Answers for South African Greek Orthodox
Christians
ORTHODOX —
THE TRUE FAITH AND HOLY
TRADITION
2 Thes 2.· 15 "Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the tradition which
ye have been taught, whether by word or by our epistle."
2 Thes 3.·6 “Now we command you, bÃetheç, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not
after the tradition which he received of us."
Deut 32.· 7 "Ask thy faith and he will show thee thy elders, and they will tell
thee."
É Cor 11.·2, Cï12.·8
human tradition
Note.· The meaning of the word tradition (paradosis) has changed from,
unwritten body of beliefs handed down from generation to generation, to the word
teaching.
INTERPRETATIONS
OF THE BIBLE
Acts 8:38 -31 "Do you understand what you are reading. How can É unless
someone explains it to me."
É Cor 1:18 all speak the same thing
john 1 7.· 11 that they be one as we are
Eph 4.3 - ü One body, one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one
faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all.
Note. Orthodox refer only
to the interpretations of the Church Fathers, who were the great authorities of
earlier tradition, and witnesses of the early Faith. We cannot accept
personalised interpretations or traditions as they may conflict with the
original Apostolic paradosis.
IMPERFECTION OF
THE CLERGY
St.
Chrysostom says, "The Holy Spirit does not ordain all men, but it acts through
all men." Christ chose twelve disciples, yet one was a traitor -nevertheless he possesed all the gifts that the others had
received.
All sacraments are valid when performed
by canonically acting priests under the authority of the Archbishop of the
diocese.
Rev 1.·ÉÏ-20
John 18:7 -
12
THE ECUMENICAL
SYNODS
The Ecumenical Synods fought those who
disputed the truths delivered to them by the Holy Apostles.
Acts 16:4 they delivered
them the decrees to keep
É Cor 5:4 - 5
gathered together, and my spirit
1. 325 AD -
Nicea -
the first Ecumenical
Synod dogmatized the divinity of the Son.
2. 381 AD -
Constantinople - dogmatized the
divinity of the Holy Spirit.
3. 431 AD -
Ephesus - confirmed the
first and second synods.
4. 451 AD -
Chalcedon - dogmatized
Christ as a double nature but single substance.
5. 553 AD - Constantinople, excommunicated Origen,
father of heresis.
6. 680 AD -
Constantinople - rejected single
will and single activity in Christ.
7. 787 AD -
Nicea -
pronounced judgement
against the impious and anti-Christian
iconoclasts.
Synod: World council attended by all
the spiritual leaders of the Church.
Dogma: Luke 2:1 - Royal decree or ecclesiastical
decision taken by the seventy scholars who translated the Old Testament to the
Greek - The Septuagint. As well as decisions taken by the seven
Ecumenical Synods 325 AD to 787 AD which were the Christian Truths and
referred to the practical life of the Christian.
INFANT
BAPTISM
Acts 16:15 baptized, as well as all her family
Mark 10:14 "Suffer
the little children to come unto me, ~nd forbid them not, for of such is the
kingdom of God" -
how can a person then enter God’s Kingdom if
he is not baptized - how can he die to this world and be resurrected
in Christ!
How
can one participate in the Church, in the sacraments - partake
in
Christ’s Holy body and blood if he is
not cleansed of Adam’s sin!
1 Cor É1.·28-29
Matt 3:6 - and they were baptized in Him in the Jordan,
confessing their sins
Romans 6:3 -
ÉÉ -
at our Baptism - Epistle.
Matthew 28.· 16 -
28 "Baptized in the name of the Father,
Son and Holy Spirit" - at our Baptism -
Gospel.
P.S. Remember
- we enter the Church of Christ through the sacraments of the Church, by
God’s grace - we don’t have to do anything but accept that
grace.
Sacrament: The action of the Holy
Spirit, during the mystery or relegious rite.
THE SACRAMENT OF
MARRIAGE
Matt 19:6 what therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder
Eph 5:31 the mystery is great
-
that is why marriage is a
sacrament.
Marriage Service: Epistle reading
Ephesians 5:28-33 the husband is the head
Husbands love your wives, as Christ
loves the Church and gave himself up for her
Gospel reading: John 2:1 - ÉÉ - The
changing of water into wine was the first miracle performed by Christ at the
marriage in Cana in Galilee. His presence at the wedding gave it God’s
grace.
VENERATION OF THE
SAINTS
2 Kings 2:15 and bowed themselves to the ground in homage before him
Gen 33:3 bowed seven times
Paying veneration to saints is
worshipping the God in that person.
Acts 18:25 fell down at his feet and oaid him homage, Cornelius to
Peter.
Heb 13.· 7 remember them who were your leaders, who spoke with you the word of
God imitate their faith
CoI 1:4
and of the love which he has for all the
saints.
ps 150:1
Saints are canonised by the Church only after factual evidence by
witnesses -they used their spiritual gifts and talents on earth, as
there is no spiritual death, they continue their work after physical
death.
Veneration: Looked up to with
respect.
THEOTOKOS OR
MOTHER OF CHRIST
Luke 1:30-34 fear not Mary
Mary was a virgin, before she gave
birth, at the time, and after giving birth, still remained a virgin.
Matt 2:13 mother of the Lord, not the wife of Joseph.
Christ had no brothers. John 19:27 the disciple took her home
-
no other brothers.
PRAYERS FOR THE
DEAD
Tim 2.· 1 É exhort therefore, first of all, that supplication, prayers,
intercessions, thanksgivings be made for all men that is to say for both the
living and the dead.
Rom 14:8 both dead and living
É Pet 4.8 love ties the living to the dead
2 Cor 1.· 11 helping together on our behalf by your
supplication.
Memorial services -
in memory of
.............
John 12:24 unless a
grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies,
it bears much fruit - hence KOLIVA.
FASTING
Gen 2.· 17
for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die
Acts 13.·2-3 fasted and prayed
Acts 10.·30 fasting until this hour
2Cïc
6:5
Rom 13:14 gluttony — and make not provision for the flesh Éï
fulfil the lusts thereof.
Rom 14:1 7—
not food and drink, but peace and
joy
Christ fasted for 40 days before He began His world
ministry — to set us the example.
NOTES ON
FASTING
Fasting foods is intended
as spiritual preparation for an experience of deeper communion with God. Each
person is a unity of body and soul. Áright spiritual diet and a discipline of
fasting go together and strengthen each other. Just as prayer benefits not only
the soul but also the body so also fasting from foods benefits not only the body
but also the soul. Fasting and prayer make us more sensitive to God’s personal
presence. At important times of their lives the Prophets fasted and prayed. So
did Jesus, the Apostles, Saints and Church Fathers.
Fasting must be
undertaken willingly and not by compulsion. God doesn’t need our fasting. We
don’t fast as a kind of personal punishment for our sins. We cannot pay God back
for our sins but we can only confess them to Him to receive forgiveness. Fasting
with a willing spirit and not just with an attitude of fulfilling a religious
obligation means that we keep the purposes of fasting always before us which is
to develop self-control and to remember God and His Kingdom. That way we fast
not only in what we eat but also in how much we eat. Fasting is
simplicity of eating. We leave the table not with loaded stomachs. Being a
little hungry during the day becomes a constant reminder of God, of our
dependence on Him, and of the fact that the Lord alone can give us "food that
lasts for eternal life" (in 6.·27). In fasting and prayer, He reveals
Himself to us as our true food and drink.
VENERATION OF HOLY
ICONS
God commanded Moses to make Sacred
golden images of the cherubim.
Exodus 25.· 19 —
Make one cherub on the one end and
one cherub on the other end, of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the
cherubim in its two ends."
Exodus 25.· 18
two cherubim of gold
Exodus 26.·31 "
fine twine liner
Numbers 21.·9 Moses made a
bronze serpent
1 Kings 9:3 É have consecrated this house
Ôï deny the physical icon of Christ is
tantamount to denying the incarnation, that is why we have these reminders in
our homes and Churches.
THE HOLY
CROSS
Ñs99.·5 "
pay homage at
his footstool" — meaning the cross.
Cen 48.·
14
Mark
18.·35,37
Matt
28.·20-21
Cross: Roman symbol of disgrace but it
is the symbol of the triumph of Life over Death for the Christian hence its
importance.
WORSHIPPING IN
CHURCH
Prepare for Liturgy through fasting and
prayer ready to receive the Body and Blood of Christ.
Luke 24:53 "
and were continually in the
temple blessing God."
Acts 28.·
7
É Cor
14:23
The incense used in the churches signifies spiritual cheer and gives
expression to our internal worship, which is directed to the Lord
above.
Luke
7:37
Ps 141 .·2 Let my prayer be counted as incense before thee, and the lifting up
of my hands as an evening sacrifice
Ex 30.· 7 burn fragrant
incense
Ex 48.·27
Luke É.·9
Incense in the
censor symbolises the gifts offered by the wise men to the infant Jesus.
Censoring is done to express the desire that the prayers of the worshippers may
ascend to heaven. When the priest swings the censor, which is called censoring,
it expresses his prayer that God may gather the prayers of all assembled and
send his blessing down upon the worshippers.
CANDLES AND
OIL
Ex 25:34 — "candlestick like almonds"
Leviticus 24:2-3 olive oil
Acts
28.·8
INTERIOR OF
CHURCH
Ex 38.·
1-27
The
structure of the Orthodox Church is exactly how it was instructed Éï be by the
Lord.
By His Eminence Archbishop
Seraphim.
One bishop when asked the
question, "Have you been saved?" replied, "I have.~~ "on a Friday aflernoon at
three 0’ clock in the spring of year 33 A.D. on a hill outside
the City of Jerusalem." That is when we were all saved, but God will not force
this salvation on us. We must-each of us-accept it personally as a great gift of
God’s love. We were saved in baptism which is our personal Golgotha. Baptism is
the tomb where "
we were baptized into his death”
(Rïm.6: 3); it is also the womb from which we were born anew receiving
within us the life of Christ.
We were saved at baptism but we
must continue to "work out" our salvation for the rest of our lives by daily
serving, loving, obeying, and following Jesus. When you stand before God’s alter
to be married, you are pronounced man and wife in the Lord. You are married
right there and then. Íï one can argue that point. But it is equally true that
you will work out your marriage from that moment on till the end of your life
together. As two wills seek to become one, your becomes what God ordained it to
be. In Jeremiah 3:14 the Lord said to his people, "I am married to you." Our
relationship to God is like a marriage relationship. More than anything else God
wants our love, our heart. He wants us! In the Christian life, as in marriage,
two wills are involved; God’s will and ours. Jesus constantly yielded His will
to the Father. It is the last thing He did before He went to the cross. That
kind of obedience is not easy. And it is not something we can do ones and
forget. It is a way of life-a constant yielding of our will to God’s will daily.
Each time we chose God’s will we are working out our salvation. In the words of
St. Paul, "Therefore my beloved ...
work out your own salvation with fear and
trembling"(Phil. 2:12).
The great saints of the Church
were humble men and women who radiated grace and love. They were not converted
once. Nor did they repent just once. Their life was a daily conversion and a
constant repentance. They were saved once on the cross of Golgotha, but they
were been saved daily in the yielding of their will to Jesus. Daily they sinned
and daily they repented. Daily they fell and daily they rose. We have been saved
but we are being saved. "For the word of cross is folly to those who are
perishing but to us who
are being saved it is a
power of God" (1 Cor. 1:
18). In the parable of the
Pharisee and the Tax Collector, the proud Pharisee thought he was saved. His
prayer was , “Thank God, É have made it ! É am where É am supposed
to be. Everyone else is below me on the ladder somewhere. É am not like other
men. Would that they were all as good as É am.” it was that kind of spiritual
pride that condemned the Pharisee.The poor tax collector, on the other hand, was
on a much lower level of spirituality and virtue, and he knew it. He acknowledge
his sinfulness and, realizing the unlimited possibilities for growth, he moved
on.
In Orthodox theology salvation
is not static but dynamic; It is not a completed state, a state of having
arrived, a state of having made it, but a constant moving toward theosis, toward
becoming like Christ, toward receiving the fullness of God’s life.
The more the great saints of the
Church grew m their knowledge of Jesus, the more they realize their imperfection
and sinfulness. When a saint was told, "You are a thief," he would agree that he
was. "you are a liar." He would agree that he was. "You are a fornicator." He
would agree that he was. The saints realize that we can lie, steal and fornicate
in thought as well as in deed. Like the sinful tax collector they prayed the
Jesus Prayer constantly: "Lord Jesus, Son of God, be merciful to me a sinner."
They were saved at Golgotha, having died and risen with Christ in baptism. And
they been saved daily though repentance and the yielding of their niind, heart
and will to God. And they looked forward to their glorification - with
Jesus at the Second Coming.
People today are running to
Church with the question:(What must a do to be saved?” But when they rõi~ to
psychiatrists, when they take large doses of drugs, when they down themselves
with alcohol; when they to resign from the human race, when they complain that
life is not worth living and try to commit suicide, what are they doing but
confessing a need-a need to be saved from themselves, from the sin and
death of their daily existence.
The salvation we are looking for
is not to be found in education, or politics, or economist but in Christ. It is
a spiritual, an inner salvation, which in turn produces an outer salvation.
Changed people produce a changed society. The
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 His 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
In corruption,
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 progress of growth
that
never ends,
Living life the way God meant
it
to be, This is the salvation
the
Lord Jesus offers us.
The Orthodox Church has always
emphasized the more positive aspect of salvation. Salvation for the Orthodox
Church has not meant only justification or forgiveness of sins: it means also
the renewing and restoration of God ‘s image in man, the lifting up of fallen
humanity through Christ in to the very life of God. Christ forgives man and
frees him from sin that he may proceed to fulfil this destiny, which is to
become like God. Christ came to save us from sin for participation in the life
of God. This exalted vision of the Christian life was expressed by St. Peter
when he wrote that we are invited "to become partakers of the Divine Nature" (2
Peter 1: 4). It was also affirmed by St. Basil the Great when he described man
as "the creature who has received an order to become god." The whole emphasis of
the Orthodox way of life is on "putting on Christ" and receiving the Holy Spirit
through prayer and Sacraments so that we may
begin to live a new life in
Union with Christ and in Communion with the Holy Spirit.
In spiritual life three stages
can be discerned, which are comparable to three conversions. The first is the
meeting of the soul with our Lord, when He is followed as a friend and as a
Master. The second conversion is a personal experience of pardon and salvation,
of the cross and resurrection. The third conversion is the coming of the Holy
Spirit into the soul like a flame and with power. It is by this conversion that
man is established in a lasting union with God. Christmas or Epiphany, then
Easter, and finally Pentecost correspond the these three conversion.
St. Paul assures us that we are
saved by grace through faith. Let us examine first the word grace: What is it?
Grace is a giff rather than a wage we earn. It cannot be deserved. Sin give
wages. God gives Grace." For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God
is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord". (Rom 6:23). "For by grace you have
been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of
God-not because of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph. 2:8).
There is a story about a man who
went to heaven. He was met at the pearly gates by Peter, who said, "It will take
1000 points for you to be admitted. The good works you did during your life time
will determine your points."
The man said, “Unless É was sick
É attended Church every Sunday, and É sang in the choir.”
"That will be 50 points," Peter
said.
“And É gave to the Church
liberally,” the man
added. -
"That is worth 25 more points,"
said Peter
The man, realizing that he had
only 75 points. started getting desperate. "I taught a Sunday school class," he
said. "That’s great work fro God."
"Yes," said Peter. That’s worth
25 points."
The man was frantic. "You know,"
he said, at this rate the only way I’m going to get into heaven is by the grace
of God."
Peter smiled. "That’s worth 988
points! Come on in!" In this world we get what we pay for, people say. Do we?
What can we ever pay the grace of God? What can we ever pay for His love? What
can we ever pay for His sacrifice on the cross?
Grace is the unlimited pouring
out of God’s mercy. It is God’s unconditional forgiveness
peace and the fulfilment we are
all searching for can be found in a relationship to God and only Jesus can
bring. “Peace É live with you,” He said, “my peace É give to you; not as the
world gives do É give to you (John 14:27). Jesus did not come to condemn us
because we had become enslaved to sin. He came to save us by breaking the of sin
and death.
Recall the words of St. Gregory
of Nyssa:
"Our nature was seek and needed
a doctor.
Man had fallen and needed
someone to raise him up.
He who ceased to participate in
the good needed Someone to bring him back to it.
He who was shut in darkness
needed the presence of life.
The prisoners was looking for
someone to ransom him, The captive for someone to take his part. He who was
under the yoke of slavery was Looking for someone to set ~free."
Á great scientist asked once,
" The wild universe may yet be tamed; but the inner world of man’s
life, with its ignorance, prejudice, bitterness, instability, passion and sin-
who will tame that?" Years before this scientist, a great saint asked the same
question in a different way. "I do not understand my own actions. For É do not
do what I want, but É do the very thing I hate... Wretched man that É am! Who
will deliver mw from the body of death? Thanks to God through Jesus Christ our
Lord!”(Romans 7:
15, 17, 24-25).
Who shaH deliver me? Thank God for Jesus who came not to judge me but to
deliver me from this body of sin and death!
Years ago lawyer, at the risk of
his own life, grabbed the reins of a runaway team of horses and saved a man’
life. The wagon turned over but he was not seriously hurt. He dusted himself off
and thanked the lawyer. The scene has changed. More than twenty years have
passed. The lawyer is now a respected judge. The place is judge’s courtroom. Á
man has been tried for murder and convicted. Prior to formal sentencing the
judge asks the accused if he has anything to say. He indicates that he does. He
comes close to the judge’s bench and says, “Judge don’t you remember me?” The
judge replies, “Íï, É don’t remember having met you prior to this trial.” “But,
judge,” the man answers, “don’t you remember saving a man’s life by turning a
team of runaway horses twenty years ago?" "Oh, yes, replies the judge,
‘É remember that as though it
was yesterday.””Judge, É am that
man,” the accused stated, “you were my saviour then, can’t you be my saviour
now?” The Christian judge dropped his head and when he had regained his
composure he said, “Yesterday Ú was your saviour, but today É must be your
judge.” Jesus did not come to judge the world but to save the world. But one
day he must come to judge the world. Today He’s our saviour. Tomorrow he will be
our judge. How shall we meet Him at the end, as Saviour or judge?
Jesus came to save us from sin.
Nosed saved, sin becomes an incidents in the life of the Christian-not a
practise. Love becomes the practise, not just an occasional incident- the love
of Jesus. We are saved from sin for love. The çóçjudgemental, accepting,
forgiving love of Jesus must floe through us to others. “Above all, put on love
which binds everything together in perfect harmony” (Col. 3: 14). Secondly, we
are saved for fruit bearing. The purpose of the True Vine (Jesus) and the
branches (the members of His Body, the Christians) is the same: to bears not
fruit for God, to carry God’s saving love to the world. Every branch that bears
not fruit, He takes away. This is what we are saved for. We are made branches on
the True Vine, members of Christ’s Body, that the head (Jesus) may have us to
carry out I-iis saving world today, that though us Jesus may bring life to men.
We are saved not in order to sit around this world as ornaments. We are saved to
love, to serve, to bear witness, to confess Jesus among men, to bear the fruit
of Heavenly Vine for dying men and women to eat and live
What does it mean to be saved?
What is salvation in Christ?
Salvation is freedom- freedom
from tlie tyranny of self centeredness, freedom from the bondage of fear and
death.
Salvation in Christ is being
freed from myself so that É become the 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 the state of “É have arrived.
É made it. É am growing in God, for God, and through the power of Salvation is
Christ overcoming for us our greatest enemy, which is at the root of all
our
offered to the unworthy. It is
God accepting us as His children in Baptism, filling us with His Holy Spirit in
confirmation, and then sending Jesus to live in our hearts through Holy
Communion. It is God loving us when we are unlovable. "But God shows His love
for us In that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us"(Rom.
5:8)
We are saved by the grace
through faith. What is the role of faith in God’s plan of salvation? Faith is
saying ‘‚yes" to God’s gracious gift of salvation. It is the humble acceptance
of God’s gracious gift. It is the hand that takes the blessing. It receives what
God gives, not as something we deserve, but as a gift of His grace. It is the
marriage of Christ — the Bridegroom — to the bride which is my soul.
Faith is the handle by which I grasp God’s power and apply it to my weakness. It
is remembering when É fell utterly worthless that É am the one for whom God gave
His Son. Faith is the eye by which we look to Jesus; the hand by which we lay
hold of Jesus; the tongue by which we taste the sweetness ot the Lord; the foot
by which we go to Jesus. Faith is forsaking All É Take Him. Ã-Á-É-Ô-Ç. Faith is
man’s hand reaching up to grasp the already outstretched hand of God’s grace.
"By grace you have been saved through faith "(Eph. 2:8). When man’s hand (faith)
grasps God’s hand (grace), there is reconciliation and salvation.
The person who has accepted
Christ, been baptized and received the Holy Spirit begins a new life which is
expressed in love good deeds. Á person is not saved by faith alone but by faith,
which expresses itself through good deeds. Áperson is not saved by faith alone
but by faith, which expresses itself through love as St. Paul, writes. St. James
asks, "what does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has no
works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of
daily food, and one of you says to them ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’
without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So
faith by itself; if it has no works, is dead” (James 2:14-É 7).
The good works that we do, do
not earn us any special merit points in heaven. We can never buy God’s love with
them since Jesus specifically tell us: "So you also, when you have done all that
is commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy
servants; we have only done what
was our duty"’ (Luke 17-10).
Our good deeds do not put God in
our debt. It is God’s love in Christ that puts us forever in His debt. Our good
deeds are
grateful response a feeble
attempt on our part to show appreciation to God for what He has done for s. We
can never fully accomplish all that we should do, but neither should we stop
trying, love will not let us. "The love of Christ can controls us, "says Paul
( 2 Cor 5:14).
Paul writes in Ephesians 2:10,
"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God
prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. "This verse seems to
contradict the one just before it: "For by grace you have been saved through
faith; and this is not your own doing it is the gift of God — not
because of works lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). One verse says:
"You have been saved not because of works," and the next says: Created in Christ
Jesus for good works."
Far from contradicting each
other, these verses give us the Orthodox Christian position concerning good
works. Good works do not produce salvation, but salvation produces good works.
We are not saved because of our good works but we are saved for good works.
Christ make each one of us a new creation, a new being. The new being through
·the power of the indwelling Trinity, produces new works. Christ does not begin
by changing our deeds. He begins by changing us. The good deeds flow by God’s
grace our of the new person.
Only those good works that are
done in the name of Christ are the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Good deeds
— even the best- are worthless in a person who does not believe in
Christ. Á work in good only insofar as it is done in Christ and by the power of
the Holy Spirit. For the Christian there is no good work a part from this. Á
story is told of a ten-dollar bill that got into circulation and did a lot of
good. It helped buy coal for a needy old woman; it helped buy medicine for a
very sick child; and even showed up in the collection plate in Church one Sunday
morning. Then it fell into the hands of a bank teller who spotted it immediately
as counterfeit. The test is not how many good deeds we claim to our credit, but
rather, can they pass inspection in the sight of God? Were our good deeds done
in Christ and
for Christ? Or are they products
of pride: trying to parade our goodness or to buy God’s favour and place Him in
our debt?
We are created for those good
works that are done in Christ and for Christ. ÁÌ other are counterfeit;
they cannot pass inspection in God’s sight.
The early Church was a show
place of good works done for Christ. Having been made a new creation in Christ,
those early Christians began to produce new deeds that astounded the pagan
worlds. In one of the earliest apologetic works preserved, Justin the Martyr (d.
165), writes:
"We used to value above all else
money and possessions; now we bring together that we have and share it with
those who are in need (cf. Acts 4:34-37). Formerly we hated and killed one
another and, because of a difference in nationality our custom we refused to
admit strangers within our gates. Now since the coming of Christ we all live in
peace. We pray for our enemies and seek to convert those who hate us in unjustly
"(l Apology xlv).
Tertullian (160-220) said: "It
is our care for the helpless, our practise of loving kindness, that brands us in
the eyes of many of our opponents. ‘Only’ look,’ they say, look how they
love one another" (Apology xxxix).
"And let our people run to apply
themselves to good deeds, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not to be
unfruitful. " These words of St. Paul found eager expression in the
lives of the early Christians who as we see from the history of the early
Church:
É. gave alnis to help the
destitute (even poor Christians were urged to give through
fasting);
2. supported widows and
orphans;
3. supported the sick, the
infirm, the poor, and the disabled (even establishing hospitals in many
citi~s)
4. cared for prisoners and
slaves
5. found work for
those who were unemployed;
6. cared for those who
journeyed;
7. cared for the victims of
great calamities.
Summarizing what we have said
on the subject of salvation:
1. We have been saved from
sins and death through baptism, which is our personal Golgotha
(Justification).
2. We are being saved daily as
we repent of our sins and continue our walk with Jesus yielding our will to
Him in humble obedience (sanctification).
3. We shall be saved at the
end of time. When Jesus comes again we shall share in His
glorification.
4. Salvation is constant
growth in the life of Christ, a dynamic movement towards theosis (becoming
like Christ receiving the fullness of God’s life).
5. He who is our
Saviour today will be our judge tomorrow.
6. We are saved from sins for
putting on Christ, for love, for fruit bearing, for serving, for confessing
Christ among men, for becoming partakers of divine nature.
7. We are not saved by good
works. Á new person in Christ produces food works in and by the Holy Trinity
for God’s glory. We cannot earn salvation through good works. They are our
grateful response to God’s love.
8. We are saved by grace
(Salvation is God’s gift) through faith, which is man reaching out to accept
God’s gift.
