The commandments are not given to us so that, by fulfilling them, we become good and be saved! The commandments in the Bible are given by God for one purpose – to reveal sin, the deadly, critically dangerous state in which humanity exists (“the law increases sin”, that is, it reveals itself, becomes apparent through symptoms – violations of the law. Sin is not a violation of the commandment, it is – a disease, which becomes very evident with the help of the commandments. Who wishes evil for themselves? – no one. Even those who kill themselves – they think they are wishing themselves good, therefore they do it. And the commandment is intended to show the norm and your non-compliance with it. Sin is not that you have stolen, but that you cannot help but steal – your powerlessness to do good, and your “power” to do evil. Drivers sometimes have accidents not because they were inattentive, but only because some mechanism has malfunctioned; e.g., the steering system breaks down – turn the steering wheel as much as you want, but the wheels do not obey… and it’s good if you are not at high speed, but when you are flying into the abyss of passions without resistance?.. The cause of the accident [sin as a violation of the commandments, “traffic rules”] is not the driver, but the broken car [nature in a godless state, in evil] – V.A.). The commandments are given so that, by violating them (zealously trying to fulfill them!), a person recognizes their powerlessness, their godlessness, their deadly state, humbles themselves and feels the ontological need for a Savior! “Zealous fulfillment of the Gospel commandments teaches a person their weaknesses”, – say the Holy Fathers. Therefore, the commandments (both New Testament and Old Testament) are given so that they are violated (so that transgression may increase). That is, the commandment cannot be fulfilled, it can only and should (be attempted) be fulfilled, in order to in the process recognize one’s godlessness, weakness, and cripple. We must understand a simple(!) truth: the commandment is fulfilled only by Christ (Christ is the fulfillment, accomplishment, completion of the law-commandment, therefore without Him we can do nothing good!). And often we make a terrible mistake – we want to fulfill the commandment as an end in itself, forgetting that everything must lead to Christ. Now it is clear why the saints lamented their good deeds as sins. “A good deed is only that which is accomplished for Christ, in Christ, and by Christ” – so say the Holy Fathers. That is, a Good deed is only that after the accomplishment of which I see my weaknesses: that I am blind, deaf, foolish, godless… and that I cannot advise myself – I need a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ! By their fruits you shall know them! If after performing a deed you are proud of yourself, boast, exalt yourself, consider yourself worthy of praise and rewards earthly and heavenly, then your deed for you – deadly poison, if you do not spit it out of yourself through repentance (do not cleanse yourself with streams of penitential tears) – you will perish!!! And if after performing the deed your weaknesses, the wounds of your soul (pride, haughtiness, stinginess, calculation, self-love, self-praise, and other filth and stench) are revealed to you and you do not fall into despair, but go, run to Christ – the Physician and Savior, then such (and only such!) deed is Good.
The commandments – diagnostics of my spiritual state, litmus paper that reveals the truth about me. Therefore, zealous fulfillment of the Commandments makes a person not holy, but righteous, i.e., one who knows the sad truth about themselves (more precisely, half of the truth – who they are without God, but not yet knowing who they are with God, in God). The fruit of righteousness – humility (knowledge of the existential, ontological truth about oneself, who I am actually, not hypocritically humble, which leads to groveling, servility, calculation before whom or what you humble yourself), and to the humble the Lord gives Grace, the Power to be Children of God! Therefore, each commandment of God in Christians should bear fruit – humility, which in turn, by God ‘s mercy, gives the fruit of Salvation, Deification. Christianity begins there, and only there, where there is a real sinner, a real godless person who is perishing, and has no hope for themselves, for their “good deeds” – they need a SAVIOR, Christ!!! If we always remembered that Alpha and Omega of everything – Christ, and the goal of life – acquisition of the Holy Spirit, not earthly goodness, then we would humble ourselves, and not dream, and not hope for our “good deeds”!..
The trouble now is that we have become almost incapable of interpreting the Gospel in existential, ontological categories. We interpret the Gospel as a manual of ethics, a code of laws of behavior of a good, ethical, moral person! Therefore, our sermons are very often ethical, not existential (hypostatic, rooted and correlated with the personal way of existence) in character. Therefore, we have such a decline in the church life of Christians. Each commandment, every word of the Gospel should correlate us with Christ, should show us the mode of hypostatic, Trinitarian, Divine Life, and identify us as creatures who fell, fell out in Adam from this Life. The whole Bible is not about morality, but about Christ. In Christ people do not become good (in the sense of moral, in terms of behavior), but Beautiful (beauty, which is rooted and comes from the Kingdom of God, which is within us; revelation of the unique and irreplaceable personality). Christ is not only the Best, but also the Most Beautiful of all the sons of men.