What does it all mean? I read the
description of the ideal life from the monastic perspective and its methodology
is radically different from the priestly/spiritual father description given to
the common layperson. Which at the same time is radically different from the
average American way of living. What is the balance between living as a
layperson while seeking after holiness and addressing the practical needs of
everyday life? Where does social interaction, needs/wants, and biochemistry fit
in?
If the state of eternal life is one
of gradation with the holy being closer to God and the unholy being further
from God, how would each of these describe their own personal state? If the
unholy person has ignored/rejected God his entire life, would not an eternity
as far away from God be that which they desire? But at the same time, if man
was created to be holy and to live in a relationship with God, the unholy
person would be miserable at the same time, for he could not bear being in the presence
of holiness. And what does proximity to holiness even mean?
And what does all of this mean for
the Protestant/evangelical/Roman believer or for anyone who has self-defined
holiness?
If the goal of the Christian life
is simply “love God and love your neighbor”, how does personal holiness fit
into that and how is personal holiness even defined?
When Jesus spoke of the law as
being summarized as “love God and love neighbor”, he was speaking to Jews who
were defined by the Old Covenant law.
Any time that the “law of God” is spoken of in the NT must be understood
not as the Mosaic law but Jesus’ summary.
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