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What is Christian Salvation?

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introducing the orthodox churchI’m reading an Eastern Orthodox book for new believers when I came across an explanation of salvation that was amazing! They truly have a robust view of salvation that puts the typical Protestant to shame.

Seeing how wonderful their explanation is, I have posted their explanation below for you read (with some emphasis added at certain points). I hope it will speaks to you as it spoke to me.

Blessings

What is Salvation?

What does it mean to be saved? What is salvation in Christ?

Salvation is freedom – freedom from the tyranny of self centeredness, freedom from bondage of fear and death.

Salvation in Christ is being freed from myself so that I can become they person God created me to be and intends me to become.

Salvation is God lifting us up in Christ Jesus. It is God giving us hope. It is God working an unrelenting work in our personalities, in our characters, in our lives.  It is God not giving up on us.

Salvation according to Orthodox theology is not the state of “I have arrived. I have made it. I am saved.” Rather, it is the sate of “I am on the way. I am moving. I am growing in God, for God, with God, and through the power of God.”

Salvation is Christ overcoming for us our greatest enemy which is at the root of all our insecurity, the fear of death. God does not remain aloof in the heavens while men suffer and die. He takes on a body and by death destroys our death so that now death becomes a doorway through which we must all pass to enter the splendor of His glorious presence.

Salvation is:

Liberation from evil,
The defeat of the devil,
The transfiguration of man,
Living authentically,
Putting on Christ,
The restoration of the image of God in man,
Participating in the life of God,
Restoration of communion with God,
Incorruption,
Receiving the Holy Spirit,
Becoming temples of the Holy Spirit,
Forgiveness of sins,
Ascending to the throne of God,
Participating in the kingdom of God,
Being by grace what God is by nature,
The destruction of death,
Seeing the light,
Being in a process of growth that never ends,
Living life the way God meant it to be.

This is the salvation the Lord Jesus offers us.

Theology Thoughts

I Can Win Because He Won

I was talking to a gentleman a few days ago about what it means to follow Jesus when the topic of sex came up. During the course of the discussion I made a side comment about Jesus having an erection… oh wow, did that open up a whole other avenue of discourse!

But why? Why should we be so shocked with the idea that Jesus got aroused?

The writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus became “fully human in every way” (2:17) – meaning that he pooped, peed, throw up when sick, got the cold and flu, scraped his knees, had wet dreams, got tired, enjoyed a good meal and got a bit irritable at times. He also saw his fair share of pretty girls – including those of various stages of undress who were trying to sell him sex.

None of those things, however, are a sin in and off themselves. They are simply part of what it means to be a human living on planet earth. Getting aroused is a physical reaction to a visual or emotional simulate. There is nothing innately wrong about this response as it was something God build into us. It is what we do AFTERWARDS that matters.

Do we stop and dress the person in our mind? Do we treat that person as an object? Or do we bless that person as someone made in the image of the Creator? Do we hold captive the thoughts of our mind knowing that the Lord has put a fence around sex for our benefit and enjoyment?

St. Gregory the Theologian
St. Gregory the Theologian

Jesus – who is our example on how to live life – experienced all the struggles that we experience and overcame them all (Hebrews 4:15). By doing so, he has created a way for us to overcome the struggles and temptations of this crazy, messed up life. We are to join with him in his death and resurrection, being filed with his Spirit, grace, mercy and strength. As Jesus told St. Paul years ago, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

The early church father St. Gregory the Theologian (329-390 AD) says it this way:

“That which was not assumed is not healed; but that which is united to God is saved.”

If Jesus did not fully assume the human experience while also being fully Divine, then we could not be saved. Yet because Jesus experienced sexual arousement and overcame the desire to act upon it outside the boundaries given to us by the Creator – well, that means that I, Josh, can face the same battle with the knowledge that my King and Best Friend has already won the battle.

I can win because he won.

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” – Hebrews 4:15-16

Theology Thoughts

Reading the Bible: Three Very, Very Important Lens To Look Through

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bible lensWhen reading the Bible, I believe there are three very, very important lens that we must look through

  1. Jesus
  2. The Trajectory of the Scriptures
  3. The Context of the Scriptures
Reading the Bible through Jesus

• In Colossians 1:15 St. Paul tells us that Jesus is the “image of God, the invisible one.”

  • John 1:14 tells us that the Word of God (Jesus) became flesh and dwelled among us
  • Jesus Himself told us that to see Him was to see God

• As such, I firmly believe that we are to read the Scriptures through the lens of Jesus

  • Jesus is God relived to us
  • So when we have problems understanding what the Scriptures are saying
  • Which, face it, there are some confusing parts in this book – that doesn’t mean that we throw them out (far from it)
  • It just means that we read those passages through Jesus

• If our interruption of Scriptures does not match that of the life and character of Jesus, we MUST rethink that passage!

  • We ALWAYS default back to Jesus
  • For He is God relived to us!!
The Trajectory of the Scriptures

• The second lens is the trajectory of the Scriptures

  • What has God been doing throughout history?
  • What has been His focus?
  • What is the overarching theme of the Scriptures?

• These are questions that we must ask ourselves as the books of the Bible are not standalone documents

• They are documents placed within a greater canon of documents

• The Scriptures did not fall from the sky bound and complete

  • They are a collection of God-breathed letters, histories, poems, songs, etc

• Within the pages of Scriptures are people as human as we are

  • It records there mistakes
  • Successes
  • Failures
  • Loves and hates

• It tells us that we all are on a journey with God and even when we mess up, God is still with us

• As such, when we find a passage that is confusing, we must ask ourselves

  • What is the overall movement of the Scriptures in this area?
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