My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
+
KNOW THE FAITH (Part III)
The Orthodox Christian Approach to Salvation
The Orthodox Christian approach to salvation is in stark contrast to the Western (Roman Catholic and Protestant) approach. While there is some guilt associated with sins, guilt is not the problem; nor is punishment the solution. Christ did not come to save us from guilt but from sin and death.
In Orthodoxy, sin is not understood as a crime necessitating punishment but as an illness in need of cure. Man sins because his nature has been corrupted and needs to be healed and renewed, brought into union with incorruption. It is death and the fear of death that has held man in bondage (Hebrews 2:15), not guilt. And death can only be overcome by Life, that is, Jesus Christ.
Jesus, the God-Man, became Incarnate to restore human nature to the likeness of God; He was crucified to destroy the power of sin; and He was raised to fill our nature with divine grace, God's divine energies, giving us power to overcome death. We are indeed saved by grace. Salvation is the condition of being united to the Savior by grace, that is, by receiving the Uncreated grace and energies of God. As we will see in the next chapter, justification is the condition of faith that opens us to God's Uncreated grace and thus introduces us to the life of salvation.
For the Orthodox Church, salvation is not a mere one-time event but a whole way of life that place us within the rays of God's saving grace. Salvation has a beginning, which includes a confession of faith in Jesus Christ as God and Savior, followed by Christian baptism and chrismation. But salvation is also a lifelong process by which we incorporate Christ's life as our own, so that we might be found spiritually in the same place as the holy Apostle Paul, who, toward the end of his life, said, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2:20).
While personal faith is always essential, one is saved in cooperation with the action of the Church: "On the first day we make them Christians; on the second catechumens; on the third, we exorcise them...instruct them...and then we baptized them" (holy Canon Eight of the Second Ecumenical Council.) As the Body of Christ, the Church extends God's grace to the world through the Holy Spirit. The Church facilitates and prepares the soil of the heart of one who desires salvation. She then immerses that soul in the life of salvation in God's Church, Christ's Body.
In baptism we are joined to Christ (Galatians 3:27); we personally participate in His death and Resurrection (Romans 6:3-5) and are therefore "born again" (or "born from above," John 3:3). However, just as a newborn baby must be nourished and grow in strength and character, the newly baptized must grow in faith and continue to walk in the light of salvation (Ephesians 5:8; 1 John 1:7).
For Orthodox Christians, salvation is not just a ticket to heaven after death; it is participation in the life of God now in this life, as well as a never-ending and ever-increasing participation in the life to come. Salvation is not merely a mental or cognitive acceptance or belief in Christ; it is an organic reality of communion with God through Christ by the acquisition of God's spirit (or "grace").
The Orthodox Christians do not believe and have never believed that we are saved by works. We believe in accordance with the Holy Scripture that we are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8). However, the Orthodox Christians know grace to be the real presence, power, and energies of God, freely given by Him to those who in faith have opened themselves to Him by their free will, God's grace is not imposed on anyone.
Grace is not merely a juridical release from guilt but a real participation in the life of God Himself. This entrance of grace into the human fabric was made possible when Jesus Christ joined His divine nature with our human nature, trampled down death by His death, and raised our human nature, now glorified and filled with grace, to the life of the Holy Trinity through His Resurrection, Ascension, and sitting at the right hand of God.
We are saved by grace--by acquiring and abiding in this grace. According to the teachings of the Holy Scripture, the early Church, and the Orthodox Church today, salvation is the consequence of acquiring grace, which brings us into union with God. The Protestant understanding tends to make salvation a mere idea or concept, whereas the Orthodox teach that salvation is a real participation in God Himself.
God's grace is available and active through a life of authentic repentance, which means bearing one's cross and embracing ascetical self-denial. Grace is nurtured and deepened through partaking in the Sacramental (Mysteriaki) life and especially the Holy Eucharist, through the Church's services of prayer, through the reading and hearing of the Holy Scripture, and by obedience to His commandments, which include good works (works of mercy) (Ephesians 2;:10).
However, His grace is never given automatically, nor does the Church dispense it in some mechanistic way. It is always given freely as a gift according to God's personal will. We can never earn it, but we can place ourselves in a position to receive the gift more readily: "Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me" (Revelation 3:20). By revelation, we know that He gives in accordance with our faith in Him and love for Him, which is also manifested in love for our neighbor. (Source: Know the faith. A Handbook for Orthodox Christians and Inquirers by Rev. Michael Shanbour)
(To be continued)
___________________
"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" -- Saint John Chrysostom
+++
With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry)
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George