Thursday
28th Week of Ordinary Time
(I) 1st Reading: Romans 3:21-30
Righteousness, a Free Gift through Faith in Christ
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[21] But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law,
although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, [22] the righteousness of
God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction
[23] since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [24] they are justi-
fied by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus,
[25] whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith.
This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he
had passed over former sins; [26] it was to prove at the present time that he
himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus.
[27] Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On
the principle of works? No, but on the principle of faith. [28] For we hold that a
man is justified by faith apart from works of law. [29] Or is God the God of Jews
only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, [30] since God
is one; and he will justify the circumcised on the ground of their faith and the
uncircumcised through their faith.
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Commentary:
21-22. The doctrinal richness of this text and of the whole passage (vv. 21-26) is
here condensed in a way very typical of St Paul's style. He explains how justifi-
cation operates: God the Father, the source of all good, by his redemptive de-
cree is the "efficient cause" of our salvation; Jesus Christ, by shedding his blood
on the Cross, merits this salvation for us; faith is the instrument by which the Re-
demption becomes effective in the individual person.
The righteousness of God is the action by which God makes people righteous,
or just (cf. St Augustine, "De Spiritu Et Littera", IX, 15). This righteousness was
originally proclaimed in the books of the Old Testament--the Law and the Prophets
-- but it has now been made manifest in Christ and in the Gospel. Salvation does
not depend on fulfillment of the Mosaic Law, for that Law is not sufficient to justify
anyone: only faith in Jesus Christ can work salvation.
"If anyone says that, without divine grace through Jesus Christ, man can be jus-
tified before God by his own works, whether they were done by his natural powers
or by the light of the teaching of the Law: let him be anathema" (Council of Trent,
"De Iustificatione", can. 1).
It is not the law, then, which saves, but "faith in Jesus Christ". This expression
should be interpreted in line with the unanimous and constant teaching of the
Church, which is that "faith is the beginning of human salvation", and a person's
will must cooperate with faith to prepare the ground for the grace of justification
(cf. ibid., chap. 8 and can. 9).
23-26. The Apostle first describes the elements that go to make up the mystery
of faith (vv. 23-25): all men need to be liberated from sin; God the Father has a
redemptive plan, which is carried out by the atoning and bloody sacrifice of Christ's
death; faith is a necessary condition for sharing in the Redemption wrought by
Christ; the sacrifice of the Cross is part and parcel of the History of Salvation: be-
fore the Incarnation of the Word, God patiently put up with men's sins; in the full-
ness of time he chose--through Christ's sacrifice--to require full satisfaction for
those sins so that men might be enabled to become truly righteous in God's eyes
and God's perfections become more manifest.
"The Cross of Christ, on which the Son, consubstantial with the Father, renders
full justice to God, is also a radical revelation of mercy, that is, of the love that
goes against what constitutes the very root of evil in the history of man--against
sin and death" (John Paul II, "Dives In Misericordia", 8).
23. "Fall short of the glory of God": this shows the position man is in when he is
in a state of sin. Because he has not the life of grace in him, he is not properly
orientated towards his supernatural end, is deprived of the right to heaven that
sanctifying grace confers, and consequently does not have these divine perfec-
tions which supernatural life gives him.
24. All have been justified, that is, all have been made "righteous" (cf. 1 :17). This
justification is the result of a gratuitous gift of God which St Paul describes in a
way which reinforces his point ("grace", "as a gift"): this identifies the source of
the gift as God's loving-kindness and it also shows the new state in which justifi-
cation places a person so important is this statement--that grace is a gift which
God gives without merit on our part--that the Council of Trent, when using this
text from St Paul, made a point of explaining what it meant: that is, that nothing
which precedes justification (whether it be faith, or morals) merits the grace by
which man is justified (cf. Rom 11:16; Council of Trent, "De Iustificatione", chap.
8).
This new kind of life, whose motor is grace, requires free and active cooperation
on man's part; by that cooperation a person in the state of grace obtains merit
through his actions: "For such is God's goodness to men that he wills that his
gifts be our merits, and that he will grant us an eternal reward for what he has gi-
ven us" ("Indiculus", chap. 9). The fact that grace is a gratuitous gift of God does
not mean that man does not have an obligation to respond to it: we are not justi-
fied by keeping the Law or by a decision of our free will; however, justification
does not happen without our cooperation; grace strengthens our will and helps
it freely to keep the Law (cf. St Augustine, "De Spiritu Et Littera", IX, 15).
Justification by grace is attained "through the redemption which is in Jesus
Christ". The Council of Trent teaches that when a sinner is justified there is "a
passing from the state in which man is born a son of the first Adam, to the state
of grace and adoption as sons of God through the second Adam, Jesus Christ
our Savior" ("De Iustificatione", chap. 4). This has been made possible because
our Lord saved us by giving himself up as our ransom. The Greek word transla-
ted as "redemption" refers to the ransom money paid to free a person from sla-
very. Christ has freed us from the slavery of sin, paying the necessary ransom
(cf. Rom 6:23). By sacrificing himself for us, Christ has become our master or
owner, who mediates between the Father and the whole human race: "Let us
all take refuge in Christ; let us have recourse to God to free us from sin: let us
put ourselves up for sale in order to be redeemed by his blood. For the Lord says,
'You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money' (Is 52:3);
without spending a penny of your inheritance, for I have paid on your behalf. This
is what the Lord says: He paid the price, not with silver but with his blood" (St
Augustine, "In Ioann. Evang.", 41, 4).
Our very creation means that we belong totally to God the Father and therefore
also to Christ, insofar as he is God, but "as man, he is also for many reasons
appropriately called 'Lord'. First, because he is our Redeemer, who delivered us
from sin, he deservedly acquired the power by which he truly is and is called our
Lord" ("St Pius V Catechism", I, 3, 11).
And so, through the Incarnation, whose climax was Christ's redemptive sacrifice,
"God gave human life the dimension that he intended man to have from his first
beginning; he has granted that dimension definitively [...] and he has granted it
also with the bounty that enables us, in considering the original sin and the
whole history of the sins of humanity, and in considering the errors of the human
intellect, will and heart, to repeat with amazement the words of the sacred Litur-
gy: 'O happy fault...which gained us so great a Redeemer!'" (John Paul II, "Re-
demptor Hominis", 1).
25. The "expiation" was the cover or mercy seat of the Ark, which stood in the
center of the Holy of Holies in the Temple (cf. Exod 25:17-22). It was made of bea-
ten gold and had a cherub at either end, each facing the other. It had two functions:
one was to act as God's throne (cf. Ps 80:2; 99:1), from which he spoke to Moses
during the time of the exodus from Egypt (cf. Num 7:89; Exod 37:6); the other was
to entreat God to pardon sin through a rite of expiatory sacrifice on the feast of the
Day of Atonement (cf. Lev 16): on that day the High Priest sprinkled the mercy
seat with the blood of animals sacrificed as victims, to obtain forgiveness of sins
for priest and people.
St Paul asserts that God has established Jesus as the true expiation, of which the
mercy seat in the Old Testament was merely a figure.
No angel or man could ever atone for the immense evil that sin is -- an offense to
the infinite majesty of God. The Blessed Trinity decided "that the Son of God,
whose power is infinite, clothed in the weakness of our flesh, should remove the
infinite weight of sin and reconcile us to God in his Blood" ("St Pius V Catechism",
I, 3, 3).
This expiatory sacrifice, prefigured in the bloody sacrificial rites of the Old Testa-
ment (cf. Lev 16:1 ff), was announced by John the Baptist when he pointed to
Jesus as the Lamb of God (cf. Jn 1:29 and note); and Jesus himself referred to
the sacrifice of the Cross when he said that the Son of man had come "to give
his life as a ransom for many" (Mt 20:28).
This sacrifice is renewed daily in the Holy Mass, one of the purposes of which is
atonement, as the Liturgy itself states: "Lord, may this sacrifice once offered on
the cross to take away the sins of the world now free us from our sins" ("Roman
Missal", Feast of the Triumph of the Cross, prayer over the gifts).
26. In the time prior to Christ's coming the sins of mankind remained unatoned for:
neither the rites designed by man to placate God's anger, nor those established
by God himself in the Old Law, were in any way equal to atoning for the offense
offered to God by sin. Therefore, the just of the Old Testament were really justi-
fied by virtue of their faith in the future Messiah, a faith which expressed itself in
observance of the rites established by God.
During all this period the Lord kept deferring punishment ("passing over former
sins"). This time of "God's forbearance" lasted until the messianic era "the pre-
sent time", that is, the period between the first and second comings of Christ.
On the righteousness of God and God as the Justifier of man, see note on Rom
1:17.
27-31. These words are addressed to the same imaginary interlocutor as ap-
peared at the beginning of the chapter. Although he is Lord of all nations, God
showed special preference for the people of Israel. Relying on this, the Jews
wrongly thought that only they could attain blessedness because only they en-
joyed God's favor. This led them to look down on other peoples. After the coming
of Christ, they no longer have any basis for this pride: St John Chrysostom ex-
plains that it had simply become outdated, superseded (cf. "Hom. On Rom", 7),
for God had set up a single way of salvation for all men--the "principle of faith"
which the Apostle refers to. This new way means that Jews must forget their an-
cient pride and become humble, for God has opened the gates of salvation to all
mankind.
Consequently, no one--not even the Jew--is justified by works of the Law. What
justifies a person is faith: not faith alone, as Luther wrongly argued, but the faith
which works through charity (cf. Gal 5:6); faith which is not presumptuous self-
confidence in one's own merits, but a firm and ready acceptance of all that God
has revealed, faith which moves one to place one's hope in Christ's merits and to
repent of one's sins. Therefore it will be "by faith"--not by circumcision--that the
Jews will be justified, and it will be "through their faith" that the uncircumcised
will attain salvation. From this it might appear as though the Law had been re-
voked; ut that is not the case: faith ratifies the Law gives it its true meaning and
raises it to perfection. For, through being a preparation for the Gospel, the Mo-
saic Law receives from Christ the fullness it was lacking: the precept of charity
reveals the meaning which God gave the law but which lay hidden until Christ
made it manifest, for "love is the fulfilling of the law" (Rom 13:10). St Paul in a
way summarizes all this teaching in v. 28, which is the key statement in the
passage.
(II) 1st Reading: Ephesians 1:1-10
Greeting
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[1] Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are
also faithful in Christ Jesus: [2] Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Hymn of Praise
-----------------------
[3] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, [4] even as he
chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
blameless before him. [5] He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus
Christ, according to the purpose of his will, [6] to the praise of his glorious grace
which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. [7] In him we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of
his grace [8] which he lavished upon us. [9] For he had made known to us in
all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which
he set forth in Christ [10] a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in
him, things in heaven and things on earth.
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Commentary:
1. As usual St Paul begins with a greeting which identifies who he is, his autho-
rity to write this letter--he is an "apostle of Jesus Christ"--and the dignity of the
people he is addressing--"saints" and "faithful in Christ Jesus". He presents
himself as an "apostle", that is, an envoy of Christ Jesus. A calling to the apos-
tolate is something that comes from God: it is a grace, a sign of God's special
love. In St Paul's case this calling was revealed to him by Christ on the road to
Damascus (cf. Acts 9:3-18); the Holy Spirit then set him out to preach (cf. Acts
13:2f), and the message which he received from the Lord he passed on orally
and in writing (cf. 1 Cor 11:23), so that in every way is it right for him to say that
he is an "apostle" (cf. note on Rom 1:1).
St Paul often refers to the Christians as "saints" (cf. Rom 1:7; 1 Cor 1:2; Phil
1:1; etc.) and "faithful" (cf. Col 1:2); these titles describe what Baptism does for
a person (cf. Eph 5:26).
All the baptized are called to live a holy life: being "saints", being "believers",
commits them to do so. Holiness is, therefore, a gift of God which at the same
time implies an obligation to further its development, as the Second Vatican
Council explains: "It is therefore quite clear that all Christians in any state or
walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of love,
and by this holiness a more human manner of life is fostered also in earthly so-
ciety. In order to reach this perfection the faithful should use the strength dealt
out to them by Christ's gift, so that, following in his footsteps and conformed to
his image, doing the will of God in everything, they may wholeheartedly devote
themselves to the glory of God and to the service of their neighbor. Thus the
holiness of the people of God will grow in fruitful abundance, as is clearly shown
in the history of the Church through the life of so many saints" ("Lumen Gentium",
40).
By describing the Christians as "faithful" St Paul is not only saying that they are
people who have received the gift of faith (cf. Eph 2:8); he is also calling on them
to stay true to the faith despite all the wiles of the devil (cf. Eph 6:10-13).
In the Church it has always been customer to refer to those who have received
Baptism as "faithful": "Christ's faithful are those who, since they are incorporated
into Christ through baptism, are constituted the people of God. For this reason
they participate in their own way in the priestly, prophetic and kingly office of
Christ. They are called, each according to his or her particular condition, to exer-
cise the mission which God entrusted to the Church to fulfill in the world" ("Code
of Canon Law", can. 204, 1).
2. "Shalom!"--"Peace!"--is the usual way Jews greet one another. According to
the prophets, peace was one of the gifts the Messiah would bring. After the in-
carnation of the Son of God, now that the "prince of peace" has come among
men (cf. Is 9:6), when the Apostles use this greeting they are joyfully proclai-
ming the advent of messianic peace: all good things, heavenly and earthly,
are attainable because by his death and resurrection Jesus, the Messiah, has
removed, once and for all, the enmity between God and men: "since we are jus-
tified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom
5:1).
2. "샬롬(Shalom) -- "평화(Peace)!" --
는 유다인들이 서로 인사하는 통상의
방식입니다.
예언자들에 따르면, 평화는 메시아가 가져다 줄 선물(gifts)들
중의 하나였습니다.(*)
하느님의 아드님의 강생 후에, "평화의
군왕(prince of peace)" 께서 사람들
사이에 이미
오셨기(이사야
9,5(6) 참조) 때문에,
사도들이 바로 이러한 인사말을 사용할 때에 그들은
다음과 같은
메시아의 평화(messianic peace, 즉
그리스도의 평화)의
도래(advent)를
기쁘게 선포하고 있습니다:
하늘에 있는(heavenly) 그리고 땅에 있는(earthly) 좋은
것들 모두는
획득할 수(attainable) 있는데 왜냐하면 당신의 죽음과 부활에
의하여
메시아이신 예수님께서, 하느님과 사람들 사이의 적개심(enmity)을, 단 한번으로
그리고 영원히(once
and for all, 결정적으로), 이미 제거하셨기 때문입니다:
"믿음으로 의롭게 된 우리는 우리 주 예수 그리스도를 통하여 하느님과 더불어 평화를
누립니다."
(로마
5,1).
-----
(*) 번역자 주: 여기서는 "평화(peace,
shalom)"를 메시아, 즉, 그리스도께서 가져다 줄 선물
(gift)이라고 설명하는데, 다른 한편으로, 평화(peace, shalom)는,
완미(perfections)들인,
성령의 열두 열매(fruits)들 중의 한 개이다. 성령의 "선물(gift)"과
성령의 "열매(fruit)"의
정의(definitions)들 및 차이점은 다음의 글에 있다:
http://ch.catholic.or.kr/pundang/4/soh/969.htm
-----
The same expression--"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the
Lord Jesus Christ"--is frequently to be found in St Paul's letters. For its meaning,
see the notes on Rom 1:7 and
1 Cor
1:3.
"하느님 우리 아버지와 주 예수
그리스도에게서 은총과 평화가 여러분에게 내리기를
빕니다" 라는 이 동일한 표현은 성 바오로의 서간들에서
자주 발견됩니다. 이 표현의
의미에 대하여, 로마서
1,7과 1코린토서
1,3에 대한 주석들을 보십시오.
[번역자 주: 이하의 해설은, 여기를
클릭하면 읽을 수 있는, 나해 연중 제15주일
제2독서(Ehesians 1:3-14)의 해설에 포함된다.
특히 동정 마리아에 대한 "새 하와"라는 칭호(title)의
신학적 근거인, 2세기의 교부인
리옹의 성 이레네오(St. Irenaeus of Lyons) 의 "recapitulation(총괄복귀/수렴)"
개념의 성경적 근거인 에페소서 1,10에 대한 해설을 꼭
필독하도록 하라]
3-14. Verses 3-14 are a hymn of praise to God for the plan of salvation he has
devised and brought to fulfillment in benefit of men and all creation. It is written
in a liturgical style of rhythmic prose, similar to that in Colossians 1:15-20. In
the Greek it is one long complex sentence full of relative pronouns and clauses
which give it a designed unity; we can, however, distinguish two main sections.
번역자 주: 다음의 주소에 접속하면, 에페소서
1,3-14 해설의 우리말 번역문 전문을
학습할 수 있다:
http://ch.catholic.or.kr/pundang/4/navarre/b_ot_15.htm
<----- 필독 권고
The first (v. 3-10), divided into four stanzas, describes the blessings contained
in God's salvific plan; St Paul terms this plan the "mystery" of God's will. The
section begins by praising God for his eternal design, a plan, pre-dating creation,
to call us to the Church, to form a community of saints (first stanza: vv. 3f) and
receive the grace of being children of God through Jesus Christ (second stanza:
vv. 5f). It then reflects on Christ's work of redemption which brings this eternal
plan of God to fulfillment (third stanza: vv. 7f). This section reaches its climax in
the fourth stanza (vv. 9f) which proclaims Christ as Lord of all creation, thereby
revealing the full development of God's salvific plan.
The second section, which divides into two stanzas, deals with the application of
this plan--first to the Jews (fifth stanza: vv. 11f) and then to the Gentiles, who are
also called to share what God has promised: Jews and Gentiles join to form a
single people, the Church (sixth stanza: vv. 13f).
Hymns in praise of God, or "eulogies", occur in many parts of Sacred Scripture
(cf. Ps 8; Ps 19; Dan 2:20-23; Lk 1:46-54, 68-78; etc.); they praise the Lord for
the wonders of creation or for spectacular interventions on behalf of his people.
Inspired by the Holy Spirit, St Paul here praises God the Father for all Christ's
saving work, which extends from God's original plan which he made before he
created the world, right up to the very end of time and the recapitulation of all
things in Christ.
We too should always have this same attitude of praise of the Lord. "Our entire
life on earth should take the form of praise of God, for the never-ending joy of our
future life consists in praising God, and no one can become fit for that future life
unless he train himself to render that praise now" (St Augustine, "Enarrationes
in Psalmos", 148).
Praise is in fact the most appropriate attitude for man to have towards God: "How
can you dare use that spark of divine intelligence--your mind--in anything but in
giving glory to your Lord?" (St. J. Escriva, "The Way", 782).
3. St Paul blesses God as Father of our Lord Jesus Christ because it is through
Christ that all God's blessings and gifts reach us. God's actions in favor of man
are actions of all three divine Persons; the divine plan which the Apostle consi-
ders here has its origin in the Blessed Trinity; it is eternal. "These three Persons
are not to be considered separable," the Eleventh Council of Toledo teaches,
"since we believe that not one of them existed or at any time effected anything
before the other, after the other, or without the other. For in existence and ope-
ration they are found to be inseparable" ("De Trinitate" Creed, "Dz-Sch", 531).
In the implementation of this divine plan of salvation, the work of Redemption is
attributed to the Son and that of sanctification to the Holy Spirit. "To help us
grasp in some measure this unfathomable mystery, we might imagine the Bles-
sed Trinity taking counsel together in their uninterrupted intimate relationship of
nfinite love. As a result of their eternal decision, the only-begotten Son of God
the Father takes on our human condition and bears the burden of our wretched-
ness and sorrows, to end up sewn with nails to a piece of wood" (St. J. Escriva,
"Christ Is Passing By", 95).
St Paul describes as "spiritual blessings" all the gifts which the implementation
of God's plan implies, gifts which are distributed by the Holy Spirit. When he
speaks of them as being "in the heavenly places" and "in Christ", he is saying
that through Christ who has risen from the dead and ascended on high we too
have been inserted into the world of God (cf. 1:20; 2:6).
When man describes God as "blessed it means he recognizes God's greatness
and goodness, and rejoices over the divine gifts he has received (cf. Lk 1:46, 68).
Here is what St Thomas Aquinas has to say about the meaning of this passage:
"The Apostle says, 'Benedictus' [Blessed be the God ...], that is, may I, and you,
and everyone bless him, with our heart, our mouth, our actions--praising him as
God and as Father, for he is God because of his essence and Father because
of his power to generate" ("Commentary on Eph.", 1, 6).
Sacred Scripture very often invites us to praise God our Lord (cf. Ps 8:19; 33;
46-48; etc.); this is not a matter only of verbal praise: our actions should prove
that we mean what we say: "He who does good with his hands praises the Lord,
and he who confesses the Lord with his mouth praises the Lord. Praise him by
your actions" (St Augustine, "Enarrationes in Psalmos", 91, 2).
4. As the hymn develops, the Apostle details each of the blessings contained in
God's eternal plan. The first of these is his choice, before the foundation of the
world, of those who would become part of the Church. The word he uses, trans-
lated here as "chose", is the same one as used in the Greek translation of the
Old Testament to refer to God's election of Israel. The Church, the new people
of God, is constituted by assembling in and around Christ those who have been
chosen and called to holiness. This implies that although the Church was foun-
ded by Christ at a particular point in history, its origin goes right back to the
eternal divine plan. 'The eternal Father, in accordance with the utterly gratuitous
and mysterious design of his wisdom and goodness, ... 'predestined (the elect)
to be conformed to the image of his Son in order that he might be the first-born
among many brethren' (Rom 8:29). He determined to call together in a holy
Church those who believe in Christ. Already present in figure at the beginning
of the world, this Church was prepared in marvelous fashion in the history of the
people of Israel and in the Old Alliance. Established in this last age of the world,
and made manifest in the outpouring of the Spirit, it will be brought to glorious
completion at the end of time" (Vatican II, "Lumen Gentium", 2).
God's choice seeks to have us become "holy and blameless before him". In the
same way as in the Old Testament a victim offered to God had to be unblemished,
blameless (cf. Gen 17:1), the blameless holiness to which God has destined us
admits of no imperfection. By the very fact of being baptized we are made holy
(cf. note on 1: 1), and during our lifetime we try to grow holier with the help of
God; however, complete holiness is something we shall attain only in heaven.
The holiness with which we have been endowed is an undeserved gift from God:
it is not a reward for any merit on our part: even before we were created God
chose us to be his: "'He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that
we should be holy.' I know that such thoughts don't fill you with pride or lead you
to think yourself better than others. That choice, the root of your vocation, should
be the basis of your humility. Do we build monuments to an artist's paintbrush?
Granted the brush had a part in creating masterpieces, but we give credit only to
the painter. We Christians are nothing more than instruments in the hands of the
Creator of the world, the Redeemer of all men" (St. J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing
By", 1).
"He destined us in love": the loving initiative is God's. "If God has honored us with
countless gifts it is thanks to his love, not to our merits. Our fervor, our strength,
our faith and our unity are the fruit of God's benevolence and our response to his
goodness" (St John Chrysostom, "Hom. on Eph, ad loc".).
God's election of Christians and their vocation to holiness, as also the gift of di-
vine filiation, reveals that God is Love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8); we have become partakers
of God's very nature (cf. 2 Pet 1:4), sharers, that is, in the love of God.
"He destined us in love", therefore, also includes the Christian's love of God and
of others: charity is a sharing in God's own love; it is the essence of holiness,
the Christian's law; nothing has any value if it is not inspired by charity (cf. 1 Cor
13:1-3).
5. The Apostle goes on to explore the further implications of God's eternal plan:
those chosen to form part of the Church have been given a second blessing, as
it were, by being predestined to be adoptive children of God. 'The state of this
people is that of the dignity and freedom of the sons of God, in whose hearts the
Holy Spirit dwells as in a temple" (Vatican II, "Lumen Gentium, 9).
This predestination to which the Apostle refers means that God determined from
all eternity that the members of the new people of God should attain holiness
through his gift of adoptive sonship. It is God's desire that all be saved (cf. 1 Tim
2:4) and he gives each person the means necessary for obtaining eternal life.
Therefore, no one is predestined to damnation (cf. Third Council of Valence, "De
Praedestinatione", can. 3).
The source of the Christian's divine sonship is Jesus Christ. God's only Son,
one in substance with the Father, took on human nature in order to make us
sons and daughters of God by adoption (cf. Rom 8:15, 29; 9:4; Gal 4:5). This is
why every member of the Church can say: "See what love the Father has given
us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are" (1 Jn 3:1).
What is involved here is not simply formal adoption, which is something external
and does not affect the very person of the child. Divine adoption affects man's
entire being, it inserts him into God's own life; for Baptism makes us truly his
children, partakers of the divine nature (cf. 2 Pet 1:4). Divine sonship is therefore
the greatest of the gifts God bestows on man during his life on earth. It is indeed
right to exclaim "Blessed be God" (v. 3) when one reflects on this great gift: it is
right for children openly to acknowledge their father and show their love for him.
Divine filiation has many rich effects as far as the spiritual life is concerned. "A
child of God treats the Lord as his Father. He is not obsequious and servile; he
'is not merely formal and well-mannered: he is completely sincere and trusting.
God is not shocked by what we do. Our infidelities do not wear him out. Our
Father in heaven pardons any offense when his child returns to him, when he
repents and asks for pardon. The Lord is such a good father that he anticipates
our desire to be pardoned and comes forward to us, opening his arms laden with
grace" (St. J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 64). See the notes on Jn 1:12.
6. The gift of divine filiation is the greatest expression of the glory of God (ef. note
on 1:17 below), because it reveals the full extent of God's love for man. St Paul
stresses what the purpose of this eternal divine plan is-to promote "the praise of
his glorious grace". God's glory has been made manifest through his merciful love,
which has led him to make us his children in accordance with the eternal purpose
of his will. This eternal design "flows from 'fountain-like love', the love of God the
Father [...]. God in his great and merciful kindness freely creates us and, more-
over, graciously calls us to share in his life and glory. He generously pours out,
and never ceases to pour out, his divine goodness, so that he who is Creator of
all things might at last become 'everything to everyone' (1 Cor 15:28), thus simul-
taneously assuring his own glory and our happiness" (Vatican II, "Ad Gentes", 2).
The grace which St Paul speaks of here and which manifests the glory of God
refers first to the fact that God's blessings are totally unmerited by us and in-
clude the grace-conferring gifts of holiness and divine filiation.
"In the Beloved": the Old Testament stresses again and again that God loves his
people and that Israel is that cherished people (cf. Deut 33:12; is 5:1, 7; 1 Mac
6:11; etc.). In the New Testament Christians are called "beloved by God" (1 Thess
1:4; cf. Col 3:12). However, there is only one "Beloved", strictly speaking, Jesus
Christ our Lord--as God revealed from the bright cloud at the Transfiguration: "This
is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased" (Mt 17:5). The Son of his love
has obtained man's redemption and brought forgiveness of sins (cf. Col 1:13ff),
and it is through his grace that we become pleasing to God, lovable by him with
the same love with which he loves his Son. At the Last Supper, Jesus asked his
Father for this very thing--"so that the world may know that thou hast sent me
and hast loved them even as thou hast loved me" (Jn 17:23). "Notice", St John
Chrysostom points out, "that Paul does not say that this grace has been given
us for no purpose but that it has been given us to make us pleasing and lovable
in his eyes, now that we are purified of our sins" ("Hom. on Eph, ad loc.").
7-8. St Paul now centers his attention on the redemptive work of Christ--the third
blessing--which has implemented the eternal divine plan described in the prece-
ding verses.
Redemption means "setting free". God's redemptive action began in the Old Tes-
tament, when he set the people of Israel free from their enslavement in Egypt (cf.
Ex 11:7ff): by smearing the lintels of their doors with the blood of the lamb, their
first-born were protected from death. In memory of this salvation God ordained
the celebration of the rite of the passover lamb (cf. Ex 12:47). However, this
redemption from Egyptian slavery was but a prefigurement of the Redemption
Christ would bring about. "Christ our Lord achieved this task [of redeeming man-
kind and giving perfect glory to God] principally by the paschal mystery of his
blessed passion, resurrection from the dead, and glorious ascension" (Vatican
II, "Sacrosanctum Concilium", 5). By shedding his blood on the Cross, Christ
has redeemed us from the slavery of sin, from the power of the devil, and from
death (cf. note on Rom 3:24-25). He is the true passover Lamb (cf. Jn 1:29).
"When we reflect that we have been ransomed 'not with perishable things such
as silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without
blemish or spot' (1 Pet 1:18f), we are naturally led to conclude that we could
have received no gift more salutary than this power [given to the Church] of for-
giving sins, which proclaims the ineffable providence of God and the excess of
his love towards us" ("St Pius V Catechism", I, 11, 10).
The Redemption wrought by Christ frees us from the worst of all slaveries--that
of sin. As the Second Vatican Council puts it, "Man finds that he is unable of
himself to overcome the assaults of evil successfully, so that everyone feels as
though bound by chains. But the Lord himself came to free and strengthen man,
renewing him inwardly and casting out the 'ruler of this world' (Jn 12:31), who held
him in the bondage of sin. For sin brought man to a lower state, forcing him away
from the completeness that is his to attain" ("Gaudium Et Spes", 13).
In carrying out this Redemption, our Lord was motivated by his infinite love for
man. This love, which far exceeds anything man could hope for, or could merit,
is to be seen above all in the universal generosity of God's forgiveness, for though
"sin increased, grace abounded all the more" (Rom 5:20); this forgiveness,
achieved by Christ's death on the cross, is the supreme sign of God's love for us,
for "greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends"
(Jn 15:13). If God the Father gave up his Son to death for the remission of men's
sins, "it was to reveal the love that is always greater than the whole of creation,
the love that is he himself, since 'God is love' (1 Jn 4:8, 16)", John Paul II reminds
us. "Above all, love is greater than sin, than weakness, than 'the futility of creation'
(cf. Rom 8:20); it is stronger than death" (Redemptor Hominis", 9).
By enabling our sins to be forgiven, the Redemption brought about by Christ has
restored man's dignity. "Increasingly contemplating the whole of Christ's mystery,
the Church knows with all the certainty of faith that the Redemption that took
place through the Cross has definitely restored his dignity to man and given back
meaning to his life in the world, a meaning that was lost to a considerable extent
because of sin" ("Redemptor Hominis", 10). This action on God's part reveals his
wisdom and prudence.
9. Through Christ's redemptive action, God has not only pardoned sin: he has
also shown that his salvific plan embraces all history and all creation. This plan,
which was revealed in Jesus Christ, St Paul calls "the mystery" of God's will; its
revelation is a further divine blessing. The entire mystery embraces the establish-
ment of the Church and the gift of divine filiation (vv. 4-7), the recapitulation of all
things in Christ (v. 10), and the convoking of Jews and Gentiles to form part of the
Church (vv. 11-14; cf. 3:4-7). All this has been revealed in Christ, in whom, there-
fore, God's revelation reaches its climax. Christ "did this by the total fact of his
presence and self-manifestation--by words and works, signs and miracles, but
above all by his death and glorious resurrection from the dead, and finally by
sending the Spirit of truth. He revealed that God is with us, to deliver us from the
darkness of sin and death, and to raise us up to eternal life" (Vatican II, "Dei
Verbum", 4).
The fact that God reveals his plans of salvation is a further proof of his love and
mercy, for it enables man to recognize God's infinite wisdom and goodness and
to hear his invitation to take part in these plans. As the Second Vatican Council
puts it, "It pleased God, in his goodness and wisdom, to reveal himself and to
make known the mystery of his will (cf. Eph 1:9). His will was that man should
have access to the Father through Christ, the Word made flesh, in the Holy Spirit,
and thus become sharers in the divine nature (cf. Eph 2:18; 2 Pet 1:4). By this
revelation, then, the invisible God (cf. Col 1:15; 1 Tim 1:17), from the fullness of
his love, addresses men as his friends (cf. Ex 33: 11; Jn 15:14f), and moves
among them (cf. Bar 3:38), in order to invite and receive them into his own
company" ("Dei Verbum", 2).
On the meaning of the word "mystery" in St Paul, see the notes on 1:26, 28; 2:9.
10. The "mystery" revealed by God in his love takes shape in a harmonious way,
in different stages or moments ("kairoi") as history progresses. The fullness of
time came with the Incarnation (cf. Gal 4:4) and it will last until the End. Through
the Redemption, Christ has rechannelled history towards God; he rules over all
human history in a supernatural way. Not only have God's mysterious plans be-
gun to take effect: they have been revealed to the Church, which God uses to
implement these plans. "Already the final age of the world is with us (cf. 1 Cor
10:11) and the renewal of the world is irrevocably under way; it is even now anti-
cipated in a certain real way, for the Church on earth is endowed already with a
sanctity that is real though imperfect. However, until there be realized new hea-
vens and a new earth in which justice dwells (cf. 2 Pet 3:13) the pilgrim Church,
in its sacraments and institutions, which belong to this present age, carries the
mark of this world which will pass, and she herself takes her place among the
creatures which groan and travail yet and await the revelation of the sons of God
(cf. Rom 8:19-22)" (Vatican II, "Lumen Gentium", 48).
The climax of God's pre-creation plan involves "uniting" ("recapitulating") all things
in Christ: Christ is to be the cornerstone and head of all creation. This means that,
through his redemptive activity, Christ unites and leads the created world back to
God. Its unity had been destroyed as a result of sin, but now Christ binds it to-
gether, uniting heavenly things as well as mankind and other earthly things. St
John Chrysostom teaches that "since heavenly things and earthly things were
torn apart from each other, they had no head [...]. (God) made Christ according
to the flesh the sole head of all things, of angels and of men; that is, he provided
one single principle for angels and for men [...]; for all things will be perfectly uni-
ted as they ought to be when they are gathered together under one head, linked
by a bond which must come from on high" ("Hom. on Eph, ad loc.").
Christ's being head of all things--as will be made manifest at the end of time--
stems from the fact that he is true God and true man, the head and first-born of
all creation. By rising from the dead, he has overcome the power of sin and death,
and has become Lord of all creation (cf. Acts 2:36; Rom 1:4; Eph 1:19-23); all
other things, invisible as well as invisible, come under his sway.
The motto taken by Pius X when he became Pope echoes this idea of Christ's
Lordship: "If someone were to ask us for a motto which conveys our purpose we
would always reply, 'Reinstating all things in Christ' [...], trying to bring all men
to return to divine obedience" ("E supremi apostolatus").
"Uniting all things in Christ": this includes putting Christ at the summit of human
activities, as the founder of Opus Dei points out: "St Paul gave a motto to the
Christians at Ephesus: 'Instaurare omnia in Christo' (Eph 1:10), to fill everything
with the spirit of Jesus, placing Christ at the center of everything. 'And I, when
I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself' (Jn 12:32). Through
his incarnation, through his work at Nazareth and his preaching and miracles in
the land of Judea and Galilee, through his death on the cross, and through his
resurrection, Christ is the center of the universe, the first-born and Lord of all
creation.
"Our task as Christians is to proclaim this kingship of Christ, announcing it
through what we say and do. Our Lord wants men and women of his own in all
walks of life. Some he calls away from society, asking them to give up involve-
ment in the world, so that they remind the rest of us by their example that God
exists. To others he entrusts the priestly ministry. But he wants the vast majority
to stay right where they are, in all earthly occupations in which they work--in the
factory, the laboratory, the farm, the trades, the streets of the big cities and the
trails of the mountains" ("Christ Is Passing By", 105).
9. Through Christ's redemptive action, God has not only pardoned sin: he has
also shown that his salvific plan embraces all history and all creation. This plan,
which was revealed in Jesus Christ, St Paul calls "the mystery" of God's will; its
revelation is a further divine blessing. The entire mystery embraces the establish-
ment of the Church and the gift of divine filiation (vv. 4-7), the recapitulation of all
things in Christ (v. 10), and the convoking of Jews and Gentiles to form part of
the Church (vv. 11-14; cf. 3:4-7). All this has been revealed in Christ, in whom,
therefore, God's revelation reaches its climax. Christ "did this by the total fact
of his presence and self-manifestation--by words and works, signs and miracles,
but above all by his death and glorious resurrection from the dead, and finally by
sending the Spirit of truth. He revealed that God is with us, to deliver us from the
darkness of sin and death, and to raise us up to eternal life" (Vatican II, "Dei
Verbum", 4).
The fact that God reveals his plans of salvation is a further proof of his love and
mercy, for it enables man to recognize God's infinite wisdom and goodness and
to hear his invitation to take part in these plans. As the Second Vatican Council
puts it, "It pleased God, in his goodness and wisdom, to reveal himself and to
make known the mystery of his will (cf. Eph 1:9). His will was that man should
have access to the Father through Christ, the Word made flesh, in the Holy Spirit,
and thus become sharers in the divine nature (cf. Eph 2:18; 2 Pet 1:4). By this
revelation, then, the invisible God (cf. Col 1:15; 1 Tim 1:17), from the fullness of
his love, addresses men as his friends (cf. Ex 33: 11; Jn 15:14f), and moves
among them (cf. Bar 3:38), in order to invite and receive them into his own com-
pany" ("Dei Verbum", 2).
Gospel Reading: Luke 11:47-54
The Hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees (Continuation)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Jesus said to the Pharisees,) [47] "Woe to you! for you build the tombs of the
prophets whom your fathers killed. [48] So you are witnesses and consent to the
deeds of your fathers; for they killed them, and you build their tombs. [49] There-
fore also the Wisdom of God said, 'I will send them prophets and apostles, some
of whom they will kill and persecute,' [50] that the blood of all the prophets, shed
from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation, [51] from the
blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the
sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it shall be required of this generation. [52] Woe to you
lawyers! for you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter your-
selves, and you hindered those who were entering."
[53] As He went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press
Him hard, and to provoke Him to speak of many things, [54] lying in wait for Him,
to catch at something He might say.
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
51. Zechariah was a prophet who died by being stoned in the temple of Jerusa-
lem around the year 800 B.C. because he accused the people of Israel of being
unfaithful to God's law (cf. 2 Chronicles 24:20-22). The murder of Abel (Genesis
4:8) and that of Zechariah were, respectively, the first and last murders reported
in these books which the Jews regarded as Sacred Scripture. Jesus refers to a
Jewish tradition which, in His own time and even later, pointed out the stain of
the blood of Zechariah.
The altar referred to here was the altar of holocausts, located outside, in the
courtyard of the priests, in front of the temple proper.
52. Jesus severely reproaches these doctors of the Law who, given their study
and meditation on Scripture, were the very ones who should have recognized
Jesus as the Messiah, since His coming had been foretold in the sacred books.
However, as we learn from the Gospel, the exact opposite happened. Not only
did they not accept Jesus: they obstinately opposed Him. As teachers of the
Law they should have taught the people to follow Jesus; instead, they blocked
the way.
53-54. St. Luke frequently records this attitude of our Lord's enemies (cf. 6:11;
19:47-48; 20:19-20; 22:2). The people followed Jesus and were enthusiastic
about His preaching and miracles, whereas the Pharisees and scribes would
not accept Him and would not allow the people to follow Him; they tried in every
way to discredit Him in the eyes of the people (cf. John 11:48).
*********************************************************************************************
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase
The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.
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