🇬🇧 Glory be to Jesus Christ! 🌞
1 Corinthians 11:32 – ‘παιδευομεθα’ - ‘paideuometha’ – ‘discipled as children (may have other meanings that are not relevant)’. ‘κατακριθωμεν’ – ‘katakrithomen’ – ‘received a sentence, were condemned’ (as a possible situation).
1 Corinthians XII, 4-6 – ‘διαιρεσεις’ – ‘diaireseis’ – ‘distribution, division, difference, distinction’.
The apostle continues to speak about the conscience of a believer and says that they should be conscious, in particular, repent of their sins, so that they will not be condemned and will not receive the Holy Communion to their condemnation.
He goes on to speak of the educational significance of the
difficulties faced by the faithful. I have written several pieces on
this subject in the past, including the following links:
https://www.facebook.com/Oleksandr.S.Zhabenko/posts/
https://www.facebook.com/Oleksandr.S.Zhabenko/posts/
Paul then tells us how to deal with the agape, the supper of Christian love, so that it may be good.
At the beginning of chapter XII, he begins to speak about spiritual gifts and ministries, meaning everything that the Lord gives to the faithful not only for their own sake but for the sake of others, for the building of the Church.
He warns against divisions based on differences in gifts. Again he teaches unanimity and unity in Christ, in the Holy Spirit, in God.
Matthew XVIII, 2, (3,) 4, 5 – ‘παιδιον’ - ‘paidion’ – ‘little child’.
Matthew XVIII, 5, 6 – ‘εμε’ – ‘eme’ – ‘Me’.
Matthew XVIII, 6, 10 – ‘μικρων’ – ‘micron’ – small (in size, number,
quantity, or significance, in this case, most likely, the latter)
.
Matthew XVIII, 10 – ‘προσωπον’ – ‘prosopon’ – face
.
This is a very meaningful passage, but let’s take it one step at a time.
Why is a little child set in the midst of the apostles as an example? Because they are constantly learning, perceiving new things and entering into them. This ability to accept new things and develop, to enter into a new life, to be constantly renewed, needs to be learnt from little children. It is possible to enter the Kingdom of God, i.e. to live in accordance with God’s will, only when a person begins to really learn like a little child, to be renewed in the image of Jesus Christ every day, as Paul writes in one of his Epistles.
Receiving the little child
is a multifaceted place. It is often
understood to refer to the adoption of children in the name of Jesus
Christ and out of love for them. But it can also be understood in
another way. The meaning is that when a person accepts a little child,
guided by nothing but sincere love and faith, he or she manifests
exactly the qualities that God intended when someone sincerely accepts
Jesus Christ. In this sense, the little child is like the Crucified and
Risen Saviour.
But we can also generalise these words to cases when a Christian or even just a human being shows the same sincere love and faith as in this case – and then they also accept Christ. It may be the apostles (instead of a child), it may be other believers in need, or it may be just another person. In each case, when the acceptance is based on sincere faith and love and humility, a person in the person of someone else essentially receives Christ. What does receiving Christ mean for the person who has already done this before? It means a new life, a renewal.
I have written about temptations in several previous works. See the
links:
https://oleksandr-zhabenko.github.io/uk/Perelyub-korotko.html
08062023.html
I will
also quote a part of the Ukrainian-language work On adultery. The full
version
:
One must fight temptations with all (maximum) determination. This is
evident in the fact that one must throw away (in Greek balleo – to throw
forcefully so that it flies, from this word, for example, the
word
ballistic” comes) what tempts (we are not talking about body parts,
but about what tempts).
It is balanced by the fact that there is always an even body part. The left. You need to take care of it, protect it. The left side, perhaps, because in times of temptation it seems less important, desirable, needed, but it has the same nature as the right side, but it is important because it does not tempt.
Therefore, in one of the early prayers (which is read in the evening
at the service) we ask: Let the light of Your (Christ’s) face depict on
us, so that in it we may see the unapproachable light.
According to the
Apostle James, God dwells in this unapproachable light, Who is neither
tempted nor tested by evil. Therefore, we ask (among other things) that
by keeping the commandments of Christ, by His grace, we may attain
deification and become impregnable to temptation.
See also:
https://www.facebook.com/Oleksandr.S.Zhabenko/posts/
Returning to Christ’s words about the heart and comparing them with
our own state, we see that often the heart is not full
. A full heart
reveals itself outwardly (in particular through the mouth), and if it
has not yet done so, it is partially full, or we can say that it has
both. How, then, can we overcome sin, temptation, passions, and love
purity and faithfulness?
We need to recognise temptation or sin. These are the right parts of
the body in the context of Christ’s words. Then we need to love purity
and faithfulness in our hearts, to desire them in our hearts (at least
partially, but it is difficult otherwise), to love God and our
neighbours and ourselves, and then to decisively deny sin. In doing so,
we move from the eyes, hands, and feet to the heart (in the context of
Christ’s words). They are mysteriously connected in such a way that firm
mastery of the former and movement towards the latter is similar to
liberation, to heroic liberation. It is impossible for a person who is
not freed by God to establish themselves in purity and faithfulness in
their heart, and therefore Christ does not say: Throw out part of your
heart,
but says, Deny the temptation.
But even in fairy tales, the
princess freed by the prince reciprocates his love. This image suggests
that the heart becomes grateful to God for liberation.
I would also add that it happens that a person is strongly connected
to sin, and then such deliverance is called denial of self
elsewhere -
as if you lose a part of yourself, even your whole self. And in this
sense, taking up your cross
means that you cannot help but change,
cannot help but be freed from sin if you become a disciple of Christ.
That is, if you want to be with Christ, you cannot remain in sin as you
were before.”
For a warning against pride, see a quote from one of my previous
writings: Why ‘do not despise’? Because their Guardian Angels
continually always see the face of the Father. Something that the great
king, prophet and psalmist David asks for (
Show Your face to Your
servant the light”), and with him all the generations that followed who
pray the psalms; something that only the greatest saints have seen to
some extent (perhaps sometimes, once or several times in their lifetime,
only Moses often, but not constantly); What is the highest thing
available to human beings in this life, because it is impossible to see
the Father Himself directly (No one has ever seen God
(John I, 18)),
is what the Angels of those people (as well as the Angels of the great
ones) see constantly. God sent those Angels as servants to these little
ones (Are they not all spirits of service, sent forth to minister for
those who should inherit salvation
(Hebrews I, 14)) to show, among
other things, the love and care He has for them. And what few great men
can do, these ministering Angels do continually.
Therefore, it is wrong to despise one of these little ones
, and
therefore to despise the great love of God. And the next time someone
intends to do so, to be grudging, let him remember these words of Christ
and do them.”
Glory be to Thee, our God, glory be to Thee!