Original Sin, the Fall and Redemption in Martinism
What Saint-Martin may or may not have believed as faith conviction or held as philosophical proposition would have been in the context of the Christian Holy Scripture against which interpretations of same such as the Reintegration of Beings of Pasqually must also be judged and assayed for dogmatic legitimacy within the bounds of the Old and New Testament and contemporaneous textual criticism of both.
The beginning then is to be found in the dogma of the Christian and Hebrew Bible. Ex hypothesi, that is, according to the narrative of Genesis, there was an Original Sin of disobedience committed by humankind’s progenitors, Adam and Eve. A Curse was pronounced upon them by Yahweh: Expulsion from their preternatural First Estate and loss of their immortality. In fine, Humankind was damned to death, but at the same time a promise was given of One who would break the Curse and Redeem Humankind: a Messiah.
The death of Jesus Christ was according to the New Testament narrative was a one time propitiatory event which removed the curse of eternal damnation. The consequences of the so-called Original Sin were then nullified and the Redemption was not contingent upon the faith of any believer but was a historical fact, dogmatically speaking. One needed only to realize this revelation in the Gospel to call upon the Name of Jesus Christ and be saved, rather realize that one was already saved as such.
Note that only salvation from eternal death is granted not admission to Heaven. For entrance to Heaven, the Way, was expressed by the Christian Gospel, culminating in the so-called Baptism of the Holy Spirit. This distinction can be seen in the Great White Throne Judgment of the Book of the Revelation of John, where observant Christians ascend to Heaven upon their individual death in a personal resurrection. The remaining faithful to God suffer soul sleep until such End Time that a second and General Resurrection shall transpire.
The Christian then gets a spiritual advantage by additionally following the Way of Jesus Christ, where Salvation alone is the entry ticket to a righteous life, of works, leading to a Heavenly reward. Faith alone is not enough for admittance to Heaven and indeed is not even needed to be saved from death. That is a given from the eternal consequences of the Salvation of Humankind through the death of Jesus Christ. Ascension into Heaven is guaranteed by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, where His Gospel is the Way and modus vivendi for observant Christians.
So … the so-called Fall and it’s implied Original Sin/Curse to death have not had any bearing upon anybody, believer or not, since the death of Jesus Christ dogmatically speaking according to the New Testament.
Therefore Reintegration is not and cannot be the salvation from death for that is already obtained. Might Reintegration be the so-called Baptism of fire or Pentecost experience? Arguably yes, but would the reception of the Holy Spirit, as such, not be or represent in metaphor, the pinnacle or nec plus ultra of a righteous Christian life? Yes, at the most spiritually highest level at its face.
Would Reintegration be a one time event like Saul being struck blind on the Way to Damascus. [note: “Way” as synonym for Gospel of Jesus Christ, what the Christians of the Book of Acts called Christianity, and Damascus as “Damcar” in the Fama]. No. Such an event is called “conversion”.
Reintegration then is a process, hence the applicability to Alchemical metaphor in other quarters, culminating in individual Self-Realization so-called or Baptism of the Holy Spirit in other terms. That a culmination exists in no manner deprecates the utility and effect of a righteous life undergoing moral reintegration leading to spiritual reintegration towards mystical union with God at its apex.
+ Mike Restivo
Sar Ignatius, I:: L::, O.M.& S., R+CMO
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