“The story of Christianity is the story of humanity’s rebellion against God.” (John Moriarty)
“It is possible to find those who consider themselves enemies of God. But most people would deny it. Instead, many may admit that “God” does not mean much to them. They harbor no ill will toward God as long as He doesn’t interfere with their lives…this attitude is the bedrock of human sinfulness. From the initial sin of Adam and Eve, humankind has declared its independence from its Creator. But this desire to be one’s own god has led humanity farther and farther away from the source of life and goodness. Indifference is a benign form of the rejection of God and everything that He represents. The hatred that underlies this uncaring attitude was revealed whenever God tried to win humans back to Him. When the Creator has tried to reveal His good for human persons, they have bristled with indignation. Accordingly, Paul said, “By the law comes knowledge of sin” (OSB Romans 3:20). The law commands, corrects, and holds humans accountable to the divine will. And so, it stirs up animosity. Man willfully subjects himself to corruption rather than acknowledge His dependence on and responsibility to His Creator.” (Fr. Basil)
“God is intimately involved in the created order. His grace, His working in the world, permeates the entirety of the creation which He is transfiguring and bringing to perfection. Sin came into existence through evil spiritual powers that have rebelled against their creator. Human persons who join in their rebellion mediate their evil into the created order as humanity was created to mediate between the invisible and visible creations. That humanity is not irredeemably demoniac and damned living in a creation transformed into a literal hell on earth is purely the gracious work of God. God has done all that He has done, preeminently the incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension in glory of Jesus Christ, in order to redeem the created order and humanity in particular. He has given us this life for repentance. He makes use of the rebellious spiritual powers which hate him in order to bring about the repentance, healing, and restoration of human persons. It is for this reason that he handed all of humanity over to death (Gen 3:2-23). It is to restrain man’s evil that his life is foreshortened (Gen 6:3).” (Father Stephen De Young)
“The prophet Jonah was not the only one to rebel against such incomparable freedom and generosity. Jonah is joined by apostles, and later, by many theologians, clergy, and laity. The church’s history is littered with conflicts precisely over the outrageous compassion of God…How many of us still recoil from the Father’s unreasonable forgiveness to the prodigal son? How natural it is, like the other, “good son,” to despise the feast celebrated for the returned runaway, the reconciliation and resolution of all in the great wedding banquet of the Lamb. Thankfully, there have also always been other voices who were able to receive such a tremendous gift—the absurd lovingkindness of God.” (Father Michael Plekon)
“Those who accept and appropriate Christ's love are reconciled to God, being restored to peace and communion with Him. God has not ceased to be our Friend, for He is unchangeable. We are the ones who have changed and thus need changing. So while we were still rebellious enemies of God, God was working in His love to restore us.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Romans 5:10)
“Genesis 1-11 narrates three “falls.” There are three distinct times described when human persons joined with spiritual beings in rebellion against God. The first of these, in Genesis 3, led to the devil being cast into the underworld and humanity’s expulsion from Paradise, the presence of God. Through Adam’s sin, death laid claim to the human race. The second rebellion is described in Genesis 4-6. Cain and his descendants join with rebellious angelic powers to bring sin and corruption into the world, culminating in acts of demonic sexual immorality which produced clans of gigantic tyrants. This resulted in the cleansing of the world by the waters of the flood. Finally, humanity’s sin at the tower of Babel resulted in Yahweh, the true God, distancing himself from the nations, placing them under the governance of intermediaries who rebelled and enslaved them as the principalities and powers opposed to Christ and his Church.” (Father Stephen De Young)
“The human race created by God was united as humanity. Originally, humanity in its entirety was created alike as children of God. However, humanity lost this unity in its rebellion against God's will (that is, the fall), which resulted in the division of people into different races and nations.” (George C. Papademetriou)
“The earliest people of God (Israel and Judah) and the Church share a continuous history, with each generation resisting or embracing God’s call to communion. Assaults against us are constant and peaceful times rare. The ferocity of the attack varies, for the warfare is experienced inside our souls as well as externally in the form of battles and all-out war. The underlying cause of this unending conflict is evil and sin, the first and continuing plague…Because we live in a world in constant rebellion against God, Christ is urgently concerned with protecting our hearts and souls.” (Dynamis 8/31/2019, 6/24/2020)
“Holy Scripture reduces the choices of which dynamic will govern our lives to just two: the true God, and, not the true God: the true God, or any number of false idols, usually manifestations of the fallen self. Relinquishing the spirit of rebellion that haunts the human heart is the hard work of Christian life. In fact, many who become Christian – or, after baptism into the Church – notice that while part of us moves eagerly toward the light, another part folds the arms, scowls, and insists on being immovable.” (Fr. John Oliver)
“This spiritual journey for the Christian is the time for him to leave behind all the excess baggage he may have brought from the secular world, as well as to shed all vestiges of rebellion and idolatry.” (Metropolitan Isaiah of Denver)
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