Sirach 17:5-8

He gave mankind the ability to deliberate,
And a tongue, eyes and ears, and a heart to think with.
He filled them with the skill of comprehension
And showed them good and evil.
He set His eye upon their hearts
To show them the majesty of His works.
They will praise His holy name
So as to fully describe the majesty of His works.

Encouraging Words

Human beings are the only part of creation that God created in His image and breathed His breath of life into. He created us to be in relationship and fellowship with Him. As part of that creation, He gave us the ability to think, to deliberate, to comprehend, and to know the difference between good and evil. And then in His divine wisdom, grace, and mercy, He gave us free will, the ability to choose or reject Him, for it is only in choosing Him that we truly reap. the benefits of His great love for us. Then we can see and understand the great majesty of His works. Glory be to God!

Romans 5:1-5

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Encouraging Words

Rather than penning my own thoughts on this passage, today I am presenting some notes from the Orthodox Study Bible on this issue of justification by faith…

For most of church history, salvation was seen as comprehending all of life: Christians believed in Christ, were baptized, and were nurtured in their salvation in the Church. Key doctrines of the faith centered around the Holy Trinity, the Incarnation of the Son of God, the atonement.

In Western Europe during the sixteenth century and before, however, justifiable concern arose among the Reformers over a prevailing understanding that salvation depended on human works of merit, and not on the grace and mercy of God. Their rediscovery of Romans 5 lead to the slogan sola fides: justification by faith alone.

This Reformation debate in the West raised the question for the Orthodox East: Why this new polarization of faith and works? It had been settled since the apostolic era that salvation was granted by the mercy of God to righteous men and women. Those baptized into Christ were called to believe in Him and do good works. An opposition of faith versus works was unprecedented in Orthodox thought.

The Orthodox understanding of justification differs from the Protestant in several ways.

1) Justification and the new covenant. When Orthodox Christians approach the doctrine of salvation, the discussion centers around the new covenant. Justification—being or becoming righteous—by faith in God is part of being brought into a covenant relationship with Him. Whereas Israel was under the old covenant, in which salvation came through faith as revealed in the law, the Church is under the new covenant. Salvation comes through faith in Christ, who fulfills the law. We receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in us, leading us to the knowledge of God the Father. Rather than justification as a legal acquittal before God, Orthodox believers see justification by faith as a covenant relationship with Him, centered in union with Christ (Rom 6:1–6).

2) Justification and God’s mercy. Orthodoxy emphasizes it is first God’s mercy—not our faith—that saves us. “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Rom 5:1, 2). It is God who initiates or makes the new covenant with us.

3) Justification by faith is dynamic, not static. For Orthodox Christians, faith is living, dynamic, continuous—never static or merely point-in-time. Faith is not something a Christian exercises only at one critical moment, expecting it to cover all the rest of his life. True faith is not just a decision, it’s a way of life. Thus, the Orthodox Christian sees salvation in at least three aspects: (a) I have been saved, being joined to Christ in Holy Baptism; (b) I am being saved, growing in Christ through the sacramental life of the Church; and (c) I will be saved, by the mercy of God at the Last Judgment.

Justification by faith, though not the major New Testament doctrine for Orthodox as it is for Protestants, poses no problem. But justification by faith alone brings up an objection. It contradicts Scripture, which says, “You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only” (Jam 2:24). We are “justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law” (Rom 3:28), but nowhere does the Bible say we are justified by faith “alone.” On the contrary, “faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (Jam 2:17).

As Christians we are no longer under the demands of the Old Testament law (Rom 3:20), for Christ has fulfilled the law (Gal 2:21; 3:5, 24). By God’s mercy, we are brought into a new covenant relationship with Him. We who believe are granted entrance into His Kingdom by His grace. Through His mercy, we are justified by faith and empowered by God for good works or deeds of righteousness that bring glory to Him.

Sirach 14:20-22

Blessed is the man who practices wisdom
And discourses with insight.
Whoever ponders the ways of wisdom in his heart
Will also reflect on her secrets.
Pursue wisdom like a tracker
And lie in wait on her paths.

Personal Challenge

Sirach reminds us that the most important thing to pursue in life is Wisdom and the early church fathers tell us that the wisdom referred to in the Old Testament is fully embodied in Jesus Christ. So, what we are being told here is that the most important thing to pursue in life is Jesus Christ. By doing this when we speak to others we speak with godly insight. When we dwell up Jesus and ponder His teachings and ways, we will learn the secrets of God. We need to pursue Jesus as a tracker pursues a deer, relentlessly for the life of his family depends on this pursuit. We are to lie in wait for every opportunity to grab Jesus in our lives. Glory be to God!

Romans 4:5-8

But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered;
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”

Personal Challenge

Romans is quite often the most misunderstood and misquoted book in the Bible. I am no biblical scholar so I do not claim to be able to interpret this book, as well as the rest of the scriptures, properly. That is why I rely on the teachings of the saints that have gone before me and the traditions of the church to inform me of what the scriptures say. From what I can gather, this passage is reminding is that striving to live by the law and doing works according to the law with the intent of gaining salvation will never achieve that goal. The works are futile. We can only gain salvation by putting our faith and hope in Jesus Christ, the only person that has ever fulfilled the law, or ever will.

It is through Him, and Him alone, that we are saved. He is the one who bestows the blessing of eternal life upon us. It is at this point that the work that we perform out of our love for Him and our gratitude for what He has done for us, that these works become blessed. The faith must always come first. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Sirach 14:12-14

Remember that death does not delay,
And the covenant of Hades has not been shown to you.
Before you die, do good to a friend,
And reach out and give to him based on your ability.
Do not let a day go by without doing something good,
And do not let any of your desire for doing good escape you.

Personal Challenge

No matter how much we try to avoid it, we will have an appointment with death that we must all attend. It is inevitable that we will all physically die. The other certainty is that no one knows the time or place that this event will happen. This is why Sirach reminds us to constantly be looking for opportunities in our lives to do good to those around us. We are to love our family, our friends, our co-workers, our brothers and sisters in the faith, and the stranger amongst us as if today were the last day of our lives, for it might be. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Romans 3:23

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Personal Challenge

We have all been created in the image of God, As we live out our lives we are wired to live our lives for the glory of God. This is within us whether we know it or not, whether we desire it or not. Since we live in a fallen world and choose to sin, we will never be able to reach that state of living for the glory of God. This is where Jesus becomes critical to our lives. He too was created in the image of God when He became incarnate. He was fully man and fully God. As a fully human being, He and only He was able to live a sinless Life and therefore, as a human being succeeds at achieving the glory of God and therefore defeating the power that death had over each of us. Glory be to God.

Sirach 11:7-8

Do not find fault before you examine a situation.
First, understand it, and then make your judgment.
Do not answer before you have listened,
And do not interrupt someone while he is talking.

Personal Challenge

Such great words of wisdom from Sirach that can be applied to every aspect of our lives. It is so easy to step into a situation and immediately begin to form opinions, make judgments, and assign fault. we are told here to start by examining the situation. This often takes a lot of time and effort but is necessary to truly understand what has gone on leading up to the situation as well as what is truly going on at this point in time. We have a tendency to jump to conclusions without all of the facts. The second instruction is one that I know needs to be worked on in my life. we need to spend more time listening to the other person and try to hear what they are saying before we open our mouths. And it is really not possible to be formulating our response and listen at the same time. It is also not treating the other person with love and respect if we interrupt them while they are speaking. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, forgive me for doing this all too often and have mercy on me, the sinner!

Romans 3:10-12

As it is written:
“There is none righteous, no, not one;
There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.”

Personal Challenge

In the nine verses before these, Paul asks a whole series of questions to which he provides this quote from the Old Testament as an answer. God alone is righteous and just. God is perfect in His love for His creation. We, however, because we live in a fallen and sinful world are not righteous. We may strive to be good and holy, but yet we still stumble and sin. We continually put ourselves first. It does not matter what church we go to, what family we grew up in, or our status in life. We still need the righteousness of Jesus to cover and redeem us from our sin. We can only become righteous through Him. That is the point that Paul is driving home. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!