DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS

Saturday, December 30, 2006                                        Virgin-Martyr Anysia of Thessalonika

7th Vigil 9th Royal Hr Nativity of Christ: Isaiah 9:6-7                        Epistle: 1 Timothy 6:11-16

Gospel: St. Matthew 12:15-21

 

The Good Confession: 1 Timothy 6:11-16, especially vss. 13-16: “God Who gives life to all things...and...Jesus Christ Who in His testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, ....the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings...alone has immortality, and dwells in unapproachable light, Whom no man has ever seen or can see. [RSV]  Herewith (vss. 13-16), St. Paul portrays the God before Whom each of us made the good confession (vs. 12) when we bowed “down before the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit: the Trinity, one in Essence and undivided” at the beginning of our life in Christ - the same God Whom each of us also shall face at the last Judgment.  The Apostle uses seven descriptions found throughout Holy Scripture which depict our God as 1) Life-Giver, 2) He Who in the flesh as man also “made the good confession,” 3) the Blessed and the only Sovereign, 4) King of kings and Lord of lords, 5) The Immortal One, 6) He Who dwells in light unapproachable, and 7) He Whom no man can see.

Let each of us consider this God before Whom we shall answer and Whose expectations of us will be the measure of His Judgment.  As we do so, let us note that St. Paul’s descriptions leave the distinction between the Persons of God the Father and God the Son slightly blurred.  However, as St. Ambrose says: “When I speak of the Father I do not make separation of the Son, because the Son is in the bosom...of the Father....In this way is the Father called ‘the blessed and only Sovereign’ - in such a way that the Son, Who is always in the Father, is not separated from Him.”  The portrait reveals One God in three Persons to Whom we are and shall be accountable. 

Our God “gives life to all things” (vs. 13) and so His Apostle urges us to “aim” at the way to Life Himself and to “shun” certain death and separation from Him (vs. 11).  Our goals in this pursuit are “righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness” (vs. 11).  We must “shun” their opposites described immediately before in the Epistle (1 Tim. 6:3-10).

St. Paul reminds us of our God, “Christ Jesus Who in His testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession” (1 Tim. 6:13).  Again, like Him, let us “fight the good fight of the faith; [and] take hold of the eternal life to which [we] were called when [we] made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses” (1 Tim. 6:12).

Our God is the “only Sovereign”(vs. 15) among many claimants to authority, obedience, and superior rights.  “To keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach” (vs. 14), means giving God what is His and Caesar what is his (Mt. 22:21).  We have to discriminate and oppose “anyone who teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words” (1 Tim. 6:3). 

It follows that in calling our God “the King of kings and Lord of lords” (1 Tim. 6:15), we must stand ready to submit to Him even when pressure is put on us to “be nice, cooperate, and agree - at least verbally.”  No!  Let “honor and eternal dominion” be to God above all (vs.16).

St. Paul teaches that “in Adam all die” (1 Cor. 15:22); for God “alone has immortality” (1 Tim. 6:16); therefore, “let us take hold of the eternal life to which [we] were called” vs. 12).

Our God dwells “in unapproachable light” (vs. 16); therefore let each one remember to “prove himself a child of the Light” having been “illumined by the light of understanding.”  Light of Light became the Light of the World that we might be made light in Him.

This portrait reveals God juxtaposed both as He Who once testified before Pilate in the flesh (vs. 13), yet remains He “Whom no man has seen or can see” (vs. 16) - the Divine, ever inaccessible, but in the Mystery of the Incarnation, the Man Who gave the good confession.

Thou art God ineffable, Who didst bring us from non-existence into being, and when we had fallen didst raise us up again, and brought us back to heaven, endowed with Thy Kingdom.

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