Friday, May 27, 2005
CHRIST IS RISEN!
Venerable Bede, English Church Historian
3rd Vespers Mid-Pentecost: Proverbs 9:1-11 Apostle: Acts 10:44-11:10 Gospel: St. John 8:21-30
St. John 8:21-30, especially vs. 24: "...You will surely die in your sins unless you come to believe that I AM."
[NAB] Orthodox Servant of the Lord Jesus, consider the blessing offered to us if we receive this declaration of our Master.
Be assured that the Church is prepared to help each of us grapple with the inner meaning in this statement of the Lord and
with the issue He raises. Truthfully, the Church alone is able to assist us in doing this rightly. Careful analysis shows that
herein the Lord actually is posing a question that requires an answer from every human being, everywhere, at all times,
under all circumstances - whether he heeds what is asked or not. The Lord's statement consists of a set of seven closely
woven proposals asserted as fact. So, let us consider the Master's words and the issue He sets before us.
1) You will die. This is an incontestable, universal assertion of human existence. In mentioning death, the Lord wants us
to face His claim on our life, a claim that can be addressed only while one is in this present existence. He gives this
existence very great significance.
2) You commit sins and have done so all your life. The word "sins" as used here, refers to any thoughts, attitudes, or
behaviors that are contrary to the will of God. The Orthodox Christian accepts without question the view of the Lord and
His Apostles that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). Therefore all people are, or have been,
"in their sins."
3) "Dying in your sins" is a dread condition, for after death there comes the judgment for each one of us when we shall
have to give account to God for every thought, word, and deed. To live in sins is to live deliberately in opposition to God
as a matter of choice and preference. Now we can repent, but those who die in their sins shall remain in them eternally.
After death, as the Church teaches, one enters a "...state of unchangeable things; no alterations whatever happens then, only
developments in the state chosen by free personalities" (Alexandre Kalomiros).
4) It is possible to have your sins "covered" or "forgiven" in this life (Ps. 31:1 LXX) so as not to enter life-after-death "in
your sins." The Lord's remark concerning 'dying in sins' is not absolute but conditional: "You will surely die in your
sins..." unless you believe in Me (vs. 24).
5) Jesus is God. This fact may not be immediately apparent in many translations of this verse, for they render it: "...if you
do not believe that I Am 'He.'" The "He" does not exist in the original. Look at the translation given above. In the original
Greek the Lord says, "ego eimi," which may be translated either as "I Am" or "I Am He." The burden of this whole
passage points to Ex 3:14 and, therefore, favors "I AM." Look at vss. 23, 28, 29, and later, vs. 58, all of which stress the
Lord's Divinity, His unity of essence and will with God the Father.
6) You are free to believe in Jesus as God or not. The verb, "believe" in this verse, includes assent to the idea that the Lord
Jesus is God. More important, "believe" in this instance carries the more significant meaning of belief "in" Him, that is, in
commitment to Him and submission to Him - what we expect of those who are Baptized. "Belief in" Him includes
obeying, following, and looking to Him for direction in life. It certainly includes worship.
7) This is the Lord's point: if we believe in Him, we will NOT die in our sins. "...Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners" (1 Tim. 1:15). However, if we believe in Him, let us hasten to add, we are to assume a lifelong struggle, to
manage our inner life, to control the passions, to rebuff the appeals of Satan and of our fallen flesh, to confess our sins, to
repent, and to work at putting an end to sinful habits, to live rightly, as He gives us strength (Jas. 2:14ff).
THE ISSUE: Hast thou renounced Satan? Dost Thou unite thyself unto Christ? Hast thou united thyself unto Christ?
Dost thou believe in Him as King and God?