Everything that concerns life and death is in our hands. This declaration of absolute human freedom in choice is unexpected for everyone who thinks that freedom is an illusion, that everything is relative, and that in reality good and evil are equivalent. The text surrounding this astonishing verse can overturn not only habitual ideas about the role played for us by the choice we make and about which we very often do not trouble ourselves to give an account; common ideas about what life is and what death is are also subject to reconsideration.

God offers us fire or water, and the choice depends only on us. There is no one on whom responsibility for oneself can be placed. Before God each person stands personally. Nothing freely chosen by us can serve as a stone that we throw at others or at God.

No good intentions, justifications, references to having turned aside "for God's sake" or "for the neighbor's sake," nothing can serve as justification when our heart condemns us. Before us are life or death. The choice is ours alone.

The main proclamation sounding from the pages of the New Testament books is the news of the Messiah who has been born, and of the Kingdom that, according to the Savior's word, has "drawn near." But what is the essence of the proclamation in the Old Testament books? Did God have something to say to His people and to the other peoples of the earth before the coming of the Messiah He sent?

The answer to this question is found in various Old Testament texts, including those connected with the tradition of wisdom writing. And if we formulate it briefly, the meaning of the pre-Christian proclamation turns out to be the news of the freedom of the human being created by God, and of the Law that helps this free human being choose between good and evil, sin and righteousness, life and death. In essence, it is the news that the human being truly is like God: he is free as God is free; he can choose his own path, and God will not use His power to predetermine his choice or to prevent that choice. And if a person chooses God and the life God offers him, he will not remain alone in the world, without rudder or sails: the commandment given by God will become for the one seeking the righteous path the spiritual compass that helps him not stray from the path he has chosen.

And not only in pre-Christian times: it is no accident that Paul compares the Law with a pedagogue, a "child-conductor," having in mind the meaning this word had in antiquity: a servant who accompanied a child to school and made sure he did not turn aside somewhere along the way. Formerly the Law given by God helped those seeking righteousness walk the path of righteousness; now it helps those seeking the Kingdom follow Christ. God is consistent both in His designs and in how He carries them out. The rest depends on us.

All which concerns life and death is in our hands. This declaration of man’s absolute freedom in his choice is unexpected for every person, who considers that freedom is an illusion, that everything is relative and that in reality evil and good are equivalent. The text surrounding this tremendous verse, can upset not only the common ideas that which role plays for us the choice we make and in which very often we don’t take effort to give report. Various representations of what is life and of what is death are subject to revision. God proposes to us fire or water, and the choice depends only on us. There is nobody, to whom we could confer the responsibility for ourselves. Everyone will appear before God personally. Nothing of what we chose freely, can serve as stone, of which we throw to others or to God. No good intentions, justifications, references on what we abandoned "for God " or "for the neighbor", nothing can serve as justification, when our heart condemns us. Before us is life or death. The choice is only for us.