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Reflection on Jn 8:34-36
Post date: 2014-03-29Autor: BCP
Jesus emphasizes an important truth with the words: “Truly, truly, I say to you...” He speaks about slavery. There is physical slavery and spiritual or mental slavery. One can be a physical slave and yet free of sin, and on the other hand, one can decide about life and death and yet be a slave of sin. There are light sins which we commit in daily life but there are also sins which make man a slave. Many people are slaves of alcohol, drugs or various forms of impurity. Slaves of pride, hatred, revenge, thievery, cynicism. Slaves cannot make themselves free. Jesus gives us true freedom: “If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”
Reflection on Jn 7:38-39
Post date: 2014-03-15Autor: BCP
Rivers of living water will flow out of the hearts of those who have received the fullness of the Holy Spirit. But the first condition is to believe in Christ. It is said here that the Holy Spirit was not yet given in fullness because Jesus had not yet accomplished the work of salvation. He did so when He died for our sins on Calvary, rose from the dead on the third day and ascended into heaven on the fourtieth day.
Reflection on Jn 6:54-56
Post date: 2014-03-01Autor: BCP
Chapter six of the Gospel of John describes the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves, when Jesus fed five thousand people. Then Jesus departed to a deserted place by Himself and prayed there. The Apostles went over the sea in a boat and Jesus was walking on the sea. On the next day, the people who had eaten of the loaves and been filled came to Jesus and He spoke about the bread from heaven. He said: “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” And then: “I am the living bread. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. If any man eats of this bread, he shall not die.” He also said (v.53): “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.”
Reflection on Jn 5:24
Post date: 2014-02-15Autor: BCP
Whenever Jesus meant to emphasize a certain important truth, he introduced it with the words: “Amen, amen, I say to you”, or “Truly, truly, I say to you”. It is similar to the words of a judge claiming authority when he delivers a verdict on behalf of the nation. What important truth concerning each of us is Jesus going to say? He speaks about eternal life, death and judgment. These are very serious things, existential and unavoidable. The first truth relates to the present time and eternal life. Jesus says: “has eternal life”. The second truth relates to the future: “shall not come into judgment”. And the third truth relates to the past: “has passed from death into life”.
Reflection on Jn 4:23
Post date: 2014-02-01Autor: BCP
Jesus points out those who worship God in Spirit and truth. What does it mean to worship God in Spirit? It means that a Christian must first receive the Holy Spirit. “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” (Rom 8:9) “No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.” (1Cor 12:3) So if we have received Jesus Christ and become children of God, we must also receive the Holy Spirit by faith like the Apostles. Jesus says: “When the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you shall be My witnesses.” (Acts 1:8) If we witness to Jesus, through the power of the Spirit people can receive the saving faith and be saved.
Reflection on Jn 3:16
Post date: 2014-01-18Autor: BCP
God loved you so much that He gave His only begotten Son who suffered the most extreme suffering and shameful death on the cross for you and your sins. Could God show His love for you more? How much do you love Him in return? How much do you love the Heavenly Father and how much do you love Jesus Christ who sacrificed His life for your sake? Why did He do so? That you should not perish in eternal suffering where sin, the world’s system of lies and the forces of darkness lead you. Instead of perdition God gives you the free gift of eternal life through the merits of Jesus.
Reflection on Jn 1:11-12; 2:24-25
Post date: 2013-12-21Autor: BCP
Jesus is true God. He was born in a humble stable in Bethlehem. His own did not receive Him. The priests, the then theologians, did not receive Him. Simple folk, the apostles, received Him. As many as received Him and believed in His name have become children of God. This is an important truth. To become a child of God, one must receive Jesus and believe in His name.
Reflection on Romans 8:35-36
Post date: 2013-10-26Autor: BCP
Who is God? What is God’s love? We can perceive it by our reason too. God is the Creator of all things visible and invisible. He created me as well. He knows me; He gave me the Spirit of life and earthly life through natural parents. He wants me to be perfectly happy for all eternity. He delivered up His only begotten Son to shameful death for my sake. He wants me to receive His love. The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
Reflection on Rom 8:33-34
Post date: 2013-09-28Autor: BCP
The question is who will accuse God’s elect. We can be accused by demons, by people, by our conscience or by God. Everyone who commits an offence is liable to a just punishment. “The wages of sin is death.” (Rom 6:23) “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3:23) But it is God who justifies. How? “Freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (Rom 3:24) Whom? Him who believes in Jesus and receives by faith the power of His redemptive death on the cross for us.
Reflection on Romans 8:18-19
Post date: 2013-06-08Autor: BCP
The sufferings of this present time must be considered not worthy to be compared with the blessing, privileges and glory which are prepared for the faithful in the age to come. This truth strengthened thousands and millions of martyrs who were able to suffer torments and the cruellest torture because they fixed their spiritual eyes of faith on future glory prepared for all who will persevere in the faith until the end.
Reflection on Rom 8:14-15
Post date: 2013-05-18Autor: BCP
Verse 14 reads: “All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” The first part is crucial: “All who are led by the Spirit of God…” It is not enough to receive the Spirit of God or to pray to Him. We need to be led by Him, or, in other words, to walk in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit leads our mind to the truth and He leads our will to overcome fear, laziness and sin.
Reflection on Rom 8:11-13
Post date: 2013-04-13Autor: BCP
Chapter eight of the Epistle to the Romans leads us into the mystery of deliverance from spiritual and physical slavery which is the consequence of the infection of original sin in us. Verses 1 and 2 speak of deliverance from the law of sin and death which is only possible through the law of the Spirit who gives life in Christ Jesus. The law as such means that something is repeated, a certain regularity. If we have received the Spirit of God, listen to His voice and obey it, following our conscience, we are not carnal people but spiritual. Verse 11 says that if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us, He will also give life to our mortal bodies.
Reflection on Rom 8:9-10
Post date: 2013-03-16Autor: BCP
From the very beginning of chapter eight we can observe tension between the flesh and the Spirit. It points out a dividing line between carnal and spiritual man. The root of choosing between the flesh and the Spirit is deep in the human soul. One uses the powers of the soul – reason and will – to choose between the two. People who choose a selfish lifestyle, a life in the flesh, must remember that “he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption” (Gal 6:8). People who receive the Spirit of Christ change their life and are given the light and strength.
Reflection on Romans 8:5-8
Post date: 2013-02-16Autor: BCP
The Scripture often speaks about the spirit, soul and flesh. The powers of the soul are intellect and will. As a result of original sin, reason can hardly know the essence of the truth and the will is weakened and hardly inclined to pure good. This infection of original sin wounded the heart of man and destroyed the inner harmony. The consequence is that the heart succumbs to disordered passions, selfishness and self-love. The Scripture refers to the heart as “deceitful above all things” (Jer 17:9) and as “the heart of stone” (Ez 36:26). God promised to give us a new heart (Ez 36:26).
Reflection on Romans 8:1-4
Post date: 2013-01-19Autor: BCP
What does it mean: “…what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh…”? When was the law not weak through the flesh? Before sin acquired domination over man. God’s law commanded Adam in Paradise: “You shall not eat … for you shall die!” When he disobeyed God’s law, the punishment of the law came upon him, and Adam died. From that time on, humanity has been ruled by the law of sin and death.
Reflection on Romans 7:20-23
Post date: 2012-11-24Autor: BCP
The whole chapter seven speaks of laws: the law of God, the law of sin and the law of the Spirit. Which of these laws works depends on whose territory we are. If we are in Adam, that means in our corrupt nature, our spirit is under the rule of the law of sin.The essence of freedom is our abiding in Christ. “If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (Jn 8:36) “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free.” (Gal 5:1) How to abide in Him? Through earnest repentance.
Reflection on Romans 7:16-19
Post date: 2012-10-27Autor: BCP
The Apostle Paul shows by his own example the reality of the law of sin. It’s a kind of mental pressure which forces him as well as every one of us to practise evil which we will not to do. The Apostle points out that the cause is sin that dwells in me, but the good that I will to do does not dwell in me. This is, as it were, a little unfair.
Reflection on Romans 7:13-15
Post date: 2012-10-03Autor: BCP
Verses 13-19 speak of sin which took occasion by what was good to produce death in me. Through God’s commandment sin becomes exceedingly sinful. God’s commandment as such does not give the strength to overcome sin. Since our birth we have been in bondage to sin. Who sold us? The first parents did so because they were disobedient to God’s Word and believed the spirit of lies and death. Jesus delivered us from this bondage. By His death on the cross He defeated sin and the devil. Victory over sin is only in Christ.
Reflection on Romans 7:9-12
Post date: 2012-09-04Autor: BCP
Verses 9-12 speak about the law, the commandment, sin, death ... They reiterate that the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good. It is said that when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. Thus the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. Here the Bible points out the mystery of sin, revealing that sin even abuses God’s commandments. Sin deceived me and killed me through the commandment.