1 John 2:2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
1 Corinthians 1:30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
Christ Who is without sin suffered and died for the sin of Adam who sinned when he was sinless...
Christ is the second Adam...
We are born into the first Adam...
We are re-born into the second Adam, Christ...
The MEANS of this rebirth is Baptism into Christ...
We are CALLED to repentance from sin unto Baptism into Christ in Whom we are now Justified because we have been baptized into Christ's Death on the Cross... In willful denial of self under the discipling of the Body of Christ, having been therein received into the Body BY that Body of Christ by Christ baptizing us into Him, we receive unto ourselves the suffering of the Cross that Christ suffered unto Death... We enter into a martyric Way of Life in self-denial and voluntary suffering unto death... And in this we find great Joy, not the joy of the world, but the Joy Christ gives to us...
This is quintessentially what Christ has Given to us by ascending the Cross for us - He has established His Way of salvation upon the earth, and we are to FOLLOW Him in that Way of Life on Earth, for we are baptized INTO Christ, INTO His Death on the Cross, into His Holy Resurrection...
Our following of Christ is ours to establish... Our own willingness to be willing... Christ will give us the strength to will, and indeed the willingness to do His Will, but only if we are willing, and this willingness is a matter of DOING to the extent of our strength the Will of God, and when we do this, God will Strengthen us in Him, for we are members of His Body, and He is our Head...
And in ALL this we affirm the Mystery of the Faith, which Paul tells us is held in a purified conscience, and that purification is held in suffering in repentance from sin for the sake of others... In utter denial of self... That is where we find maturity, perfection, in Christ - Where no thought of self determines anything in us...
Out of the Waters of Regeneration we are new-born in Christ and still need to grow up in Him...
Few become perfected in this Faith...
Most live secular lives in as much of the Faith as we can manage to do...
Yet this life itself is blessed if we persevere in the struggle...
This Faith is a lifelong STRUGGLE against sin in Christ...
A struggle to be embraced in Love to the end...
God bless you, Lammchen...
Arsenios