Protestants and particularly evangelicals take
a "minimalist" approach to salvation. They focus on salvation as
justification, "I can go to heaven rather than hell."
Plenty of people
recognize that being a Christian is more than just a matter of "fire
insurance," but it is easy to be fooled by one's own sales pitch - Just
accept Jesus as your savior. Plenty of people think that is all there is
to it.
Furthermore, the "saved by faith" emphasis is a
strong filter on one's Bible reading. In Romans 10, St. Paul writes:
if you will confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your
heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans
10:09). My
evangelical training led me automatically to think in terms of a
"punctilious" confession. It is not good to argue whether this
particular passage refers to a one-time action or a recurring one.
But in his sermon the Orthodox priest in
Orthodox fashion, of "confessing with our mouth" each time we receive
Holy Communion. The Orthodox approach to salvation is "maximalist": "How
can I be most saved?" . One gets a sense of this
teaching from St. John Chrysostom's "Baptismal Instructions," Talking to
the newly baptized, he says (3d Instruction):
Let us say again: Blessed be God, who alone
does wonderful things, who does all things and transforms them. Before
yesterday you were captives, but now you are free and citizens of the
Church; lately you lived in the shame of your sins, but now you live in
freedom and justice. You are not only free, but also holy; not only
holy, but also just; not only just, but also sons; not only sons, but
also heirs; not only heirs, but also brothers of Christ; not only
brothers of Christ, but also joint heirs; not only joint heirs, but also
members; not only members, but also the temple; not only the temple, but
also instruments of the Spirit.
Blessed be God, who alone does wonderful
things!. You have seen how numerous are the gifts of baptism. Although
many men think that the only gift it confers is the remission of sins,
we have counted its honors to the number of ten. It is on this account
that we baptize even infants, although they are sinless, that they may
be given the further gifts of sanctification, justice, filial adoption,
and inheritance, that they may be brothers and members of Christ, and
become dwelling places for the Spirit." [Ancient Christian Writers, p.
57]
St. John uses other descriptions of baptism:
marriage, enrollment in the army, putting on a white robe (which they
literally did). He goes on to urge his listeners to keep their robes
spotless:
Knowing, therefore, that after the grace of God
everything depends on us and on our zeal, let us be grateful gifts which
have already been given, so that we may make ourselves worthy of still
greater gifts. [24]
Therefore, I exhort you who have just deserved
the divine gift to keep careful watch and to guard the spiritual garment
bestowed on you, keeping it clean and spotless. Let those of us who
received this gift in the past show a far-reaching change in our lives.
It is possible, if we are willing, it is possible for us to return and
go back to our former beauty and luster, if only we will do our fair
share . . . . The soul which was once sullied and became disfigured and
disgraced by the multitude of its sins can quickly return to its former
beauty, if we give evidence of ample and exact repentance." (circa ad
390) [pp. 90-91]
I think one can construct from the Church
Fathers a "normal" Christian life: instruction, baptism, on-going
participation in the life of the Church: repentance, confession,
receiving the Eucharist. But it is rare that you will find them
attempting to answer the question "What can I get by with and still be
saved?" or "How far can one be from this 'norm' and still be saved?"
They did have to deal with the question of "how
necessary is baptism?" during the persecutions. What of the catechumens
who were martyred before baptism? It was in this context that the belief
in 'martyrs being baptized with their own blood' arose.
At the other end of the Christian life, many
saints (as recognized later by the Church) died with a profound sense of
their own sinfulness and unworthiness before a Holy God. I have found
the Orthodox approach to Scriptures, especially on matters of salvation,
to be very "integrative." Christ's incarnation, ministry, death, descent
into hades, resurrection, ascension; our sinfulness, repentance,
baptism, carrying our cross, 'doing to the least of these', running the
race, confidence in God's love and mercy, fear of falling away, putting
on the new nature, . . . . There is no tendency to pick one aspect of
salvation "to reinterpret everything else to fit." The parable of the
goats and the sheep is taken as seriously as Ephesians 2:8-9.
Orthodoxy often insists that the whole truth
lies in holding on to two (or more) apparently contradictory concepts:
God is both One God, and Three Persons; Christ is one person, two
natures. The same applies to our salvation. On many points where a
Protestant wants and either/or answer, an Orthodox will insist on
both/and.
My most merciful and all-merciful God,
O Lord Jesus Christ! In Thy great love, Thou didst come down and become
flesh in order to save all. Again, I pray Thee, save me by Grace! If
Thou shouldst save me because of my deeds, it would not be a gift, but
merely a duty. Truly, Thou aboundest in graciousness and art
inexpressibly merciful! Thou hast said, O my Christ: "He who believes in
me shall live and never see death". If faith in Thee saves the
desperate, behold: I believe! Save me, for Thou art my God and my Maker.
May my faith replace my deeds, O my God, for Thou wilt find no deeds to
justify me. May my faith be sufficient for all. May it answer for me;
may it justify me; may it make me a partaker of Thine eternal glory; and
may Satan not seize me, O Word, and boast that He has torn me from Thy
hand and fold. O Christ my Savior: save me whether I want it or not!
Come quickly, hurry, for I perish! Thou art my God from my mother's
womb. Grant, O Lord, that I may now love Thee as once I loved sin, and
that I may labor for Thee without laziness as once I labored for Satan
the deceiver. Even more, I will labor for Thee, my Lord and God Jesus
Christ, all the days of my life, now and ever and unto ages of ages.
Amen.
Paul Jacobson
