Crux Sancta Sit Mihi Lux

I have spent a large part of my life pondering ontological questions and reflecting on what life really means. The answers have often been outside of faith, sometimes taking on tragic nuances. Thus, I slipped into depression, self-deprecation, hopelessness, and a lack of any joy.

Relatively recently, I experienced a revelation related to the subject of this small article. Thus, I consider that one of the most credible sources is the Bible. Indeed, the Bible has been and remains, without any doubt, a source of light, a guide for a good fate.

Summarizing a series of questions, including one that has followed me throughout my life: Does God condemn, punish evil and the one who committed it? Is God a justiciar, who imposes implacable sentences and subjects everything and everyone to judgment? Why is there so much evil in the world? Who is responsible for the existence of evil? Is evil punished and if so, by whom?

Religion teaches us that man is subject to sin by nature. There is talk of a whole list of sins that separate us from God and miss our salvation. There is even the concept of mortal sin (e.g., in the Catholic religion), which once committed and unconfessed leads to atonement in hell.

Let’s see what the Bible tells us about this: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death,” cf. Rom 81: 2. Thus, the Pauline epistle unequivocally states that those who believe and confess Jesus Christ are not condemned, much less by God. Indeed, through His death on the cross at Calvary, Jesus took upon Himself all human guilt caused by sin: “Surely, he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed,” cf. Is 53,4:5.

This theme of sacrifice in body and blood for salvation is unique in human history. God, who is absolute love, loved man and desired reconciliation with him: Indeed, God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him,” cf. John 3,16:17.

What is the meaning of life according to the scriptures? It seems to be the attainment of eternal life. Salvation. How can this be achieved? Through faith in Jesus Christ: “For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not also the God of Gentiles? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith,” cf. Rom 3, 27:30.

What is eternal life? Jesus Christ himself tells us: “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent,” cf. John 17,3.

For God’s infinite love and patience, man has no merit; moreover, he obtained forgiveness freely, through God’s faithfulness: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus,” cf. Rom 3,23:24. God promises us the forgiveness of sins: “You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea,” cf. Mih 7,19.

Therefore, no one should doubt that we have been redeemed with the holy blood of Jesus Christ shed on the wood of the cross at Calvary, and through this we have been reconciled with God and made His children: Moreover, “the Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children,” cf. Rom 8,15:16.

Through Jesus’ death on the cross, we died to sin, and through His glorious resurrection from the dead, we were born again in the life-giving spirit, so that through Jesus Christ we definitively belong to God, as children of the Highest. Jesus, in this way, freed us from any guilt, from any sin, and offers us absolute freedom through faith in Him, offers us divine peace and His righteousness, not because we have any merit, but through the infinite love of the Heavenly Father, which Jesus revealed.

Let’s go further with the analysis of evil in the world. Why does it exist and why does God allow the existence of evil? Evil, in essence, means the absence of love, therefore the absence of living in the spirit, alongside God, through Jesus Christ. Evil entered the world through the Adamic fall, that is, through the first sin committed by man. God endowed man from the beginning with the faculty of choice, which we simply call free will. He did not make man obedient to God, but left him to choose, to remain in the state of grace in the Garden of Eden or to eat from the tree of knowledge. It seems that man chose to have knowledge, that is, to discern between good and the opposite of good, which is evil. Until eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve were in a state of grace, that is, in absolute freedom and happiness. The concept of evil did not exist in their pure consciousness. By the choice made, man separated himself from God and becomes aware of his condition: “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so, they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves,” cf. Gen 3,7. Nakedness can also be assimilated with spiritual poverty, which accompanies separation from God.

Interestingly, once aware of sin, it is not man who seeks God, but vice versa: “But the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’” cf. Gen 3,9. Thus, we see that despite the fall from the state of grace through sin, God does not remain indifferent, but seeks man, cares about him, calls him so personally: Where are you? God’s love knows no limits, He chooses to clothe Adam and Eve: “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them,” cf. Gen 3,21. Through his own effort, man is condemned to failure: although they made clothes from fig leaves, these garments were inadequate, as God, as we saw above, clothed them with others made of skin. Symbolically, this fact considers that only alongside God man is safe, cared for, knows the state of grace and the adequate material state.

Therefore, evil has existed in the world since the beginning of creation and it was not God who created it, but man himself was responsible for the appearance of evil, as we saw above. All abominable deeds, all hatred, crimes, wars, are based on unhappiness, that is, the absence of the state of grace, of living fully in God. Evil, symbolized by sin, means the absence of love, which is the attribute of the Creator, that is, of God.

There is also good news here: God’s plan of salvation. He chooses to sacrifice His own son to save humanity. The idea of sacrifice is not new, but the sacrifice of Jesus Christ (in His dual human and divine nature), in the sacrifice of body and blood is something unprecedented in the ancient world. Evil, that is, Satan or the Antichrist, received a blow that knows no limits: Jesus defeated death and resurrected. As we have seen, Jesus bore all our weaknesses, sufferings, and sins, and through His death on the cross and thy glorious resurrection from the dead, He freed us from them: “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him,” cf. Rom 6,8:9.

Reflecting on the human condition, we are therefore faced with a new perspective: we have all been redeemed with the holy blood of Jesus Christ. Through faith in Jesus, the way is opened for us to live in complete freedom at the bosom of the Heavenly Father, known as He receives and accepts us with infinite love and joy (see the parable of the Prodigal Son).