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Autor: Voegelin, Eric Buch: The World of the Polis Titel: The World of the Polis Stichwort: Paulus, Römerbrief, Sünde; 3 Stufen der Existenz Kurzinhalt: this consciousness of death in sin is awakened when man finds himself unable to fulfil the law Textausschnitt: 15/I A decisive change in this situation was brought about through the appearance of Christ. In the letters of Saint Paul, especially in the Epistle to the Romans, we find for the first time a profound understanding of the mutual involvement of man in the advance of mankind toward truth and of mankind in the truth of everyman's existence. The Law of Israel and the Jews is for Saint Paul not a mere past now superseded by Faith, but the very condition for the extension of divine grace through Christ. For grace is extended to the sinner; only when man is conscious of his existence in the untruth of sin, only when he is aware of his death, is he on the way toward the life; and this consciousness of death in sin is awakened when man finds himself unable to fulfil the law. "I had not known sin, but for the law: for I had not known lust except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet" (Rom. 7:7). "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster [paidagogos] to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster" (Gal. 3:24-25). The climax of revelation, the, entrance of God into history through the sacrificial assumption of human form, is followed by a sudden luminosity of man's spiritual life. Three stages are distinguished by Saint Paul: (76f; Fs) (notabene) |