Newness of Life
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“Today we hear that the kingdom of heaven is like a King who wished to settle accounts with His servants and those to whom He lent money [Matthew 18:23-35]. We are reminded by this that everyone and everything within the world is called to be a servant to the Lord and that each of us has actually been given many gifts and treasures but they are given with an expectation. What have we been given from God our King? First, we have been given life. Life is a gift that only God can give. He is the life-giver. Next we have been given the image and likeness of God as human beings. But we can go much further. We have been granted grace through the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Through His death and resurrection we have been granted a chance to enter into newness of life through our baptism. In this baptism we have received mercy and forgiveness of our sins and we continue to receive these gifts every day in the life of the Church. Everything that we receive here is a reflection of the kingdom of God. It is a place full of God’s mercy through the prayers and the sacramental life.” (Fr. James Guirguis)
“The curse of death corrupts human life with the notion that one must gain all that one can, however one can, before death. The scourge of death engenders desperate attempts to achieve immortality through fame, power, accomplishment, popularity, and the accumulation of wealth, none of which is lasting…death provokes humans to self-seeking sin. It provokes humans to seek immortal life apart from their Creator, the source of life… the Risen Lord conquered "death by death." Death no longer has dominion over Him (Romans 6:10) or over those who are baptized into His death… as Paul writes, "As Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4). After Christ's resurrection death no longer reigns, and therefore sin no longer rules those who believe in Christ.’ ” (Fr. Basil)
“The sacrament of penance is not, therefore, a sacred and juridical ‘power’ given by God to men. It is the power of baptism as it lives in the Church. From baptism it receives its sacramental character. In Christ all sins are forgiven once and for all, for He is Himself the forgiveness of sins, and there is no need for any ‘new’ absolution. But there is indeed the need for us who constantly leave Christ and excommunicate ourselves from His life, to return to Him, to receive again and again the gift which in Him has been given once and for all…the sacrament of penance is not a repetition of baptism, but our return to the ‘newness of life’ which God gave to us once and for all.” (Fr. Alexander Schmemann)
“In a similar way Christ believes the woman taken in adultery. He does not break the law, but He sees through the surface of what is evident. As an adulteress, she deserved to be stoned, but then this woman became capable of entering into eternal Life. She was no longer a sinner caught in the act. Now she knew what she did not know or understand before—that sin is the same as death. If only life is granted to her, she will never forget the terrible truth that sin kills. The woman who committed adultery died within her. The one who stood in terror awaiting stoning was someone else entirely. It is this other woman, free and resurrected, whom Christ sends forth into newness of life. He saw her heart, addressed her deepest self, and the obvious is overcome not by pity, but by a greater truth.” (Metropolitan Anthony Bloom)
“The law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good” (Romans7:12) – and yet a living relationship with God is better still. When we are alive to God, we serve Him “in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter” of the law (vs. 6). Christ died for our sins that we might live to God in newness of life. Let us repent and be saved from the power of sin through our union with the living Body of Christ.” (Dynamis 7/5/2021)
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