And as I said, it's very easy today to think in these terms, and his argument today is very rebellical. He always had to justify it by the prophets or the patriarchs, and he takes Abraham as an example, and says how God called Abraham, and Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteously, because of his faith in God. Actually, if you know, St. James turned that round and showed that actually Abraham was justified by his willingness to sacrifice his son by his works. So this is one of these arguments which are not very significant by themselves. But the lesson from Paul is giving, I think, is extremely important, that justification, that is our relationship with God, does depend on our realising that we receive everything from God.

[01:02]

And some people find all this talk about sin very troublesome, and it's certainly been overdone, and many people reject it altogether, but I think we have to find a sort of way to express it. There's a contrast from a Matthew Fox, a little interesting book, Original Blessing. He's very much against original sin, and he wants to emphasise, and it's perfectly correct, this original blessing, that man is originally good, and that our human nature is essentially good. You see, man is made in the image of God, every human being is an image, and the Fathers took it rather like a mirror, you see, which reflects God, or reflects himself in every human being. At the depth of our being, we are an image of God. But sin is counting over the image, counting over the mirror, so we no longer reflect. And in every human being, that mirror is counted, you see, all the various tendencies, emotional

[02:07]

habits, and so on, which count the mirror, and prevent the grace of God showing through. But we have always to remember the essential goodness, and people today find it very depressing to be kept told you're all sinful, and you need to be judged and condemned and so on, and only grace can save you. And some people it helps, there's no doubt, millions of people, by realising how sinful they are, how unworthy, they discover the love of God, and the grace of God, but others just get depressed by it, and feel they're worthless. They say, many people say, it's up to a bad image of themselves, and apparently it's extremely common today, people are told you're bad, you're worthless, you're no good, and they leave it, and they can't get up at all, they just feel depressed by it all. And that's where this other spirituality comes in, which insists always on the goodness, goodness of your goodness, but your goodness is always a gift to God, you see, your creation

[03:11]

is a gift to God, and the danger is you assume that to yourself, you think, I am good in myself, you see, and that is sin, when we think we are good, we are the centre of everything, and then we exclude God, you see, that is the root of sin, and suddenly, if you over-emphasise that, you see, your sin dependency, you can lose the sense of God's grace, but on the other hand, if you do it away with it altogether, there's a danger that you begin to think that this image of God in you is your ego, and your ego is not the image of God, it's the reflection of God in you, the arrow to God, and the ego is when that image gets, that I say, clouded, and you begin to think your individual self has the force of good in you, that is the essence of sin, and you think the goodness comes from yourself, not from God, and that is what St Paul is trying to bring out, you see, all the time, that every good thing in you is a gift to God, your creation is a gift to God, your very being is a gift

[04:15]

to God, and every good thing you do, and every good relation you have in the world is a gift, and once we realise that, then we're in grace, you see, and then we're in our true being, and then we realise that we are in God, and God is in us, and that is the truth, you see, we are in God, and God is in us, and sin is when that gets clouded over, and we think of ourselves as an isolated, separate person, and we realise either our sinfulness, or we try to pretend that we're good in ourselves, and we can do what we like, and so on, so that is the real problem. There's a nice illustration of it in the Euphanesia, where it says that two birds on one tree, and one cooks on, and the other eats the fruit, and the two birds are the spirit and the individual soul, and then the soul, in other words, the soul is between the spirit of God, and the outer world, and when the soul looks into the outer world, and begins

[05:19]

to eat the fruit, and enjoy itself, centering on itself, then it gets confused, and miserable, and that's a state of sin, and when it looks up, and sees the Lord, and we realise God is in us, and we are in Him, and that everything is coming from Him, then we're in praise, then we experience salvation, and freedom, so that's really our true state, and I say it's a very deep analysis, very profound understanding, but it can be exaggerated, people exaggerate the simple aspect, and neglect the essential goodness, you see, of God, you see, in every human being, nobody exists without God, if He weren't in us, we wouldn't exist at all, so everybody has this presence, and we can either accept it, open to it, and really share fully in it, or we centre on ourselves, and separate ourselves from the presence, you see, and become an isolated individual, and hell, if this would be total isolation, centred entirely on yourself, nostril relation with others,

[06:23]

nostril relation with God, and that's the opposite, you see, we don't know when if anybody reaches that state, it's a possible state, and the opposite is to be open to God, open to others, and then share time, light, and so on. Q. The argument so far here is very interesting, it involves a very important principle, he says, he's first of all shown that Abraham was justified by faith, not by any works, and circumcision was the sign of this faith, and it came after faith, you see, he says, faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness, but was it reckoned to him before or after circumcision, it was reckoned before, and so he says, he's the father of both the circumcised and

[07:30]

the uncircumcised, and circumcision was of course the sign of the Jew, you became a Jew through your circumcision, and it was the sign of the covenant, and everybody who was outside that, was outside Israel and outside the plan of God according to the Jews, and so St. Paul wants to show that the uncircumcised people outside the covenant of Israel are saved by faith just as much as the Jews, so it isn't a question whether you're a Jew or a Gentile or a Hindu or a Buddhist or a Muslim or whatever, it's a question of what your faith is, and Abraham is seen as the father of all who believe, strictly of course, he's the father of Jews, Christians and Muslims, very interesting, you all go back to Abraham, see his faith, the beginning of the whole Semitic tradition, and of course today we can go much further and see how this faith is not only found in Abraham and the Semitic tradition, it's found in India and all over the world,

[08:32]

and so St. Paul's principle really breaks down this division of the religions, you see, the Jews were themselves the known, they were the people of God, everybody outside was outside the plan of God, and Paul broke that down, or rather he saw that Christ broke it down, he puts it, he broke down the middle wall of partition, in the temple there was a wall, and no Gentile, no non-Jew could go beyond that wall, if he did he would be killed, and then there were the Jews, and then the holy place, and so on, so that was a separated wall, and since Christ broke down that wall, he broke down the separation between Gentiles and the rest of the world, and made all one, he said he made the two into one, so he united humanity, and today we say the same, that there is a mystery of grace present throughout the world which unites all human beings, for all causes there is one unity in God, and the war has been broken down,

[09:34]

so the argument really is very significant in that, you see, the purpose was to make him father of all who believe, without being circumcised, and thus have righteousness reckoned with them, and today we say, you see, anybody who has faith, who goes beyond himself, beyond the ego, opens himself to the transcendent, and faith is really opening to the transcendent, go beyond your ego, your limits, your horizons, you open yourself to the young, and it can take place in any situation, an atheist may not call it God, but he may be open to the transcendent, a Buddhist doesn't call it God, but he's open to the transcendent, the wisdom and compassion of Buddha, which is the holy, and the same, of course, with the Hindu, and various ways of opening to the Brahman, they are the supreme reality, the transcendent, so this is the real truth, you see, that faith is what justifies when we're open to the transcendent, we go beyond ourselves, and faith works by love, you see, love is surrendering to the transcendent, surrendering

[10:41]

yourself, as long as you're centered on yourself, you're in sin, you're in maya also, you're in illusion, and when you surrender yourself, love is self-surrender, you see, when you make that surrender in faith to the transcendent, then you experience salvation, experience grace, transformation, so on, so it's very simple in a way, and it's very profound, you see, and St. Paul was dealing with the Jewish-Greek world to you, but his principle remains the same today, saying how the grace of God is open to every human being, whatever his faith is of, now God is present in the people who are experiencing his grace, his salvation. Questioner asks a question in German. Questioner asks a question in German.

[11:41]

Questioner asks a question in German. [...]

[13:26]

Questioner asks a question in German. [...]

[14:56]

Questioner asks a question in German. [...]

[16:35]

Questioner asks a question in German. [...]

[17:59]

Questioner asks a question in German. [...]

[19:24]

Questioner asks a question in German. [...]

[20:40]

Questioner asks a question in German. Questioner asks a question in German. Questioner asks a question in German.

[22:10]

Questioner asks a question in German. [...]

[23:30]

Questioner asks a question in German. [...]

[25:14]

Questioner asks a question in German. [...]

[26:30]

So, it's a very deep meaning, isn't it? You see, it's a big problem for everybody. I mean, most Christians don't live a Christian life. Most people are not very religious at all. How can they go to heaven? How can they meet God, you see? Well, I think not by their own righteousness or their own effort or their own goodness, but for the grace of God in Christ, which opens this truth to them through every spark of goodness in them, you see. Not a spark of goodness, can you perceive that grace? So, it says, since we justify his blood, much more should we justify by him from the wrath of God. And the wrath of God is a consequence of sin. As I say, it's not really wrath in God, it's just we feel it as that. The love of God, when rejected, is felt as wrong. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by his life. So, it always, it's this death and resurrection, you see.

[27:34]

Jesus died on behalf of and as the head of all humanity. You see, the great principle we go on is that humanity is one. We are, the human race is one organic whole, like cells in a body, millions and millions of cells. And what we say of Jesus is true to some measure of others. I mean, we're none of us isolated individuals. Anyone who corresponds with grace and love affects humanity as a whole. We're all affecting one another and it spreads right through the world. And any good person is affecting other people by that goodness. And the greater the goodness, the more profoundly affected. In Jesus we find total goodness, total love, which is able to affect all of humanity from the beginning to the end of time. And so they, through that grace, they are able to receive this salvation through the elements of goodness, truth, love, which are in each human being. So he says, not only we also rejoice in God, through our Lord Jesus

[28:39]

to whom we have now received our reconciliation. See, the whole point of support is that you're not saved by your own efforts, by your own goodness and achievements. You're saved by the gift of grace. You see, it's the gift of faith and the grace which comes from God. And if you're ready to receive it, however simple you are, however imperfect, in every way, that grace will take you to God. It opens your heart to God. I think that's a very Christian view, and I think it's quite in accordance with what we've asked of the whole thing. Paul is talking of original sin, which is called much trouble to many people, and needs some discernment. I think it's really a very deep understanding of human nature. He says, Therefore as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, so death spread

[29:39]

to all men, because all men sinned. Sin indeed was in the world before the dawn. I think the understanding of this is that this Adam, this man who sinned, is really mankind. St. Paul certainly took him as a historical person, and unfortunately also in the Christian tradition, Adam and Eve have been conceived as historical persons, and the sin of Adam is the historical sin. But nobody would accept that today. There are such mythological figures. Adam, this man, in fact the name Adam is simply man in Hebrew, man and woman, and it's not about a particular person, two persons, it's about man and woman, humankind. Death came into, sin came into the world, came into humankind is what is

[30:43]

really being signified. How it came, nobody knows, it's a mystery, but sin is in the world. And St. Paul indicates that to some extent when he says, One man sinned, so death spread to all men, because all men sinned. And this is a very deep view, you see, that he had, that the Hebrews had, that as I said before, all mankind is one human being, you see, or humanity is one. And when sin enters into one person, it enters into humanity as a whole. They're all members of one another. It's like a disease in the body which affects all the cells of the body. So the human nature, sin has entered into human nature, you see, as a result of sin comes death. And sin is separation from God. You see, humanity was created to be open to God, to the divine spirit. They're created to union with God, that's the purpose of creation. There's something into being which draws human

[31:46]

beings away from God. We're all born in a state where we're not open to God, to grace and to love, we're drawn away from it. Two forces are in us. One thing is drawing us towards God, and that's present to everybody, and another is drawing us away. And that is our human state, you know, those two forces working within us. And that is the meaning of original sin, this drawing away from God, this falling away, is present in every human being, just as the drawing towards God is present in every human being. And then he says, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. And that made the point before, you see, the law is the rational mind. As the rational mind develops, we begin to discern what sin is. Until that, you have no sense of sin. A child can do things that are very wrong, but he doesn't know it at all. And even many adults do things that are wrong without realizing that it's so. And

[32:51]

personal sin comes only when you realize the thing is wrong. Original sin is not personal, it's in your nature, it's in your nature. Personal sin is when you deliberately, consciously do something which you believe to be wrong. And that can only happen when the law comes, because the law teaches you what is right and what is wrong. So this is St. Paul's main theme. I think it's very profound, you see, we begin as children, or humanity as a race, is comparatively innocent, you know, the capacitive sin is there, but only when moral reason begins to develop do people consciously sin, and then all the problems arise. And actually, you know, if you look back on human history, it does seem in the earlier stages, there was very little real sin, when people lived in a comparative harmony with nature, with one another. And it was when the rational mind began to develop, about the third and fourth millennium, that real evil began on a large scale. Obviously, it was present before, but it was only when big cities were formed and many inventions were made

[33:56]

that skin on a large scale came, massacres and cruelty of every kind. So that does seem to be a historic fact. So he says, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who sinned for not like the transgression of Adam. See, from the beginning until Moses represents the coming of the law, you see. From Adam to Moses is primitive humanity before the law of reason, moral reason arises. And yet people died then because of the effect of the sin that was in them, though they hadn't sinned personally. Look, this isn't too complicated, but it is an interesting thesis, you see, that humanity was comparatively sinless in the early stage. People did what was wrong, they didn't realize it. I mean, you could say many things like even human sacrifice, you see. Human sacrifice has always been common, and people did it out of a sincere belief that some disaster had happened, and you had to give what was most precious to you, to God. And so you took the

[35:00]

person most precious, and it was done with great solemnity. The most perfect person, young man or young woman in the tribe, was taken and decorated and solemnly sacrificed as a sign of your total surrender to God. And of course Abraham did exactly the same thing, you see. He thought that he ought to sacrifice his son to God. So human sacrifice is objectively wrong, but people did it without any sense of wrong. So what he's saying is that in that early stage people might do wrong, but they weren't conscious and deliberately wrong. And yet, of course, death reigned over them. Death is the consequence of that sin which is in man, not of your personal sin. You die because you're human and have this nature of sin in you, not because you've sinned personally. And then he goes on to say, you see, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who was the type of the one who was to come. So it shows that Adam wasn't simply a man, quote-unquote, you see.

[36:03]

He was a figure, the type of Christ, the new Adam. So you start with that man who sins and brings sin into mankind, into humanity, and then you come to the final stage, the second Adam, who restores humanity to its original state of communion with God. That is the whole plan of salvation. Yeah, I think that is all we have now. So you'll see this, and I hope I've not made it too obscure, but it's not easy to express, but I think it's a very profound insight into human nature, into human history, and it's something which we can understand. But we have to get rid of the idea that Adam was a historic person, and that's called endless progress, because right up to the present century, popes and bishops and all these people were imagining that Adam and Eve were historic persons, and that's come down in our teaching, and of course people regard it as ridiculous today. Adam was 4,000 BC or something, and human beings may have been here for hundreds of thousands

[37:06]

of years. There's nothing to do with history. It's a symbol. Adam and Eve are symbols of man and woman, and it's how sin entered into humanity, is what that story tells us, which is deeply meaningful, but it becomes absurd when you make it into a historic thing. Q. I have this reading from St. Paul on original sin, and he says here, as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man's act of righteous deed leads to a crippling life for all men. As I said, I think if we take Adam as humanity, as mankind, for one man on humanity, and that sin penetrates all this humanity, so that we're divided from one another and from God, and then this one man, Jesus Christ, reunites this humanity, and this whole concept that humanity is one, where members of a body,

[38:06]

of an organism, they all share in the one life, and that sin divides or separates, and the grace of God in Christ reunites humanity, restores this oneness, shows us to one another and to God. That's the fundamental Christian understanding. Whereas by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so by one man's obedience, many will be made righteous. In the essence of sin, it seems to be disobedience, which I would put rather as self-centeredness. It's falling away from God. We're created for this openness to God, to the divine, and we fall back, central on ourselves, and separate ourselves from God and from one another. And obedience is self-surrender. Jesus on the cross makes a total self-surrender in his human nature to God, and thereby restores this oneness, opens to us the way of self-surrender. And the only way to God is spending the acres, and then himself, and the essence of sin is centering on the acres, centering on the self.

[39:07]

I think that makes sense. And then he has an interesting saying, the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded. You see, Paul always says that the law makes things worse, in a sense. As I said, you see, law we take in the general sense of reason and morality, and the more reason and morality grows, the more sin increases. And it's profoundly true, you know, it's a very interesting fact that the more human consciousness develops, the more sin and evil develops. There has never been more sin and evil than there is today, when consciousness has reached its highest level. About at the same time, the grace abounds. With the growth of consciousness, capacity for evil grows. Take anything like television, or telephones, or whatever you like. You can communicate good as much as you like, and you can communicate evil as much as you like. You see, it always makes both possibilities. So consciousness opens up infinite possibilities of evil, but also opens up the capacity for grace,

[40:14]

for goodness, for transformation, you see. So I think it's a very profound insight that the law of morality increases sin, but also increases the opportunity for grace. And many people feel today, you see, some people say they were on the verge of a new age, of new consciousness, a new phase of humanity, which may well be true, but equally, obviously, we're also in the midst of an age of destruction, which may cause destruction through the whole planet, so that things go together. The growth of consciousness increases the possibility of evil and increases the possibility of good. And that's where we are today. And then he says, so that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And the Christian understanding is to see that this sin is in humanity, and it grows, the growth of consciousness. And on the other hand, the grace which comes through Christ extends to all humanity, and makes possible this eternal life to every human being.

[41:20]

So we're all exposed to sin, to evil, and to destruction, death and destruction, and we're all open to grace, to transformation, to eternal life. I think it's a very profound vision of humanity, which is the whole basis. I've turned in this chapter to Mary, the heart of the mystical theology, according to St. Paul, Mary, the heart of Christian mysticism, or Christian experience of God, says, first of all, are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? His point is, you see, that all people are separated from God by sin, they've fallen away, and we're saved by the sheer gift of God, and of pure grace. So you might say, well, then we just stay as we are, and we get the grace. But of course, we only get the grace insofar as we are surrendered, as we're empty. It's not as

[42:24]

we thought of ourselves, we simply put a barrier, and when we've made the surrender, then we're exposed to grace as it pours in. So he goes, how can we who died to sin still live in it? And the whole Christian mystery, you see, is death and resurrection. Jesus himself is the model, it is actual death and resurrection, and the whole Christian light is participating in death and resurrection in Christ. They go, do you not know that all of us who've been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? That is, it was much more meaningful in the past, it still is among some churches, where you went under the water. It's really a symbol of death, you see, you go under the water of the unconscious, you die to your ego, your conscious self, your limiting self, and then you are raised up to the new life. And in the baptisteries, you see them in some of the ancient churches, you have the pool of water, the steps where people went down, and then they came up, and they were clothed with white garments, and had a candle given them, and around the

[43:27]

baptistery were pictures of the paradise, of returning to paradise, was the idea. So, well, you see, Paul has this very profound sense of community. As I said, humanity is one being, one man, and through sin we're divided and conflict. By the grace of God in Christ, this unity is restored, we become members of one another. And therefore, when we enter into baptism, we die with Christ, this mystical union takes place. And it's very important, you know, the whole story of Ramana Maharshi, how he underwent that mystical death, he died himself, and he experiences transformation of the spirit. And that's the meaning of baptism, death to the self, ego, self-conscious personality, and awakening to this transcendent mystery of Christ in us. We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the

[44:28]

dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. It's a real participation in death and resurrection. We're not isolated individuals. When you're baptized, you're not just a little child being put in the water there, you are a member of a humanity which is exposed to sin, and is now being opened to grace. You're dying to the sin of humanity in you, and you're opening yourself to the grace of God in Christ, which is inhumanity now. Jesus is a human being in whom this grace of God has been revealed in his presence. So we share in his death, and we share in his resurrection. If we've been united with him in a death like his, we should certainly be united to a resurrection like his. I think today, you see, we've got a tremendous lot of sense of individuality. We're each separate individual, and it's difficult for us to realize this communion, this sense of total oneness, of shared life together. In ancient people, and even still in India today, it's much

[45:31]

more common. People are much more aware you're a member of a tribe, and you didn't think of yourself as an individual as much as a member of the tribe. You have it in Africa, you have it among the American Indians, and I think in many Indian communities still, that sense survives of a sense of more a shared communion with others than of a separate identity. And that is in the spiritual pain, you see, that is the truth, that we are members of one another. And when we open ourselves to another, and when we open ourselves to this grace of transformation, we experience this communion, this oneness, when united with Christ, you see, we become members of Christ. These are metaphors, you see, the body of Christ really is a organism in which we are incorporated. We are members of that organism, we share in his life and in his death. We know that our old self was crucified in sin, that the sinful body might be restored, we might no longer be enslaved to sin.

[46:35]

The old self, you see, or the old man, as it is sometimes called, it is this limited ego, you see, the ego which has grown up from childhood and which constitutes our personality. And as long as that reigns, we're in a state of sin. And when that ego dies, buried in baptism, then a new life comes, and we have the true self. The true self emerges and the false self dies. But he who died is free from sin. Oh, it's tremendously strong, you see, it's a real death we undergo when we die to ourselves. You see, death is, how shall you put it, is, you change your mode of being at death, you see, you cease to live as a bodily being, and you pass into another state. So, in this mystical death, you cease to exist in your

[47:39]

separated, isolated individual self, and you discover yourself in this new relationship, this communion, this sharing in the life of Christ. If we have died with Christ, we leave this also, live with him, for we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again. And this is important because, you see, this concept of death to self, a new life, is common to most religions. It's very basic in Hinduism, in Buddhism, or in Sufism. But the Christian understanding is that it's related to the actual, concrete, historical death and resurrection of Christ. That is the model, as it were, in which this mystery has been revealed, and we are able through that to share in this death and resurrection. It relates us to a particular person and a particular event, the paschal mystery of death and resurrection. That's a particular Christian understanding of this mystery, which is present in some way in all religions.

[48:41]

The death he died, he died to sin once for all, the life he lives, he lives to God. So, you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God and Christ Jesus. One could put it in this way, in a sense, that the death and resurrection of Christ is an archetypal symbol. You see, we all, as I say, we're members of one another, and we're not just dying and living by ourselves. We share in this corporate humanity. That corporate humanity is present in Jesus, and in his actual, concrete death and resurrection, he causes a transformation in humanity. The principle of death to sin is introduced, the principle of life with God enters in, and so we also, through baptism, through confirmation, through the Eucharist, which renews the mystery every day, we also undergo this death and resurrection, experience dying with him and rising. So, this is a very special Christian

[49:47]

understanding, you see, of transformation, of spiritual transformation. I say in Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, they're all different ways of expressing the same mystery, but our center is on the actual death and resurrection of Christ, that is the Christian understanding. Reading this letter of St. Paul to the Romans, I think, goes into this concept of justification by faith, and not by the works of the law. And the great principle is that you're not saved by your own efforts and so on, but by the grace of God. When you surrender yourself to God, then you get this grace, and it's a total transformation. What he's saying today, he says, let not sin reign in your mortal bodies to make obey their passions, or yield your members to wickedness, but yield yourselves to God, then redeemed from death to

[50:48]

life, for them as to God's instruments of righteousness. The idea is the whole person is converted. You see, under the law, it is understanding, you have a moral teaching, you mustn't do this, you mustn't do that, and you're divided. One half wants to do good, and the other half is being led away by desires and passions, and that is man under the law. And as long as you try to control yourself and manage for yourself, you'll never escape, always in this duality, wanting to do one thing and failing to do it. And when you surrender yourself, your ego, the self, center of yourself to God, then the total transformation takes place, the whole person, body and soul. Before that, soul and body are divided, the soul wants one thing, the body another. But when the surrender is made, it's soul and body become totally integrated, you become an integrated person. And that's really what you're seeking. It says, do not yield your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but yield yourselves to God,

[51:52]

as men have been brought from death to life. You yield yourself to God, and then you experience the life of God in you. It's not, we can't achieve this merely human affection, that's what the law tries to do. You surrender yourself totally, then something from God, the Spirit of God comes into you, into the body and the soul. The whole person is redeemed, is transformed, and your members to God as instruments of righteousness. You see, the members, the body and the soul, all the powers of the being, are surrendered and become instruments of righteousness. And still sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under the law of undergrace. The great principle, you see, people still think that they can be virtuous by striving to do good, and of course you can strive to do good, it's all okay, but you won't get there by merely striving. You've got to make the surrender to God and allow something more, the grace of God, to come into your life, to the transforming power. And it's still a problem, because we have to make efforts to do what is right and so on, you can't

[52:56]

ignore the law. But the mistake is to trust in it, to think that by your efforts to do good you're going to achieve your end, where you must see it simply as a means to open yourself to something more, to the grace of God, the Holy Spirit, which comes to transform the whole person. The whole Christian morality really depends on this, whether we trust ourselves to achieve something, be good and holy people, or whether we surrender to God and allow Him to act in us, Him to make us holy. All holiness comes as a gift of God, something we achieve. I want to refer to the Romans fifth analysis of sin and righteousness, and Paul sees the whole human life between these two realities, as it were, the reality of righteousness and

[53:58]

the reality of sin. And righteousness of this morning is this kingdom of God, this reign of God, which is truth, which is reality, which is love, what we were reading about in Capriano, you see, reality, truth, grace and love. And sin is the opposite, and of course sin is negative, it's not a reality in itself, sin is a defect of being, a falling away, a darkness, a shadow, different images one can use to express it. And in India we call it avidya, it's ignorance, it's a failure to realize reality. I think that's very important today because many people find the language of religion very misleading, even the word God, and people are concerned with reality, through past reality and myself and the world around. And the righteousness of

[55:05]

God is this reality of the world. And we might put sin in the sense of it substituting something for that reality, and whether it's money or power or prestige or status, as the way they're speaking today, all these substitutes are put for this reality. And that's when you become a slave. St. Paul says, do not know, if you yield yourself to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey, either a sin which leads to death or an obedience which leads to righteousness. And we read in the Gospel today, you cannot serve God and mammon. And mammon is really a word that sums up the whole of this unreal world, this world of money, of power, of prestige and so on, which people make the end of their lives. Once you do that, you become a slave of that power. And it's an illusory power, of course, and it leads, as he says, to death, which leads to death, or obedience

[56:09]

which leads to righteousness. But thanks be to God that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching which you were committed. St. Paul is very much aware, of course, that the prosperous come to set people free from this dominion. And I think we could say the Roman Empire was very nice for the world in many ways, on a smaller scale, of course. But there was this cult of mammon, which was much the same, the cult of material wealth, and power, and prestige, and all these things. And people he was talking to, the Romans, attracted to the Romans, they were in the midst of all that, just like in London or New York. And they were dominated by these powers, not simply the individuals, but the societies. The society in which you live is dominated by these forces. That is the problem. It isn't that we choose to be sinful, we may do so in some cases, but basically it's we belong to a society

[57:11]

which conditions us in this way, that we see power, and wealth, and position, and so on, as the ends of life. But it's happening to people all over the world today. So that's the slavery to sin, you see, which the Paul is talking about. And then the Christian is one who comes out of that slavery. And it does mean we have to analyze the society in which we're living. You see, sin isn't merely personal fault, it's social sin. And I think what Freud was talking about tonight, he showed all the dimensions of it, and we're all involved in it, and nobody can escape it. And we have to examine ourselves how far we really go along with that view of life. And there are millions of Christians who go to mass on Sunday, and worship God, and so on, and yet are totally committed to this view of life. I won't say totally, there are some aspects of their life that may escape it, but for the 90 percent, they simply go along with the rest of the world,

[58:14]

and they're prepared to accept all the standards of the present world. And we all have to make that decision. And if you were a Christian in the Roman Empire, you had to stand out of it, you had to deliberately to reject that standard of life, and to accept another. And I think that's the challenge of the church and Christians today, you cannot go along with this society anymore. If you do, you're committing yourself to nuclear war, to

[58:40]

@Text_v004
@Score_JG