The Necessity of Reunion With God for Salvation. Man Cannot Accomplish This by Himself. God’s Spirit Effects it in Us by Virtue of the Redemption Accomplished by the Son of God

So what did you think of, in answer to the question of what is needed to restore everything in us to its former, original order? Whatever you may have thought of, I will continue with my own.

Just as we rolled down the hill—so, in the reverse of that, we must ascend the hill again. Just as the sickness entered—acting in the opposite manner, one can expel it. We fell away from God—we must be reunited with Him. We fell away by doubting God’s word—we must restore full faith in that word. Having lost faith in God and in God, we adopted the ruinous resolution: “So I myself”—we must annihilate this “I myself.” When that ruinous “I myself” formed, our spirit lost its proper power of ruling over soul and body and instead itself fell under the yoke of bondage to them—we must restore this authority of the spirit. When the spirit’s authority was broken, the needs of soul and body wandered off in every direction and a turmoil arose in our desires—we must bring all these needs back to unity and establish their mutual subordination in their proper order. Together with the ruinous “I myself,” a swarm of passions pressed in upon the circle of our life, like wild beasts tearing at us—we must drive out these passions.

You see how much is required. From the sheer number and importance of what is needed, you can already conclude that we cannot manage this on our own—the one thing necessary for us, and only that. It is particularly impossible to hope to settle this, our most essential affair, by ourselves, because the first point in it—without establishing which there is no point in taking up the others—namely, reunion with God, cannot in any way lie in our power. We can desire it and seek it, but to bring it about is not the work of our hands. Who can force his way into God’s domain, or chart a path to Him on his own? Who has the strength to take from God what he desires—much less to compel God to dwell in us, so that we too might be in Him—especially after all of this had already been given to us and was despised, and the face of God was diminished through distrust, and His authority was trampled through self-will? You say: I will repent—and I do repent. But it is not for you to set the conditions. Repentance too may be put to use—but only when God Himself has appointed it and has consented to accept it. But what is it on its own? A person stumbles and it hurts—so what of it?

So, reunion with God is not in our power: neither its conditions, nor the manner of its accomplishment, nor anything pertaining to it lies in our hands. Yet see how important it is: accomplish the reunion—and all the rest will follow by itself. The spirit will immediately gain strength, subordinate soul and body, bring needs and desires into order, and drive out the passions. But how is this reunion itself to come about? I am leading this conversation toward this: that there is no need for us to rack our brains over how to be reunited with God. No matter how much we rack them, we shall think of nothing. Rather—if God was pleased to establish the law and order of this reunion—hasten to receive it with full faith and to make use of it with warm gratitude. And thanks be to the all-loving God! Everything has already been accomplished, established, and explained for this purpose. Receive it and make use of it.

I will not set forth for you how all this was accomplished; I will say only the main point: in order to restore our spirit and reunite it with God, it is necessary that the Spirit of God descend into it and enliven it. To open a path for the descent of the Spirit of God, the Only-begotten Son of God descended, became incarnate, suffered, died on the Cross, rose again, and ascended. The Son of God Himself sets His own work in relation to the Holy Spirit when, having announced to His disciples His departure to the Father and having thereby aroused grief in them, He spoke these words of comfort: ”Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you” (Jn. 16:7). And earlier still, the holy Evangelist John the Theologian, explaining the words of the Lord, ”He who believes in Me… out of his heart will flow rivers of living water,” added: ”This He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in His name were about to receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (Jn. 7:38–39). The Son of God, who had humbled Himself in the incarnation and suffering, had to be glorified, so that the Holy Spirit might come and abide with those who believe in Him. He came and began to abide, and His abiding in believers is so indispensable that another apostle asked them with wonder: ”Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16).

So there you have the whole matter. The Son of God became incarnate, suffered in the flesh, died on the Cross, rose again, ascended to heaven, and sent from the Father the Holy Spirit, who, being received by those who believe in the Son, accomplishes in them what the Son had prayed for: ”As You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us” (Jn. 17:21).

How does He accomplish this? He unites with the spirit of those who believe in the Son of God, and, enlivening it, reunites it with God. This is called the new birth from God, which makes believers children of God by grace, as the holy Evangelist John says: ”As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood… but of God” (Jn. 1:12–13). And this became the law of the spiritual life in Christ Jesus: ”Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God…” for only ”that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (Jn. 3:5–6).

Do not try to probe why all this is necessary for the restoration of true life in us; rather, receive it and hold it with the simplicity and sincerity of childlike faith. If you begin to probe, the enemy will draw near and, as he once did to Eve, will whisper temptations to you and shake your faith, and thereby deprive you of the fruits of faith as well. Just as it was incomprehensible at that time how the tasting of a fruit could produce such consequences—and yet they did proceed precisely from the tasting—so now it is incomprehensible why it was necessary for the Son of God to become incarnate and suffer, and then, having ascended, to send the Spirit for our restoration. And yet our restoration depends on sincere faith in precisely this divine arrangement, and all who have received and do receive it with faith are restored.

So do not probe the divine arrangement, and I will not say anything further about it to you, though something is usually said by way of explanation. I will say only a few words about what the Holy Spirit accomplishes in us as He restores our spirit. However, please bear with me until the next letter.