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00:00Music
00:30And so, we return to our topic that we are looking at today, these novelties, the novelty of Christianity, but which also implies a series of problems that we will talk about later.
00:43And well, we are already seeing that conversion has many implications, it has implications both in what we receive, in our way of being which benefits the people with whom we live, by being loving, kind, happy people, in short, seeking the good of others, avoiding vices and other things.
01:06In other words, we are seeing that we are talking about a life, a life that has repercussions and that precisely for that reason, as we said in our previous class, it will be evident to others.
01:20Now, the apostle Paul leads us in his letters to contrast the characteristics of the old man with those of the new man in Christ.
01:31That is why we see that particularly in Ephesians, Galatians, and Corinthians, which were pagan communities with many problems regarding moral life, he makes them see that life is new and contrasts the vanity of life without Christ with the fullness we find in him.
01:59And so it becomes clear that there is a transformation, there is a change that people are obviously going to notice.
02:08Paul insists in all his letters on how before beginning life in Christ they lived captive in darkness, but that now they live in the light of Christ.
02:20They have passed from sin to holiness, of which they are worthy before God through Jesus Christ.
02:26And that's just one example, because there are many.
02:32I would like us to look at a text that is also very clear and that I think can be useful to us.
02:39It is Ephesians chapter 5, verses 7 through 12.
02:44If you like, come along, join me in this text from Saint Paul.
02:48The apostle says, therefore, do not be partners with them; Saint Paul is referring to the pagans, because before they were darkness, before they were darkness, but now they are light in the Lord.
03:08In other words, Christians are now light in the Lord and must walk as children of light.
03:14It says in verse 9, because the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, justice, and truth.
03:20And have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them, for it is shameful even to speak of the things they do in secret.
03:37So, I think it's clear here that there's a contrast.
03:43The pagans, of which they were a part, pagans live one way and Christians live another way.
03:52And that is why he contrasts them and tells them, you were like these, but now in Christ you are no longer darkness, but now you are light.
04:03Also in his letter to the Corinthians, they already know about this terrible port, where there were all kinds of excesses.
04:13Saint Paul writes in his first letter, to contrast with them and make them see this reality that we just read in Ephesians.
04:21If you like, let's go to 1 Corinthians 6, verses 9 through 11.
04:29The text is written by the apostle Paul.
04:33Or do they not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
04:38Do not be deceived, neither by the immoral, nor by idolaters, nor by adulterers, nor by effeminate men, nor by homosexuals,
04:49Neither thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
05:00And such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
05:14We can see clearly then that the new man is someone who has left his old way of living like pagans who do not know the newness of Christ.
05:27And that is why we cannot walk like the Gentiles, like people who do not know God, who always walk, well, as he will say later in his letters, right?
05:36They walk in the vanity of their minds, their heads filled with darkness, completely darkened, and utterly ignorant of the life of God.
05:50And also because of the hardness of their hearts, and then, besides the fact that they lost all sensitivity, let's look at our society, it has lost all sensitivity to spiritual things
06:03And they have given themselves over, we have given ourselves over, people today have given themselves over to a lascivious life and commit, thus, this is what happened and what happens now, says Saint Paul,
06:15to commit with greed, that is, with great desire, almost with unrestrained abandon, all kinds of impurities.
06:23It would suffice to read what he tells us in his letter to the Romans and to the Colossians and we would realize that this is a pagan life.
06:33And sometimes, my brothers, sadly, because it is the life that we see today, that we live today in our own society.
06:39The new man is called to live in justice and holiness; he must be a true model for society.
06:51He must exemplify in himself the words of Jesus, the new man, and therefore, as Jesus says in the Gospel of Matthew, he must be light and salt of the earth.
07:02We can say that man, according to Christ, is the one who works diligently to put to death what is earthly.
07:13In particular, we must work on the mind, which is what directs our entire life.
07:18We need to start filling our minds with other things.
07:22That is why Saint Paul writes the following to the Romans.
07:27I want you to go to your Bible, let's go to Romans chapter 8, verse 5.
07:32For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
07:47I think that makes it more than clear to us.
07:52In other words, we spiritual ones, we must be the spiritual ones.
07:58We must think like spiritual people.
08:02And we understand this clearly.
08:04And our life is different from others who think about the flesh, who think about worldly things.
08:10The Christian is a morally distinct being.
08:14He is a different person from someone who does not know the Lord.
08:18And all this, my brothers, is going to lead to problems for us.
08:25And now I would like to talk to you a little bit about the problems of the Christian life.
08:30And well, I think that as has already been made clear, Christianity refers to dying to oneself, to starting a new life.
08:41However, this is not as simple as it seems at first glance.
08:45So much so, that Saint Paul dedicates practically all his letters to correcting the deviations that occur in the communities,
08:57so that Christians can truly live according to Christ's teachings.
09:01And this proposal is important.
09:07In other words, we've talked about how the Christian life has to do with conversion,
09:14with a transformation that is taking place in man,
09:17like a process that begins at a certain point, after a retirement or something like that,
09:24but it continues and ends with death.
09:26From that moment on, the man who has already received the Holy Spirit,
09:32This Spirit of God gives him life, fills him with love, and gives him this new life, life in Christ.
09:41That is why a Christian can truthfully say, as we said a moment ago,
09:47in Galatians 2:20,
09:49It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
09:53All the exhortations that Saint Paul makes to Christians in his letters,
09:58They have to do with this new reality that San Pablo invites us to embrace.
10:03However, as we can see in the different texts,
10:07This reality is not always experienced,
10:09because the root of the problem is not always found in the processes of death.
10:15And if you're not careful, it will obviously grow back.
10:20In other words, you have to pull up the tree and remove its roots.
10:25Because if we leave the root, after a while we see that branches start to grow again.
10:30For this reason, Christians must be very clear
10:33who has made a personal choice for Christ,
10:37who has decided to live according to his word.
10:40It's an option.
10:41And if you have decided to follow it,
10:46You need to be very clear about this.
10:49You have to make these decisions.
10:52Decisions that won't be easy.
10:56Why don't we pull out this root?
10:59Why do we keep bearing fruit of death instead of life?
11:03Why do these things happen?
11:04Well, there are essentially two causes.
11:10One is because nature is weak.
11:13And God continues to respect our freedom.
11:18And on the other hand,
11:19We are under the influence of the devil
11:21which seeks in every way to delay
11:24and if possible,
11:25to make us regress in the Christian life.
11:28The world wears us down.
11:30And the demon begins to see the shape
11:33to intervene in us
11:34to distance us from spiritual life
11:37and with that return to worldliness.
11:41And thus all the benefits are lost.
11:44that they bring into our lives,
11:46the life of the spirit,
11:47which is the life that the new man must live.
11:52So, look how we have
11:53These two elements that are
11:55continually within us
11:57and that drive this life
11:59that we have started the conversion
12:01And they're going to try to drag her back in again.
12:04towards paganism,
12:06losing as a result
12:06all that Jesus has won for us.
12:10Okay, we'll be back in a few moments.
12:12to end this chapter
12:14which is more than just a chapter
12:17of training,
12:21I think it could be a chapter
12:23that can give you the guidelines
12:25for the change of your life.
12:26We'll be right back.
12:27Thanks for watching the video.