WHAT IS A GOOD MAN?
Too many people just assume that they know what a âgood manâ is. Because a man or an organization (composed of âgood menâ) builds hospitals, schools, an orphanage, an old-folks home, gives to medical research, to needy relatives, to charities, or because he is pleasant, honest, kind, loyal, refined, cheerful, honorable, or possesses those qualities which endears him to his neighbor, he is called âgood,â a âgood man.â I repeat, people assume that a âgood manâ is defined in this manner, but rarely do people critically examine the assumption to discover whether a âgood manâ may actually be what he is generally accepted to be.
The thinking on the âgood manâ has simply ignored Christianity and naturally Orthodoxy which is true Christianity. Christian experience, dogma, doctrine, canon law, are casually excluded as something personal and having little to do with the essential character of a âgood man.â The Church is âwhat you make itâ and very few people would include in their definition of a âgood manâ his religion. Surely, he is expected to have one and must live up to it, but as such, it is secondary in the analysis. Of course, he must believe in God (whatever that means), but âeach in his own way and each in his own words.â
Now, can these ideas about the âgood manâ be reconciled with the Christian Truth? Is a âgood manâ (in the Christian and only sense) to be identified with the common conception of him? Is a âgood man,â as is ordinarily believed, a man who does âgood,â âgoodâ as we usually think of it? Is the belief, any belief in God, sufficient to make a man âgood?â What is the source of our opinions concerning the âgood man?â Are they from God or men? Are the ideas that most of us hold on this matter given by our environment or are they the revelation of God? In any case, let us see what the Church has to say about the âgood man.â
The Church teaches that three things are required for a man to be âgoodâ: 1) conversion 2) grace 3) faith. Conversion means repentance (literally from the Greek, âchange of mindâ). Conversion necessarily requires faith, the right faith, the faith given, revealed, disclosed in Christ Jesus. A man must be converted to be âgood.â He must be changed from a son of Adam to a son of God by grace. He must be âborn againâ (JOHN iii, 3), renewed, made a ânew creatureâ in Christ. The result is a new mentality, a âchange of mind,â a new attitude and approach to all things. This is accomplished primarily by the Sacraments, especially, the Holy Eucharist, which give grace. âBut God, Who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and made us sit with Him in heavenly places in Christ Jesusâ (EPH. ii, 4-6). It is grace, an energy of God, a gift, an undeserved favor, divine and activating, which converts us, which makes us âgood.â
With a converted being a man receives âillumination,â âlight,â âsight,â so that his faith in God has truth, direction, substance. The life of grace gives Christian faith. That faith is the faith of the Church, the Body of Christ, the Bride with Whom Christ is âone flesh.â This communion of Bride and Bridegroom, this common life of Head and Body, this mystical and Divine intimacy, gives rise to the experience of incomprehensible beauty. From it issues Truth, a Truth which is set in words, words which can hardly hold their meaning; and these words are Creed and canon and certitude. This is all obtained in sacred community with others in Christ, in the Church, not alone. Certainly, it must become a personal possession, but the acquisition comes through the common life in the Body of Christ. It is this experience, this knowledge, through conversion, through grace, through love and unity in the Beloved, Christ Jesus, that creates a âgood man.â A âgood manâ is the result of what the Blessed Trinity and the Church has done. In other words, it is impossible to be a good man without Jesus Christ.
One may build hospitals, donate to charity, etc., be characterized by all those âmoralâ qualities which the world calls âgood,â but they are meaningless and illusory without the Christian experience: conversion, grace, faith. The very definition of a âgood manâ relies upon his relation to Jesus Christ. Thus, as anti-Christian is utterly wicked and a true Orthodox only is fully a âgood man.â Conversion, grace, faith, that without which a man cannot be âgood,â no matter what the world thinks. In other terms, the more fully a man is integrated into the life of the Church, the better man he is, and without Jesus Christ and His Bride, goodness would be impossible. âFor we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by men and hating one another; but when the goodness and loving kindness of God, our Savior, appeared, He saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit, which He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, so that we might be justified by grace and become heirs of hope of eternal life. The saying is âsureâ
温馨提示:答案为网友推荐,仅供参考