being normal or natural, if by "normal" we
understand nature according to the original and final destiny of
creation. governing this age, in spite of the fact that God
Himself is still sustaining creation and creating for Himself a
remnant,[ 12 ] is the devil himself.[ 13 ]
To try to read into St. Paul's
thought any type of philosophy of a naturally well balanced
universe with inherent and fixed moral laws of reason, according
to which men can live with peace of mind and be happy, is to do
violence to the apostle's faith. For St. Paul, there is now no
such thing as a natural world with an inherent system of moral
laws, because all of creation has been subjected to the vanity
and evil power of Satan, who is ruling by the powers of death and
corruption.[ 14 ] For this reason all men have become
sinners. [ 15 ] There is no such thing as a man who is
sinless simply because he is living according to the rules of
reason or the Mosaic law.[ 16 ] The possibility of living
according to universal reason entails, also, the possibility of
being without sin. But for Paul this is a myth, because Satan is
no respecter of reasonable rules of good conduct [ 17 ] and
has under his influence all men born under the power of death and
corruption.[ 18 ]
Whether or not belief in the
present, real and active power of Satan appeals to the Biblical
theologian, he cannot ignore the importance that St. Paul
attributes to the power of the devil. To do so is to completely
misunderstand the problem of original sin and its transmission
and so misinterpret the mind of the New Testament writers and the
faith of the whole ancient Church. In regard to the power of
Satan to introduce sin into the life of every man, St. Augustine
in combating Pelagianism obviously misread St. Paul. by
relegating the power of Satan, death, and corruption to the
background and pushing to the foreground of controversy the
problem of personal guilt in the transmission of original sin,
St. Augustine introduced a false moralistic philosophical
approach which is foreign to the thinking of St. Paul [ 19 ]
and which was not accepted by the patristic tradition of the
East. [ 20 ]
For St. Paul, Satan is not simply
a negative power in the universe. He is personal with will, [ 21 ]
with thoughts, [ 22 ] and with methods of deception, [ 23 ]
against whom Christians must wage and intense battle [ 24 ]
because they can still be tempted by him. [ 25 ] He is
active in a dynamic manner, [ 26 ] fighting for the
destruction of creation and not simply waiting passively in a
restricted corner to accept those who happen to rationally decide
not to follow God and the moral laws inherent in a natural
universe. Satan is even capable of transforming himself into an
angel of light [ 27 ]. He has at his disposal miraculous
powers of perversion [ 28 ] and has as co-workers whole
armies of invisible powers.[ 29 ] He is the "god of
this age," [ 30 ] the one who deceived the first woman.[ 31 ] It is he who led man [ 32 ] and all of creation into the path of death and corruption. [ 33 ]
The power of death and
corruption, according to Paul, is not negative, but on the
contrary, positively active. "The sting of death is
sin,"[ 34 ] which in turn reigns in death.[ 35 ]
Not only man, but all creation has been yoked under its
tyrannizing power [ 36 ] and is now awaiting redemption.
Creation itself shall also be delivered from the slavery of
corruption.[ 37 ] Along with the final destruction of all
the enemies of God, death--the last and probably the greatest
enemy--will be destroyed.[ 38 ] Then death will be
swallowed up in victory.[ 39 ] For St. Paul, the
destruction of death is parallel to the destruction of the devil
and his forces. Salvation from the one is salvation from the
other.[ 40 ]
It is obvious from St. Paul's
expressions concerning fallen creation, Satan, and death, that
there is no room in his thinking for any type of metaphysical
dualism, of departmentalization which would make of this world
and intermediary domain which for man is merely a stepping stone
leading either into the presence of God or into the kingdom of
Satan. The idea of a three story universe, whereby God and His
company of saints and angels occupy the top floor, the devil the
basement, and man in the flesh the middle, has no room in Pauline
theology. For Paul, all three orders of existence interpenetrate.
There is no such thing as a middle world of neutrality where man
can live according to natural law and then be judged for a life
of happiness in the presence of God or for a life of torment in
the pits of outer darkness. On the contrary, all of creation is
the domain of God, Who Himself cannot be tainted with evil. But
in His domain there are other wills which He has created, which
can choose either the kingdom of God or the kingdom of death and
destruction.
In spite of the fact that
creation is of God and essentially good, the devil at the same
time has parasitically transformed this same creation of God into
a temporary kingdom for himself.[ 41 ] The devil, death,
and sin are reigning in this world and not in another.
Both the kingdom of darkness and kingdom of light are battling
hand to hand in the same place. For this reason, the only true
victory possible over the devil is the resurrection of the dead.[ 42 ] There is no escape from the battlefield. The only choice
possible for every man is either to fight the devil by actively
sharing in the victory of Christ, or to accept the deceptions of
the devil by wanting to believe that all goes well and everything
is normal.[ 43 ]
It is obvious, according to what
has been said about St. Paul's views concerning the non-dualistic
nature of fallen creation, that for Paul there cannot exist any
system of moral laws inherent in a natural and normal universe.
Therefore, what man accepts as just and good according to his
observations of human relationships within society and nature
cannot be confused with the justice of God. The justice of God
has been revealed uniquely and fully only in Christ.[ 44 ]
No man has the right to substitute his own conception of justice
for that of God.[ 45 ]
The justice of God as revealed in
Christ does not operate according to objective rules of conduct,[ 46 ] but rather according to the personal relationships of
faith and love.[ 47 ] "The law is not made for a just
man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for
sinners..."[ 48 ] Yet the law is not evil, but good [ 49 ]
and even spiritual.[ 50 ] However, it is not enough. It is
of a temporary and pedagogical nature,[ 51 ] and in Christ
must be fulfilled [ 52 ] and surpassed by personalistic
love, according to the image of God's love as revealed in Christ.[ 53 ] Faith and love in Christ must be personal. for this
reason, faith without love is empty. "Though I have all
faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am
nothing."[ 54 ] Likewise, acts of faith bereft of love
are of no avail. "Though I bestow all my goods and though I
give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me
nothing."[ 55 ]
There is no life in the following
of objective rules. If there were such a possibility of receiving
life by living according to law, there would be no need of
redemption in Christ. "Righteousness should have been by the
law."[ 56 ] If a "law was given capable of giving
life"[ 57 ] then salvation, and not a promise, was
bestowed upon Abraham.[ 58 ] But life does not exist in the
law. It is rather of essence of God, "Who alone hath
immortality."[ 59 ] Only God can bestow life and this
He does freely, according to his own will,[ 60 ] in His own
way, and at the time of His own choosing.[ 61 ]
On the other hand, it is a grave
mistake to make the justice of God responsible for death and
corruption. Nowhere does Paul attribute the beginnings of death
and corruption to God. On the contrary, nature was subjected to
vanity and corruption by the devil,[ 62 ] who through the
sin and death of the first man managed to lodge himself
parasitically within creation, of which he was already a part but
at first not yet its tyrant. For Paul, the transgression of the
first man opened the way for the entrance of death into the
world,[ 63 ] but this enemy [ 64 ] is certainly not
the finished product of God. Neither can the death of Adam, or
even of each man, be considered the outcome of any decision of
God to punish.[ 65 ] St. Paul never suggests such an idea.
To get at the basic
presuppositions of Biblical thinking, one must abandon any
juridical scheme of human justice which demands punishment and
rewards according to objective rules of morality. To approach the
problem of original sin in such a naive manner as to say that tout
lecteur sense concilura qu'une penalite commune implique une
offense commune, and that thus all share in the guilt of
Adam,[ 66 ] is to ignore the true nature of the justice of
God and deny and real power to the devil.
The relationships which exist
among God, man and the devil are not according to rules and
regulations, but according to personalistic freedom. The fact
that there are laws forbidding one from killing his neighbor does
not imply the impossibility of killing not only one, but hundreds
of thousands of neighbors. If man can disregard rules and
regulations of good conduct, certainly the devil cannot be
expected to follow such rules if he can help it. St. Paul's
version of the devil is certainly not that of one who is simply
obeying general rules of nature and carrying out the will of God
by punishing souls in hell. Quite on the contrary, he is fighting
God dynamically by means of all possible deception, trying by all
his cunning and power to destroy the works of God.[ 67 ]
Thus salvation for man and creation cannot come by a simple act
of forgiveness of any juridical imputation of sin, nor can it
come by any payment of satisfaction to the devil (Origen) or to
God (Rome). Salvation can come only by the destruction of the
devil and his power.[ 68 ]
Thus, according to St. Paul, it
is God Himself Who has destroyed "principalities and
powers" by nailing the handwriting in ordinances, which was
against us, to the cross of Christ.[ 69 ] "God was in
Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing to them
their offences."[ 70 ] although we were in sin, God
did not hold this against us, but has declared His own justice to
those who believe in Christ.[ 71 ] The justice of God is
not according to that of men, which operates by the law of works.[ 72 ] For St. Paul, the justice of God and the love of God are
not to be separated for the sake of any juridical doctrine of
atonement. The justice of God and the love of God as revealed in
Christ are the same thing. In Romans 3:21-26, for example, the
expression, "love of God," could very easily be
substituted for the "justice of God."
It is interesting to note that
every time St. Paul speaks about the wrath of God it is always
that which is revealed to those who have become hopelessly
enslaved, by their own choosing, to the flesh and the devil.[ 73 ] Although creation is held captive in corruption, those
without the law are without excuse in worshipping and living
falsely, because "the invisible things of Him from the
creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the
things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead[ 74 ]--"Wherefore
God also gave them up to uncleanness through the desires of their
own hearts to dishonor their own bodies between
themselves..."[ 75 ] and again, "God gave them
over to reprobate mind."[ 76 ] This does not mean that
god caused them to become what they are, but rather that He gave
them up as being completely lost to corruption and the power of
the devil. One must also interpret other similar passages in like
manner.[ 77 ]
This giving up by God of people
who have already become hardened in their hearts against His
works is not restricted to the gentiles, but extends, also, to
Jews.[ 78 ] "For not the hearers of the law are just
before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified."[ 79 ] And, "For as many as have sinned in the law shall
be judged by the law."[ 80 ] The gentiles, however,
even though they are not under the Mosaic law, are not excused
from the responsibility of personal sin, for they, "having
not the law, are a law unto themselves, who shew the work of the
law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing
witness, and amongst themselves accusing or else excusing their
thoughts."[ 81 ] At the last judgment, all men,
whether under the law or not, whether hearers of Christ or not,
shall be judged by Christ according to the Gospel as preached by
Paul,[ 82 ] and not according to any system of natural
laws. Even though the invisible things of God "from the
creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the
things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead,"
there is still no such thing as moral law inherent in the
universe. The gentiles who "have not the law" but who
"do by nature the things contained in the law" are not
abiding by any natural system of moral laws in the universe. They
rather "shew the work of the law written in their hearts,
their conscience also bearing witness." Here, again, one
sees Paul's conception of personal relationships between God and
man. "God hath shewed it unto them, [ 83 ] and it is
God Who is still speaking to fallen man outside of the law,
through the conscience and in the heart, which for Paul is the
center of man's thoughts, [ 84 ] and for members of the body
of Christ the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit [ 85 ] and
Christ.[ 86 ]
Before making any attempt to
determine the meaning of original sin according to what has been
said thus far, it is necessary to examine St. Paul's conception
of the destiny of man and his anthropology.
[ Return ](a) The Destiny of Man
It would be nonsense to try to
read into Paul's theology a conception of human destiny which
accepts the aspirations and desires of what one would call
"natural man" as normal. It is normal for natural man
to seek security and happiness in the acquisition and possession
of objective goods. The scholastic theologians of the West have
often used these aspirations of natural man as proof that he is
instinctively seeking after the Absolute, the possession of which
is the only possible state of complete happiness, that is, a
state wherein it is impossible to desire anything more because
nothing better exists. This hedonistic type of approach to human
destiny is, of course, possible only for those who accept death
and corruption either as normal or, at most, as the outcome of a
decision of God to punish. If those who accept God as the
ultimate source of death were to really attribute sin to the
powers of corruption, they would in effect be making God Himself
the source of sin and evil.
For St. Paul, there is no such
thing as normality for those who have not put on Christ. The
destiny of man and creation cannot be deducted from observations
of the life of fallen man and creation. Nowhere does Paul call on
Christians to live a life of security and happiness according to
the ways of this world. On the contrary, he calls on Christians
to die to this world and the body of sin,[ 87 ] and even to
suffer in the Gospel, according to the power of God.[ 88 ]
Paul claims that "all who want to live godly lives in Christ
Jesus shall be persecuted."[ 89 ] This is hardly the
language of one who is seeking security and happiness.[ 90 ]
Nor is it possible to suppose that for Paul such sufferings
without love could be considered as the means to reach one's
destiny. This would fall under the category of payment for works
and not eh personal relationships of faith and love.[ 91 ]
St. Paul does not believe that
human destiny consists simply in becoming conformed to the rules
and regulations of nature, which supposedly remain unchanged from
the beginning of time. The relationship of the Divine Will to
human wills is not one of juridical or hedonistic submission of
the one to the other (as St. Augustine and the scholastics
thought), but rather one of personal love. St. Paul claims that
"we are co-workers of God."[ 92 ] Our
relationship of love with God is such that in Christ there is now
no longer need for law. "If ye be led by the Spirit ye are
not under the law."[ 93 ] The members of the body of
Christ are not called on to live on the level of impersonal
ordinances, but are now expected to live according to the love of
God as revealed in Christ, which needs no laws because it seeks
not its own,[ 94 ] but strives to empty itself for others
in the image of the love of Christ.[ 95 ]
The love and justice of God have
been revealed once and for all in Christ [ 96 ] by the
destruction of the devil [ 97 ] and the deliverance of man
from the body of death and sin,[ 98 ] so that man may
actually become an imitator of God Himself, [ 99 ] Who has
predestined His elect to become "conformed to the image of
His Son,"[ 100 ] who did nothing to please Himself but
suffered for others.[ 101 ] Christ died so that the living
should no longer live unto themselves,[ 102 ] but should
become perfect men, even "unto the measure of the stature of
the fulness of Christ."[ 103 ] Christians are no
longer to live according to the rudiments of this world, as
though living in this world,[ 104 ] but are to have the
same mind as Christ,[ 105 ] so that in Christ they may
become perfect.[ 106 ] Men are no longer to love their
wives according to the world, but must love their wives exactly
"as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it."[ 107 ] The destiny of man is not happiness and
self-satisfaction,[ 108 ] but rather perfection in Christ.
Man must become perfect, as God [ 109 ] and Christ are
perfect.[ 110 ] such perfection can come only through the
personalistic power of divine and selfless love,[ 111 ]
"which is the bond of perfection."[ 112 ] This
love is not to be confused with the love of fallen man who seeks
his own.[ 113 ] Love in Christ does not seek its own, but
that of the other.[ 114 ]
To become perfect according to
the image of Christ is not restricted to the realm of love, but
forms and inseparable part of the salvation of the total man and
creation alike. Man's body of humility will be transformed to
become "conformed" to Christ's "body of
glory."[ 115 ] man is destined to become, like Christ,
perfect according to the body also. "He Who raised Christ
from the dead shall bring to life also your mortal bodies by His
Spirit which dwells in you."[ 116 ]
St. Paul claims that death is the
enemy [ 117 ] which came into the world and passed unto all
men through the sin of one man.[ 118 ] not only many, but
all of creation became subject to corruption.[ 119 ] The
subjugation of man and creation to the power of the devil and
death was obviously a temporary frustration of the original
destiny of man and creation. It is false to read into Paul's
statements about the first and second Adams the idea that Adam
would have died even though he had not sinned, simply because the
first Adam was made eis psychen zosan--which expression,
according to St. Paul's usage within the context, clearly means
mortal.[ 120 ] Adam could very well have been created not
naturally immortal, but if he had not sinned there is no reason
to believe that he would not have become immortal by nature.[ 121 ] This is certainly implied by the extraordinary powers
St. Paul attributes to death and corruption.
[ Return ](b) Anthropology of St. Paul
as we have said, for St. Paul,
the law is good [ 122 ] and even spiritual.[ 123 ]
According to the "inner man" this is obvious.[ 124 ]
But in spite of the fact that he can possess the will to do good
according to the law he cannot find the power to do the good [ 125 ]
because he is "carnal and sold under sin."[ 126 ]
If he himself, according to the "inner man," wants to
do good but cannot, it is no longer he who does the evil, but sin
that dwelleth in him.[ 127 ] So he asks, "O wretched
man that I am! who will deliver me from the body of this
death?"[ 128 ] To be delivered from the "body of
this death" is to be saved from the power of sin dwelling in
the flesh. Thus, "the law of the spirit of life in Christ
Jesus has liberated me from the law of sin and death."[ 129 ]
It is misleading to try to
interpret this section [ 130 ] of Paul according to a
dualistic anthropology, which would make the term, sarkikos,
refer only to the lower appetites of the body--and especially of
the sexual desires--to the exclusion of the soul. The word, sarkikos,
is not used by Paul in such a context. Elsewhere, St. Paul
reminds married people that they have not authority over their
own bodies and so should not deprive one another, "unless it
be with consent for a time that ye may give yourselves to fasting
and prayer, and come together again that Satan may not tempt you
for your incontinency.[ 131 ] [ 132 ] To the Corinthians he
declare that they are an epistle written not with ink, "but
with the spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in
fleshly tables of the heart--en plaxi kardias sarkinais."[ 133 ] Christ was known according to the flesh [ 134 ]
and "God was manifested in the flesh."[ 135 ] St.
Paul asks whether, if he has planted spiritual things amongst the
Corinthians, it is such a great thing if he shall reap the sarkika
[ 136 ]. Nowhere does he use the adjective, sarkikos,
exclusively in reference to the sexual, or what is commonly
called the desires of the flesh in contrast to those of the soul.
It seems that St. Paul attributes
a positive power of sin to the sarx as such only in the
epistle to the Galatians, who, having begun int he Spirit, now
think that they are being perfected in the flesh.[ 137 ]
The sarx here has a will which desires against the pneuma.[ 138 ] "The works of the flesh are manifest, which a re
these; adultery, fornication, uncleanliness, lasciviousness,
idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath,
strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness,
revellings and such like."[ 139 ] Most of these works
of the sarkos would require the very active, and even
initiative, participation of the intellect, which here is an
indication that the sarx, for Paul, is much more than what
any dualistic anthropology would be ready to admit. The flesh as
such, however, as a positive force of sin, found over-emphasized
in Galatians, where Paul is infuriated over the foolishness of
his readers,[ 140 ] cannot be isolated from other
references, where sin parasitically dwells in the flesh [ 141 ]
and where the flesh itself is not only not evil,[ 142 ] but
that in which God Himself has been manifested.[ 143 ] The
flesh as such is not evil, but has become very much weakened by
sin and the enmity which dwells in it.[ 144 ]
To understand St. Paul's
anthropology, it is necessary to refer not to the dualistic
anthropology of the Greek,s who made a clear cut distinction
between soul and body, but rather to the Hebraic frame of
references, in which sarx and psyche (flesh and
soul) both denote the whole living person and not any part of
him.[ 145 ] Thus, in the Old Testament the expression, pasa
sarx (all flesh), is employed for all living things,[ 146 ]
as well as for man in particular.[ 147 ] The expression, pasa
psyche (all souls), is used in the same manner.[ 148 ]
In the New Testament, both expressions, pasa sarx [ 149 ]
and pasa psyche, [ 150 ] are used in perfect accord
with the Old Testament context.
Thus we find that, for St. Paul,
to be sarkikos [ 151 ] and psychikos [ 152 ]
means exactly the same thing. "Flesh and blood (sarx kai
haima) cannot inherit the kingdom of God"[ 153 ]
because corruption cannot inherit incorruption.[ 154 ] For
this reason, a soma psychikon is "sown in
corruption" and raised in incorruption; it is sown in
dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is
raised in power."[ 155 ] "A soma psychikon
is sown, and a soma pneumatikon is raised. There is a soma
psychikon and there is a soma pneumatikon!"[ 156 ] Both the sarkikon and the psychikon and
dominated by death and corruption and so cannot inherit the
kingdom of life. This only the pneumatikon can do.
"However, the pneumatikon is not first, but the psychikon,
and afterward the pneumatikon. The first man is from the
earth; earthy; the second man, the Lord, from heaven."[ 157 ] That the first man became eis psychen zosan (a
living soul), for Paul, means exactly that he became psychikon,
and therefore subject to corruption,[ 158 ] because
"from the earth, earthy..."[ 159 ] Such
expressions do not admit of any dualistic anthropology. A soma
psychikon "from the earth, earthy," or a psyche
zosa "from the earth, earthy," would lead to
impossible confusion if interpreted from the viewpoint of a
dualism which distinguishes between the body and soul, the lower
and the higher, the material and the purely spiritual. What,
then, would a psyche zosa be, which came from the earth
and is earthy? In speaking of death, a dualist could never say
that a soma psychikon is sown in corruption. He would
rather have to say that the soul leaves the body, which alone is
sown in corruption.
Neither the psyche nor the
pneuma is the intellectual part of man. To quote I
Corinthians 2:11 (tis gar oiden anthropon ta tou anthropou ei
me to pneuma tou anthropou to en auto?) or I Thessalonians
5:23 (Autos o Theos tea eirenes hagiasai hymas holoteleis, kai
holokleron hymon to pneuma kai he psyche kai to soma amemptos en
te parousia toy K.H.I.X. teretheie) does not prove otherwise.
One cannot take these expressions in isolation from the rest of
Paul's writings for the sake of trying to make him speak the
language of even a Thomistic dualist, as is done, for example, by
F. Prat in La Theologie de s.Paul, t.2, pp. 62-63.
Elsewhere, in speaking against the practise of certain
individuals' praying publicly in unknown tongues, St. Paul says,
"If I pray in an unknown tongue my pnuema prays, but
my mind is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray with the pneuma
and I will pray with the mind also."[ 160 ] Here a
sharp distinction is made between the pneuma and the nous
(mind). Therefore, for St. Paul, the realm of pneuma does
not belong within the category of human understanding. It is of
another dimension.
In order to express the idea of
intellect or understanding all four evangelists use the word, kardia
(heart).[ 161 ] The word, nous (mind), is used only
once by St. Luke.[ 162 ] In contrast, St. Paul makes use of
both kardia [ 163 ] and nous [ 164 ] to
denote the faculty of intelligence. Nous, however, cannot
be taken for any such thing as the intellectual faculties of an
immaterial soul. Nous is rather synonymous with kardia,
which in turn is synonymous with the eso anthropon.
The Holy Spirit is sent by God
into the kardia, [ 165 ] or into the eso anthropon,
[ 166 ] that Christ may dwell in the kardia.[ 167 ]
The kardia and the eso anthropon are the dwelling
place of the Holy Spirit. Man delights in the law of God
according to the eso anthropon, but there is another law
in his members which wars against he law of the nous.[ 168 ] Here the nous is clearly synonymous with the eso
anthropon, which in turn is the kardia, the dwelling
place of the Holy Spirit and Christ.[ 169 ]
To walk in the vanity of the nous,
with the dianoia darkened, being alienated from the life
of God through ignorance, is a result of the "hardening of
the heart--dia ten perosin test kardias."[ 170 ]
It is the heart which is the seat of man's free will, and it is
here where man by his own choice either becomes blinded [ 171 ]
and hardened,[ 172 ] or else enlightened in his
understanding of the hope, glory, and power in Christ.[ 173 ]
It is in the heart where the secrets of men are kept,[ 174 ]
and it is Christ "Who both will bring to light the hidden
things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the
heart."[ 175 ]
It would be absurd to interpret
St. Paul's use of the expressions, eso anthropon and nous,
according to a dualistic anthropology by ignoring his use of the
word, kardia, which is in perfect accord with the New
Testament and Old Testament writers. By using such words as nous
and eso anthropon, Paul is certainly introducing new
terminology, foreign to traditional Hebraic usage, but he is
definitely not introducing any new anthropology based on
Hellenistic dualism. St. Paul never refers to either psyche
or pneuma as faculties of human intelligence. His
anthropology is Hebraic and not Hellenistic.
In both the Old and New
Testaments, one finds the expression, to pneuma tes zoes
(the spirit of life), but never to pneuma zon (the living
spirit).[ 176 ] Also, one finds psyche zosa (the
living soul), but never psyche tes zoes (the soul of
life).[ 177 ] This is due to the fact that the psyche,
or sarx, lives only by participation, while the pneuma
is itself the principle of life given to man as a gift from God,[ 178 ] "Who alone hath immortality."[ 179 ]
God gives man of His Own uncreated life without destroying the
freedom of human personality. Thus, man is not an intellectual
form fashioned according to a predetermined essence or universal
idea of man whose destiny is to become conformed to a state of
mechanical contentment in the presence of God whereby his will
become sterile and immobile in a state of complete
self-satisfaction and happiness (e.g., according to the
Neo-platonic teaching of St. Augustine and the Roman scholastics
in general concerning human destiny). The personality of man does
not consist of an immaterial intellectual soul which has life of
itself and uses the body simply as a dwelling place. The sarx,
or psyche, is the total man, and the kardia is the
center of intelligence where the will has complete independence
of choice to become either hardened to truth or receptive to
divine enlightenment from without. The pneuma of man is
not the center of human personality, nor is it that faculty which
rules the actions of men, but rather it is the spark of divine
life given to man as his principle of life. Thus, man can live
according to the pneuma tes zoes or according to the law
of the flesh, which is death and corruption. The very personality
of man, therefore, although created by God Himself, remains
outside of the essence of God,a nd therefore completely free
either to reject the act of creation, for which he was not
consulted, or to accept the creative love of God by living
according to the pneuma, given to him for this purpose by
God.
"The mind of the flesh is
death, but the mind of the spirit is life and peace."[ 180 ] Those who live according to the flesh shall die.[ 181 ] Those who mortify the deeds of the flesh by the spirit
shall live.[ 182 ] The spirit of man, however, deprived of
union with the vivifying spirit of God, is hopelessly weak
against the flesh dominated by death and corruption [ 183 ]--"Who
shall deliver me from the body of this death."[ 184 ]
And, "the law of the pneumatos tes zoes (spirit of
life) in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death."[ 185 ] Only those whose spirit has been
renewed [ 186 ] by union with the Spirit of God [ 187 ]
can fight the desires of the flesh. Only those who are given the
Spirit of God and hear Its voice in the life of the body of
Christ are able to fight against sin. "The Spirit itself
beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of
God."[ 188 ]
Although the spirit of man is the
principle of life given to him by God, it can still partake of
the filthiness of fleshly works. For this reason, it is necessary
for Christians to guard against the corruption not only of the
flesh, but of the spirit, also.[ 189 ] The union of man's
spirit with the Spirit of God in baptism is no magical guarantee
against the possibility of their separation. To become again
enslaved tot he works of the flesh may very well lead to
exclusion from the body of Christ.[ 190 ] The Spirit of God
is given to man that Christ may dwell in the heart.[ 191 ]
"Now if any an have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of
His."[ 192 ] To have the Spirit of God dwelling in the
body is to be, also, a member of the body of Christ. To be
deprived of the one is to be cut off from the other. It is
impossible to be in communion with only part of God. Communion
with Christ through the Spirit is communion with the whole
Godhead. Exclusion from the One Person is exclusion from all
Three Persons.
"The works of the flesh are
manifest..."[ 193 ] "The mind of the flesh is
enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God,
neither indeed can it be. So then they that are in the flesh
cannot please God.[ 194 ] Such people are enslaved to the
power of death and corruption in the flesh. They must be saved
from the "Body of this death."[ 195 ] On the
other hand, those who have been buried with Christ through
baptism have died to the body of sin and are living unto Christ.[ 196 ] They are no longer living according to the desires of
flesh, but of the spirit. "The fruit of the spirit is love,
joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,
temperance--against such there is no law. And they that are
Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and
lusts."[ 197 ]
It is clear that, for St. Paul,
the union of man's spirit with the Spirit of God in the life of
love within the body of Christ is life and salvation. On the
other hand, to live according tot he desires of the flesh,
dominated by the powers of death and corruption, means
death--"For the mind of the flesh is death."[ 198 ]
St. Paul is dealing throughout his epistles with the categories
of life and death. God is life. The devil holds the reins of
death and corruption. Unity with God in the Spirit, through the
body of Christ in the life of love, is life and brings salvation
and perfection. Separation of man's spirit from the divine life
in the body of Christ is slavery to the powers of death and
corruption used by the devil to destroy the works of God. The
life of the spirit is unity and love. The life according to the
flesh is disunity and dissolution in death and corruption.
It is absolutely necessary to
grasp the essential spirit of St. Paul's usage of the words, sarx,
psyche, and pneuma, in order to avoid the
widespread confusion that dominates the field of inquiry into
Pauline theology. St. Paul is never speaking in terms of
immaterial rational souls in contrast to material bodies. Sarx
and psyche are synonymous and comprise, together with the pneuma,
the total man. To live according to the pneuma is not to
live a life according to the lower half of man. On the contrary,
to live according to the sarx, or psyche, is to
live according to the law of death. To live according to the
spirit is to live according to the law of life and love.
Those who are sarkikoi
cannot live according to their original destiny of selfless love
for God and neighbor, because they are dominated by the power of
death and corruption. "the sting of death is sin."[ 199 ] Sin reigned in death.[ 200 ] Death is the last
enemy to be destroyed.[ 201 ] So long as man lives
according tot he law of death, in the flesh, he cannot please God
[ 202 ] because he does not live according to the law of
life and love. "The mind of the flesh is enmity against God
for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be."[ 203 ] In order to live according to his original destiny, man
must be liberated from "the body of this death."[ 204 ] This liberation from the power of death and corruption
has come from God, Who sent His own Son "in the likeness of
sinful flesh" to deliver man "from the law of sin and
death."[ 205 ] But, although the power of death and
sin has thus been destroyed by the death and resurrection of
Christ, participation in this victory can come only through dying
to this world with Christ in the waters of baptism.[ 206 ]
It is only by dying in baptism and then continuously dying to the
rudiments and ways of the world that the members of the body of
Christ can become perfect as God is perfect.
The importance that St. Paul
attributes to dying to the rudiments of this world in order to
live according to the "spirit of life" cannot be
exaggerated. To try to pass off his insistence on complete
self-denial for salvation as a product of eschatological
enthusiasts is to miss completely the very basis of the New
Testament message. If the destruction of the devil, death and
corruption is salvation and the only condition for life according
to man's original destiny, then the means of passing from the
realm of death and its consequences to the realm of life, in the
victory of Christ over death, must be taken very seriously. For
Paul, the way from death to life is communion with the death and
life of Christ in baptism and a continuous life of live within
the body of Christ. This new life of love within the body of
Christ, however, must be accompanied by a continuous death to the
ways of this world, which is dominated by the law of death and
corruption in the hands of the devil. Participation in the
victory over death does not come simply by having a magical faith
and a general sentiment of vague love for humanity (Luther). Full
membership int he body of Christ can come only by dying in the
waters of baptism with Christ, and living according to the law of
the "spirit of life." Catechumens and penitents
certainly had faith, but they either had not yet passed through
death, in baptism, to the new life, or else, once having died to
the flesh in baptism, they failed to remain steadfast and allowed
the power of death and corruption to regain its dominance over
the "spirit of life."
In regard to St. Paul's teaching
concerning baptismal death to the rudiments of this world, it is
interesting to note his usage of the word, soma, to
designate the communion of those in Christ who constitute the
Church. The word, soma, in both the Old and New
Testaments, apart from Paul, is used predominantly to designate a
dead person, or corpse.[ 207 ] At the Last Supper, our Lord
used the word, soma, most likely to designate the fact
that He was to pass through death, while his use of the word, haima,
was to show his returning to life--since, for the Old Testament,
blood is the element of life.[ 208 ] Thus, at the Last
Supper as at every Eucharist, there is a proclamation and
confession of the death and resurrection of Christ. According to
the presuppositions set forth by St. Paul concerning baptismal
death, it is very possible to describe the Church as the soma
of Christ no only because of the indwelling of Christ and the
Holy Spirit in the bodies of Christian, but also because all the
members of Christ have died to the body of sin in the waters of
baptism. Before sharing in the life of Christ, on must first
become an actual soma by being liberated from the devil in
passing through a death to the ways of this world and living
according to the "spirit."[ 209 ]
St. Paul does not say anywhere
that the whole human race has been accounted guilty of the sin of
Adam and is therefore punished by God with death. Death is an
evil force which made its way into the world through sin, lodged
itself in the world, and, in the person of Satan, is reigning
both in man and creation. For this reason, although man can know
the good through the law written in his heart and may wish to do
what is good, he cannot because of the sin which is dwelling in
his flesh. Therefore, it is not he who does the evil, but sin
that dwelleth in him. Because of this sin, he cannot find the
means to do good. He must be saved from "the body of this
death."[ 210 ] Only then can he do good. What can Paul
mean by such statements? A proper answer is to be found only when
St. Paul's doctrine of human destiny is taken into account.
If man was created for a life of
complete selfless love, whereby his actions would always be
directed outward, toward God and neighbor, and never toward
himself--whereby he would be the perfect image and likeness of
God--then it is obvious that the power of death and corruption
has now made it impossible to live such a life of perfection. The
power of death in the universe has brought with it the will for
self-preservation, fear, and anxiety,[ 211 ] which in turn
are the root causes of self-assertion, egoism, hatred, envy and
the like. Because man is afraid of becoming meaningless, he is
constantly endeavoring to prove, to himself and others, that he
is worth something. He thirsts after compliments and is afraid of
insults. He seeks his own and is jealous of the successes of
others. He likes those who like him, and hates those who hate
him. He either seeks security and happiness in wealth, glory and
bodily pleasures, or imagines that this destiny is to be happy in
the possession of the presence of God by an introverted and
individualistic and inclined to mistake his desires for
self-satisfaction and happiness for his normal destiny. On the
other hand, he can become zealous over vague ideological
principles of love for humanity and yet hate his closest
neighbors. These are the works of the flesh of which St. Paul
speaks.[ 212 ] Underlying every movement of what the world
has come to regard as normal man, is the quest for security and
happiness. But such desires are not normal. They are the
consequences of perversion by death and corruption, though which
the devil pervades all of creation, dividing and destroying. This
power is so great that even if man wishes to live according to
his original destiny it is impossible because of the sin which is
dwelling in the flesh [ 213 ]--"Who will deliver me
from the body of this death?"[ 214 ]
To share in the love of God,
without any concern for one's self, is also to share in the life
and truth of God. Love, life and truth in God are one and can be
found only in God. The turning away of love from God and neighbor
toward the self is breaking of communion with the life and truth
of God, which cannot be separated from His love. The breaking of
this communion with God can be consummated only in death, because
nothing created can continue indefinitely to exist of itself.[ 215 ] Thus, by the transgression of the first man, the
principle of "sin (the devil) entered into the world and
through sin death, and so death passed upon all men..."[ 216 ] Not only humanity, but all of creation has become
subjected to death and corruption by the devil.[ 217 ]
Because man is inseparably a part of, and in constant communion
with, creation and is linked through procreation to the whole
historical process of humanity, the fall of creation through on
man automatically involves the fall and corruption of all men. It
is through death and corruption that all of humanity and creation
is held captive to the devil and involved in sin, because it is
by death that man falls short of his original destiny, which was
to love God and neighbor without concern for the self. Man does
not die because he is guilty for the sin of Adam.[ 218 ] He
becomes a sinner because he is yoked to the power of the devil
through death and its consequences.[ 219 ]
St. Paul clearly says that
"the sting of death is sin,"[ 220 ] that
"sin reigned in death,"[ 221 ] and that death is
"the last enemy that shall be destroyed."[ 222 ]
In his epistles, he is especially inspired when he is speaking
about the victory of Christ over death and corruption. It would
be highly illogical to try to interpret Pauline thought with the
presuppositions (1) that death is normal or (2) that at most, it
is the outcome of a juridical decision of God to punish the whole
human race for one sin, (3) that happiness is the ultimate
destiny of man, and (4) that the soul is immaterial, naturally
immortal and directly created by God at conception and is
therefore normal and pure of defects (Roman scholasticism). The
Pauline doctrine of man's inability to do the good which he is
capable of acknowledging according to the "inner man"
can be understood only if one takes seriously the power of death
and corruption in the flesh, which makes it impossible for man to
live according to his original destiny.
The moralistic problem raised by
St. Augustine concerning the transmission of death to the
descendants of Adam as punishment for the one original
transgression is foreign to Paul's thoughts. The death of each
man cannot be considered the outcome of personal guilt. St. Paul
is not thinking as a philosophical moralist looking for the cause
of the fall of humanity and creation in the breaking of objective
rules of good behavior, which demands punishment from a God whose
justice is in the image of the justice of this world. Paul is
clearly thinking of the fall in terms of a personalistic warfare
between God and Satan, in which Satan is not obliged to follow
any sort of moral rules if he can help it. It is for this reason
that St. Paul can say that the serpent "deceived Eve"[ 223 ]
and that "Adam was not deceived, but the woman being
deceived was in the transgression."[ 224 ] Man was not
punished by God, but taken captive by the devil.
this interpretation is further
made clear by the fact that Paul is insisting that "until
the law sin was int he world, but sin is not imputed when there
is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even
over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's
transgression."[ 225 ] It is clear that Paul here is
denying anything like a general personal guilt for the sin of
Adam. Sin was, however, in the world, since death reigned even
over them who had not sinned as Adam sinned. Sin here is
obviously the person of Satan, who ruled the world through death
even before the coming of the law. This is the only possible
interpretation of this statement, because it is clearly supported
elsewhere by Paul's teachings concerning the extraordinary powers
of the devil, especially in Romans 8:19-21. St. Paul's statements
should be taken very literally when he says that the last enemy
to be destroyed is death [ 226 ] and that "the sting of
death is sin."[ 227 ]
From what has been observed, the
famous expression, eph'ho pantes hemarton,[ 228 ]
can be safely interpreted as modifying the word, thanatos,
which preceeds it, and which grammatically is the only word which
fits the context. Eph'ho as a reference to Adam is both
grammatically and exegetically impossible. Such an interpretation
was first introduced by Origen, who obviously used it with a
purpose in mind, because he believed in the pre-existence of all
souls whereby he could easily say that all sinned in Adam. The
interpretation of eph'ho as "because" was first
introduced into the East by Photius,[ 229 ] who claims that
there are two interpretations prevalent--Adam and thanatos--but
he would interpret it dioti (because). He bases his
argument on a false interpretation of II Corinthians 5:4 by
interpreting eph'ho, here again, as dioti. But here
it is quite clear that eph'ho refers to skensi (eph'ho
skenei ou thelomen ekdysasthai). Photius is interpreting Paul
within the framework of natural moral law and is seeking to
justify the death of all men by personal guilt. He claims that
all men die because they sin by following in the footsteps of
Adam.[ 230 ] However, neither he nor any of the Eastern
Fathers accepts the teaching that all men are made guilty for the
sin of Adam.
From purely grammatical
considerations it is impossible to interpret eph'ho as a
reference to any word other than thanatos. Each time the
grammatical construction of the preposition epi with the
dative is used by Paul, it is always used as a relative pronoun
which modifies a preceding noun [ 231 ] or phrase.[ 232 ]
To make an exception in Romans 5:12 by making St. Paul use the
wrong Greek expression to express the idea, "because,"
is to beg the issue. The correct interpretation of this passage,
both grammatically and exegetically, can be supplied only when eph'ho
is understood to modify thanatos--kai houtos eis pantas
anthropous ho thanatos dielthen eph'ho (thanato) pantes hemarton--"because
of which" (death), or "on the basis of which"
(death), or "for which (death) all have sinned." Satan,
being himself the principle of sin, through death and corruption
involves all of humanity and creation in sin and death. Thus, to
be under the power of death according to Paul is to be a slave to
the devil and a sinner, because of the inability of the flesh to
live according to the law of God, which is selfless love.
The theory of the transmission of
original sin and guilt is certainly not found in St. Paul, who
can be interpreted neither in terms of juridicism nor in terms of
any dualism which distinguishes between the material and the
allegedly pure, spiritual, and intellectual parts of man. It is
no wonder that some Biblical scholars are at a loss when they
cannot find in the Old testament any clear-cut support for what
they take to be the Pauline doctrine of original sin in terms of
moral guilt and punishment.[ 233 ] The same perplexity is
met by many moralistic Western scholars when they study the
Eastern Fathers.[ 234 ] Consequently, St. Augustine is
popularly supposed to be the first and only of the early Fathers
who understood the theology of St. Paul. This is clearly a myth,
from which both Protestants and Romans need liberation.
It is only when one understands
the meaning of death and its consequences that one can understand
the life of the ancient Church, and especially its attitude
toward martyrdom. Being already dead to the world in baptism, and
having their life hidden with Christ in God,[ 235 ]
Christians could not falter in the face of death. They were
already dead, and yet living in Christ. To be afraid of death was
to be still under the power of the devil--II Timothy 1:7:
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power,
and of love, and of sound mind." In trying to convince the
Roman Christians not to hinder his martyrdom, St. Ignatius wrote:
"The prince of this world would fain carry me away, and
corrupt my disposition toward God. Let none of you therefore, who
are in Rome, help him."[ 236 ] The Cyprianic
controversy over the fallen during times of persecution was
violent, because the Church understood that it was a
contradiction to die in baptism and then to deny Christ for fear
of death and torture. The canons of the Church, although today
generally ignored as an aid to understanding the inner faith of
the ancient Church, still remain very severe for those who would
reject their faith for fear of death.[ 237 ] Such an
attitude towards death is not the product of eschatological
frenzy and enthusiasm, but rather of a clear recognition of who
the devil is, what his thoughts are,[ 238 ] what his powers
over humanity and creation are, how he is destroyed through
baptism and the mystagogical life within the body of Christ,
which is the Church. Oscar Cullman is seriously mistaken in
trying to make the New Testament writers say that Satan and the
evil demons have been deprived of their power, and that now leur
puissance n'est qu'apparente.[ 239 ] The greatest power
of the devil is death, which is destroyed only within the body of
Christ, where the faithful are continuously engaged in the
struggle against Satan by striving for selfless love. This combat
against the devil and striving for selfless love is centered in
the corporate Eucharistic life of the local community--"For
when you assemble frequently epi to auto (in the same
place) the powers of Satan are destroyed and the destruction at
which he aims is prevented by the unity of your faith."[ 240 ] Anyone, therefore, who does not hear the Spirit within
him calling him tothe Eucharistic assembly for the corporate life
of selfless love is obviously under the sway of the devil.
"He, therefore, who does not assemble with the Church, has
even by this manifested his pride and condemned himself..."[ 241 ] The world outside of the corporate life of love, in the
sacraments, is still under the power of the consequences of death
and therefore a slave to the devil. The devil is already defeated
only because his power has been destroyed by the birth, life,
death and resurrection of Christ; and this defeat is perpetuated
only in the remnant of those saved before Christ and after
Christ. Both those saved before Christ and after Him are saved by
His death and resurrection, and make up the New Jerusalem.
Against this Church the devil cannot prevail, and by this fact he
is already defeated. But his power outside of those who are saved
remains the same.[ 242 ] Satan is still "the god of
this world,"[ 243 ] and it is for this reason that
Christians must live as if not living in this world.[ 244 ]
The modern Biblical scholar
cannot claim to be objective if his examination of Biblical
theology is one-sided, or governed by certain philosophical
prejudices. The modern school of Biblical criticism is clearly
making a false attempt to get at the essential form of the
original kyregma, while remaining quite ignorant and blind to the
very essence of the Old and New Testament analysis of the fallen
state of humanity and creation, especially in regard to its
teachings concerning the natures of God and Satan. Thus, one sees
the anti-liberal tendencies of modern Protestantism, accepting
the method of Biblical criticism and at the same time trying to
salvage what it takes to be the essential message of the Gospel
writers. yet, in all their pseudo-scientific method of research,
writers of this school fail to come to any definite conclusions
because they stubbornly refuse to take seriously the Biblical
doctrine of Satan, death and corruption. For this reason, such a
question as whether or not the body of Christ was really
resurrected is not regarded as important--e.g., Emil Brunner, The
Mediator. What is important is the faith that Christ is the
unique Savior in history, even though very possibly not
resurrected in history. How he saves and what he saves men from
is presumably a secondary question.
It is clear that for St. Paul the
bodily resurrection of Christ is the destruction of the devil,
death, and corruption. Christ is the first fruits from the dead.[ 245 ] If there is no resurrection there can be no salvation.[ 246 ] Since death is a consequence of the discontinuation of
communion with the life and love of God, and thereby a captivity
of man and creation by the devil, then only a real resurrection
can destroy the power of the devil. It is inaccurate and shallow
thinking to try to pass off as Biblical the idea that the
question of a real bodily resurrection is of secondary
importance. At the center of Biblical and patristic thought there
is clearly a Christology of real union, which is conditioned by
the Biblical doctrine of Satan, death and corruption, and human
destiny. Satan is governing through death, materially and
physically. His defeat must be also material and physical.
Restoration of communion must be not only in the realm of mental
attitude, but, more important, through creation, of which man is
an inseparable part. Without a clear understanding of the
Biblical doctrine of Satan and his power, it is impossible to
understand the sacramental life of the body of Christ, and, by
consequence, the doctrine of the Fathers concerning Christology
and Trinity becomes a meaningless diversion of scholastic
specialists. Both Roman scholastics and Protestants are
undeniably heretical in their doctrines of grace and ecclesiology
simply because they do not see any longer that salvation is only
the union of man with the life of God in the body of Christ,
where the devil is being ontologically and really destroyed in
the life of love. Outside of the life of unity with each other
and Christ in the sacramental life of corporate love there is no
salvation, because the devil is still ruling the world through
the consequences of death and corruption. Extra-sacramental
organizations, such as the papacy, cannot be fostered off as the
essence of Christianity because they are clearly under the
influence of worldly considerations and do not have as their sole
aim the life of selfless love. In Western Christianity, the
dogmas of the Church have become the object of logical gymnastics
in the classrooms of philosophy. What is usually taken as natural
human reason is set up as the exponent of revealed theology. The
teachings of the Church concerning the Holy Trinity, Christology,
and Grace, are no longer the accepted expressions of the
continuous and existential experience of the body of Christ,
living within the very life of the Holy Trinity through the human
nature of Christ, in whose flesh the devil has been destroyed and
against whose body (the Church) the gates of death (hades) cannot
prevail.
It is the mission of Orthodox
theology today to bring an awakening to Western Christianity, but
in order to do this the Orthodox themselves must rediscover their
own traditions and cease, once and for all, accepting the
corroding infiltration of Western theological confusion into
Orthodox theology. It is only by returning to the Biblical
understanding of Satan and human destiny that the sacraments of
the Church can once again become the source and strength of
Orthodox theology. The enemy of life and love can be destroyed
only when Christians can confidently say, "we are not
ignorant of his thoughts."[ 247 ] Any theology which
cannot define with exactitude the methods and deceptions of the
devil is clearly heretical, because such a theology is already
deceived by the devil. It is for this reason that the Fathers
could assert that heresy is the work of the devil.
|
[ 2 ] St. Athanasius, De Incarnatione Verbi Dei, 4
[ 3 ] I Tim. 4:4
[ 4 ] Rom. 5:12
[ 5 ] Rom. 8:20
[ 6 ] Rom. 8:21-23
[ 7 ] I Cor. 15:26
[ 8 ] II Cor. 4:3
[ 9 ] Rom. 1:20
[ 10 ] Rom. 8:20
[ 11 ] Rom. 7:15-25
[ 12 ] Rom 11:5
[ 13 ] II Cor. 4:3
[ 14 ] I Cor. 15:56
[ 15 ] Rom. 3:9-12; 5:19
[ 16 ] Rom. 5:13
[ 17 ] II Cor. 4:3; 11:14; Eph. 6:11-17; II Thes. 2:8
[ 18 ] Rom. 8:24
[ 19 ] Col. 2:8
[ 20 ] e.g., St. Cyrill of Alexandria, Migne, P.G.t. 74, c.
788-789
[ 21 ] II Tim. 2:26
[ 22 ] II Cor. 2:11
[ 23 ] I Tim. 2:14; 4:14; II Tim. 2:26; II Cor. 11:14; 4:3;
2:11; 11:3
[ 24 ] Eph. 6:11-17
[ 25 ] I Cor. 7:5; II Cor. 2:11; 11:3; Eph. 4:27; I Thes.
3:5; I Tim. 3:6; 3:7; 4:1; 5:14
[ 26 ] II Cor. 11:14; 4:3; Eph 2:2; 6:11-17; I Thes. 2:18;
3:5; II Thes. 2:9; I Tim. 2:14; 3:7; II Tim. 2:25-26
[ 27 ] II Cor. 11:15
[ 28 ] II Thes. 2:9
[ 29 ] Eph 6:12; Col. 2:15
[ 30 ] II Cor. 4:4
[ 31 ] II Cor. 11:3; I Tim. 2:14
[ 32 ] Ibid.
[ 33 ] Rom. 8:19-22
[ 34 ] I Cor. 15:56
[ 35 ] Rom. 5:21
[ 36 ] Rom. 8:20
[ 37 ] Rom. 8:21
[ 38 ] I Cor. 15:24-26
[ 39 ] I Cor. 15:54
[ 40 ] Col. 2:13-15; I Cor. 15:24-27; 15:54-57
[ 41 ] II Cor. 4:3; Gal. 1:4; Eph. 6:12
[ 42 ] I Cor. 15:1 ff.
[ 43 ] Rom. 12:2; I Cor. 2:12; 11:32; II Cor. 4:3; Col. 2:20;
II Thes. 2:9; II Tim. 4:10; Col. 2:8; I Cor. 5:10
[ 44 ] Rom. 1:17; 3:21-26
[ 45 ] Rom. 10:2-4; Phil. 3:8
[ 46 ] Rom. 3:20; 5:15 ff; 9:32
[ 47 ] Rom. 9:30-10:10; I Cor. 13:1-14:1; I Tim. 5:8
[ 48 ] I Tim. 1:9-10
[ 49 ] I Tim. 1:18
[ 50 ] Rom. 7:14
[ 51 ] Gal. 3:24
[ 52 ] Gal. 5:13
[ 53 ] Rom. 8:29; 15:1-3; 15:7; I Cor. 2:16; 10:33; 13:1 ff;
15:49; II cor. 3:13; Gal. 4:19; Eph. 4:13; 5:1; 5:25; Phil. 2:5;
Col. 3:10; I Thes. 1:6
[ 54 ] I Cor. 13:2
[ 55 ] I Cor. 13:3
[ 56 ] Gal. 3:21
[ 57 ] Ibid.
[ 58 ] Gal. 3:18
[ 59 ] I Tim. 6:16
[ 60 ] Rom. 9:16
[ 61 ] Rom. 3:26; Eph. 2:4-6; I Tim. 6:15
[ 62 ] II Cor. 11:13; I Tim 2:14
[ 63 ] Rom. 5:12
[ 64 ] I Cor. 15:26
[ 65 ] St. Gregory Palamas, Kephalia Physica, 52,
Migne, P.G.T. 150-A
[ 66 ] F. Prat, La Theologie de saint Paul, Paris
1924, t.c. pp. 67-68
[ 67 ] Rom. 8:20; I Cor. 10:10; II Cor. 2:11; 4:3; 11:3;
11:14; Eph. 2:1-3; 6:11-17; I Thes. 2:18; 3:5; II Thes. 2:9; I
Tim. 2:14; 5:14; II Tim. 2:26
[ 68 ] Col. 2:15; I Cor. 15:24-26; 15:53-57; Rom. 8:21
[ 69 ] Col. 2:14-15
[ 70 ] II Cor. 5:19
[ 71 ] Rom. 3:20-27
[ 72 ] Rom. 10:3; Phil. 3:8
[ 73 ] Rom. 1:18 ff
[ 74 ] Rom. 1:20
[ 75 ] Rom. 1:24
[ 76 ] Rom. 1:28
[ 77 ] e.g., Rom. 9:14-18; 11:8
[ 78 ] Rom. 9:6
[ 79 ] Rom. 2:13
[ 80 ] Rom. 2:12
[ 81 ] Rom. 2:14-15
[ 82 ] Rom. 2:16
[ 83 ] Rom. 1:19
[ 84 ] Rom. 1:21; I Cor. 4:5; 14-25; Eph. 1:17
[ 85 ] II Cor. 1:22; Gal. 4:6
[ 86 ] Eph. 3;17
[ 87 ] Rom. 8:10; 8:13; II Cor. 4:10-11; 6:4-10; Col.
2:11-12; 2:20; 3:3; II Thes. 1:4-5
[ 88 ] II Tim. 1:8; 2:3-6; 4:5
[ 89 ] II Tim. 3:12
[ 90 ] I Tim 6:7-9
[ 91 ] I Cor. 13:3
[ 92 ] I Cor. 3:9
[ 93 ] Gal. 5:18
[ 94 ] I Cor. 13:4
[ 95 ] Phil. 2:5-8
[ 96 ] Rom. 3:21-28
[ 97 ] Col. 2:15
[ 98 ] Rom. 8:24; 66
[ 99 ] Eph. 5:1
[ 100 ] Rom. 8:29
[ 101 ] Rom. 15:1-3
[ 102 ] II Cor. 5:15
[ 103 ] Eph. 4:13
[ 104 ] Col. 2:20
[ 105 ] I Cor. 2:16; Phil. 2:5-8
[ 106 ] Col. 1:28
[ 107 ] Eph. 5:25
[ 108 ] Phil. 2:20
[ 109 ] Eph. 5:1
[ 110 ] Rom. 8:29; I Cor. 10:33; 15:49; II Cor. 3:13; Gal.
4:19; Eph. 4:13; 5:25; Phil. 2:5-8; Col. 1:28; 3:10; 4:12; I
Thes. 1:6
[ 111 ] I Cor. 13:2-3
[ 112 ] Col. 3:14
[ 113 ] Phil. 2:20
[ 114 ] Rom. 14:7; 15:1-3; I Cor. 10:24; 10:29-11:1;
12:25-26; 13:1 ff; II Cor. 5:14-15; Gal. 5:13; 6:1 Eph. 4:2;
Phil. 2:4; I Thes. 5:11
[ 115 ] Phil 3:21
[ 116 ] Rom. 8:11
[ 117 ] I Cor. 15:26
[ 118 ] Rom. 5:12
[ 119 ] Rom. 8:20-21
[ 120 ] I Cor. 15:42-49
[ 121 ] St. Athanasius, De Incarnatione Verbi Dei, 4-5 |