Let us notice the preceding verses which are related to this verse. It concerns verses 17-20:

“But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

These verses also include the well-known verse which we often mention; it concerns the truth of being crucified with Christ. It is very deep. We can see that it is set in a whole.

 Both in the Epistle to the Romans and the Epistle to the Galatians, the Apostle Paul points to the deep truth which concerns our justification from sin. He says that we know that a man is not justified before God by his works but by faith in Jesus Christ. He emphasizes that by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. We who have believed in Christ Jesus have been justified from our sins by faith in Him.

If we repeat these Bible verses during our prayer stop seven times a day, after calling on the name of God and looking at the five wounds of Christ in our act of repentance, every time we will thus truly put the saving faith into practice. Let us stand in this faith for a while and not doubt that my sins are really forgiven me who have now believed in Christ Jesus, and if relieved of sin I should die now, I would enter eternal glory. Not through my merits, good works or righteousness but by faith through which I believe that Jesus paid for me, for all my sins! I could never make amends for my sins with good works.

What does the word heir express? The Word of God says that if we are children, we are also heirs. And how do we become children of God? By receiving Jesus: “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” (Jn 1:12) Salvation, which Jesus obtained for us through His blood in a hard struggle on Calvary, is given us freely as an inheritance through faith. We should obtain grace for other people too, that they also may receive Jesus and share in the inheritance of eternal life after death.

What does it mean to be the heir of the world? It does not mean to establish dominion over the world for our physical descendants, as it has been misinterpreted by some Jews to this day. It means to win souls for God! At the time of Abraham, human souls were under the sway of demonic forces within worldwide pagan worship of a variety of idols. We are in a similar situation today.

«Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised.»

The Apostle asks: Does this blessedness, stemming from faith, come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? The Jews were very particular about circumcision and related it to the whole religious system of certain rites. The danger has always been that an emphasis on secondary things eliminates the essence – here the essence of salvation, which consists in personal relationship to God.

“For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.”

Here the Word of God highlights the example of Abraham. The preceding verse reads, “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.” And the following verse continues, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Here the meaning of righteousness is more like ‘justification’. Man does unspeakable injustice to God by sinning. The holiness of God is infinite, and so an insult to God deserves the highest punishment.

Whom did God put forward? Jesus Christ, His Son.

For what purpose? As a propitiation.

How? By His blood.

For whose sake? For the sake of all who will receive it by faith.

How did God show His righteousness? By the forgiveness of sins.

Let us realize that God forgives our sins because Jesus became a propitiation.The condition on our part is the faith in Christ who is the Saviour, the Son of God, who paid the just price for my sins by His blood and obtained the forgiveness for me.

Here the Word of God says clearly that all have sinned. Naturally, little children cannot sin because they are not able to discern sin; however, they are already programmed for sin and it is only a question of time before it manifests itself. It means that all have been infected with the spiritual poison of original sin and, as a consequence, all fall short of the glory of God. This is a sad reality. But there is another reality too. The reality of God’s love. God has given His Son for our salvation. So we are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” And immediately the man was healed, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath. The Jews therefore said to him who was healed, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.”

Jesus healed a man who had been sick for 38 years. It happened in Jerusalem near the pool called Bethesda. Jesus first asked him: “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered sadly: “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” When the sick man described his situation of complete helplessness, Jesus said to him: “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” And immediately the man was healed, took up his bed and walked. Jesus showed His divine power here. He spoke a word and the man was healed. Behind the word of Jesus is not only His will but His divine power too. On the part of the sick man, one can see an attitude of the obedience of faith; he took up his bed and walked, carrying his bed, although that day was the Sabbath. He thus came into conflict with the Jews, who said to him: “It is not lawful for you to carry your bed.”

These words of God, which have been given to us through the Apostle John, are a great treasure for us. It is said that if we have received Jesus by faith and believed that He died for our sins, and moreover, committed our life into His hands and to His will, then according to the right established by God we have become children of God. This truth is also connected with our belief in His name. The name of God is Isus in Greek and Ukrainian, Jesus in English, Jezus in Polish, but the full name in the original language is Yehoshua. This very name reveals that God who created the world and man – the Triune God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit – is my salvation.

“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

God gave the prophet Isaiah a vision of the future Messiah, who is Jesus. The prophet says: “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities.” The same Holy Spirit who revealed the mystery of our salvation in Jesus Christ to the prophet Isaiah has to enlighten the mind of each of us personally, that each of us may realize that Christ was wounded for my sins and bruised for my iniquities. Jesus suffered it all out of His love for me, to pay the just price for my sins and iniquities, and to open for me the way to eternal happiness in heaven. So, we were not redeemed with gold or silver but with the precious Blood of Jesus Christ. Let us also realize that the chastisement for our peace was upon Him.

These Bible verses need correct interpretation. Mainly: we have not been saved through our works. God has given us the grace of salvation; it is the gift of God, as the Scripture says. So no one can boast. But it does not mean that once we have obtained salvation in Christ we do not need to do good works. We should do them in cooperation with the grace of God and in union with Christ. But the foundation – salvation – has been given us freely. That is why it is necessary to carry out mission of prayer. To obtain the grace of God for the conversion of particular people, and above all to pray for the spiritual resurrection of the nation.

Every nation is in a state of inner struggle which will decide whether we will preserve the treasure of faith in our Saviour Jesus Christ, or the so-called New Age religion promoted by the spirit of the world will deprive us of the living union with Jesus, i.e. the saving faith. Not only Ukraine but all Christians and all Christian nations face this pressure.

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked,

following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air,

the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.”

We could entitle this word of life as follows: “We have passed from death into life”. “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked…” Without Christ people live in their trespasses and sins, and are spiritually dead. There is a kind of power which keeps them in the system of death. The Apostle refers to it as the course, or the system of this world, which prompts people to follow demonic inspiration, i.e. the prince of the power of the air whom the Apostle calls the spirit of evil. Where is this spirit, this prince of the power of the air, at work? He is at work in those who refuse to obey God.

Verse 3 reads: “…among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” Verse 4, however, shows the solution: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ…”

“And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts,

crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son,

and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”

Every man is a slave of sin before he is converted to Christ. He is practically without spiritual light, and owing to his blindness of mind and conscience he considers idolatry to be a form of piety and various superstitions to be faith. The Bible describes it as follows – people who cannot discern between their right hand and their left. They have a false view of God without fully realizing it and are under the sway of false spirits who easily deceive them.

In the hearts of baptized children, though they do not yet use reason and have not yet been consciously converted, dwells the light of Christ and the whole Holy Trinity. Unbaptized children do not have this grace.

As many as believed in God and received in obedience Jesus as their God and Saviour, to them God gave the right to become the sons (children) of God. And because they are sons (children) of God, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son – the Holy Spirit – into their hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”

This statement of God’s judgment, given through the Apostle Paul, is extremely important! It is a protection against heresies which destroy the Church of Christ from within. Not only in the distant past but especially since the days of Vatican II, heresies have swept forward like an avalanche. The Council approved the heresy concerning a regard for pagans, and de facto for their demons too! This heresy is contrary to the apostles’ teaching, and contrary to Scripture and the whole 2000-year Tradition.

How could it happen that these heresies were approved and advocated by conciliar and postconciliar Popes? The answer is the Dogmatic Bull of Pope Paul IV. The Bull states that if a priest, bishop or pope preaches heresies, he automatically brings anathema on himself – i.e. excommunication from the Church – and all his deeds, actions and enactments are without force. In fact, heresies are “another”, false gospel!

“For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.”

Chapter 5 begins with the words: “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” Verse 10 speaks about judgment: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due to him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” At the end of the chapter, the Apostle calls for reconciliation with God: “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (in Christ).” (v. 20-21)

In this Lenten time, we will repeat the following words of verses 14-15: “For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died…” These verses speak about the mystery of Christ’s death which is connected with our baptism and our faith in this mystery. We are still physically alive. When Jesus, the Only-Begotten Son of God, became man out of love for us and died for us, we also died in His death to evil and sin.

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”

Saint Paul the Apostle tells both the Corinthians and us, using the example of the Apostles themselves, that if we love the Lord Jesus and strive to serve Him with all our strength, we must also reckon with the cross of physical exhaustion. Spiritual battle, involving prayers, sleeplessness, fastings and toil, exhausts our body and soul. Nevertheless, our spirit is renewed like the strength of the eagle. The inward man, born again of the Holy Spirit, is full of the inward power of God, a childlike joy and the love of God and people. Our spirit “rejoices in God our Saviour” and as if contrary to natural laws we come to see that as we grow older, we are more and more vigorous, filled with God’s strength, in our service to God. If not, we must repent because something is wrong with us and we are wasting our life. We are not even afraid of death because we know that God will raise us from the dead and give us a new transformed body and eternal glory in heaven. Our inward relationship and love to Christ fills us with the desire to serve God to the point of utter exhaustion and to help Him save souls.