"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am first," writes the Holy Apostle. So it behooves one to wonder: if the foremost of apostles St. Paul considers himself to be the greatest of all sinners, how can miserable sinners such as you and I hope to be saved? Unless, of course, we strive always for genuine humility and an ongoing spirit of repentance. St. Paul himself, after all, reckoned himself to be the least among the apostles, because he persecuted the Church of God, yet through his radical repentance, he achieved (by the grace of God) the heights of spiritual attainment. But what, exactly, is this salvation revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures as the ultimate meaning and purpose of life in this world?
It is, indeed, neither more nor less than our union and communion with the living God, accomplished in and through the salvific work of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ, One of the Holy Trinity, Who has, by His life-giving incarnation, abolished and overcome the threefold power of sin, death, and the Devil, that we might be transformed by grace into sons and daughters of the heavenly Father, and inheritors of eternal life in God's heavenly Kingdom.
It is, in fact, the very same pre-eternal Word of God, the Logos, Second Person of the Holy Trinity, Who revealed the Law to the Holy Prophet Moses on Mount Sinai, Who fulfilled the Law in His own body, having taken upon Himself the fullness, the Pleroma, of our human nature through the pure blood of a virgin, that we might, by grace, become partakers of the divine nature and heirs of ineffable glory in His eternal Kingdom.
"For in Him dwellest all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, St. Paul continues. Having been circumcised in the flesh according to the Law of Moses, Jesus has fulfilled the Law, that henceforth the faithful believer might be "circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ."
But what, precisely, is this circumcision of Christ? It is, as the Holy Apostle plainly states, our death and resurrection with Christ in the waters of Baptism: "Buried with Him in Baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, Who hath raised Him from the dead."
It is by Baptism that our soul and body together are granted the remission of sins and the possibility of the gift of eternal life. This grace is, to be sure, freely given, but it is assimilated and made effective only through living a life of ceaseless struggle against the passions that we may hope to be made worthy of this gift of salvation. In no way is our salvation guaranteed by virtue of our baptism. Only if we are willing to patiently endure unto the end whatever trials and tribulations God may send, while striving to acquire every virtue, can we hope to be made worthy of those eternal good things He has in store for those who love Him and abide by His commandments.
