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Our Venerable Father Onuphrius the Great (c. 337); Our Venerable Father Peter of Athos (892)
Romans 5:17-6:2; Matthew 9:14-17
Apostles’ Fast. Abstinence from meat and foods that contain meat.
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Romans 5:17-6:2
Paul makes the strong statement that “where sin abounds, grace much more abounds” (v. 20). He is referring of course to salvation wrought in Jesus Christ, who himself is more powerful than sin. Paul then goes on to tease out a possible consequence at the beginning of the next chapter. If grace is more powerful, shouldn’t we just keep sinning? This is an idea we can fool ourselves with. Put another way, we might say “I’m not going to worry about changing, God will forgive me anyway.” At the beginning of Lent we are told the precise opposite by Paul: “Now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Cor 6:2; Cheesefare Sunday). Our salvation is won by grace, but requires our cooperation with it. It requires change. Think about it this way. God wants to give us a heart transplant, but we need immune suppressants in order to receive it, lest our bodies reject it. Persisting in sin creates a life, a body, incapable of receiving a new heart, one that Christ desperately wants to give us. Indeed, the next chapter of Romans understands this. It will tell us that to be baptized in Christ means being baptized into his death and resurrection. It means being a disciple, a life-long learner. We need to learn this new way of being so as to receive this new heart, this new grace, and make sure our bodies don’t reject it simply because we haven’t created the conditions to receive this newness in a salutary way.