Friday, November 27, 2015

Met Georges Khodr: In Hope of the Resurrection

Arabic original here.

In Hope of the Resurrection

The Church has no bridegroom but Christ because He alone is perfect. The Church is only a perfect bride for Him in terms of hope, because she is of history and because there are sins in her members. In reality, the Church is a hope that is only realized on the last day. All of us are marching in her in hope of the resurrection and eternal life.

In  a real sense, the Church is a plan and a plan by nature is not perfect. The Church is only perfected on the last day, when incorrupt bodies rise. Because it is the plan of salvation, we are within it. We are in it on our way to resurrection.

You arrive at the resurrection if you are enlightened. That is, if you receive the body and blood of the Lord because the Lord said "I am the resurrection and the life." The Bible teaches that those who receive the body of the Savior are called to the resurrection. We have no teaching about those who have not received the body of the Savior here. They are in His mercy. Therefore in hope we say that the Lord extends His mercy to those whom He wills. In faith in the Savior and His mercy we hope for the salvation of those whom He has loved. He receives all people in His mercy. Perhaps His mercy is the resurrection for those who did not know the teaching of the resurrection. They are most of humanity.

In profound, authentic theology we do not have a teaching about the eternity of the soul. This is a teaching of Greek philosophy. Our teaching is about the resurrection of the dead in their bodies, as Paul clearly states. In other words, there is nothing in the Holy Bible about the eternity of the soul. It speaks of the resurrection of bodies inasmuch as there are souls within them. We are not eternal. We are people of the resurrection. That is another teaching.

We pass through death as an inevitable punishment and there is no end to death until the final resurrection. Before that, there is no total victory. The perfect divine order after sin is death, and before the last day the resurrection is a promise. And a promise is about something that will happen.

The resurrection within us today is nothing other than love. Before that, bodies are still in their graves. Through the Holy Spirit who is in us, we become people of the resurrection. That is, we have a foretaste of the power of the resurrection. First of all, repentance is the first resurrection. Through it, we proceed to the resurrection of our bodies.

When you who are in Christ hope, something of your hope is realized through holiness. To speak deeply, holiness is a true anticipation of the resurrection because holiness is the will of God. In other words, holiness is the beginning of the kingdom within you. In it, our unity with the people of heaven peeks through, our holiness and their holiness.

Grace is a promise of what is to come. It is a murmur of the resurrection. Christ who will raise us from the dead raises us up today from sin. "The soul tastes death," but through faith, hope and love it also tastes the resurrection because Christ is alive forever and He causes us to taste His resurrection every day we are live.

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