Transformation

In June of last year I wrote an article on "Tradition and Transformation." God accepts us just as we are, but He does not want us to remain just as we were: His goal is to transform us into the likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ. As Christians we have received a great treasure of spiritual truths: doctrines and rules for living that can transform our minds and our lives.

In his letter to the church at Rome, St. Paul wrote - "Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God" (Rom. 12:1-2).

Whenever you see the word "Therefore" in the Bible, ask yourself - "What is it there for?" In this case it refers to the previous chapter, where Paul writes about God's eternal plan for mankind, both Jews and Gentiles, concluding with "For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen" (Rom. 11:36). Origen commented on this verse - "Paul declares that God is the beginning of the substance of all things by the words 'of Him' and the bond of their subsistence by the expression “through Him” and their final end by the term 'to Him.'"

What is transformation all about? First of all, St. Paul contrasts it to being "conformed to this world." The opposite of transformation is being conformed to this world. The world - our family, schools, churches and our neighborhood - exert tremendous pressure on us to conform. Today I heard of a young man who had a 4.0 GPA in high school, but yielded to neighborhood pressure and began a life of crime.

This isn't the only kind of conformity, though. Modern forms of sub-par Christianity have inculcated in us the notion that the norm for Christians is to just go to church on Sundays, take communion, maybe say some prayers and/or read a snippet from the Bible (or maybe not) during the week, and leave the rest to the professionals - the clergy. After all, they're paid to be good, and we lay-people are good for nothing, right? Wrong!

This false notion is what St. Paul is writing against: the fear of breaking social conventions. Transformation is "breaking out of the box" that society puts us in by its pressures and expectations. The Greek word for "be transformed" is "metamorphoo". It's the same word used when Christ was transfigured - "After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, and brought them up onto a high mountain privately by themselves, and he was transfigured in front of them" (Mark 9:2). It means "changed into another form", as when a caterpillar metamorphoses into a butterfly.

St. Paul again wrote about our being changed into Christ's image - "As we have borne the image of those made of dust, let us also bear the image of the heavenly. Now I say this, brothers, that flesh and blood can't inherit the Kingdom of God; neither does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed" (1 Cor. 15:49-51). The Greek word for "image" here is "eikon" - we are to be changed into an icon of Christ, reflecting His glory!

St. Paul uses the word "metamorphoo" again when writing about having the Holy Spirit in us - "Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit" (2 Cor. 3:17-18). In the previous verses, Paul was writing about how Moses had to put a veil on his face after seeing the glory of the Lord God on Mt. Sinai. When he came down from the mountain, his face shone so much that the people couldn't stand to look at him, so he put a veil over his face.

Isn't this the kind of pressure we often experience? People in the world might say - "Don't be a holy Joe!" or "What are you, some kind of Jesus freak? These demeaning expressions make us want to conform to this world. But St. Gregory of Nyssa wrote - "Therefore, let no one be grieved if he sees in his nature a penchant for change. Changing in everything for the better, let him exchange 'glory for glory,' becoming greater through daily increase, ever perfecting himself and never arriving too quickly at the limit of perfection. For this is truly perfection: never to stop growing toward what is better and never placing any limit on perfection." Just as Christ was transfigured on Mt. Tabor and His divine glory shone forth, so we can also be transformed or transfigured into His image and likeness, shining forth His glory. We can change for the better!

Rather than being conformed to this world, let's be conformed to the image and glory of Christ - "For whom He [God] foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. Whom He predestined, those He also called. Whom He called, those he also justified. Whom He justified, those He also glorified" (Rom. 8:29-30). We may experience ridicule, social shaming or even persecution, but as St. Paul wrote - "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed in us" (Rom. 8:18). Let's go for the glory!

Our being transformed or transfigured into Christ's image is what St. Peter wrote about - "Seeing that His [Christ's] divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and virtue; by which He has granted to us His precious and exceedingly great promises; that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust" (2 Pet. 1:3-4). The Greek word for "partakers" is "koinonos", also used in 1 Cor. 10:18, the passage about communion, the Lord's Supper. Cyril of Jerusalem wrote: "When Christ’s body and blood become the tissue of our members, we become Christ-bearers and 'partakers of the divine nature,' as the blessed Peter said." How does this happen?

St. Peter continues - "Yes, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence; and in moral excellence, knowledge; and in knowledge, self-control; and in self-control perseverance; and in perseverance godliness; and in godliness brotherly affection; and in brotherly affection, love" (2 Pet. 1:5-7). These are the virtues, the godly habits, the lifestyle of the Christian who is being transformed, glorified and partaking of the divine nature!

So let's review the formula: diligence + faith + moral excellence + knowledge + self-control + perseverance + godliness + brotherly affection + love = glory, virtue and partaking of the divine nature. That's not so hard, is it?

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 24 Feb. 2016.)

OLD THINGS AND NEW, PART 2

In Luke 5:36-39 we read - "Jesus also told a parable to them: 'No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old garment, or else he will tear the new, and also the piece from the new will not match the old. No one puts new wine into old wineskins, or else the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved. No man having drunk old wine immediately desires new, for he says, "The old is better."'"

Matthew 9:22-23 and Mark 2:17-18 tell this same parable of Jesus, but they omit that last sentence: "No man having drunk old wine immediately desires new, for he says, 'The old is better.'" This raises an interesting question: is the point of the parable that the new wine (the Gospel) is better - Matthew's and Mark's versions, or that the old wine (the law of Moses) is better - Luke's version?

The question goes deeper than that: should Christians worship in ways that stick to old forms of dress, language and music; or should they adopt new forms - blue jeans and Hawaiian shirts, recent slang expressions, and rock music? Certainly, Jesus Christ did not have the latter in mind when He spoke this parable! But to rephrase the question, is the Gospel of Christ a complete break with the Old Testament law, or does it carry over some aspects of the law of Moses? Let's take a look at some of the relevant Bible passages and writings of the Church Fathers:

Concerning Luke 5:36-39, St. Cyril of Alexandria wrote: "Those who live according to the law cannot receive the institutions of Christ. These institutions cannot be admitted into the hearts of such as have not as yet received the renewing by the Holy Spirit. The Lord shows this by saying that a tattered patch cannot be put upon a new garment, nor can old skins hold new wine. The first covenant has grown old, nor was it free from fault. Those, therefore, who adhere to it and keep at heart the antiquated commandment have no share in the new order of things in Christ. In him all things are become new, but their mind being decayed, they have no harmony or point of mutual agreement with the ministers of the new covenant." (Commentary on Luke, Homilies 21-22)

This week I've been reading the book of Leviticus: in chapters 1-23 Moses prescribed very detailed laws not only about the priesthood, worship and sacrifices of animals and grain, but also property rights, health and disease, sexual conduct, planting crops, weaving fabrics, treatment of slaves and resident foreigners and so on. We have incorporated some of the underlying basic principles into Christianity: the clergy must be held to stricter standards of purity, worship should occur in a specific holy place, no incest or marriage between close relatives, treating foreign refugees as equals if they adopt our culture and laws, etc.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught that He is the fulfillment of the law of Moses, that His Gospel exceeds the O.T. law's righteousness: “Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill. For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished. Whoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and teach others to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, there is no way you will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." (Mat. 5:17-20)

St. Cyril of Alexandria wrote: "Whoever sets aside one of the least of the commandments of the law should expect to be set aside as an inventor of laws opposed to God." St. Jerome commented: "Teachers’ learning, even if tainted by a small sin, demotes them from the highest degree. It does not profit them to teach a righteousness that they undermine by the slightest fault." And St. John Chrysostom penned these words: "After the coming of Christ we are favored with a greater strength than law as such." All of these Church Fathers understood that the Gospel did not do away with the O.T. law, but rather has set a higher standard.

St. Paul that the O.T. law is holy, righteous and good, but unable to change human nature: "Therefore the law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good. Did then that which is good become death to me? May it never be! But sin, that it might be shown to be sin, was producing death in me through that which is good; that through the commandment sin might become exceedingly sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold under sin." (Rom. 7:12-14) He goes on to describe the inner struggle that humans experience, and the resolution in Christ:

"For the good which I desire, I don’t do; but the evil which I don’t desire, that I practice. But if what I don’t desire, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.I find then the law, that, to me, while I desire to do good, evil is present. For I delight in God’s law after the inward man, but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! So then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin." (Rom. 7:19-25)

Paul thanked through Jesus Christ, Who in chapters 5, 6 and 7 of Hebrews is called "a priest forever, after the order of Melchizidek," that is, Christ instituted a new priesthood, not from the line of Aaron and his sons, who needed to cleanse their own sins before they could intercede for the people of Israel. Thus we see that the New Testament and the Church Fathers clearly saw a carry-over of some elements from the Old Testament, not discarding them completely, but transforming them into something new, higher and greater.

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 06 Feb. 2016.)