Orthodox Christian Church of the Holy Spirit
Orthodox Church in America - Archdiocese of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania
145 N. Kern St Beavertown PA, 17813
Fifth Sunday after Great and Holy Pentecost

‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’…: that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

 

 

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

“What must I do to be saved?” [asked the Philippian jailer to Ss. Paul and Silas. ‘What must I do to be saved?’] And they replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:30-31a).

 

And in today’s Epistle Reading, brethren, St. Paul maintains a consistent, soteriological position, as he writes to his Roman audience,

“‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’…: that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom 10:8-9).

 

So much commentary has been offered on Romans, chaps. 9-11. Many complicated soteriological—that is, the “theology of salvation”—[many complicated soteriological] formulae have been predicated upon these chapters, in response to the questions, “How does God save? Why does God save? Does God know who will be saved, who will be damned? Does God decide who will be saved, who will be damned, and on what basis?” Indeed, these three chapters in Romans have been most problematic in the history of systematic theological dialogue between the Orthodox (and Roman Catholic) and their Protestant interlocutors, most notably, the Reformed. Orthodoxy maintains a sacramental soteriology, and for good reason. The Scriptures support such a “system,” beginning with St. Peter’s admonition to the crowds on Pentecost:

“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. [This] promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off…” (Acts 2:38-39).

 

St. Peter associates salvation with repentance and baptism. In both of these acts, we (1) confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, and (2) receive the grace of the Holy Spirit of God for our perfection in holiness. The Orthodox soteriological tradition, that is, a sacramental theology of salvation, is perfectly consistent with the revelation of Holy Scripture and the teaching of the Fathers, over and against the more academic, often more systematic, more—apparently—internally consistent theology of the Reformed denominations. Reformed soteriology offers an appealing logical consistency at the expense of a comprehensive biblical testimony. That is to say, Calvinism is a bulletproof philosophy, but… not broadly biblical.

            My purpose today, though, brethren, in comparing traditional Christian soteriology with a more progressive (and as an aside: this does not feel like the right word to apply to so conservative a theology as Calvinism, but it is correct; Reformed theology is an “unnecessary development” in Christian theology) [so, my purpose] is not to demean said theology. Rather, it is to extol it to some degree. Reformed theology misses the mark in that it makes God a tyrannical, heartless, cold and distant Arbiter. God enacts our salvation passionlessly; good. But does he also enact our salvation arbitrarily: the arbitrary Arbiter?

            “For there is no respect of persons with God” (Rom 2:11).

Thank you, John McArthur. Yes, I know. God is not a respecter of persons, inasmuch as there is no person so worthy of salvation. I have said it before in sermons; I have said it before in catechesis. I will say it again in sermons; I will say it again in catechesis, I am sure: man cannot merit the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Man cannot merit the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And our salvation begins before Calvary. That is the Orthodox position. Everything that Jesus Christ has done affects our salvation; it affects human nature, because the divine was united to the human hypostatically—personally—in Jesus Christ. Man does not earn his salvation because “in that while we were still sinners, God died for us” (Rom 5:8), and he rose for us, and he ascended into heaven for us!

            Indeed, Reformed theology misses the mark in that it makes God a callous actor in our salvation. But Reformed theology strikes the mark insofar as it emphasizes the simplicity, if you will, of our salvation, and the ultimate sovereignty of God, utilizing proofs such as St. Paul’s words in Acts, chapter 16: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (v. 31; italics mine).

            “Just believe. Just believe.” And there is a profound truth in this. But Deacon, what about the sacraments, of which you were just speaking? What about baptism, the Eucharist, confession? You just said Orthodoxy has the correct soteriology contra Protestantism. Now you are making the case for a more pared-down theology? You are commending Reformed theology? Brethren, in Orthodoxy, we find the fullness of the faith, the fullest expression of the Christian faith. In baptism, we believe (we make professions of faith; we say the Creed. “Have you united yourself to Christ?” “I have united myself to Christ!” “Do you believe in him?” “I believe in him as King and God.”). In confession, we… confess, obviously. And in the Holy Eucharist, we receive Christ. In Orthodoxy, brethren, the simple act of “Believe in the Lord Jesus” is enacted in the most beautiful, profound, and formative ways. But when we boil it down, we are not doing anything ad extra. We are not doing something so grand as to impress God, as to make him say, “Oh wow, well, if you’re going to all the trouble; I mean, if you’re going to ask for it that way, then surely—definitely—I will send you my Holy Spirit. I will save you.” No, God forbid! No! No! No!

            This is the criticism leveled against Catholics and against the Orthodox: that we are Pelagian. That we believe, through these sacramental acts, we earn our salvation, that we somehow manipulate or coerce God into saving us. This is the criticism leveled against Synergists by Monergists. And this is the general criticism directed against all ritualistic religion, that it is primitive, unsophisticated, and downright mistaken in its assumption of divine-human co-operation, as opposed to the more sophisticated, the intellectualized spirituality of Reformed Christianity.

            In a sense, brethren, we Orthodox Christians have done this to ourselves. And I stand as a personal testament to that failure. We have done this to ourselves because we too often do act just as our accusers accuse us of acting. We fail to embody the fullness of our sacramental theology. What do I mean by this? Our theology is not wrong. Our theology is—as I have said before—perfectly consistent with the revelation of Holy Scripture and the teaching of the Fathers; only, we, in our interpretation of our own actions, are inconsistent with the teaching of the Church. “During Great and Holy Lent, I must fast; I must attend the services; I must prostrate; deeply, deeply prostrate. I must weep; I must mourn. … When I confess, I must confess so good; I need to ‘get it all out there.’ I could probably say some things that’ll even make the priest blush. Then he’ll know: I’m bad; I’m the worst. I’ll be the best worst Christian, the chief of sinners: that’s me!”

            It is true: we do need to do all these things. These things are part and parcel of our Orthodox sacramental reality. Indeed, we must be baptized; we must confess; we ought to prostrate, and fast, and weep. We ought to give alms, and pray for one another, and serve one another. But as soon as we think, “There, now I have done it. I have been really, truly Christian,” we topple the edifice. Or better: we reveal our pride, and we reveal a faith truly inconsistent with the biblical soteriology to which we pledge ourselves. God saves. God. Saves. And when we believe in Christ, Christ saves us. We are baptized into Christ, and it is Christ who saves. We partake of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, and it is Christ who saves, through this Mystery. In all of this, we must find great solace. God is sovereign. God has done the “heavy-lifting.” It is Christ who grabs the wrists of Adam and Eve in the Icon of the Anastasis, “the Resurrection.” And it is Christ who grabs our wrists, often limp; often a little resistant or uncertain or reserved, and he wrenches us, he yanks us out of Hell.

            In the theological manuals, Orthodox soteriology is very complicated. In any theological manual, any soteriology—Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed—is very complicated. Thank God, Holy Scripture checks this human tendency to theological sophistry:

“‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’…: that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom 10:8-9).

 

Brethren, when we are tired; truly, spiritually tired, or confused, dejected or discouraged, let us remember: God saves. And God desires us—me, you; the sinners, the saints—[all men] to be saved (cf. 1 Tim 2:4). So, we pray, as the helpless, scared father of St. Mark’s Gospel prayed, laying his demon-possessed son at Jesus’ feet: “Lord, I do believe. Help my unbelief!” (9:24).

 

Through the prayers of our holy fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ, our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.


Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!

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