Reflection on Rom 8:2
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
has made me free from the law of sin and death.”
We live in time. Through physical death we enter into eternity. The Apostle reminds us: “Redeem the time!” How should we redeem it? By walking in faith, i.e. in the Spirit of God, and thus abiding in Christ. Those who abide in their self, i.e. in their intellect, in their will and in their feelings, are under the law of sin. Those who are in Christ Jesus are not under the law of sin. The secret of a victorious life in time of trial is to enter into Christ by faith and to abide in Him. If you lose union with Christ, you yield to the law of sin and commit a sin. What to do? Become aware of your wretchedness and repent at once. How? Stand in spirit by the cross of Christ and confess your sin. Receive forgiveness by faith in the power of the Blood of Christ. This is the first step. But you are still not in Christ Jesus. You must unite to the crucified Christ through faith by surrendering your will to Him. And then the law of the Spirit works. At that moment you cannot sin because by your will you are fully united to Christ’s death through which He has overcome the power of sin also in you.
We have this treasure, which is Christ in us, in earthen vessels. Therefore we need humility, watchfulness and prudence. There is a fight going on; “therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1Cor 10:12). We fall because we are deceived by our own corrupt nature, i.e. by the flesh, by demons and by the spirit of the world. Why do they deceive us? Because they want us to lose our communion with Christ. Therefore we must keep our eyes on our last goal, which is the salvation of our own soul. We know neither the day nor the hour of our death; therefore we must be always ready, as Jesus Himself tells us. Let us not lose heart because of our disappointments or failures, but let us learn the wisdom of life.
For example: A Christian woman has frequent conflicts with her neighbour. Again and again, she makes a resolution not to quarrel with her. But she fails in every new situation. She does not want to quarrel with her, tries her best, serves the law of God with her mind, and conscience tells her that it is wrong to quarrel. She does not want to do so, but she always breaks her resolution. Why? Because she serves the law of sin with her flesh, i.e. with her ego. The first stage of humility is at least to admit that it is true. This is the first step on the way of deliverance. What to do next? She must make a breakthrough in prayer in this relationship to her neighbour and put the relationship to Jesus higher than personal bitterness. God will then enlighten her. Maybe the cause of her neighbour’s anger is that she did her wrong in the past which she was not even aware of before the prayer. Perhaps she provoked her by her pride or disregard. So she must know that she suffers justly for her sinfulness and that her neighbour is right to some extent, though not in every way. She has to resolve that next time when her neighbour gives vent to her emotions and blames her unfairly, she will turn off the defence mechanism of her ego and patiently endure humiliation for the sake of Jesus. At this critical moment, she will try to think of the sufferings of Jesus. She will be with Him and think in spirit about His humiliation and pain which she caused Him by her sins in the past. At that moment, she will view the humiliation suffered from her neighbour as a just purgatory for her past sins. She sees in spirit Jesus scourged, crowned with thorns, covered with spittle and mocked. She is self-critically aware that Jesus suffered innocently, but she does not. She now suffers for her past sins. But she unites her pain and humiliation with the pain of Jesus. Then she will not respond to her neighbour’s words in self-defence or with self-pity, hatred or vengeance. If she stands in union with Christ and at the same time in humility towards her neighbour, she will overcome and will also help her neighbour to overcome and establish friendly relations. It will then not be hard for her to apologize. This principle is in the spirit of the Gospel of Christ. Settling a conflict in this way means walking in the Spirit of God, and it is connected with victory over the law of sin.
Conclusion:
Remember that without repentance and prayer even the best advice of the Fathers of the Church or the promises of the Scriptures will be ineffective for you.
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