🇬🇧 Glory be to Jesus Christ! 🌞
Ephesians IV, 30 – ‘ημεραν’ – ‘emeran’ – (for a) ‘day’.
This reading is preceded by the one referred to here:
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The Apostle Paul gives instructions on how Christians should live and behave. I will very briefly focus on some of the more difficult points that are necessary for understanding.
We are members for one another
– since the faithful constitute the
Church of Christ, and the Church is the Body of Christ, the faithful are
members of the Body of Christ, the Church, and are therefore
interconnected with one another, needing one another. And untruth,
deception, hypocrisy, etc. are very harmful to unity in Christ, so we
need to be truthful and sincere, real, true.
There is a good article on anger in the Sermon on the Mount:
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If a person is angry passionately, unrighteously, then if this state
is retained in a certain way, the person opens themselves up to the
increased influence of evil spirits, which can tempt them even more and
lead to a great fall. Therefore, for this reason, one should not hold
on to anger, resentment, and the like.
The word gives grace
implies that the word itself is valuable, and
that it also indicates, leads, relates, and testifies to other things
that are important for salvation. The word, therefore, is not the source
of grace, but grace is the source of such words, it prompts people and
gives them to them. By receiving and accepting the effects of grace
well, a person is able to receive grace itself better and faster, hence
Paul’s words.
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God
is one of the places where it
is clear that the Holy Spirit is a Person – because it is possible to
grieve a Person. Sealed for the day of redemption
– that is, the Holy
Spirit is given before the Kingdom of God as a seal and pledge, that is,
as a sign of belonging, citizenship in the Kingdom of God
, to
establish a relationship of trust, but not in the fullness that will be
revealed in the Kingdom of God itself. A seal changes what it is sealed
to, setting a certain image, and so the Holy Spirit is now renewing
believers in the image of Jesus Christ.
And God also showed special love and mercy through Jesus Christ, so we should be merciful and loving.
Luke VI, 25 – ‘εμπεπλησμενοι’ – ‘empeplesmenoi’ - ‘full, filled, completely satisfied’.
This reading is preceded by the one referred to here:
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In the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew does not say anything about compassion for those who are completely satisfied with this world, but he does say something about loving your enemies, and there are more details.
Woe
is an expression of sadness, compassion, pity for those people
(it is not a threat, an expression of anger or the like, but sincere
compassion, pity).
The reason for this compassion is that people who are completely
satisfied with this world have adapted
well to it, and therefore to
its sins and vices, they have found a compromise
between good and evil
and do not really fight against sins and evil. In this way, they
exclude themselves
from the Gospel values, they need an enlightenment,
and if it does not happen, it will be at God’s judgement.
It is also important to emphasise that this is not about joy, wealth, comfort, etc., but about a fundamentally wrong attitude to these gifts of God. A rich person can be a saint, one can rejoice in the Lord, and one can have comfort even now. Christ is speaking here about those who rejoice in the wrong things, take comfort in the wrong things, use wealth in a fundamentally wrong way, and so on.
The words from the following links are also relevant here:
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Saints Cyprian, Justin and Theocritus:
1 Timothy I, 12, 14 – ‘ημων’ – ‘emon’ – ‘us’ (our). ‘θεμενος’ -
‘themenos’ – ‘put’.
1 Timothy I, 15 – ‘ειμι’ – ‘eimi’ – (I) ‘am’. It is used for emphasis.
1 Timothy I, 16 – ‘εμοι’ – ‘emoi’ – (in, on) ‘me’.
In the reading from the Apostle Paul testifies about himself – he was
a persecutor out of ignorance, but the Lord converted him and made him
an apostle to the Gentiles, and Paul (Saul) cooperated with God’s grace,
with God so zealously that he became one of the first apostles through
God’s gift. The words among whom I am the first
are found in the
Liturgy (the prayer before Communion). For Paul, the first
means the
first persecutor who believed and became faithful
and implies that
there will be other sinners who will convert and become close to God.
Many saints are examples of this, as well as repentant believers unknown
to us. In the prayer mentioned above, however, it is not the first
in
time that is meant, but the first
in the humble and truthful vision of
one’s many sins.
The reading from the Apostle concludes with the praise of God.
The reading also refers to the Saint Hieromartyr Cyprian, who was a sorcerer and pagan priest, a servant of the devil, and became a saint through faith, repentance, purification, life and suffering for Christ.
John X, 9, 11, 14 – ‘ειμι’ – ‘eimi’ – (I) ‘am’. Used only with emphasis. ‘εμου’ – ‘emou’ – ‘Me’.
John X, 14 – ‘εμα’ – ‘ema’ – ‘My’. Also with a different accent -
My
.
The very image of the door and the pasture is well described here:
https://www.facebook.com/Oleksandr.S.Zhabenko/
Glory be to Thee, our God, glory be to Thee!
Source:
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