Posted on 11/25/2019 8:08:55 AM PST by Salvation
In yesterday’s feast of Christ the King, we read the Colossians Hymn wherein St. Paul spoke of the power of Christ the King to deliver us:
Let us give thanks to the Father,
who has made you fit to share
in the inheritance of the holy ones in light.
He delivered us from the power of darkness
and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Col 1:1-3)
So, what is deliverance? Deliverance is what happened to you when Christ took you out of the Kingdom of darkness and transferred you to the Kingdom of light; to the Kingdom of his beloved Son.
Notice that the action is in the past tense. Deliverance has happened to us. When we were baptized we died to this world of sin and rose to new life in Christ. Hence deliverance is accomplished. The key point is to live out of this reality and to experience its effects more and more deeply as our maturity in Christ deepens.
So, deliverance involves taking hold of the full freedom that God is given us, of helping the faithful who struggle to lay hold of the glorious freedom of the children of God (cf Rom 8:21). St. Paul is told of his mission (and ours too), by the Lord: I am sending you to [the Gentiles] to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God. Acts 26:17–18.
This fundamentally is a description of the ongoing work of deliverance that the whole Church must accomplish for God’s chosen people. Deliverance seeks to take people out from under Satan’s power and place them under the Authority and Lordship of Jesus Christ. It is to bring people to, or restore them to, their true identity as sons and daughters of God.
For, even after baptism, it is possible that we open doors to Satan, and he is able to gain some degree of access to our hearts and minds. When this is the case, a Christian, working with others, clergy and fellow believers alike, must take a stand against the schemes of the devil by repenting of sin, and renouncing any form of agreement with the deceptions of the enemy.
Deliverance involves coming to an understanding of the tactics of the evil one and also the flawed thinking which often infects our minds. It involves coming to know and name these tactics of the evil one, and these deep drives of sin within us. It involves repenting of them, and steadily renouncing their influence so that we come to greater serenity, peace, and healing; in other words, to deliverance.
This deliverance is effected in many ways: by the Word of God proclaimed and devoutly read, through the frequent reception of sacraments of Holy Communion and confession, through spiritual direction, through the experience of the Sacred Liturgy, praise and worship, through authentic and close fellowship with other believers, through personal prayer, through psychotherapy where necessary, and through what might be called a deliverance ministry that often involves both clergy and lay people praying together with those who struggle, and offering support, and encouragement.
There has been a tendency to see deliverance only as a specialized ministry to those who under-going special struggles. But the point here is that it is wider than all than of that. Deliverance is something all of us have received and need to experience more fully. It is also something we are all called to facilitate in others. In tomorrow’s post we can examine so more specific forms of deliverance ministry, but here simply grasp this point: deliverance is for everyone. We are all in need of it. Jesus has accomplished it for us already. It is simply for us to begin to experience its power in our lives.
Monsignor Pope Ping!
An awesome Movie starring Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, and James Voight?
It is Colossians 1:12-13
So, what is deliverance? Deliverance is what happened to you when Christ took you out of the Kingdom of darkness and transferred you to the Kingdom of light; to the Kingdom of his beloved Son.
Notice that the action is in the past tense. Deliverance has happened to us. When we were baptized we died to this world of sin and rose to new life in Christ. Hence deliverance is accomplished. The key point is to live out of this reality and to experience its effects more and more deeply as our maturity in Christ deepens.
The Msgr correctly understands this.
Other key points of this passage.
It is the Father Who has qualified us....there's nothing we have or can do to qualify ourselves.
He has delivered us and transferred us. Again, this is all done by Him....nothing we do.
The tense of the two verbs for "has delivered" and "transferred" is the aorist. This generally denotes an undefined action that normally occurs in the past. There is no time component of this tense.
The Msgr could have included v 14 in this write up as well as it completes the point Paul is making.
14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (NASB)
The verb, we have, is a present tense verb. It is also in the indicative mood. The indicative is used to convey a truth as understood by the writer/speaker....in this case Paul.
Paul is writing with certainty that we do indeed have the forgiveness of our sins and we have been transferred into the Son's Kingdom.
In other words, the believer in Christ has a secure salvation.
I was privileged to read the Epistle lesson yesterday in church (LCMS follows 95+% same three-year lectionary), was about to write about where it was but you beat me to it :-)
Jon
When you can stop paddling???
Yikes! You are CORRECT. It was Jon.
A terrible movie?
The book (by James Dickey) was and is pretty good.
The book is almost ALWAYS better than the movie or TV show.
I'm currently reading George R.R. Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" - the basis of the "Game of Thrones" TV show. The books are darn good. I guess a couple more volumes still need to get written.
Really don’t need the picture to get your point across. This is too graphic for a many.
Thank you for your post.
Too bad this post on a spiritual topic is being hijacked.
Maybe they should start their own thread on the movie they delight in instead.
They used to call people like him: idiot-savant.
I'm thinking that there is little to discuss on this topic since the requirements for this are so very clearly stated in the Bible:
Ephesians 2, verse 8: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Catholics seem to throw in some idols, saints, priests, and a few other trinkets, just to keep the coffer full. I reckon.
A graphic naked violent man on man rape picture meant to mock and shock on a unrelated thread isn’t a free speech argument. That is like saying the violent antifa thugs are just protesting peacefully.
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