Mortality
“One of the clear differences between St. John Chrysostom (and the Eastern Christian tradition) and St. Augustine (and the Western Christian tradition) is that Chrysostom does not see death as a punishment for evil as Augustine did. St. John notes death is part of nature – animals and plants die and they haven’t sinned. So death was in nature before humans sinned. Death is spread throughout the human population, not just because Adam sinned (the idea of original sin is an Augustinian idea) but because all humans sin. It is death (mortality) that spreads to all humans, not sin…Romans 5:12. Chrysostom continues by claiming death was not a punishment from God but a means to bring us to our senses that sin has terrible consequences. St. John envisions human mortality as part of God’s love for us – God in His love tells us how terrible sin is to us and for us – it is fatally bad. Nevertheless, humans continue to choose sin.” (Fr. Ted Bobosh)
“God gives death to humans, it is so that they can repent, so that they can be transformed to be back in harmony with God. With mortality comes the changeability needed to return to God. In this way, God is permitting those who had defected to the side of the demons to return to Him, to realign with Him and pledge their allegiance again to Him, stealing the victory from the demons. Giving the possibility of repentance to mankind is thus part of how God defeats His enemies the demons, who had rebelled against Him by trying to destroy mankind out of envy for man’s destiny in Christ…This opportunity is given only to mankind, not to the demons (Heb. 2:16).” (Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick)
“Mortality…seems to be regarded as natural in the Old Testament…death is not ubiquitously seen as a curse or a punishment for sin. In fact, the death of figures such as Abraham, whose lives are of significance for the unfolding of the narrative, are described in blessed terms: he “breathed his last and died in good old age, an old man and full of years, the term “death” clearly does not refer to the end of a person’s life, but to a metaphysical force opposing God, one which attempts to seize human beings, through sin, sickness, hostility, violence, exhaustion, and so on. The overcoming of this poetic “death” and the violence of the ungodly come together in the prophetic passages describing the hope of, and promise for, peace in the rule of God, perhaps on occasion (though seldom) hinting that even death in its normal sense might be vanquished: “He will swallow up death forever” (Is 25.8; Hos 13.14).” (Fr. John Behr)
“If you have no hope for a life beyond that of the body, then this one, finite self you bear every day with its needs and fears, its foibles and desires becomes the ultimate good. Every relationship and choice is directed toward its expression, satisfaction, and preservation. You have to use your strength and power to satisfy your craving, shore yourself up against fear, which is its own moral order. There are whole philosophies and belief structures behind this…The radical individualism of the modern world, the pervasive secularism that leaves us nothing to worship but ourselves, the nihilism haunting it all because even the most freely expressed self ends in death. A culture that worships youth emerges naturally from this as we do all we can to keep that fragile self from the brink of the mortality that will one day strip its power away.” (Sarah Clarkson)
“Oddly, living a mortal life entails hope. While secularism places its hope in medically controlling a certain future, Christian mortality is grounded in the hope of eternity in the life of Christ. Asceticism is more than practicing a mindful honesty regarding death. It also allows the light of eternity to shine on our works.” (Father Stephen Freeman)
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