Post-feast of the Transfiguration; Holy Martyrs Photius and Anicetas (284-305)
2 Corinthians 3:4-11; Matthew 23:29-39
Dormition Fast. Abstinence from meat and foods that contain meat.
Read 2 Corinthians 3:4-11
St. Paul today has to defend not only his ministry but the central purpose of the Gospel. He is faced with an antagonistic group of Judaizing Christians who focus on the externals and the letter of the Law as opposed to Christ and growth in the Divine Spirit. He wants us to understand that the Law, which is an external document, gives us information, but it cannot transform our lives. It instructs us in what is pleasing to God, but cannot strengthen us to live in a God-pleasing way. It is able to teach, but cannot liberate. It warns us of the consequences of breaking God’s Law, but cannot give life. Even the prophets understood this in their anticipation of the coming of the fullness of God’s Kingdom. Ezekiel prophesied that one day God would “remove the heart of stone and them a heart of flesh,” and “put His spirit” within them (Ezek. 36:25-27). If a person were shackled with lust in their heart, the law can only condemn this sin and not heal it. While the Holy Spirit, who comes through the New Covenant, is able to do the internal work of transforming, and freeing from sin, the human heart; therefore the Spirit and the New Covenant is far superior to the Law.