“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’ But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one." (Matthew V, 33-37)
Here the Lord Jesus Christ gives a clear answer to the question of what power and authority a human being has by nature. Almost none. A person cannot even change a single hair by his or her word, by his or her desire, by his or her will, without interaction with the world around him or her, without God's permission, and if it is something truly good and above nature (a true miracle), then without God's will. A person can control their actions, their heart (and even here their correct guidance is possible only with God's participation, with His help), and they are responsible for this, but to control more is from God, and they can do this only with His permission or will. We can also see why it is wrong to attribute to people so-called "supernatural capabilities" - these are not their own. "'Greater than this' is not their power. And if it is not God's will that a person does something that is "greater than this", then it is from the evil one, a power of demons, impure, evil, devilish. Demons have angelic powers, because they are angels by nature, their powers exceed those of humans, but they are restrained by the action of God so as not to destroy God's creation and all of us. Nevertheless, God sometimes permits the influence of demons on people and the world, because they have a certain freedom. But we must not attribute the action of demons to humans, to think that these are human forces, "supernatural powers".
And if we look, for example, at "extrasensory" people (remembering that much of what the media (though it is not very authoritative here, the original link leads to Russian publication on YouTube) spreads about them is "staged"), we see that they do not have true cognition. More about this is written in the work On True and Speculative Knowledge.
One might ask: how did decay (corruption) and death entered the world through human sin? If they have so little power? We can simply say that the human heart, the human being became the "door", the "breach" through which sin, corruption and death entered the world. The human being has no power, but they "have opened the door". It can be said that although the power of the human being is by nature small, almost zero, he or she is honoured by God and is the pinnacle of God's creation. The significance of the human being is the image of God and is given to a person by God.
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!" (Matthew VII, 7-11; compare Luke XI, 9-13)
Here the Lord speaks of the source of true strength for human beings - God. Human power comes from God. More is said about power in the work On Power.
The power of a human being is in interaction with God, Who can do whatever He wants. If we compare the texts of Matthew and Luke, we can see that Matthew understands these words of Christ as referring to everything that is truly good (not evil, for the word "evil" here means something that seems good but is actually deceptive and is not good), while Luke refers them only to God's gifts - the gift of the Holy Spirit and everything that is given by God's grace. If we recall that all good things come from the "power, action and grace" of God, and are the result of it, directly or indirectly, there is no contradiction here.
The Lord Jesus Christ also warns us against overestimating our goodness. He does not call people evil by nature, not innately and essentially evil, but by their tendencies to sin and passions, by their unrepentance and impurity. People are evil by choice or even involuntarily, because, in the words of St. Basil the Great, "they have subjected themselves to sin, given themselves over to passions, and defiled the image of God" (prayer before Holy Communion). Let us note that the Lord does not say that we have nothing good, that is not what He is giving as an example, but He says that everything good in us is damaged by sin and evil, and therefore we are called "evil". The Apostle James writes more about this in his epistle (the whole epistle).
"So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them." (Mark XI, 22-24)
(Mark XI, 23 "και μη διακριθη εν τη καρδια αυτου", the word διακριθη used here can mean both "to be in doubt" and "to distinguish, divide in one's mind", perhaps "not to be in unity of thought, desire and feeling", i.e. the opposite of this, there should be unity of thought, desire, feeling) {Note. : quote and comment added on 10.01.2023}. As already noted, the power of a human being is in interaction with God. And the Lord directly points to this when He says "the faith of God". Not just any faith, or any other things, but God's faith, the faith that is a gift from God, comes from Him - that faith is fulfilled. It is fulfilled because God, wanting to do something, first "revealed" it to a person through God's faith, and then made it happen. The Law of God gives as an example the prayer of Joshua, who prayed and the sun stopped for a whole day. It is not because the person believes and has no doubt and commands that it is fulfilled, but because they believe and have no doubt, because the Lord mysteriously gives them the knowledge of what He will do and at the same time gives them faith. The absence of doubt and confident words and actions are then a sign, not a cause, of the fulfilment of what God and the human being desire. It is not the person's will that is done, but God's.
"So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”" (Matthew XXI, 21-22)
Matthew emphasises more that it is the faith of (from) God, but in a different way. He does not use two words to describe the faith of God, but only one - simply "faith". Speaking of prayer, Christ emphasises that it is about communication with God, even though the words are addressed to a fig tree or a mountain, that the important thing happens in the relationship with God, not in relation to the fig tree or the mountain, that the result is achieved through prayer, because faith in it is given by God and the person receives the gift of undoubted, real and true faith, and therefore the fulfilment comes certainly.
There is one more evidence for this: the words of Christ in Matthew are not addressed to all people, but only to the faithful. He does not say: "if someone", "if a person" (as He says elsewhere in reference to any person), but says "if you have".
The absence of doubt is a visible sign of true faith, God's faith, so if something that someone asks for is not fulfilled, it is assumed that the person had doubt and therefore was lacking faith. Compare this with the event of Peter walking on water to Christ during the storm. 'To have little faith' means that faith was not comprehended by the person, even though it was given by God. Something of human origin prevented the person from comprehending God's true faith, which was indicated by doubts (God never gives a person doubts, because He never doubts, knowing everything).
It is important to combine the four visible elements:
"Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” So Jesus said to them, “Because of your [e]unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you." (Matthew XVIi, 19-20)
Here I would like to draw attention to the "magnitude" of true faith. Its "magnitude", its visible emotional power, its depth of experience, may be the smallest of all that one can pay attention to. Such a small magnitude that it is compared here and further with the "smallest" (but obviously visible as something separate, singular, distinguishable from everything else) "mustard seed" (a seed of a special plant that grows in the Holy Land). What matters is not the "magnitude" but the truth of faith. It is this that "builds", not the "power of faith", as the latter is often referred to. The strength of faith is not really about its emotionality or experiences, but about its truth, which can be recognised both before and after the "fulfilment of the expected". And the latter is no less important than the former. For many people have faith in their hearts that is hidden, but is nevertheless true, and the Lord appreciates such faith and does not diminish it.
"Nothing will be impossible" means that "everything is possible for God". This is clear from all the preceding.
"And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” So the Lord said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you." (Luke XVII, 5-6)
Although the true faith of (from) God comes from God and only from Him, we must also comprehend it and grow in it on our part. The responsibility for this lies with us, not with God. That is why the Lord calls us to believe while seeking God, and does not want us to just wait for God's faith as His gift. That is why His answer is indirect; He does not want us to simplify our relationship with God to the role of "receiver". In this place, therefore, Christ's words can be called motivational.
"Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”" (Matthew XIII, 31-32)
True faith, which is a manifestation of God's presence, God's participation, and God's communion in life, which is a feature of the Kingdom of God, when people will be God's and God will be with them, has the ability to grow. It grows by developing its inherent strengths. And if faith does not grow, it is another sign that it may not be true.
"And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." (1 Corinthians XIII, 2)
The apostle Paul mentions the words of Christ in connection with perfection, fullness of understanding, cognition and faith, power, that is, he calls God's faith "the fullness of faith", but he emphasises that true faith, like true wisdom, is a manifestation of love - God's love for us and our love for God, so without love none of the above is really possible. And he reminds us once again of the weakness of our nature, calling a person without love nothing.
"“Again[d] I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”" (Matthew XVIII, 19-20)
Here I note that "two are on earth", but by virtue of the above, "one in heaven" is enough. The most important thing in human power is interaction with God, and if a saint or saints in heaven pray for something that is prompted by God's will, God's grace, it happens because Christ Almighty Himself is present in that prayer.
Orthodox Tradition says that the evil one does not know the thoughts of people. At the same time, the work here clearly says that human beings do not have special, supernatural powers by nature. So, if something special happens and it is not an act of God, not a true miracle, then it happens by the permission of God through the action of the evil one. In other words, it is from the evil one and cannot be trusted. But one may object: what about telepathy and the like? How can the demon, not knowing the thoughts, tell the "extrasensory" or " telepathic" person the thoughts and intentions of another person?
Here we need to dwell on the topic of prayer. Angels do not hear our thoughts until they are addressed to them. If we turn our minds to the Guardian Angel, the angel will hear such an appeal. Prayer is the lifting up of the mind and heart (or the whole soul and the whole body) to God, to the saints. And God knows everything, and the saints hear the appeals to them according to the will of God. Nevertheless, the demon can often hear the lifting up of the mind and heart. And then he can tell the "extrasensory" or " telepathic" person what it is about. The evil one does not know the thoughts and heart of a person until they are addressed to him… At the same time, he can also "put in" thoughts, tempting someone. The so-called "extraordinary abilities" of a person are often based on these two phenomena. We are not talking about absolutely all cases, because there are also gifts from God. But as we can see from the above, they differ from the actions of the evil one. O Lord, have mercy on us for Your name's sake, for we trust in You!
But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, “Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well.”
(Luke VIII, 50)
Here Christ ‘puts faith and fear opposite and side by side’: ‘Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well’ (Luke VIII, 50). But Jairus, to whom these words are addressed, like Peter, believed (cf. Matthew XIV, 22-34), although he was afraid. Christ wanted faith, like love elsewhere, to ‘drive out fear’, which is not of God. But fear did not oppose faith, only Christ wanted it to be gone. Read more about fear here: https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/DialogueOnWordsChristFear.html
Peter really was afraid when he walked on the waters because it was a natural reaction. When he looked at the waves, the wind, he also was afraid. But he began to sink only when he doubted, deserving the name as 'of little faith’ from Christ.
Christ Himself calls doubts one of the signs of little faith and, as a result, weakness and powerlessness. He does not mention fear in this context at all.
Compare with: https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/PowerOfHuman.html#littlefaith
The following 4 paragraphs are added on the 17/07/2024.
Another example is Moses. It is not known whether he was afraid, the Scriptures do not say at all. Perhaps he was, perhaps he was not. But he did not enter the land of God's promise because of… doubt. He doubted whether he could get water from the rock at Meribah, and he as a miracle did, but the Lord did not allow him to enter, showing an example of the importance of faith (Numbers XX, 2-13).
And another argument from the Fathers. Natural will is ‘the simple vital and at the same time mental ability to desire what is in accordance with nature’. Mental here means connected with reason, understanding, and knowledge (Saint John Damascus. An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. Book III, part 14). When a person has doubts, it is precisely because their mind is divided, and therefore the natural will cannot be holistic, and therefore cannot be obedient to God's will, as it is in Christ. That is, a priori, in this case, a person sins. ‘What does not come from faith is sin.’ (Romans XIV, 23) As for fear, it is a passion, a tangible movement in nature that is caused by something that is not inherent in nature. This movement may be non-sinful, and therefore not contrary to obedience to God's will.
Here it is implicitly assumed that God's will cannot desire two things for a person at the same time, which the human consciousness considers mutually exclusive. If it still seems so to a person, then… Then the person simply needs to eliminate the concept of doubt from the description of the situation - it is not doubt, it is only an incomplete understanding of the whole, of God's will.
Doubt only signals that a person can make a mistake. But this is known without doubt. They say that doubt drives progress, development, but it is not doubt but new faith that drives progress. It leads, not doubt.
This section was added in time for the celebration of Pentecost in the Western Rite and Easter in the Eastern Rite, 25 May 2024.
Epigraphs:
It is good to keep close the secret of a king, but it is honourable to reveal the works of God. (Tobit XII, 7; 11)
Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven (Matthew X, 32)
Tributed to one girl who, if she is reading these lines, knows that this is for her.
I wrote it as a few comments, and now I have edited it a little and present it here in a shortened form. I quote the text below.
And one of the strangest things I’ve noticed about myself is that I can direct my mind, attention and concentration to a cat or a dog, and they react - they shake their fur as if they’ve been bathing.
And even when their backs are turned to me. From the point of view of my faith, it’s hard to explain.
…, I’ve been thinking and I think I’ve found some explanation for what I said about the direction of thought and the fact that cats or dogs shake their fur.
I think it is related to the human spirit.
That is, such an influence can be noticed at a short distance, but it cannot cause long-term, permanent or significant material changes.
For example, it is impossible to make a hair white or black in this way, I once wrote about this in my work:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/en/PowerOfHuman.html
But then we have to assume that the human spirit occupies (can occupy) a space larger than the human body, I think comparable to the volume of a room or a building.
…, when I woke up this morning, I thought I heard a woman outside say: ‘Though I am absent in the flesh, I am with you in the spirit’ (Colossians II:5).
…, I know these are the words of the Apostle Paul.
I began to think that if I took these words literally, the spirit might not be where the body is.
Then I recalled the Holy Spirit, Who breathes wherever He wants. It’s like, ‘He is where He wants to be, where His desire is manifested.’
The Apostle James says in his Epistle: ‘The Spirit who dwells in us is eager to the extent of envy (or jealousy)’ (or ‘spirit’, there were no capital letters in Greek at that time) (James IV:5).
Then I started thinking about the Holy Spirit. Recently I was working on a topic and I recalled that in John XV, 26, the Greek original uses ‘para tou Patros’.
This is ‘para’ with the Genitive case. The Strong’s Lexicon explains that it is literally ‘from beside’, ‘from what is near’. ‘para’ properly means ‘near, next to’ — i.e. proximity, which is used with the Genitive case.
And when I opened the text itself, there was also the word ‘ekporeuoetai’, which means ‘goes forth’.
When I was thinking about it, the first thing I remembered before I opened the Scripture was the story of the Apostle Peter and the maidservant Rhoda (Acts XII, 12-17).
She was told that she had seen his angel, not Peter himself. Now I realise that I made a mistake in thinking that she had ‘seen his spirit’.
The apostles also thought at first, when Jesus walked on the water, that they were seeing the spirit.
But when Jesus appeared after the Resurrection, He said that it was Himself, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones.
Also, in a parallel Scripture in the Epistle to the Colossians - 1 Corinthians V, 3-5 - Paul writes that Christians can be with his spirit and the power of Christ.
All of this leads me to believe that what I mentioned at the beginning may indeed be a manifestation of the human spirit.
It should be noted that the Orthodox tradition allows for a different understanding of this passage in the Letter to the Corinthians: ‘the spirit of Paul’ can be understood as the Holy Spirit.
The point is that in a state of closeness to God, a person receives God’s gifts, and God can ‘accept’ what is human. This is similar to the ‘communion of attributes’ in Christ, and is in fact also related to the well-known theological concept of ‘relative adoption’ (see: Saint John Damascus in Ukrainian ).
The Holy Spirit can be called ‘the Spirit of Paul’ because it is through Paul that these people became Christians, and Paul encourages them to do what he writes about.
But these are rather vague places, and as for cats and dogs, I don’t think that in my case it is the work of the Holy Spirit.
In one of these cases, for example, I was afraid of an unfamiliar dog, remembered that I had done this before and tried it. And it worked!
If we talk about wishes, I wanted it to leave me alone. Well, I don’t think that sounds like the work of the Holy Spirit.
Another time I didn’t want anything in particular, but for some reason I decided to focus on the animal next to me.
Here, too, I remembered the angels. Once I thought for a moment that I was seeing an angel, and the obstacles disappeared.
I was walking through the city, thinking and praying. I was surrounded by a group of Roma women who started to say something to me. I did not want to talk to them, I was also a little afraid of them.
I said ‘No!’ or something like that, and at that moment it seemed to me that a blue light figure of my height was moving in front of me, and suddenly all the women parted, became silent, and I went in that direction…
Glory be to Thee, our God, glory be to Thee!
Source of the Ukranian original: original