Any why, someone will say, if the bath takes away all our sins, is it not called the bath of the remission of sins, or the bath of cleansing, rather tha the bath of regeneration? The reason is that it does not simply remit our sins, nor does it simply cleanse us of our faults, but it does this just as i we were born anew. For it does create us anew and it fashions us again, not molding us from earth, but creating us from a different element, the natureof water. This bath does not merely cleanse the vessel but melts the whole thing down again. Even if a vessel has been wiped off and carefully cleaned, it still hs the marks of what it is and still bears traces of the stain. But when it is thrown into the smelting furnace and is renewed by the flame, it puts asid all dross and, when it comes from the furnace, it gives forth the same sheen as newly-molded vessels. When a man takes and melts down a gold statue which has become filthy with the filth of years and smoke and dirt and rust, he returns it to us all-cleanand shining. So, too, God takes this nature of ours when it is rusted with the rust of sin, when our faults have covered it with abundant soot, and whenit has destroyed the beauty He put into it in the beginning, and He smelts it anew. He plunges it into the waters as into the smelting furnace and lets he grace of the Spirit fall on it instead of the flames. Then He brings us forth from the furnace, renewed like newly-molded vessels, to rival the rays f the sun with our brightness. He has broken the old man to pieces but has produced a new man who shines brighter than the old. -St John Chrysostom
Posted on: Wed, 03 Jul 2013 20:53:58 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015