The Instructor 1.12.98

Now that this has been set out, it would follow that our Instructor Jesus should sketch for us the true life and instruct the human being who is in Christ. His character is neither very fearsome nor quite relaxed by kindness. He gives commandments, and at the same time shapes them so that we can carry them out. And it seems to me that he himself formed the human being from dust, regenerated him by water, made him grow by the Spirit, and instructs him by the word, directing him by holy commandments to adoption and salvation, so that, transforming the earthborn by stages into a holy and heavenly human being, he may above all fulfill that divine saying: “Let us make man in our image and likeness.” Christ has become the fullness of what God said, while the rest of humankind is understood to be in the image only. But let us, children of a good Father, nurslings of a good Instructor, fulfill the Father's will, listen to the Word, and truly take the impress of the saving life of our Savior. Practicing even now the heavenly way of life, by which we are deified, let us anoint ourselves with the ever-fresh ointment of gladness and the pure ointment of fragrance, having the Lord's way of life as a clear example of incorruption, and following in the footsteps of God. To him alone it belongs to consider, and indeed he cares, how and in what way human life may become healthier. He prepares us for self-sufficiency and simplicity of life, and for an unencumbered, ready readiness for the journey to the eternity of a good life, teaching each of us to be his own storehouse. “Do not be anxious,” he says, “about tomorrow,” meaning that the one enrolled with Christ must take up a life that is self-sufficient, serving itself, and lived from day to day.