Christ Lives In Us Through Trust

 

In the Epistle reading today, Saint Paul speaks about the life that he has now, as opposed to the life

that he used to live before, when he was observant of the Law of Moses. Paul's argument culminates

in his expression of the conviction that Christ now lives and acts within him, since he is now dead to

the Law. We find this same argument in many places in Paul's letters. In fact, this is the cornerstone

of Paul's theology of how the redemption in Christ actually works.

The faith the Paul describes is one that is based in the reality of the Baptismal Mystery. In Baptism,

the Christian has put on Christ. The old man has been stripped o and the Christ, the new man has

been put on. In other words, the person that is baptized into Christ has entered into the death of

Christ. He has died with Christ, in order to live with Christ. The Law, Paul reasons, has no jurisdiction

over the dead. In the same way, sin no longer has power over the dead either. In other words,

through the life-giving death of Christ, those who are in Christ have received freedom from sin and

the Law, which gave power to sin.

This amazing theological formulation is a great source of hope. It openly reveals the promises of

God, on the one hand, while, on the other hand showing us the richness of the grace of God that is

at work to fulfill those promises. It is in this context that we see the true, deep meaning of the

justification by faith, which Paul so often emphasizes. The new life that is enjoyed by Paul and all

Christians comes from faithfulness to Christ, namely, living in the same faithfulness that Christ

showed to the Father. Christians have entered a trusting relationship with the Christ of God. They

put all their trust in Christ, just as Christ put all His trust in the Father.

In this way, the depth of the meaning of the Incarnation is revealed in Paul's thinking. In fact, this

same line of theological reasoning is even further developed in the Letter to the Ephesians. There, we

find that Christians are already seated in Heaven at the right hand of the Father, since Christ is

there. The reality of the Kingdom of God is not fully realized, but it is present nonetheless as a sure

promise.

We ourselves need to return again and again to the central role of trust in our relationship with God.

We need to build on our trust from day to day and ever deepen it. We do this mostly by living in

dialogue with God, entrusting our day and its concerns to Him and listening to what He has to say to

us in the Scriptures and through His inspirations.