Oleksandr Zhabenko

🇬🇧 Glory be to Jesus Christ! 🌞

Dedicated to Emma Kok.

(2 Corinthians IV:1-6)

2 Corinthians IV, 3, 6 – ‘ημων’ – ‘emon’ - ‘us’ (our).

2 Corinthians IV, 4 – ‘εικων’ – ‘eikon’ – ‘image’ (hence the word ‘icon’).

The beginning of the reading is about the motivation of the apostles (at least a significant and meaningful part of it) in their work. Here, Paul implicitly gives a recipe for how preachers of the Gospel and Christ can avoid burnout, how they can keep their desire and inspiration alive, and how they can keep their motivation to work.

Let’s take a closer look.

The first is the memory of God’s mercy, manifested in what one preaches.

It goes on to describe what hinders, what takes away strength - secret shame (i.e., if the teaching is false, there is insincerity, falsehood), cunning (i.e., attempts to build a sermon on purely human foundations, including cunning, psychological tricks, bait, etc.), distortion of God’s Word (i.e., a distorted presentation of what was received from God), and an important component for the power of preaching – by the manifestation of the truth we entrust ourselves to every human conscience before God – preaching requires the preacher’s trust in the listeners. It requires sincerity, openness, truthfulness, authenticity, honesty, impartiality, i.e. openness to all people, respect for human dignity, it must touch the conscience, i.e. understanding of good and evil, in particular at the level of feelings, and it must be carried out before God – as if preaching to God Himself about Himself and about people. Yes, a person preaches to people about God, but he or she should also think in the opposite direction – preaching as if preaching to God about Him and about people. This last point points most of all to the divinity of preaching.

It may seem strange, but without the latter component, a preaching can be more or less like various other activities – for example, a speech by a hero or an award winner. It can be likened to a conversation between deeply loving and close people. It can be likened to a moral, deeply conscious choice.

But the preaching should ideally be the same as when one preaches to God about Himself and about people (and this is its most important difference from all the above and similar).

I will also cite the following argument from psychology. It is known that new information is best absorbed when a person teaches it to someone else and explains it to someone else. This is the best possible way to learn something well. One might think that in this case one could explain something to… God. Yes, God knows everything, He doesn’t need our explanations, but try explaining to God, Who knows everything, what you are learning, if it is good (with all the significance and seriousness).

Paul goes on to say that there is no secret knowledge or secret doctrine in Christianity, it is open, but people can be hindered by attachment to sins, which is called the god of this age.

Paul mentions ministry, which I wrote more about here:
https://www.facebook.com/Oleksandr.S.Zhabenko/

Paul also testifies to the light of God’s grace in the hearts of the faithful, which (the grace) enables them to know God in Christ, through Christ.

(Matthew XXIV, 13-28)

Matthew XXIV:19 – ‘γαστρι’ – ‘gastri’ – ‘womb, stomach’. ‘ημεραις’ – ‘emerais’ – ‘days’.

Matthew XXIV, 22 – ‘ημεραι’ – ‘emerai’ – ‘days’.

See this link, as well as the references cited there:
10042023.html

Glory be to Thee, our God, glory be to Thee!

Source:
https://www.facebook.com/Oleksandr.S.Zhabenko/