DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS
Ephesians 3:8-21 (9/30) Epistle for Wednesday
of the Seventeenth Week after Pentecost
The Church and Salvation III ~ Fulfillment: Ephesians
3:8-21, especially vss. 14, 16: “I
bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ...that He would grant you,
according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His
Spirit in the inner man.” Orthodox Christians need to consider the meaning of
salvation seriously: to know why we pray repeatedly to God to have mercy on us
and save us. Does not
the saving work of Christ lie at the heart of our calling Him Savior? To have an accurate image of
“completed” or “saved” human nature, we need to
understand that salvation holds the sure, Divine
promise to fulfill and restore the “pristine beauty” that God
intends for each and every human being.
An excellent starting point is the lives of the Saints, men
and women fulfilled in Christ; for the Saints reveal the rich potential of the
process we call “deification” or “theosis.” In the present passage,
First, the Apostle says that God grants the faithful
“...to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner
man” (vs. 16). A mark of all
the Saints is inward, Spirit-given strength - personal power to stand up
against the assaults of the world, the flesh, and the devil.
True inner strength is the work of the Holy Spirit. Saint Seraphim of Sarov
likens the Spirit’s inner activity to the oil in the lamps of the wise
virgins (Mt. 25:4), for He “...changes souls from one state to another -
that is, from corruption to incorruption, from spiritual death to spiritual
life, from darkness to light, from the stable of our being (where the passions
are tied up like dumb animals and wild beasts) into a Temple of the
Divinity.”
The presence of the Holy Spirit, then, establishes the
presence of Christ within the heart “...through faith...” (Eph.
3:17) - something the Lord Jesus Himself promised: “...'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and
We will come to him and make Our home with him” (Jn. 14:23). Saint Hesychios
the Priest affirms this presence of the Lord Jesus within the Saints: “He
who with all diligence keeps his purity of heart will have Christ, establisher
of that purity, as his teacher, and Christ will secretly communicate His will
to him. ‘I will hear what God
the Lord will speak in me,’ says David, giving expression to this.”
In turn, those who have Christ dwelling in them become
“...rooted and grounded in love...” (Eph. 3:17). Saint Nikolai of Zica
attests to the same: “With the presence of Christ comes the presence of
love and, with love, inexpressible good things.” So it was that the risen Lord asked
Peter three times, “...'do you love Me?'”
(Jn. 21:15-17), thus awakening in the chief Apostle his need to have the roots
of his heart and soul grounded in Love Himself.
Experiencing the love of God enables one to comprehend
“...what is the width and length and depth and height...” (Eph.
3:18) - dimensions of Christ’s nature and life among us that reveal the
width of God’s love for all men, the length to which the Lord is willing
to go in love for us - even death on the Cross - the depth of God’s
humility in Christ, as well as the height of His exaltation above
“...every name that is named...” (Eph. 1:21).
Finally, because the Saints know “...the love of
Christ which passes knowledge...,” they are “...filled with all the
fullness of God” (Eph. 3:19).
In ourselves we are incomplete, unable to know the mind and ways of God,
powerless to see and attain completely.
But God being, omniscient and unlimited, created us for His indwelling
presence and action so that we might receive the salvation He bestows - wisdom,
power, insight - “...the riches of His glory...” (vs.
16).
O Lord Jesus, Thou goal of all our journeying: draw near to
us and save us.
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