Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Congratulations with the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord!

In today’s Epistle reading we heard that there should be nothing in common between the Christian and the surrounding sinful world. The Apostle asks a rhetorical question: “What agreement hath the temple of God with idols?” The answer is obvious; there is absolutely nothing in common between them. Next, Paul notes that each individual member of the Church is himself as if a temple in which God lives. As evidence of this he brings up several quotes from the Old Testament and uses them as prophecies for our present Grace-filled condition in the New Testament.

The first such place, from the book of Leviticus, says that the Lord will come to dwell in us and that He will become our God and we His people. In the most literal sense, these words, of course, apply to the Jews, but, like the Apostle Paul is hinting, they apply better to us Christians, for the Jews only fulfill the visible, physical Law of God, but we, having Grace, live by the inner, spiritual Law. The second place from the Old Testament, from the prophecy of Isaiah, indicates to us what we should do to have the Lord come to dwell in us, that is, to separate ourselves from the pagans, and not touch any unclean thing. We have to do this not in the way the Jews did so, cutting off all physical contact with the pagan world, but in a spiritual sense, that is separating ourselves from the evil around us and not sinning. The last quote says that a person who keeps far from sin will become not only a temple for God, but also God’s son or daughter.

At the end of today’s reading, the Holy Apostle Paul gives the following instructions: if we are the temples of God, if God wishes to dwell in us and make us His sons and daughters, and if all of this is foretold in the Old Testament, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit. That is, we must not only not sin, but also not even accept sinful thoughts, and instead, do good deeds in the fear of God. Fear of God means to be afraid of disappointing our loving Father, God. St. John Chrysostom notes that fear of God can be quite a useful instrument in helping us to act correctly and refrain from falling into sin.

Today, let’s pray that we acquire the fear of God, sin less, and become, as much as it is possible, worthy temples for God.

priest Alexis