Brothers, we must think of Jesus Christ as God and as “the Judge of the living and the dead,” and we must not think lightly of our salvation.
For if we think little of Him, we also expect to receive little. Those who listen as though these were small matters are sinning, and we too are sinning if we do not know where we were called from, by whom, and to what place, or how much Jesus Christ endured for our sake.
What return, then, shall we give Him, or what fruit worthy of what He has given us? How much holiness do we owe Him?
For He gave us the light; as a Father, He called us sons; and when we were perishing, He saved us.
What praise, then, or what reward shall we give Him in return for what we have received?
Our understanding was crippled: we worshiped stones and wood, gold and silver and bronze—the works of human hands—and our whole life was nothing but death. We were covered in darkness, our sight filled with such a mist; but we received our sight and, by His will, cast off the cloud that covered us.
For He had mercy on us and, moved with compassion, saved us. He saw the great error and destruction within us and that we had no hope of salvation except from Him.
For He called us when we did not exist, and He willed that from non-existence we should come into being.